Category: Affordable Sports 
Price Range: No data available
Unusual concept, smooth engine, good comfort, lots of fun to drive, room for four and their luggage, great value
Fuel costs, carbon dioxide emissions, not much else
Mazda takes the bold step of bringing a four-door rotary engined coupe to the market and gets it spot-on - the RX-8's superb.
We're not going to mess about here: the Mazda RX-8 is fabulous. The company has taken a fairly loony idea - a fast, four-seat, rear-drive coupe with rear-hinged back doors and a rotary engine - and made it a production reality. A rather splendid production reality. In fact, it's entering a market that, all of a sudden, is rather full of splendid production realities - besides the hugely succcessful Audi TT, which also started life as a show car, we have the new Nissan 350Z, and the Chrysler Crossfire. Good or even great though these are, the RX-8 very probably tops them all - especially for the money.
The RX-8 nameplate logically follows RX-7, but this car is not like its quick, but very raucous, predecessor of the mid-1990s. This model is a refined coupe with accommodation for four adults and their luggage, the ability to comfortably eat motorway miles, as well as put a smile on the keen driver's face when the going gets twisty.
It's also great value; the standard equipment levels are extremely high and prices are (comparatively) low. Carbon-dioxide emissions and fuel economy aren't brilliant, but those shortcomings aside, the RX-8 is a car with few demerits.
