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oomzoom the 2007 rx8 continues the mazda 40 year tradition of offering a rotary engine in its flag ship sportscar equipped with four doors it makes the rx8 one of the few fourseat sports- cars you can buy and just about the only on in its price range the rx8 is pow ered by the latest in a long line of mazda rotary engines the lat est as fitted being called the rene- sis its two cham bers have a total displacement of 13litres but it generates 212 hp with the sixspeed automatic and 232 hp in the six- speed manual version the interior cloth in the gs and leather in the gt shown is defi nitely laid out for a driver with all controls one- hand movement away from the steering wheel by jim robinson metroland media group there really isnt anything quite like the 2007 mazda rx8 the reason of course is its rotary engine making the rotary gasoline engine attrac tive to the car buying public has never been an easy sell it burst on the automotive scene in the late 1960s with nsu ndw a part of audi many manufacturers jumped on it as a simpler way to go than the internal combus tion engine on paper it looked simple there are only three moving parts in a rotary and no pistons valves or cylinders for that matter it is com pact light and with the drive shaft coming off the centre of the engine power delivery is direct to the drive wheels but physics has a nasty habit of making what seems simple an endless challenge and so it seemed with the rotary the two biggest problems were not finding an effective seal for the tips of the rotary cylinder and exces sive fuel consumption gm mercedes and others dropped the concept and went back to pistons and camshafts but not mazda through dint of hard work and a lot of stubbornness mazda engineers found a solution and kept developing the rotary that has lead to todays renesis engine found in the current rx8 not only is it fairly good on gas at 86l 100 km on the highway automat ic transmission but now it turns out the rotary is uniquely suited to burning hydrogen which is a major step in making a hydrogen powered car a reality the renesis has two cylinders called chambers that combined make for a dis placement of 13 litres the rotary runs and sounds like nothing else it spins into life with not a lot of sound punch the gas and the pitch changes to a bassolike electric turbine turn it off and the sound reminds me of one of those new cyclonic vacuum cleaners leave a stop light and the rotary can wind up to the 9000 rpm redline in the time it takes to read this sentence and during full- throttle passing the twin exhausts put out a unique muted snarl the closest sound i can think of being the porsche 911 turbo the rx8 is offered in gs and gt versions both of which come standard with a six- speed manual transmission with the stick the engine produces 232 hp and 159 lbft of torque optionally available is a sixspeed automatic with steering wheel mounted pad dle shifters while the torque is the same the engine produces 212 hp in the automatic and redlines at 7500 rpm not the 9000 rpm of the manual the manual goes from 0100 kmh in a hair over six seconds the manual has a fuel consumption rating of 128l100 km city 92l100 km highway while the automatic gets 129l 100 km city and 86l 100 km high way both run on premium fuel other than transmissions the gs and gt are essentially the same with the exception of trim like xenon headlights with auto levelling on the gt and halogens on the gs the gs gets a cloth interior while the gt has leather about the only optional extras are a satellite navigation system and a power sunroof on the gt but they are not offered on tlie gs the gs has a list price of 37195 and the gt is 40395 the power sunroof as fitted to my tester adding 1000 to the sticker price the only other option the navigational sys tem costs 3000 extra did you know the rx8 is a fourdoor front and passenger doors open like french doors to reveal a back seat i suppose its pos sible for two adults to ride there with the driv er and front passenger seated all the way for ward but i wouldnt want to try it the gt comes with what mazda calls its intelligent key basically it is a wafer with a chip embedded in it that talks to the igni tion what you do to start the engine is twist a knob where the key normally goes the intel ligent key has to be in proximity for the engine to start and run there is an emergency key that slips inside the wafer but the theory is that while the wafer is in your possession no one can steal the car but you will have to remember not to leave the wafer somewhere like in your slacks as they go through the clothes washer it can also be a pain at places like valet parking i havent seen it on subsequent mazdas which i think is a good thing the compact size and lighter weight of the rotary let mazda engineers move the engine and the gas tank closer to the centre of the car for a near perfect weight distribution what that really does is make for what is known as a lowpolarmomentofyaw think of the car sitting on a pyramid with the tip at the centre of the car and with the engine on one end of the car and a full gas tank at the other when the driver turns the steering wheel the closer the engine and tank are to the centre of the car the quicker the direction of motion can be changed the farther away the more effort is needed to swing the mass es around and thats the secret behind the lightninglike handling of the rx8 finding ways to save weight was a priority on the rx8 examples are the carbon fibre driveshaft and the aluminum alloy upper and lower control arms on the front wishbone suspension behind the drivers seat all the sight lines are surprisingly good for a car with a roofline this low because the tank and engine are so close to the nexus of the four wheels the rx- 8 is really a tidy piece to drive on a trip up to the blue mountains of ontario there are dozens of great winding and well maintained roads snaking up and through the escarpment this is rx8 country as noted the engine revs like an electric motor but you have to remember that there is only 159 lbft of torque high revving engines all have to get the revs up to make power and the rotary is no exception to the rule taking off with verve you can change up through the gears under load as often as every 23 seconds if youre pushing it also on long uphill runs you find yourself shifting down one or two gears if the revs fall below 3000 but oh the handling and split second directional changes with traction control dynamic stability control dsc and a limit edslip rear differential its hard to hang the tail out but it can be done if only in a very limited fashion before the system kicks in and quells your enthusiasm the turning circle is only 106 metres so this car is very much point aod shoot wisely i did my best to stick to the speed limit which was 80 kmh in most places at this pace the rx8 was still a lot of fun and the driver still gets to experience the quickness of the steering and the rise and fall of the engine note without being a danger to himherself or others and isnt that what motoring is all about