2007 Mazda RX-8 Sports Car Reviews & Ratings

The Mazda RX-8 cabin is comfortable and surprisingly roomy. The seats are great, a nice fit with good bolstering. The Sport cloth seat material wasn't as attractive to our eyes as it might have been, however.

Even large adults find the rear bucket seats in the RX-8 comfortable, with plenty of elbow room thanks to the transmission tunnel/console that separates them. Getting into and out of the rear seat is easy. Due to the high front seatbacks, rear-seat passengers can't see much out front without leaning inboard, but they can see out the side windows. The rear side windows don't roll down, but just push outward, so the back seats may not be the best place to spend long periods of time on a hot summer day.

The trunk, a true trunk, can carry two sets of golf clubs. A vertical compartment door opens to the rear seat area to allow the carrying of skis and such. The pillar-less door configuration allows loading of large, awkward items into the back seat area that simply cannot be handled by other sports cars and sedans. We were able to fit a desk stool (Swopper) and a storage crate inside, without using the front seat, a very impressive feat for a sports car.

But the RX-8 is best appreciated from the driver's seat. We like the stitched leather three-spoke steering wheel, both for its style and feel. Also nice were the drilled aluminum pedals and the solid dead pedal. The brake pedal is designed to make rotation of your right foot easier, for heel-and-toe downshifting. Each knee is comfortably and firmly supported during hard cornering.

The instrument panel seems to sacrifice efficiency for style. There are three big rings, dominated by the 10,000-rpm tachometer in the center, with a digital speedometer readout on the tach face. We miss having a separate analog speedometer. Our feeling is that analog gauges can be interpreted at a glance, while digital readouts have to be read. The two large outside rings include gauges for water temp, fuel and oil pressure. The instruments are illuminated with indirect blue lighting.

The panel forward of the shift lever is trimmed in a combination of leather and high-quality vinyl and glossy piano-black plastic. The stereo and climate control knobs are integrated; redundant controls are on the steering wheel spokes. The air conditioning wasn't as effective as we would have liked, a common complaint about many Mazdas.

The available navigation system is DVD-based and features a dedicated, retractable seven-inch screen on top of the dash above the radio and climate controls. Controlled with an eight-button cluster located just behind the shift lever, the system is simple to operate and the interface is clear, thanks in part to the fact that it does not incorporate radio and climate controls into the screen, as do many other navigation systems.

The doors and seatbacks have ample pockets and cranny space, and four CDs can fit in the console, but there aren't a lot of cubbies up front. The soft triangular shape of the engine rotors are a design theme found throughout the interior, most noticeably in the stylish headrests and atop the shift lever.

The Mazda RX-8 handles like a true sports car, with great balance and precise turn-in. The suspension is soft enough for daily comfortable use and not as stiff as that of the Nissan 350Z, which corners like a race car but pays the price with a stiffer ride.

Greatly benefiting the RX-8's handling is its perfect balance, with 50 percent of its weight on the front wheels and 50 percent on the rear. While some conventional, reciprocating-piston sports cars have also achieved this balance, it has usually been at the expense of interior space. The compact size of the rotary engine makes it possible in a four-seater.

Extremely smooth and simple, the rotary has been developed by Mazda for over 40 years. The RX-8 features the latest and by far the best rotary engine design, which Mazda calls Renesis. The engine is about 30 percent smaller than a typical inline four-cylinder, and its compact dimensions allow it to be mounted in a low and rearward position that results in that perfect balance. It also keeps the four-seat RX-8's center of gravity low and the curb weight down to just 3,045 pounds, more than 500 pounds less than even the lightest version of the two-seat, 3,578-pound Nissan 350Z.

The engine offers a sweet unique sound under acceleration and is very refined now, with little of the rotary rasp that early RX-7s were known for. The two three-sided rotors deliver six power pulses per turn of the output shaft, the same number as a V12 (and twice as many per revolution as a V6), resulting in an exhaust note that's almost hypnotic on a rhythmic road, and chainsaw-like under full steam. The rotary revs extremely quickly, but lacks the mid-range grunt of a V6. Downshifts for quick acceleration are definitely necessary. The RX-8 can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph is less than 6 seconds, according to Car and Driver magazine, making it nearly as quick as a Nissan 350Z.

Downshifting is redefined by the rotary engine, especially when paired with the brilliant close-ratio six-speed gearbox. You can drop the RX-8 into second gear at a speed that would cause almost every other car on the planet to scream, if not explode. This baby revs.

When the automatic is equipped with the sport suspension and 18-inch wheels (standard on the manual RX-8), the brake rotors measure a massive 12.7 inches in front and 11.9 inches in rear, with increased ventilation ribs for more resistance to fade. The fact that the RX-8 is so light, thanks not only to the rotary engine but also to the thoughtful use of aluminum in the hood and rear doors, reduces the stopping distance to an impressive number, with performance comparable to that of the 350Z.

Out on the open road the RX-8 feels even better. It hugs the pavement progressively, meaning the deeper it gets into a turn the harder it grips, which is wonderfully confidence-inspiring.

The optional Dynamic Stability Control (DSC) works effectively, yet allows the driver to work the tires without intruding. The RX-8 wasn't completely forgiving when driven hard on an autocross circuit. We found with too much throttle the Mazda would understeer (the front tires plowing, and the car going straight instead of turning). When we pushed it still harder, driving like hacks, the DSC would kick in to limit the understeer. What we learned is that the DSC is programmed to tolerate small errors but saves you from the big ones. In other words, it will let you get away with two feet of understeer in a curve, but not six feet.

And when DSC does take over, it uses the brakes, slowing one or more wheels as needed to correct the imbalance. The electronic stability control systems in other cars correct skidding by closing the throttle, which skilled drivers find intrusive. The RX-8's DSC will eventually cut the throttle too, but not so early that it frustrates you.

When we switched the DSC off, we discovered two things that together seem paradoxical: how good the DSC is (because we could barely feel it when it was on), and how superb the balance of the RX-8 is, because we could feel it in its natural state.

While little has changed in terms of actual hardware, Mazda has significantly revised the RX-8 model lineup for 2007, from a single trim level with four major option packages to three separate trim levels with one option package. All are powered by a 1.3-liter twin-rotor rotary engine.

The RX-8 Sport ($26,435) comes with a choice of six-speed manual or six-speed paddle-shift automatic transmission. Standard equipment includes cloth upholstery; air conditioning; AM/FM/CD stereo with six speakers and steering-wheel mounted controls; cruise control; power windows, mirrors and locks; leather-wrapped steering wheel and shift knob; floor and overhead consoles; rear window defogger; variable intermittent windshield wipers; and an alarm with immobilizer. Automatics roll on 225/55R16 radials on 16-inch alloy rims; manual-shift models get 225/45R18 high-performance tires on 18-inch rims.

The RX-8 Touring comes with manual ($29,535) or automatic transmission ($30,335), and adds Dynamic Stability Control (DSC) with traction control; high-intensity discharge headlamps; fog lamps; power sliding glass sunroof; auto-dimming inside rearview mirror with Homelink; and a 300-watt Bose nine-speaker sound system with AudioPilot noise compensation and an in-dash, six-CD changer. Additionally, automatic Tourings upgrade to the manual model's sport suspension; limited-slip, torque-sensing differential; and larger wheels and tires.

Grand Touring ($31,070) adds leather seating with matching synthetic leather door panels, heated front seats, eight-way power for the driver's seat, heated outside mirrors, and Mazda's advanced keyless entry and start system. The Grand Touring automatic ($31,770) benefits from the same handling upgrades that come with Touring automatics.

A Performance Package ($1,300) for manual-transmission Sport models adds Dynamic Stability Control (DSC), HID headlamps, and fog lamps. A similar Package ($2,000) for automatic Sports adds those items plus the Touring/Grand Touring handling equipment.

Options include a navigation system ($2,000) available on all models, and pearl paint ($200). Dealer-installed accessories include an aero body kit ($1,100), Sirius satellite radio ($430), and a CD-changer for Sport models ($500).

Safety features that come standard include frontal and side-impact airbags (for torso protection) for the front passengers, and curtain airbags (for head protection) front and rear. A tire pressure monitor is also standard on all models. Anti-lock brakes with electronic brake-force distribution comes standard; DSC is optional.