A beautiful Mazda RX8, seen at a Mazda dealer in south Beijing. The sporty Maz’ was painted in black and looked great, still standing on its original five-spoke sporty wheels.
The Mazda RX8 was manufactured from 2003 until 2012, with a major facelift in 2009. This is an original pre-facelift example.
The RX8 was officially sold in China from 2004 until 2010. They kept it simple and offered just one top-end trim level. Price in 2004 was exactly 380.000 yuan for the six-speed manual version and 390.000 yuan for the 5-speed automatic.
Power came from the famous 1.3 liter four-cylinder rotary engine. This engine delivered 209 hp and 222 Nm (pre-facelift model). Most amazingly where the rpm numbers: peak power came in at 7200 rpm, and peak torque at 5000 rpm. The RX8 was therefore not an easy car to go fast in. But fast it was; with a top speed of 220 km/h and a 0-100 in 6.4 seconds.
Period photo of a brand new RX8 in a Mazda dealer, with the sunroof open!
The interior was in great shape and completely original. The ‘circled’ center stack and the racy handbrake are ultra cool.
The RX8 was a bit of an odd sportsmobile because it had four doors, with rear hinged rear ‘suicide doors’.
The license plate is interesting, with a triple 5.
Still a fantastic looking car today, and happily there are quite a few around on the roads of the capital. May they last!
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