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.
Safety is one area in which Mazda has had to concentrate its efforts more than usual because of its decision to adopt rear-hinged 'suicide' doors in the back (the company dubs them 'Freestyle' doors), because with no B-pillar there's a big hole in the side of the car which makes chassis stiffening difficult. That's one of the reasons that there's a very substantial central transmission tunnel and Mazda expects the RX-8 to score four-stars out of five in Euro NCAP's crash tests. The compact rotary engine lends the RX-8 a large crumple-zone at the front, while the fuel tank is located within the wheelbase, ahead of the boot, for added protection in rear impacts. All RX-8s come with six airbags, ABS anti-lock brakes with electronic brake distribution and two-stage switchable traction and stability control: pressing the button allows some loss of grip, pushing and holding the button disables the system completely. An engine immobilser and an alarm are standard on both models.
