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Mars is a tough target at the moment with an angular diameter of only about 5 arc seconds and sinking low in the west early on. It won't be in opposition again until April 2014 when it will appear about three times as large as at present. You need a night of excellent seeing with steady air. Try catching it immediately after twilight before it gets too low to minimise the amount of atmosphere you're looking through. If you have good optics and a well collimated scope you could use a 5 or 6 mm eyepiece or 10 - 12mm with a 2x barlow for about 200x. The main factor in seeing detail will be a steady atmosphere, so be patient. On many nights you won't see anything but an orange blur.
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