i had an mr2 roadster which was VVTi and that revved to 8500. also been out in an S2000 which revs to 9000, neither of those blow up, or drain oil.
i understand the engineering differences, but i must admit i got bored of screamer engines, i like having torque and not needing to rag the car to the limits to get the most out of it.
i think the rx8 is a bi wankle engine set up. there was another model that mazda did back in the 90's which was either tri or quad wankle setup. it was menat to sound imense.