Mazda RX-8 Road Test

Maxda RX-8

Build Quality

The Mazda RX-8's build quality is excellent - in fact there is little to fault. Mazda's renowned reliability and 3-year warranty combined with the Zoom, Zoom, Zoom factor ensures that owning this car will not leave you disappointed.

The Winning Blue paint finish was particularly good and had a lustrous finish.

Value For Money

When we were in Cornwall we were approached by a woman who said that she was fortunate that the RX-8 had four doors, we thought that this was because of her children, but she said no, it was because her company only allowed four door cars on their fleet and she had one on order.

The previous week we had driven a Hyundai Coupe 2.7 V6 which costs £18,795 OTR with a five year warranty, the RX-8 costs £22,300 - which makes it £ 3205 more ( the 192ps RX-8 is only £ 1205 more, and it is a quicker car than the Hyundai) and it is worth every penny of the difference.

The RX-8 is quicker, better built, better equipped and is far more dynamic to drive. The only thing that is missing is the five year warranty. The higher output RX-8 not only gains an extra 39 bhp, it also gains a 6-speed gearbox and Xenon headlights.

If it were our money we would choose the RX-8 it is excellent value for money and exceeds our smiles per mile test by a long way.

Overall Opinion

We drive over 100 cars a year, and the RX-8 left a lasting impression, it is often too easy to forget which vehicle we drove the week before but the Mazda RX-8 will go down in our hall of fame. Mazda deserve recognition for creating a new class of four-seater in the sports car market.

It is a car that that begs to be driven so much so that we drove over 200 miles in one evening just to go for fish chips, albeit courtesy of Rick Stein.

If you are in the Coupe frame of mind or can convince your fleet manager that this a four door saloon, then the RX-8 comes highly recommended.

Mazda RX-8