Drove a RX-8

[Peter B]

Dropped my car off to get checked out at the dealer on satureday. Went into the show room to see the new 2010 mazda 3. Pretty nice! Except the smile is still wierd. Not as bad in person but not great either. However the one of the guys there pointed out if you get the car in black its not as bad, and when i looked at the black one head on, he was right.

Anyhow I saw a 2009 RX-8 there as well. The new face lift looks sweet. It was a special edition so the inside was tricked out like the MS3. Very nice. After a while I got to talking to one of the guys about it. He showed me a used one they had on the lot. 2004 with 70k on it. They wanted $11k. I wasn't really interested in buying it but that didn't stop me from test driving. I have to say what a great car to drive! The clutch is very forgiving and it handles very well. A little lacking on the acceleration.. I was expecting it to have a little more kick in the pants when i stepped on the gas, but still a great car. The dealer told me it picks up more in higher rpm's and thats where the rotary really shines. Overall it was very very easy to drive.

I kind of want one!

 

[altspace]

Yup, the powerband is after 5500 RPM. I love it! There's no Mazda Special Edition RX-8 for 2009, so it must have been a dealer thing. Can't expect much torque from a NA 1.3 liter.

 

[240ka]

should have driven the R3. the R3 looks sweet. the previous gen...meh

 

[240ka]

Yup, the powerband is after 5500 RPM. I love it! There's no Mazda Special Edition RX-8 for 2009, so it must have been a dealer thing. Can't expect much torque from a NA 1.3 liter.

but according to the way the rotory works. ive heard from many rotory guys you are supposed to double it or somthing like that.

so its actaully a 2.6 liter

 

[Kain]

I whipped an RX-8 around some cones a few year's back, and I have to say it has tremendous handling capabilities. I'm not used to revving the s*** out of an engine to eek out every last drop of HP, however.

 

[solidtrance]

Def takes some getting use to. Once you get use to the way the rotory works it is sore of addicting. When I drive the MS6 I can deffinately feel the extra power (aspecially down low), but the 8 puts a bigger smile on my face faster. Almost like I know something that no ones else does.(sssh)

 

[Sport6]

When I drove one at Lime Rock on the skidpad this year, it made me want one as well.. I didnt think I would like it. But its definitely a fun car. I too do not like to rev the piss out of engines, when I had my ZX-6R I still drove it around like it was a econobox and shifted around 3500-4000... Just felt so weird to bring it close/past 10,000rpm.

 

[altspace]

R3 is ok, I just can't get over the new "smile" grille, and the "altezza" tail lights.

 

[///M Compact]

I'm used to driving the M42 and S14 BMW engines, so I don't mind winding motors pretty tight to make power. If I had the $$$ I'd trade my MS3 for an R3 in about one nanosecond.

 

[I`m Batman]

I love the RX-7 and RX-8... the only thing that gets to me is that rotary engine burns oil by design...

 

[///M Compact]

I love the RX-7 and RX-8... the only thing that gets to me is that rotary engine burns oil by design...

Just think of it as recycling dinosaurs.

 

[coyfish]

I drove my uncles rx8 and it was awesome. Very different from my speed. Handles so much better and rotaries are smooooooth. Ur right about the accell though. Kind of cool how it keeps reving and reving and reving though.

 

[Peter B]

Excuse my ignorance... R3?

 

[mazdadude]

Excuse my ignorance... R3?

R3 is new for 2009, and is the top model of RX8, with some nice improvements.


Here is the link to the Mazdausa website that decribes the R3
http://www.mazdausa.com/MusaWeb/displayPage.action?pageParameter=rx8R3&vehicleCode=RX8

 

[240ka]

Track fun, id take a rx8 but around the city as a dd. I wouldn't go near one, same for the ,x5

 

[Peter B]

There's no Mazda Special Edition RX-8 for 2009, so it must have been a dealer thing.

It was the R3... now that I know what I was looking at... DAMN!

 

[240ka]

I thought the one you drove had 70k miles on it

 

[Peter B]

It did... the one I drove was a used 2004. The one I drooled over in the show room was a 2009 R3. The 19 inch rims were pretty sick!

 

[240ka]

Oh yeah, that's the r3. Str8 hotness. Older ones, yuck

 

[Old Rotor]

Both the 2004 and the 2009-R3 have about the same hp.