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 2007 Mazda RX-8
The Mazda RX-8 was created through the pursuit of a genuine sports car with a totally new, four-door, four-seat format that delivers sports car values, passenger comfort and driving pleasure. In concrete terms, the RX-8 offers unique and unmistakable styling; high-end, sharp and responsive performance that assures driving pleasure; and overall practicality that greatly exceeds other sports cars in terms of passenger accommodations, cost-performance and utility. To realize these unprecedented goals, the RX-8 team pursued the following six key factors:
By combining these key values into a single product, Mazda has written a new chapter in its sports car history, realizing fresh values for the sports car genre in a new format. The 2005 Mazda RX-8 answers the demands of sports car enthusiasts who pursue performance driving but are not willing to forego comfort, convenience and practicality. ExteriorMazda has produced many sports cars with exciting, innovative styling that stand the test of time -- such as the first-generation Cosmo Sport, the RX-7 and the MX-5 Miata. Following this tradition, Mazda designers were determined to give the four-door, four-seater RX-8 unprecedented styling. Hundreds of items were carefully examined at the design stage to devise new ways of tightening the gaps between body panels and other exterior parts to improve the fit and finish of the Mazda RX-8's striking exterior form. As a result the RX-8 delivers craftsmanship of the highest quality. InteriorAs with the exterior, the Mazda RX-8's interior design signals a thorough pursuit of sports car excitement in form and feeling of control, although the designers avoided the strictly driver-oriented approach of conventional sports car cabins. Instead they worked to develop a "comfortably snug" theme that expresses a more modern and refined sports car taste. The spacious, innovative interior invites and welcomes through opened doors, and while comfortably appointed, the interior echoes the dynamic impression of the RX-8's exterior and creates an emotional tone that will appeal to sports car drivers. Key interior design elements include:
PerformanceRX-8's responsive handling and performance deliver driving pleasure far beyond the norm. A key factor in achieving the RX-8's unrivaled performance and superb handling is its lightweight, perfectly balanced 50:50 weight distribution, and small yaw-inertia moment and low center of gravity. Translation: "Yaw inertia" can be described as the resistance of a vehicle to being turned from its natural straight-line path. The front-midship layout is further enhanced by RENESIS, the next-generation rotary engine. Naturally aspirated, the RENESIS is smaller and lighter than Mazda's previous turbo rotary engine (13B-REW), and it is only 338mm high, the same height as the transmission. This made it possible to mount the engine about 60mm further rearward and some 40mm lower than in the RX-7, which already had the engine's center of gravity behind the front axle. As a result, the RX-8 has perfect 50:50 front/rear weight distribution, a small yaw-inertia moment and the same low center of gravity as the RX-7. Thanks to its "low polar moment," the RX-8 is very responsive to changes in direction and provides more agile handling than cars with a "high polar moment". The RX-8 also utilizes the integral Power Plant Frame (PPF) technology of Miata legacy. During acceleration, the driveshaft torque tends to twist the whole drivetrain, wasting energy and performance. To combat this, the Power Plant Frame marries engine, transmission and differential into a single, rigid unit. The remarkable result of this design is a drivetrain that virtually eliminates the twisting. So when you step on the accelerator, maximum power is swiftly and directly provided to the rear wheels giving the RX-8 its tight, quick feel. |