It could just be part of a "master" plan. When the Z3 came out it was only availble in a 4cyl, then came the 6cyl along with all the trade ins, finally we got the ball busting M Roadster and the car shaped like a shoe. The RX8 may only be 238 now, but once people warm up to it then they may start making the real HP models, marketing, marketing, marketing.

All Mazda really has to do is make a turbo version of the car, adn it would be considerably beter then it already is(has anyone seen the shift knob, its like a minature rotor!!)

yeah until it blws up cuz it is a rotary

Well I hope they fixed those leaky injectors, I've seen everyone of the RX-7's go up in flames! Death traps I say!

LOL yeah watch those spontaneously combusting rotaries...

There are two reasons why the RX-8 has the power rating it does...one, Mazda is more about balance than raw power. I don't personally agree with it but that's their philosophy. Harder to drive a car fast than drive a fast car, but more rewarding.

Second, turbo rotaries are notoriously unreliable. To the enthusiast they can run almost forever at crazy power levels. But to the general public, they're a PR nightmare for Mazda. This is why they're NA. But also look at the 350Z & upcoming Supra...they used to be turbo, now they're NA as well...anyone who's seen a 300ZX TT with some miles knows how unreliable those are...the Supras are an exception but Toyota is still gonna be conservative.

That aside, there are almost concrete rumors about the RX-7 coming back in the next few years, with an optional turbocharged Renesis...