The rotary-powered Mazda RX-8’s life is coming to an end, no thanks to stricter emission rules. And as a send off, Mazda created a final special edition for the unique four-door coupe called Spirit-R, launched in November last year and limited to 1,000 units.
But too many enthusiasts wanted a piece of the farewell cake, so Mazda has decided to extend production of the Spirit-R by another 1,000 units. According to the Hiroshima-based carmaker, orders poured in from customers of all ages, including sports car fans and rotary engine enthusiasts. The six-speed manual has been more popular, accounting for 66% of orders.
Both manual and auto variants have their own exclusive kit. The self-shifter sports aero parts, “hard suspension” with Bilstein dampers, Recaro fabric bucket seats, aluminum pedal set and 19-inch bronze-painted forged aluminum wheels.
The six-speed Activematic auto, on the other hand, gets black leather seats (eight-way powered, with memory), “sports suspension,” 225/45 91W tyres and 18-inch alloys (gun metallic) and heated front seats. Three body colours are available for both – Aluminum Metallic, Sparkling Black Mica and Crystal White Pearl Mica.
Kit shared across the board are special ornament, black bezel lamps, larger brake rotors, piano black trim, front/side/curtain airbags, DSC and TCS, leather steering and centre console box with red stitching. The Spirit-R is priced at 3,250,000 yen (RM124,789) for the manual and 3,120,000 yen (RM119,816) for the auto.
Mazda started selling the twin-rotor rotary RX-8 in April 2003, and as of March 31, 2012, has produced 192,094 units of the rear-wheel drive sportscar. Production ends next month. Sayonara!
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another fine model by Mazda on the way out.
at least the farewell is very thought-out and fits the occasion.
sayonara rx-8!
Ya, sad to see RX-8 go… With the stricter emission standard, we will see a lot more awesome and iconic cars being stopped…
Sad…
Long live the Rotary.Good bye icon
Maybe a Skyactive Rotary Mazda RX-9 will come soon
iconic engine! maybe mazda should produce rx series using normal 4 pot engine+rwd car.
That would totally tarnish the legacy of the rotary engined RX line
Rotaries are good cuz they r mechanically less complicated than an inline 4 engine and capable of producing high horsepower from a small cc.
Mazda just has to fix the fuel efficiency and emission part.Which i think with skyactive tech can be done in the future
Yeah, just do some surgery to replace the heart. It’s a great loss to stop production altogether for this icon. Or they’ll come out with a completely new RX9 later (or call it another name)?
if you ask mazda go make L4 engine for rx-8…
then you may go ask Toyota make L4 turbocharge for the legend 86
Produce RX model with 4-inline engine ??!! that’s impossible ……. it just like call Nissan produce GTR without AWD ……..
bye2 iconic torque less engine…
????????????? kokoro yori okuyami moushiagemasu
price so cheap!!
That’s a Jap price. Expect double for Malaysian price.
This reminds me of the old Mazda RX-7 Spirit R…
Hope it is on sales in Malaysia!!! with the same price as Japan… but that would be impossible!!
it is on sale,but not that price la.hahaha
Any word on an RX-9?
new model to replace rx8 should be proper 2 door coupe, with bigger engine size, perhaps rotary 1.6L n/a with 280hp to challenge lancer evo or impreza wrx sti.
no turbo assist to achieve that high horsepower…..imposibru……..
The selling price for RM124,789 will be around RM200,000+++ I wan it !!
Sayounara RX8..
Hopefully Mazda will continue enhancing the rotary tech. Rotary + skyactive perhaps…
proton satraia campro aku lebih cepat dari kura2 ni
Saw one at Bermaz, Puchong last week, selling for RM239k..too rich for me. Wonder how it rides, maybe Danny can test drive one and let us know? :p Car really looks good in real life but CX-5 is more practical in terms of daily usage.