Our Jaguar X-Type is coming up to the end of it's lease and my wife decided she wanted a small SUV. We had a Ford Escape on Rental at one point and it was fun to drive with lots of zip. So I did my research and took her to look at the Mazda Tribute, same car in different clothing. We took the top of the line V6 model out for a spin only to find that it's zip was not making itself felt at all. Hmmm. Then she saw the red RX-8.....
Specs of ours:
Red Auto Transmission with Nav System and Grand Touring Package
Exterior:
This car is kind of odd looking, there really is nothing else on the road quite like it. The red really suits this buggy, especially when paired with the red & black leather interior!
If you go for all the trimmings, you get 18" alloys which really give this little car a hunkered down stance. One minor quibble for me is the plastic trim behind the front wheel arches and the plastic rotary symbol on the front and back. They look... cheap. Of course for a few dollars more you can have crome items and side strakes if you want.
In my opinion the the overall shape flows very well, and the design certainly gives plenty of headroom.
Access to the interior can be a bit tricky, the doors open nicely without being too long, but due to the raked windshield, you can hit your head on the roof as you plop into the seat. Getting into the back on the other hand is a cinch. Open the Freestyle door and there is heaps of clearance to scramble in. In fact you more climb in, turn and sit down than the usual slide in sideways manover that most back seats make you do.
Interior
Wow... you know when you get in a car and everything just feels right? This is the case in the RX-8. This is not actually the complete truth, but more on that in a moment.
Sliding behind the wheel puts all the controls at your fingertips. There is a large panel that slides back for two cups, this panel then flips open to reveal an accessory socket and a usable storage area, maybe two inches deep or so. Further back there are more cup holders and another storage area where the optional DVD Nav system is hidden, the whole center console flows up between the back seats and is actually a removable panel for pass through of longer items such as ski's. The panel itself has a storage bin in it also.
I like the touch of all the materials, silver is used sparingly for the door handles, steering wheel gear shift paddles and other highlights, so it gives a sporty air without going overboard.
The center console has a bewildering array of buttons to press, remember I said it's not as good as it first seems? Well there are some redundant buttons depending on the options you have. For example, there is a Load button, primarely for the 6 disc in dash changer, that we don't have. But the button is still there???? But once you figure it all out, it's not especially difficult, just a bit quirky. The theme is rotary, and they made a nice job of making it look great. All the feedback is given via a display panel at the top of the stack, all lit in red. Kinda cool as it goes with the red and black interior on ours.
I love the instruments, when you get in the guages are faintly lit by a blue glow. Turn the key and they come up bright white, switch the headlights on and they turn to red. How cool is that! One minor down side, if it's daylight and you put the headlights on, it becomes difficult to read the instruments. So you have to move the dimmer all the way to the top which switches back to white.
What else about the interior... oh, the roof has a touch panel for storing your sun glasses in, two buttons for the sunroof, one to tilt and one to slide.
I do miss the Auto down on all windows that the Jag had, this one only has it for the drivers side, and the back windows are manual and can only be tilted out.
So whats it like in the back seat? Surprisingly roomy, but snug too. It's basically a bucket seat, so spirited driving from your pilot will not throw you around too much. For me at 5'8 169lbs there was plenty of leg, head & hip room. The only complaint being limited visability. The small windows are really only portholes, and you can only see forward by peering around the front seats.
The front seats felt very comfy to me, again I have a medium build, larger folks may find them a little snug. The seats themselves are buckets with power lumbar controls, the passenger seat is all manual, it's not quite as snug as my S2000 but it's pretty darned close.
Driving
I test drove the stick shift and it was a hoot. But my wife braves the 405 passed LAX daily so she wanted the automatic. So instead of the heady 9000 rpm readline, we only get 7500rpm.
This car is no stoplight racer in Automatic form, Torque is lacking, but then this is only a 1.3l engine. Power comes in around 3000 and surges smoothly all the way up to the redline. The engine itself is oddly quiet, in fact I think my Mum's old sewing machine made more noise than this does at idle, but hit wide open throttle and you get a gratifying banshee wail as you sink the needle into the upper rev ranges. Oop's sorry got carried away, under normal cruising, you don't really hear the engine, then you look down and find you are going 10 to 20 miles per hour faster than you realized. What a wonderful Grand Tourer! On the downside though, those big 18 inch wheels pick up a lot of road noise, and the uprated suspension is on the hard side of firm.
So cruising is an effortless dream, what about hard driving? You have to keep this engine spinning to get the Zoom Zoom out of it, so for the first time I actually found myself using the paddle shifters just to keep the revs above 4000rpm, the shifts are firm and it's a hoot. The car stays planted and wants to go faster, oh for a turbo or supercharger on this baby... It is taking some time to get used to though as the power winds up instead of being explosive, I still find myself flooring the go faster pedal then being caught out by an almost rubber band like effect which is a bit hairy in a corner. Once you get a handle on this effect, it's fun, and you can eliminate it by going into manual mode and keeping the revs high though.
Being a brand new car I have not been a hooligan yet (well not much) I do admit to provoking the back end to step out, and it didn't, on top of which the traction control didn't even cut in, so I can safely say the car has huge amounts of grip.
Honestly, I swear that sports cars should not be automatic, I also swear that they shouldn't have 4 seats. This car has proved me wrong. Of course I still prefer the stick shift (Chirped the back tires of the demo car in 2nd gear, yeah baby!)
Nav system
After the Jag, we had to have a nav system, the people at Mazda went for the joystick approach. In this car it makes sense as the screen flips open on top of the dash and is a little set back. Thanks god too that they didn't block you using the system. A major irritation of the Jag was realising you needed to change the route and having to pull over to do it, or try and find several traffic lights where the car was stopped long enough, then you press the wrong key and... well frustrating.
The Mazda on the other hand positions the little joystick right under your right hand, so you don't have to look at what you are doing, just flick you eye's back and forth between the road and the screen. No worse than glancing in the rear view mirror.
Likes:
Interior - Like a Lot
Rear Seat usability
Front Seat comfort
Sports car Handling
Banshee engine noise when pushing, but quiet when cruising
Nav System setup
Instruments
Surprisingly Large Trunk
Price
Dislikes:
Banging my head on the roofline when getting out
Small door mirrors that are shaped more for looks than functionality
Small trunk opening
Gas mileage. From 12mpg to 20mpg, Mazda says it gets better as the car breaks in. It better!
The Bottom Line
A very fun sports car that loves to rev, yet allows seating for 4 adults. Yes it could use more power in a straight line, but take it in the twisties and you will be up with the best of them. Don't forget ours was fully loaded at just $31k!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 30,300
Condition: New Model Year: 2004 Model and Options: RX-8 Automatic with Grand Touring Pack & Nav
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