Picked up a copy of this in my local supermarket this evening.

Selected highlights/lowlights (for those of you too cheap to buy your own copy):

- It has a 4* Euro-NCAP rating.
- Autocar tried the car at Laguna Seca and grumble that they had to drive round very slowly in convoy, so it may not be the best test
- 'The cockpit is a treat by Japanese standards, a big improvement both in taste and quality, and you can really get comfortable.'
'The engine will zing to its 9500rpm cut-out with absolutely no resistance'
- 'Steering feel and grip in the wet are excellent'
- 'It may be capable of 0-60 in 6 sec, but it doesn't feel like it [...] unless you live permanently in the sky-high rev range
- 'No wonderful VTEC snarl - more of a tenor whine, but refinement is exceptional, only a distant suspicion of tremor intruding about 6000rpm'
- DSC is deemed to be very good - allows just enough playfulness
- 'The ride is lean, favouring communication over comfort, and Mazda doesn't need to apologise for that'
- Once you're cooking, this car is so lithe, so balanced, that it must find an appreciative following; they just won't be recruited from the Evo brigade, that's all' [identify yourselves, brigade members]
- 'The power profile rarely sits happily with the conditions most of us drive under. The RX-8 is not devoid of low-down kick so long as you stick to the lower gears, - below 4000rpm there's very little - but you do hanker for a little more rudeness'

Verdict - 'Cleverest and most user-friendly rotary-engined Mazda yet, but a sharp chassis and great looks deserve a punchier engine'.

 

Not the best report I've read but the pics are great!!

Oilman