There is a Japanese word, "takumi," roughly meaning mechanical warmth, and that's what the RX-8 designers tried to deliver, although the result might seem to twist the word more toward "funky." The RX-8 is a car you could walk around and around again, and still find new things to recognize and appreciate, especially if you lifted up the hood and poked around, and crawled underneath it. The first thing you notice are the bulges, which if not graceful, certainly have a style of their own. It's the most aggressive shape possible and still be stamped steel, according to a Mazda spokesman.

It's definitely aggressive, in a smallish kind of way. From the double-bubble roof, down the hood and over the bulge that's shaped like one of the engine rotors (same as the logo), to those big wide ears of front fenders, to the headlamps and grille and air intakes that give the RX-8 a face: wide-eyed, startled, big dimples. Head-on, the RX-8 looks like it's getting gently goosed and is saying, "Oh!"

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From the rear it looks good, with upswept lines and wide fender flares again. From the side you see big sharp wheel arches, plus a long black mesh angled vertical vent behind the front wheel to let hot air out of the engine compartment. The headlights aren't as dramatic as they might be. "We think we should design cars with sheetmetal, not with lighting," responds Mazda. We were surprised the RX-8 didn't get more notice on the street while driving around Orange County in Southern California.

The front and rear doors open in opposite directions, which Mazda calls the Freestyle door system (in the '20s such doors were called suicide doors, but we've fortunately gotten away from that expression). This allows very easy ingress and egress for the rear-seat passengers. There is no pillar between the doors, and Mazda has carefully designed the structure with supporting steel crossmembers and braces for rigidity and safety against a side impact. Mazda says its expects to achieve top scores in government and insurance industry crash tests.

Since the four-seat feature is what the RX-8 hangs its hat on, we'll start there. We picked up a friend for our test ride, a big friend measuring 6-foot, 3 inches tall and 248 pounds in girth. "No problem," he said after easily climbing in back. "Honestly, it's comfortable! The only thing is, the visibility forward is poor. But I can see out the rear windows at least. Too bad they don't roll down, but just push outward." He also liked how the console extended like a backbone all the way back between the rear seats, and beyond, as a vertical compartment opens to the trunk to allow the carrying of skis and such. The trunk can carry two sets of golf clubs.
For the driver, the instrument panel seems to sacrifice efficiency for style, which is always debatable. There are three big rings, dominated by the 10,000-rpm tachometer in the center, with only a digital speedometer located at about 9:00 on the tach face. Because the two large outside rings only include gauges for water temp, fuel and oil pressure, there's space there that could have been used for a separate speedometer. The instruments are illuminated with indirect blue lighting.

The air conditioning wasn't as effective as we expected it to be, and the cloth seat material wasn't as attractive to our eyes as it might have been, but the seats did have a nice fit with good bolstering. We've only seen pictures of the leather upholstery and liked the way it looked, at least. We definitely like the stitched leather three-spoke steering wheel, both for its style and feel. Another great thing was the drilled aluminum pedals, including a very secure dead pedal. The brake pedal is designed to make rotation of your right foot easier, for heel-and-toe downshifting, and it also releases upon impact, to lessen leg injuries in the case of a head-on crash. Each knee is comfortably and firmly supported during hard cornering.
The panel forward of the gearshift lever is trimmed in a combination of leather and high-quality vinyl and glossy black plastic. The stereo and climate control knobs are integrated, which may be intended to simplify but can sometimes lead to confusion; control buttons are also on the steering wheel spokes. The doors and seatbacks have ample pockets and cranny space, and four CDs can fit in the console. The soft triangular shape of the engine rotors are found throughout the interior, most noticeably and stylishly in the headrests.

The full complement of airbags includes forward and side thorax airbags for the front passengers, and curtain airbags front and rear.