I drive the car in Chicago year round and here is what I have learned. I dumped the stock tires and put on Avon all season performance tires. The car gets around OK in snow but not great. Chicago plows pretty well so this is not a big issue. Winter tires make the car very driveable in the snow but, now you have a 2nd set of tires to change and store.

As for the gas mileage in the city I get 11 to 12 mpg no matter how I drive the car. On the Highway I get 18 to 22 mpg. I have found Mazda to have absolutely no interest in resolving the gas mileage problem and was even told this is normal.

So in Mazda's own words "11 to 12 MPG CITY IS NORMAL FOR THE RX-8" I really like this car but I hate the mileage and lack of support.