Sports car: Mazda RX-8 Hi-Power

Rampant CO2 emissions and a thirst for fuel were always going to depress prices of Mazda’s RX-8, with or without the country’s financial woes, but there are many bright spots for the four-seater coupé. For a start, current road tax of £210 won’t double as originally planned, although it will still rise.

The clever Mazda has been blighted by tales that the high-revving rotary engine is unreliable and uses too much oil, but that’s not strictly true. Oil quantities are manageable, as long as you keep an eye on it, and once you figure out how to avoid flooding the engine (don’t start it, stop it, then start again when still cold), it’s dependable. When it was new, CAP predicted this 228bhp RX-8 Hi-Power would fetch just over £9,300 in the trade. With dealer mark-ups, you would have expected closer to £11,000. At £6,800, it’s a bargain, even at an average 25mpg.

Mazda RX-8
Hi-Power
Price new in 2005: £22,300
Example we found:
54-reg, 47,000 miles, £6,800
Value drop: 69.5 per cent