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Road Test

Mazda RX-8

Test Date 16 September 2003  Price When New £23,105

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Verdict

First the good news: Mazda’s efforts in refining and rejuvenating the Wankel rotary have paid off. What we have here is a supremely creamy engine that you won’t be able to resist revving hard.
The trouble with cars like the RX-8 is that for every positive aspect of its ability, it’s all too easy to highlight something negative. And so, we have a superb drivetrain whose performance is difficult to access, a supple chassis that prefers to go slow, and a delightful cabin in which the driver can never quite get comfortable. It is a car of conflicting competences then, but a fascinating object all the same. What it trades in compromises, it compensates for in offering a genuine car enthusiast a fascinating ownership experience. Rarely has the phrase ‘warts and all’ suited a car as perfectly as it does the RX-8.

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