MAZDA RX-8 customers will be offered the chance to hone their driving skills by vehicle preparation specialist Prodrive.

Based at its vehicle testing ground in Warwickshire, Prodrive will take RX-8 customers through an intensive one-day performance driving course which will include track driving, taking the customer through the car's limits and demonstrating how to fully exploit the power and handling.

There will also be a road driving element about positioning for road safety, safe use of available power and safe overtaking techniques. The course is worth £500 but offered free of charge to all UK RX-8 buyers.

This week, Mazda revealed fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions for the sports car, which despite falling into the highest benefit-in-kind tax bracket offers competitive BIK liability.

Two versions will be on sale in the UK, both using a 1.3-litre rotary engine – the 'standard-power' variant producing 189bhp and the 'high-power' variant offering 228bhp.

The standard car returns 26.2mpg on the combined cycle with CO2 emissions of 267g/km, while the more powerful version achieves 24.8mpg with CO2 emissions of 284g/km.

However, despite being firmly in the 35% bracket for company car tax, low P11d prices mean tax rates are lower than many rivals. The annual tax bill for a 40% tax-payer in the 'standard-power' RX-8 is 62pence less than an Audi TT quattro 1.8T 180 at £2,774.10, and less than a BMW 325i Sport in both saloon and coupe bodystyles.

The difference would be even greater if the rival models had options added to bring them up to the same level of equipment as the Mazda.

However, the Toyota Celica T Sport would have an annual BIK tax bill of £1,998.24 in 2003/04, making it the only rival significantly cheaper for a company car driver. The tax bill for the 'high-power' variant in 2003/04 is £3,054.10 – less than the equivalent Audi TT or A4 saloon, BMW 330, Mercedes-Benz C320 Sports Coupe, Honda S2000 GT and Porsche Boxster 2.7.