As soon as I get myself out of the confines of suburbia, I quickly discover the engine is not as peaky as those numbers have suggested. With 90 percent of peak torque available at 3,250-rpm, the new Renesis comes into its own when the tachometer needle sweeps past the 3,000 marker. The low-rpm warble changes to a guttural roar at 4,500-rpm and then finishes with a banshee-like wail that would be familiar to anyone who's been to a Formula 1 race in the past decade. Who needs ICE when you can listen to the various Rotary tunes all day?

Acceleration keeps building in a linear fashion that no turbo-charged engine could deliver, all the way to that surreal 9,000-rpm redline. Becoming an extension of my right foot, the RX-8 surges forward with readiness, and very little bang!

Rotary engine fanatics will recognize that the rotor housings are similar to those of the last (and still lamented) RX-7's 13B engine. However, a new three-stage, six-port induction system gives the engine improved breathing, eliminating the need for a turbo. Power output is the highest ever from a naturally-aspirated two-rotor Wankel. And Mazda claims it's more economical with fuel than the old RX-7, giving up to 30 percent better fuel economy in driving situations that do not resemble what I was currently experiencing on my drive.

Mazda claims 100 km/h in about six seconds--similar to the G35 but almost a second slower than the 2005 Mustang GT. Mazda never intended to build the new RX-8 as a NHRA Winter National's contender. It was born for the twisties. And, lookee here--I just happen to be encountering some on our test route this bright, and traffic-free, Sunday morning.

Reviewer's who do not have to contend with frost-heaved, Canadian backroads have complained that the RX-8's suspension is a tad soft. On the bombed-out two-lanes I am gingerly traversing, the RX-8 appropriately absorbs the road's ruts and irregularities with a fluency that a BMW Z4 should ask Santa for this Christmas.

Throughout my drive, the RX-8's chassis is rock-solid, with no sign of flex at all--this from a car that has four doors without B-pillars. It's easy to believe Mazda engineers when they claim that the chassis is stiffer than the last RX-7's.

Alloy the RX-8's rigid chassis with its fifty/fifty weight distribution and acquiescent suspension setup, and you have a four-seater four-door, that takes to corners, well, almost like a real sports car. The steering feels decisive, and the car behaves invariably through dips, dives, and off-camber turns with insignificant body roll. A Honda S2000, the RX-8 is not. But, it's certainly more athletic and responsive than its 2+2 G35 Coupe and Mustang compadres.

The RX-8's upper and lower A-arm front suspension system is similar to that in the ol' RX-7, but the five-link rear setup is brand spanking new. With the engine placed low in the chassis--almost mid-ship in its longitudinal location--and the four wheels stretched out on a long 2,700-mm wheelbase, polar momentum is kept low. The result: sitting low in the cockpit, with the throttle and steering wheel as your chief tools of communication, you can order up understeer, or oversteer, at will.