We bid farewell to the demo car that never materialised...

Admittedly, I bought the RX-8 on impulse.

But can you blame me? I mean, just look at it, it's absolutely gorgeous. In this unique shade of purple, clad in a well-balanced mix-and-match dress-up kit and huge 19" wheels, its a pretty thing. It looked even better after the RSR springs were fitted, that really slammed the car good.

The drive needed some getting used to though. The high revving engine meant that I had to adopt a heavy foot to get the car anywhere near fast. The handling though great, never quite felt special. But once in the hot zone, there's much fun to be had in this grippy coupe. If you can afford the gas.

Being a strict four-seater had its obvious limitations, and the unique 'suicide doors' posed a problem when the car was parked between two cars side-by-side. Co-ordination of which doors opened and closed first was essential to facilitate the getting in and out of a fully loaded car.

Then there was the sound. Take it from me, rotary engines in their naturally aspirated form, don't sound great. In fact, all the way from 1,000rpm to 9,000rpm, the car just makes a monotonous drone. It gets raspy at the higher rev range, but it's still far from inspiring. Not the best demo car for our Borla® systems then...

So, will I miss it? No, not really. But not because it isn't a great car. It just isn't my type. My new ride however, has got me charmed from day one, and it isn't even half as good looking...