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The Mazda RX-8 is a sports car with a difference - not least under the bonnet.
UPDATE: Mazda Australia has confirmed that 5117 vehicles in Australia are fitted with the more dangerous 'Alpha' airbags locally, with 3693 of these units already repaired (72.2 per cent). That leaves 1424 vehicles outstanding, though the local arm has confirmed with CarAdvice that these vehicles were already subject to the original Takata airbag recalls that were issued over the past two years...
Mazda has issued a recall for 5400 of its 2003 to 2009 RX-8 sports cars over concerns the vehicles could develop a fuel leak. The Japanese manufacturer reports that the plastic fuel pump retaining rings on the fuel tanks could deteriorate due to heat exposure from the engine and exhaust pipes...
The string of Takata airbag recalls this week continues with Mazda issuing notices for over 162,000 vehicles, including the popular Mazda 2 small car, B Series and BT-50 utes, and the RX-8 sports car. Adding to the Chrysler and Mitsubishi recalls this week, and the Subaru recall issued last week, this latest notice adds to the wider Takata airbag scandal that has affected close to 60 million vehicles globally...
Mazda CEO Masamichi Kogai has officially ruled out a rotary engine-powered RX halo car for the Hiroshima-based car maker. In a chat with Automotive News, Kogai said: "We don't have that kind of vehicle in our future product plan". Kogai reasons that, as a small mainstream car maker, "if you increase the number of segments, then the resources we can allocate to each will decline and that will prevent us from developing truly good products"...
I have owned this RX-8 since new from December 2011. The curves and quirkiness of the Wankel engine and those rearward-opening back doors just made me fall in love. I drove the car home two days later, being the first RWD car I had owned in nine years. The Darwin wet season was in full swing and the roads overflowing with standing water, but the handling and grip inspired confidence and the car remained planted throughout...
Have you ever woken up one morning and thought to yourself, Gee, I wish I had a wildly impractical, quirky, inefficient and polluting Mazda to do my daily commute in? Well I did. It was that morning I set my sights on owning a Wankel Rotary and it was that afternoon that my Mazda RX8 left the second hand dealer and began its unreliable adventure with me...
Spinning to over 9000rpm from its throaty Wankel engine this strange beast knows how to thrill its young owner. Brought just recently, I predicted days of low compression and large bills in my future but so far this little rotary has been nothing but a pleasure. With its perfect 50:50 weight distribution and front engine, rear drive set up with a whopping big LSD, this car handles like nothing else...
I have owned a number of cars over the years from Holden, Toyota, Mitsubishi which is my current car (evolution 8) but nothing has compared to the Mazda RX8 which I bought on my own money when I was 19. The car gives you the sense of satisfaction and pride...
