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Then recently I got my third Mazda: the RX-8. I’d picked the RX-8 as the best-handling car for Road & Track. The magazine did the 10 best cars for under whatever price, and that was my choice.

I thought it had the best gearbox. I thought it was the lightest on its feet. You had to work the engine to make it go – it didn’t have all kinds of torque – but it was a great deal of pleasure running it up to 9500rpm and just tapping the gearlever and it all seemed very linear. I just liked the way it felt.

The rotary motor fascinates me because it’s really the only new engine of the 20th century. Mazda perfected it and made it popular and I like the fact that the company sticks with it. It doesn’t have as good fuel consumption as the conventional internal combustion engine, but the reliability seems to be there. People say they burn oil but mine doesn’t. Putting half a pint of oil in every 1,000 miles doesn’t seem excessive to me. If you’re an enthusiast and you like your car, that doesn’t seem crazy.

I also like the design of Mazdas. I like the RX-8 because, whether you love it or hate it, at least it doesn’t look like any other car on the road. When I was a kid growing up in America you could tell by a rear tail light, by a rear quarter-panel or a front quarter-panel, whether you were looking at a Ford or a Chrysler or a Chevy. Everything was distinctive.

Nowadays there’s a line of cars from Buick and Chevrolet that all kind of look the same. The Lexus, the Infiniti, these cars kind of look the same. The RX-8 looks different and I like the original thinking. I like the rear quarter-door that opens. It looks like a two-door but it’s really a four-door. I like the haunches on the fenders. When I see one on the road I immediately identify it.

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