If for no other reason than that it has a rotary engine, the Mazda RX-8 is unique. But the RX-8 is also virtually the only sports car with four doors — two conventional ones, and two smaller rear-hinged. Those secondary doors are there to allow access to two tiny seats that are better used for carrying shopping bags instead of humans, but they're there. And they help make the Mazda RX-8 a usable everyday car instead of a narrowly focused sport machine.
Though it's called RX-8, the Mazda RX-8 actually follows in the footsteps of three generations of RX-7 sports cars. The first RX-7, introduced as a 1978 model, was an extremely simple rear-drive, unibody car with a set of struts holding up the front and a solid axle on coil springs and four links in the back. The magic was all in the two-rotor "12A" rotary engine tucked in behind the front wheels. Pushing the small 12A's mass rearward helped the first RX-7 achieve nearly perfect 50/50 front-to-rear weight distribution and, though it made only 100 horsepower, its engaging personality upped the RX-7's fun factor immensely. And it set the example the Mazda RX-8 would follow.
The next step toward the Mazda RX-8 was the second-generation RX-7 that appeared in 1986. The second RX-7 added all-independent suspension, a turbo option and a convertible model, but was a little less distinctive in its styling. Still it was a step on the evolutionary path to the Mazda RX-8.
The great leap forward preceding the Mazda RX-8 was the third-generation RX-7 introduced for 1993. Built to be lightweight, and coming standard with an incredibly complex, sequentially twin-turbocharged 13B rotary, the third RX-7 was a hard-core monster of a small sports car. Maybe too hard-core for the market, so it was withdrawn from America after 1995. The stage was set for the Mazda RX-8.
The Mazda RX-8 appeared for the 2004 model year powered by an advanced version of the rotary engine called the "Renesis." Doing without forced induction, the Renesis was nonetheless good for up to 250 hp with a 9,000-rpm redline. The Mazda RX-8 has been building on that base ever since.
