New to the Burnpavement garage is a sexy Mazda RX-8. Finished in deep purple, this rotary-powered coupé will double up as a demo car for our Borla® exhaust systems set to arrive in 2 weeks.

Photos: Joel Tam

I must admit, I was never really fond of the RX-8. It is clearly more of a looker than a performer. While I certainly admire it from a conceptual standpoint - rotary engine, rear-wheel drive, 4-seater coupé/sedan with suicide doors and possessing a shape like no other - it still didn't win my heart entirely...

At least not untll I saw this gorgeous and immaculate 'Ribena Berry'.

Resprayed from black to this Merlot shade, it's adorned with a Autoexe SE-03 front bumper, Ings side skirts and Chargespeed rear bumper. Wrapped in Toyo T1-Rs, the 6-spoked 19" 2-piece Buddy Club P1 Racing IIs complement the car with light-weight efficiency and style. Engine is left pretty much untouched except for the highly-rated Racing Beat REVi intake and a set of ROV-friendly Fujitsubo exhausts - which will make way for the Borla® system soon.

It is also fully maintained by Mazda Motor with every last service logged, stamped and signed. More about the car soon...