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The beep is back. It's not exactly the tingly, joy-buzzer siren of
the late, lamented RX-7 but rather a clear, solid tone that announces
you've reached the rarefied redline of 9000 rpm. To fans of the rotary
engine, it's music far sweeter than any score composed by Chopin or
Tchaikovsky. And this time around, the Wankel 2-rotor is packaged in
the Mazda RX-8, a vehicle that forces us to re-examine the definition
of sports car — call it "variation on a rotary theme."
Progeny of both the RX-Evolv and RX-01 show cars,
the Hiroshima-built RX-8 isn't meant to be a direct replacement for the
RX-7 — although Mazda is not ruling out the possibility of a successor.
Rather, it's a very capable-handling, affordable rear-drive sports car
with room for four people, with ingenious doors to admit those people.
It's powered by a new version of the Wankel engine called Renesis,
whose 250-bhp output approaches that of the third-generation RX-7's,
yet without its twin turbochargers, higher emissions and thirst for
fuel. Credit a new design that eliminates the peripheral exhaust ports,
moving them instead to the cast-iron side plates in the rotary's
Dagwood-sandwich construction, which alternates these plates with the
two aluminum rotor housings. The Renesis design allows for
30-percent-larger intake ports and no overlap between intake and
exhaust, which means that unburned hydrocarbons are carried into the
next combustion cycle rather than simply coughed out the exhaust ports.
RX-8s come in two basic configurations. Want clutchless ease? Then
$25,180 buys you a version with 210 bhp and a 4-speed automatic, with
sequential shifts summoned through paddles on the small-diameter
3-spoke steering wheel. The automatic version's lower output is
traceable to rpm limitations of the torque converter, restricting
engine speed to 7500 rpm, though its peak torque is actually higher
than the more powerful engine — 164 lb.-ft. at 5000 rpm, versus 159
lb.-ft. at 5500. The automatic car also has smaller brake rotors, a
16-in. wheel/tire package and slightly more compliant suspension.
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