Had mine for 8 Days

[FX-MAN]

I traded in my RX-8 for the Mazdaspeed6 last week. (mainly, because i now have 2 kids, and need a 4 door with a REAL back seat, but also because I wanted AWD).

Here are my 1st impressions.

1st and 2nd gear are awesome, compared to the RX-8 it certainly pulls harder off the line (although having to shift at 6000rpm instead of 9500 does hurt the 0-60). 3rd gear has a large drop in power, and 4-6 are pretty much feeling like an average sedan. Overall the RX-8 is definitely a faster car, but for a sedan, this thing is great.

I got the 2 tone black/white interrior which looks frickin' awesome. I also got a ski rack thrown on there, and it looks pretty mean with the rack up there.

The car looks amazing, it handles very well, and in the rain it blows the RX-8 away (AWD Vs. RWD, so Duh!). It is a very comfortable ride in general. All in all, it feels like an even swap with the RX-8. I traded some high end power (RX-8 pulls hard through 4th gear, and even has some pull in 5th) for being able to bang my head against the seat in the low end, and floor it in the rain. In general I am happy with the trade.

There are a couple negatives.. this car with stock rims and tires, handles snow horribly (uphil is mediocre, but downhill, you simply can't slow the car, you just Sllliiiiiiiide), and there don't seem to be any smaller steel rims you can buy for it so you are stuck paying $1200 bucks for 18" snow tires which arn't going to help you much. The gas mileage is about the same as the RX-8 (so pretty bad). It wouldn't beat an RX-8 on the track, but it would lead for about 2 seconds off the line (until you need to shift to 2nd and the RX-8 can just keep going for another 3 seconds).

 

[crzygosu87]

next obvious step ... PICS~!!! =D (2thumbs)

 

[genericuser]

yeah man, pics!

so overall you like the car it seems.. good purchase.

I want pics of the interior.. that two tone is hawt

 

[Da 6]

crossbow what was the clearance on the calipers for the lowest rim size safely ran on speed 6?

 

[Antoine]

Nice comparison (thumb)...Got any ideas on how to make it beat the ol' rx8?

...and yes...(pics)

I traded in my RX-8 for the Mazdaspeed6 last week. (mainly, because i now have 2 kids, and need a 4 door with a REAL back seat, but also because I wanted AWD).

Here are my 1st impressions.

1st and 2nd gear are awesome, compared to the RX-8 it certainly pulls harder off the line (although having to shift at 6000rpm instead of 9500 does hurt the 0-60). 3rd gear has a large drop in power, and 4-6 are pretty much feeling like an average sedan. Overall the RX-8 is definitely a faster car, but for a sedan, this thing is great.

I got the 2 tone black/white interrior which looks frickin' awesome. I also got a ski rack thrown on there, and it looks pretty mean with the rack up there.

The car looks amazing, it handles very well, and in the rain it blows the RX-8 away (AWD Vs. RWD, so Duh!). It is a very comfortable ride in general. All in all, it feels like an even swap with the RX-8. I traded some high end power (RX-8 pulls hard through 4th gear, and even has some pull in 5th) for being able to bang my head against the seat in the low end, and floor it in the rain. In general I am happy with the trade.

There are a couple negatives.. this car with stock rims and tires, handles snow horribly (uphil is mediocre, but downhill, you simply can't slow the car, you just Sllliiiiiiiide), and there don't seem to be any smaller steel rims you can buy for it so you are stuck paying $1200 bucks for 18" snow tires which arn't going to help you much. The gas mileage is about the same as the RX-8 (so pretty bad). It wouldn't beat an RX-8 on the track, but it would lead for about 2 seconds off the line (until you need to shift to 2nd and the RX-8 can just keep going for another 3 seconds).

 

[crossbow]

17's fit on the car without issue. A few members are running 17's on the other club sites on their MPS 6's.

18's were put on the car for bling bling aesthetics, not because of caliper/rotor fitment.

I would consider driving on stock tires in the snow extremely dangerous, and would avoid doing so if possible. The temp range of the stock tires is summer, not winter.

Please replace the stock 18's with 17 + snow tires as soon as possible to avoid a possible accident. If you still don't believe me, check out the spare tire size. Its a 17. (17x4)

Dealers of course have no idea about anything about the car, and would much rather sell you wheels/tires at a huge markup, instead of letting you just snag some cheap 17's.

Its technically possible to put the 17x7 5 spokes from the standard 6's on the car.

Here's one guy running 17 steelies.

 

[JOS3]

im having a hard time believing that the rx-8 is faster than the ms6.

 

[Blake]

my msp is faster than an rx-8 ......

 

[Newf]

crossbow, you have the full link to that car comain member?

 

[FX-MAN]

I have owned both cars. I am POSITIVE the RX-8 is a faster car, noticeably faster. When I am on the highway and some jackoff is tailgating me, I slow down to give myself road, then floor it. In the 8, I was gone in a 1/4 second and the guy has no chance of catching me. In the msp6, I can't do that at all because there is no power above 3rd gear. The power on the RX-8 is maintained THROUGH 4th gear, and it pulls alright in 5th as well. It's a MUCH lighter car. If you don't believe me, just check out the factory 0-60 times, the RX-8 is almost a full second faster. That's a pretty big difference when you are only talking 0-60. Where the 6 getts killed is the fact that power is just DONE at 5600rpm after that, you have nothing, so you have to shift gears really early, where on the RX-8 it's powerband starts at about 4500rpm (which, on a rotary, is where you launch, I rarely had that car below 5000rpm) and it just pulls like mad all the way up to about 9000rpm. Not to mention the turbo lag you get when changing gears in the MSP6. Where as with the RX-8, if you really know how to shift, you can squeal the tires a little when going from gear 1-2 or 2-3 (I have done that when taking a supra, which I beat by about 5 car lengths in my RX-8 and would not consider racing in the speed6).

The main thing, is that I am not concerned about beating the RX-8. I bought the car so I could have a family car, and still have some fun with it, it is still REALLY fun to drive the MSP6, and all in all I am happy with the trade. it is NOT an STi or Evo competitor by any stretch... not even close (I have driven an STi and I puss out before that thing does, the STi has a 4.4 0-60, the MSP6 is 6.1 0-60). I wouldn't recommend this car over the RX-8 if you are looking for power or handling on the track. The RX-8 corners better, and feels faster (other than launch. The MSP6 DEFINITELY pulls harder in 1st gear). But I was looking for a car I could throw friends in and go snowboarding or surfing, and the RX-8 isn't that car.

PICS ON THE WAY, I'll post them today.

 

[Mazda3]

Not to start an argument here, but the MS6 will walk away from the RX-8 at any speed. I drove the MS6 a couple of days ago and have spent extensive time behind the wheel of an RX-8. Its really not even close. Even from a 70 MPH roll the 6 will walk away from the 8 with ease. The Speed 6 I drove pulled HARD in 3rd,4th, and 5th gear and was suprisinglly good even in 6th. I believe the car would actually redline in 6th gear.

It really sounds like there is something wrong with your car, maybe boost is dropping off in 3rd gear, because its really not even close between the 2 cars at any speed. A regular 6s mtx with CP-E intake will probably hang with an 8. The 8 is a fantastic car, there just not fast.

By the way the 0-60 is 5.3 for the MS6 not 6.1

 

[FX-MAN]

well.. those are my observations from OWNING both cars (I drove an RX-8 everyday for 2 and a half years), the factory performance on the mazda canada website is 0-100kph 6.6seconds (that is 0-60) where the RX-8 performance is actually 5.9 0-100kph. I don't know where in the world you found 5.3 for the MSP6, but that number is just wrong.

After driving a mazda3, I can see how you would feel this car pulling like mad in comparison. If you drove an RX-8, you must have had it in the low RPM range and never felt what kind of pull it has at 7500-9000rpm.

 

[FrigginGLI]

well.. those are my observations from OWNING both cars (I drove an RX-8 everyday for 2 and a half years), the factory performance on the mazda canada website is 0-100kph 6.6seconds (that is 0-60) where the RX-8 performance is actually 5.4 0-100kph. I don't know where in the world you found 5.3, but that number is just wrong.

After driving a mazda3, I can see how you would feel this car pulling like mad in comparison. If you drove an RX-8, you must have had it in the low RPM range and never felt what kind of pull it has at 7500-9000rpm.

There is no way a stock rx-8 goes from 0-60 in 5.4 seconds. And 0-100 kph is faster then 60 as well.

 

[FX-MAN]

Oh man.. I am not getting into a debate here... The RX-8 is a faster car, that's all I was saying. I don't want to get into symantics. but you can do the simple HP/Weight ratio and see that. The RX-8 is also geared way better to maintain it's power through the gears (hp rating and max torque are not the way to measure how fast a car can go, because that is ONE gear they get those numbers from)

the MS6 is geared to get a high HP and Torque rating to sell the car with 280lb-ft in the figures.. From anywhere you look on the web, the RX-8 is 5.9sec 0-60 not 5.4 (my bad), and the MS6 has a 6.2 second 0-60 according to every website I find.. Either way, that is a little slower. when you look at 60-100 the RX-8 blows the MS6 away. Just do a simple web search guys.. the RX-8 IS A FASTER CAR.. end of story. (sorry for the guys who don't want to believe this for some reason)

anyway, it doesn't matter.. the point is.. in spite of losing high end power, I like the new car, and feel that it's about an even swap with an RX-8.

 

[FrigginGLI]

Sorry quoted wrong dude.

 

[Rainman]

I have owned both cars. I am POSITIVE the RX-8 is a faster car, noticeably faster. When I am on the highway and some jackoff is tailgating me, I slow down to give myself road, then floor it. In the 8, I was gone in a 1/4 second and the guy has no chance of catching me. In the msp6, I can't do that at all because there is no power above 3rd gear. The power on the RX-8 is maintained THROUGH 4th gear, and it pulls alright in 5th as well. It's a MUCH lighter car. If you don't believe me, just check out the factory 0-60 times, the RX-8 is almost a full second faster. That's a pretty big difference when you are only talking 0-60. Where the 6 getts killed is the fact that power is just DONE at 5600rpm after that, you have nothing, so you have to shift gears really early, where on the RX-8 it's powerband starts at about 4500rpm (which, on a rotary, is where you launch, I rarely had that car below 5000rpm) and it just pulls like mad all the way up to about 9000rpm. Not to mention the turbo lag you get when changing gears in the MSP6. Where as with the RX-8, if you really know how to shift, you can squeal the tires a little when going from gear 1-2 or 2-3 (I have done that when taking a supra, which I beat by about 5 car lengths in my RX-8 and would not consider racing in the speed6).

The main thing, is that I am not concerned about beating the RX-8. I bought the car so I could have a family car, and still have some fun with it, it is still REALLY fun to drive the MSP6, and all in all I am happy with the trade. it is NOT an STi or Evo competitor by any stretch... not even close (I have driven an STi and I puss out before that thing does, the STi has a 4.4 0-60, the MSP6 is 6.1 0-60). I wouldn't recommend this car over the RX-8 if you are looking for power or handling on the track. The RX-8 corners better, and feels faster (other than launch. The MSP6 DEFINITELY pulls harder in 1st gear). But I was looking for a car I could throw friends in and go snowboarding or surfing, and the RX-8 isn't that car.

PICS ON THE WAY, I'll post them today.

Keep in mind though that at highway speed in the MS6 you are only barely hitting even 3000 RPM. While the torque comes on at 2000 RPM in the MS6 there is noticeable lag when you lug it from down low until the turbo spools up and then off you go...easily. If you keep the RPM between 3000 and 4000 on the highway, you will be travelling at ungodly speeds in pretty short order. If you drop it down a gear before hammering it you'll take off even quicker.

Moreover, the sound dampening and suspension are so effective that it doesn't seem like the car is doing much....untill you look at the speedo. It is very, very easy for me to be cruising down the highway at 150 kmh without noticing it as it feels like I'm only going about 100 kmh.

However, all of this is subjective stuff. The only objective thing would be to put the two against each other head-to-head to see how each fares against the other. I'd place my bets on the MS6..

R

 

[Rainman]

well.. those are my observations from OWNING both cars (I drove an RX-8 everyday for 2 and a half years), the factory performance on the mazda canada website is 0-100kph 6.6 seconds (that is 0-60) where the RX-8 performance is actually 5.4 0-100kph. I don't know where in the world you found 5.3, but that number is just wrong.

After driving a mazda3, I can see how you would feel this car pulling like mad in comparison. If you drove an RX-8, you must have had it in the low RPM range and never felt what kind of pull it has at 7500-9000rpm.

Remember that the data posted on the Mazda website is based on the pre-production model which had different final gearing than the car that is now here in North America. The 6.6s 0-60 is the reason why the car was delayed again just prior to arrival. So many potential owners complained about the poor acceleration times that they revised the final gearing to give the car more acceleration and less top end speed, since that is what we, in North America, seem to be interested in.

R

 

[FX-MAN]

OH MAN.... I forgot to mention the coolest feature about this car..

The fact that there is no key, ROCKS.. I have had the car 9 days now, and I am still loving the fact that I walk up to it.. it unlocks, I sit down and turn the nob, it starts, I get out and walk away, it locks... the whole keyless transmitter thing is just the coolest thing ever. I did have to go back to the dealer to get them to set the autolock (I am not sure why this isn't the default setting).

My friend's new BMW has something similar, but he still has to put the transmitter into this lock thing. I just keep mine in my pocket. It's so awesome.

 

[FX-MAN]

The numbers in my last post are from everywhere you go on the web. Car entusiast, car and driver... they all have the same numbers

RX-8 = 5.9
MSP6 = 6.2

MSP6 1/4 = 14.2-14.9 depending on the web site
RX-8 1/4 = 14.1-14.6 depending on where you look

They are pretty close in the 1/4. I think from looking, it would come down to the driver.

All I know is that when I am going 120 on the highway, and want to get up to 150kph to get away from a tailgating prick, I had an easier time of it in the RX-8.

 

[JOS3]

the rx-8 does NOT do 0-60 in 5.4 seconds. i dont know where you got that from but its clearly inaccurate. i believe it was more like 5.9 (in car and driver)