The RX-8 requires practice to reach its potential. It is easy to promote understeer despite its fine balance by applying too much throttle even with Mazda's driver friendly dynamic stability control. A bit more tire would make this a super-handling vehicle, but the cost would be further road noise and a more jarring journey over tax-deprived roadways. Mazda has compromised on its tire and wheel combination and it works well for most. There are not many cars we enjoy cornering because they usually fall into two categories. Those that let go without a lot of warning due to their power and unbalanced weight distribution such as the Nissan 350Z (53/47) and the Porsche 911 (36/64). These are not for the novice driver. In fact, the Porsche is the only car we ever spun and that was on a highway onramp where there was some sand. We were barely going 40 mph when the car started to revolve on its axis. It seemed like an eternity before the front end came around and I accelerated out of the spin. The RX would have had much less of a problem with the sand, or ice, for that matter, with its better balance thanks to the light weight rotary engine that does away with pistons, values, crankshafts, connecting rods, camshafts, and rings among other items. As a result the Mazda Renesis engine is light and easy to mount low in the chassis for better balance. The upside is a car that weighs in at 3000 pounds and an engine that can rev like a Formula One engine ranges and can still be lugged in sixth gear down to 35 mph without bucking. The downside is high oil and fuel consumption.

2005 Mazda RX-8 (photo: The Car Family)

Under normal driving I shifted from first to third to sixth and left it there. Sixth gear is a bit of a pain to find at first because it is snuggled up to reverse in the shift pattern. The other gears were easy to locate following in the tradition of good shifting transmissions that the Miata started. I only wish Subaru and Ford would follow suit.

Once on the road the tires are sensitive to following ruts and so you need to stay alert. When you decide to cut an apex you quickly learn that the RX is as capable as you are. Actually, I found that the sound of the engine accelerating out of a turn was more fun that feeling the chassis cling to the corner. It revs quite quickly, but you must keep the engine turning rapidly because it does not have the cubic engines to recover from a missed shift. The cool part is that if you miss a downshift the extra thousand or so revs the engine suddenly must handle doesn't fluster it a bit (Don't ask how we found out.). In a Corvette a downshift from fourth to second at speed would induce a screaming valve train and cursing from everyone except the Chevrolet service department. Such a potential catastrophic event results in nary a complaint from the rotary powered RX-8 as it simply revs a little higher and the engine sounds even sweeter. This is a forgiving car right down to the monthly payments.

The weakest part of the Mazda were the brakes. Even though the car has electronic brake distribution and is ABS controlled with ventilated brake rotors that are fairly large at 12.7 inches in front and 11.9 inches in rear, the feel of the brake pedal is not progressive enough for me. It was too soft. Braking distance were good, but not stunning.

Young working woman's view: I was bothered by the fuel mileage that seldom bettered 20 mpg despite EPA estimates of 25 highway and 18 mpg

2005 Mazda RX-8 (photo: The Car Family)

in the city on premium fuel. Even when I feathered footed it on long stretches of highways I was hard pressed to go more than 280 miles on the 15.8 gallons of petrol in the tank. What didn't bother me was the pricing and what it offered for the money. Of course, if you take the MT Sports Package with traction control, xenon headlights, Bose audio, auto day/night mirror w/Homelink, moonroof and fog lamps for about $1300, or the Grand Touring option that costs over $4000 for leather trimmed upholstery, six-way power driver's seat, heated seats, fog lamps and heated mirrors the bargain may be somewhat compromised (check www.nada.com for resale figures).