2009 Mazda RX-8

When it debuted in 2003, the Mazda RX-8's clamshell doors, four adult-size seats, high-revving rotary engine, and lightweight body set it apart. For 2009, the RX-8 gets a minor freshening featuring new headlights and taillights, a slightly revised interior, and a driver-focused R3 model. After a couple of days thrashing a 2009 RX-8 R3, we're quite smitten.

The 2009 Mazda RX-8 is an inviting car-small, sporty, fun to drive.

I get caught in the trap of thinking that it ended production a year or two ago; it's on my radar, but in the same way that an E46 M3 or a Porsche 996 is. I only see them at track events or autocrosses (where recent-production, but not necessarily new, sports cars abound), and so I tend to forget that people are still buying them new. Or that Mazda is even still selling them.

The RX-8 is quirky, thirsty, torqueless, and not exactly mass-market friendly.

For $32,000, you get an extremely sporty car that also has back seats and a decent-size trunk (as long as you get run-flat tires). The back seats aren't huge, but they're among the best for a sporty coupe.

The unique engine burns through far too much fuel (and, historically, oil) for its small, 1.3-liter displacement.

The 2009 Mazda RX-8 is surprisingly practical.

The Mazda RX-8 cabin is comfortable and surprisingly roomy. The seats are very good, a nice fit with good bolstering. Soft-touch surfaces are used on armrests and consoles, with hard plastics along lower surfaces that look satisfactory and help keep the weight down.

The Mazda RX-8 handles like a true sports car, with great balance and precise turn-in. Yet the suspension is soft enough for daily comfortable use and not as stiff as that of other sports cars that corner only slightly better but pay the price with a rigid ride.

Extremely smooth and simple, the rotary has benefited from 40 years of development by Mazda engineers. The RX-8 features the latest and by far the best rotary engine design, which Mazda calls Renesis.

The Mazda RX-8 is a unique sports car.