Finally managed to get my first test drive of the car today. While there's not a lot I can add to the deserved praise the car has received, there are a couple of things which were "stand outs" for me.

First was the engine noise. I've never driven a rotary before and I must admit it will take a bit of getting used to. I continually felt as if I was overreving and that I should be changing up a gear, only to look at the rev counter and find that I was at the 4000 rpm mark, with another 5000 to go! The refined howl of the rotary as the revs build is absolutely fantastic!

As others have remarked, I found myself travelling far faster than I thought and I wondered why the accompanying salesman was warning me of an unmarked police car operating in the area until I noticed I was doing 90 in a 50 zone!

Only small problem I had was finding 6th gear. It seems to be spring weighted, so there is a definate pull to the right required as you move from 5th to 6th and at one point I was afraid I was going to end up in reverse so chickened out and went back down to 5th.

The car I tested was a 231PS Titanium with leather and satnav - exactly the same as I have on order. I had my wife along for the "seal of approval" and she gave it a big thumbs up.

17th December is now showing as my delivery date to the dealer, so I have a few weeks to wait yet. It will be a long few weeks!

 

Glad you liked it (like the rest of us )

As for 6th ... Like all my cars I've owned over the last 10 years, I consider the top gear to be an overdrive and only ever use it when "cruising" on the motorway. This will be especially true of the RX-8 given it's 9000 RPM limit and limited torque.