2010 Mazda RX-8

The only rotary engine in the automotive world lies within the Mazda RX-8. An Iconic power plant for decades, and used to its best potential in the now out of production RX-7. The RX-8 continues Mazda's tradition of sports cars built around the tiny rotary engine. It is however, a sedan, rather than the previous coupes. A none to portly 3000 LB. curb weight combined with perfect 50/50 front to rear weight distribution, make the RX-8 a best of class handling machine. Unfortunately, the rotary engine cannot produce the kind of power that is usually found in models in this segment. A better corner carver than a straight line rocket.

The 1.3 liter twin rotor engine isn't the most fuel efficient and it lacks much power in the lower rev range, but once spooled up, things get much better. 232 HP comes at 9000 RPM's. This is only available with the manual. With the automatic transmission power is limited to 212 hp. While these numbers are hardly earth shaking, the power delivery from this rotary engine is some of the smoothest to be found.