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In the RX-8, the biggest waster of fuel is idling - it uses almost as much fuel idling as it does at 100 km/hr (about 60 mph).
Because the combustion chamber is an inefficient design, the engine becomes more efficient when boosted. For example, my third gen RX-7 burns between 9.5 and 10 l/100 km on the highway, which translates to about 10-20% better than an RX-8. However, because you have to take measures to protect the engine in throttle transitions, the "city" mileage is terrible!
This was not lost on Mazda engineers, which is one reason they boosted the RX-7s (the other being they wanted much more power). The downside was cost and complexity. With the RX-8 they have taken a different path. Power with less cost and more engineering. They raised the engine rev. limit by reducing mass in some components and design tweaks in others. They moved the exhaust ports from the rotor housing to the side housing - this helps in high RPM operation because when the apex seals moved over the exhaust port they "bounced" and this limited their life and the speed they could reliably run at.
Is there a dealer here who knows ??????????
The 04 are still on the lot because they are a tough sell at this point. They got a reputation for unreliability, and the 05 are discounted heavily, so people tend not to see the point of buying a "new" 04.
Elian
Is the new copper red color going to be available on the 'regular' models or is this going to be a 'Shika Edition-only' color?
The new colors will be Phantom blue and galaxy gray
You can still wait to see what the new manuals are like, as I suspect there will still be discounted 05s on the lot. Your choise.
One of the dealers in St Louis (2 hours away) has some 05 GT's if that is the route to go. How much off of a discount from MSRP should I expect to take home an 05? The 04's are about $7000 off...are people getting 05's for this kind of discount?
The 2004? Offer them $20K - the second the 2006s come out, you're looking at a three year old, still on the lot car. At best, it is worth only a little more than what it would go for used.
Used '04s are being advertised in the newspaper from private owners for around $23K. Probably buy one for about $22K....maybe $21.5K. Haven't seen any used '05s crop up.
Oh - here in Los Angeles, base automatic 2004s are selling for about 18K - or at least that's the *asking* price which nobody pays.
There is now a picture posted on the RX-8 Club site of the 2006 six speed automatic shown at Sevenstock. It's the new grey colour. You can just see the 6 port engine in the pic.
Now if we can just get them (Mazda) to develop a 9000 RPM torque converter...
That said, it seems dumb to pay $24k for an 04 when 05's can be had for $2k more and the 05's don't have the issues the 04's do.
I'll try to stop by the dealer soon and I'll let you know what happens.
Thanks for the replies!!
Between the small rear seat room and the low roof with the moonroof (must have), I've pretty much scratched the RX-8 off my list.
Just out of curiousity, what else is on your list? The reason I ask is because the only vehicle I could compare to the RX-8 which offers more rear seat room would be a Subie WRX (marginally more rear leg room) or a Pontiac GTO.
For example, one at the top of my list would be an Accord Coupe. Decent backseat, much less than $30k, and 0-60 in ~6 secs (5.9 according to one test i have in mind). Again, not a direct competitor, necessarily, but fits the bill stated above.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '08 Charger R/T Daytona; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '08 Maser QP; '11 Mini Cooper S
Give me the double bubble head room instead. I don't need the Sun on my bald spot either.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '08 Charger R/T Daytona; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '08 Maser QP; '11 Mini Cooper S
Be that as it may, I'm 6'-0" (most of my height is in my legs), slim, and fit fine in the 8 (both sunroof and plain versions). Also, I think the clamshell door design works well for letting kids in/out of the back seat. Mine seem to like climbing in/out of the 8 better than every other coupe my wife and I looked at during the last car show. When I test drove the 8, I thought it handled/braked quite well; but I thought it needed more oomph. It was pretty quick, just not as powerful as 238hp had led me to expect.
When I was looking, I wasn't concerned with the backseat (hence I wound up buying a 350Z at that time).
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '08 Charger R/T Daytona; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '08 Maser QP; '11 Mini Cooper S
Most of these cars have limited back seat space according to the spec sheet but the RX8 seemed to have less than the 32" figure here on Edmunds. The IS300 shows 30". The WRX isn't much better, but seemed to be more than the RX8. The 3, 6 and the Protege all have the most...but it's due in part to being FWD.
I may try to get back to the dealer with the rear-facing car seat to see if it will fit at all. If not, the RX8 will have to be off the list. Anyone out there have any luck putting one back there?
Thanks again for the input!
Also, consider the difficulty in actually placing/removing the infant seat rather than just front seat comfort with the car seat in place.
1st I drove the WRX, I have to say - initaily climbing behind the wheel I was unimpressed (the best feature of the interoir is ironicaly, the wheel!) The gearshifter felt sloppy and cheap.. it was all very plasticly. After a few stoplights though very fun but as others have said: unrefined.
2nd was the RX-8. Now this is what a sports car cockpit should be like
(interesting side note, the sales man showing me the WRX and the RX-8 was clearly a subaru guy. For some reason he made me sit in the seat of the RX-8 while he crouched outside the passenger side mirror and kept asking "can you see me?!" not sure what this was supposed to prove to me, I could still see him, and this was the 2nd subaru salesman to give me this 'demo')
On to the drive
If the subaru is a wolverine, the RX-8 is a fox. The gearshifter was smooth and precise, bliping the throttle sent chills down my spine... oh and the wonderfull sound of those little rotors screaming their way up to 9,500 RPM. When the WRX dug its way out of corners, the RX-8 simply sliced through effortlessly.
Unfortuantly the dealership was about to close before I could drive the WRX STi, or the 350z. But the RX-8 is now at the top of my list.
I am close to getting my RX-8, hopefully in the next couple of weeks here. I am trying to decide whether to buy or lease. Do you guys really believe the residuals posted here on Edmunds? It seems with all the continuous rebates being posted that the resale would suffer terribly. Buying seems like a great deal now because of these deals, but if you get killed on the way out then it wouldn't be so hot anymore...you guys have any thoughts on this?
Elian
Yes, it's literally days or weeks until the 2006 models come out.
I've had my 8 for quite a while and am in need of some new tires. The Potenza RE040s that came with the car were very nice (on dry) until about 8k. Then the noise started. Kept them rotated and balanced... no alignment issues, but by 12k the noise was irritating as hell. Due to this and the excessive quickness of tread wear, I don't think I'll be replacing these tires with potenzas. I was wondering if any of you had any +/- advice on tires you've used.
What's the practical tread wear on 225/45 18" wheels? I don't see anyone getting more than 20K.
http://www.caranddriver.com/article.asp?section_id=4&article_id=10252&page_number=1
The Bridgestones (RE050 in the test) ranked 9th. Michelin Pilot Sport ranked 4th (with decent tread-wear but a bit pricy). The top ranked tire was the Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 with very good dry performance, outstanding wet performance, good tread wear and a decent price.
Yea, I've been all over tirerack.com for the past week... (also tks trispec). The Avons are a definite option... although I didn't see any 225/45/18 in the Tech M500 line. For what it's worth trispec, I've got 27k on my potenzas at the moment... of course, when it rains now, I'm pretty much riding around with the grim reaper. Should have replaced them at 15-17k... and I hear these tires are bad for wear.
Ok guys, same topic, different question. You think there would be any problems using lower profile tires... say 225/35 or 40 vs. 45s?... (speedometer calibration and tire pressure sensor issues?). Also, is it possible/safe/reasonable to put wider tires on the stock rim... say 255s?
To some, sports car means strictly, a balls to wall racer. To others it's any coupe no matter how big. It means two seater only or it means huge engine displacement in a compact car.
Professional car critics in many of the major car magazines compared the RX-8 favorably to the Boxer and the Vet. That's enough for me.
What the RX-8 "is" or "isn't" is completely immaterial. What matters is how the car owner intends to treat his car and the tire selection should go by his criteria.
Anyway, the potenzas that came with the potentially quasipseudosemi-sports car were supposedly "high performance" summer tires and I'd like to at least stay in that category. Weather isn't much of an issue where I live, so I don't think I'll be shopping for all seasons. Tks though plekto.
I'm of the age, near 50, where fun, comfort and practical mean heaps more than attempting to to push the performance features of my RX-8 AT. I got no reaction time left anyway.
The stock summer tires failed on me while up in Maine over Thanksgiving. Maybe failed is to strong, because the Edmunds forums had warned of the Potenzas issues on even the slightest of slushy snow covered roads.
Traveling 35mph on route 1 north just out side of Portland, my RX-8 rear end let go while in fourth gear. I got control of it after swerving back and forth three times. I probably over compensated in steering at first, but NO DSC lights flashed and the LSD did not do it's vibration thing.
It was 32 degrees F and plenty of traffic to keep things slushy. There just is literally no place for the slush to go on those Potenzas so the tires are lifted up. Then because the rubber is so hard it shears through the compacted slush rather than bend over and around it.
The Avons I'm getting are a softer compound with flow through treads. They rate better than most all seasons in the slush and wet stuff. Bad snow will still keep my RX-8 in the drive way I think, but mostly it's the slush on the hills that I'm worried about.
That said, most people can sacrifice a little performance for all-seasons (or get the top 3-4 choices in the review). Better rubber made the car handle quicker and faster. But $160-$180 a tire every year is a bit steep.