Sometimes the RX-8 seems like a throwback. It’s the only car in the world still being made with Mazda’s quirky rotary engine. But is it more than the ultimate enthusiast car, with limited appeal beyond the tiny fraternity of rotary engine believers?
Sports Car Heritage
Mazda started shipping cars with Rotary engines in 1968, and 40 years later they’re still making the engine, although they’ve transitioned the company to more conventional engines for their popular Mazda3 hatchback and MX-5 convertible platforms.
But there’s still a place for the RX-8, and I believe (and hope!) that Mazda will always have a rotary engine offering in its lineup. I say so precisely because the rotary is a unique engine that no other automaker can touch. Right off the showroom floor, you can spin the RX-8’s highly developed Renesis rotary to 9,000 RPM. Yes, the Renesis’ 238 horsepower and 159 pound-feet of torque aren’t staggering numbers in today’s market, but how many of those 500 horsepower beasts make their power out of 1.3 liters of displacement? Cubic centimeter for cubic centimeter, the rotary is an amazing performance package. Lastly, I like the rotary engine just because it’s different – and that makes it interesting in a world where it’s becoming increasingly different to tell cars apart.
Readers often ask why it is that car reviews are overwhelmingly positive almost all the time. The answer is simple: car companies don’t send their dogs to reporters. They know which cars are hot tickets and those are the ones they make available to the press. They would be silly to give us the loss leaders and keep their hot rods under wraps.
Looks Great - Drives Better
So it’s no surprise that I’m going to tell you how great the Infiniti G37 is – it is great, and there’s really nothing I can find that’s wrong with it, except that I have to give it back tomorrow and I want to keep it forever.
Coupes (two door) 
