Thoughts on RX-8?

[Babalouie]

Do you still do any lifting in & out though? You could fit Amanda Vanstone in the back of a 242GT with no problems at all, but I bought my first one from a person who foolishly thought rear seat room equalled ability to carry child around comfortably. It was the lack of easy access, and lifting in & out, that caused the problems. He also thought he'd get away with a hatch & a 2dr.

Mind you, at 18 months they'd be crawling in & out themselves, and you wouldn't need to reach them too often?

Nah, they currently sit in these huge, bulky reversible baby seats, which while fwd-facing prolly won't ever fit in the RX-8. For example I don't think I could get three of these seats abreast in the Mazda6 for example, which is huge at the back.

Besides the family truckster will always be the Mazda6 wagon, I just need the RX-8 to have back seats for occasional emergency use and overall to be able to justify the purchase of the car to my wife...

But at some point in the next 18mth the boys will graduate into these booster-seats which look like mini-recaros and are much less bulky. Also I and my missus are both shortarses so the front seats will always be at the frontmost peg on the slider, so rear legroom will be as good as it's every going to be...

[Captiva Fan]

You could always buy that Mazda mid-size 4WD thingy. According to the advertising they ritualistically sacrifice baby MX5's to make them. That'll fit the kids in the back.

[maddy]

nooooo! you mean a tribute - dont do it. I drove a guy from works and it was a POS - no wonder he drives a rex and the wife has the 3/4 sized gas guzzler

[Mario]

Had one to drive for couple of days. Very nice car. Very well balanced. ie ride comfort, space, poke, etc. Fuel....well it's a rotary. Consumption of a local V8..

Stereo is BOSE and it pumps...

[Babalouie]

nooooo! you mean a tribute - dont do it. I drove a guy from works and it was a POS - no wonder he drives a rex and the wife has the 3/4 sized gas guzzler

'
I think Forg means the Mazda6 MPS turbo 4wd thingy. And yeah I haven't driven one of those either(well, they're not out yet) but I'm not the world's biggest WRX fan so I imagine that might not be my cup of tea either.

[rowdytoot]

Babs, I think they are a very very good drive, balanced, predictable, sharp, but still quite compliant. - in fact the rear end is a bit underdamped, and probably a little soft in the spring rate too..

The brakes are great on the road, I like the driving position too.

Most of the issues we've had are dealer related- so we're switching dealers for servicing - stay away from Brookvale

Issues with the car itself have been few- the interior plastics seem to mark/scuff quite easily but most come straight out, fuel consumption is an issue I guess- 60 litres will get you about 300- 350 km in sydney traffic..

design downsides- the boot opening is not very deep which makes getting stuff in tricky sometimes, even though the boot is big enough to take the item.

The doors are good- providing you have LOTs of room to use them.. the front doors are long, and need to be fully open to get someone in the back door easily. I wouldn't want to have to get a kid in a car seat in a shopping centre carpark.. the rear seat is quite low cf to the tiny window so little people won't see much - especially cos the front seat backs are solid- even a big person in the back can't see a lot but we semi regularly have friends in the back (hi fro) and even someone my size (175 cm, and 105 kg) is completely comfortable.

the cruise control is excellent - it even brakes properly down steep hills, the Stability control is fairly harsh when it's on- but you have to try to provoke it in the dry- cos the grip is pretty high - well for me anyway..in the wet, its' harsh- generally cutting power and braking individual wheels if you give it a bootful just when you or I are starting to wind off the lock and correct the side- which means that you can end up pointing at the gutter momentarily until you remember not to correct...

You can switch it off in 2 stages- the 1st leaves the EBD on, and the final level takes everything but the ABS away.. either way your sideways and wheelspinning in the wet..on dry roads with DSC off only had one oversteer moment, and I was trying really really hard to make it happen.. but it was completely catchable @ 90 km/hr...

I think that's it..the chime at 9000 rpm is a touch addictive though !... shames it's 107 km/hr in 2nd gear...

Anything else?

Rowds

[rowdytoot]

Troy- swap you a drive of your EVO??

Rowds

[Babalouie]

Babs, I think they are a very very good drive, balanced, predictable, sharp, but still quite compliant. - in fact the rear end is a bit underdamped, and probably a little soft in the spring rate too..

The brakes are great on the road, I like the driving position too.

Most of the issues we've had are dealer related- so we're switching dealers for servicing - stay away from Brookvale

Issues with the car itself have been few- the interior plastics seem to mark/scuff quite easily but most come straight out, fuel consumption is an issue I guess- 60 litres will get you about 300- 350 km in sydney traffic..

design downsides- the boot opening is not very deep which makes getting stuff in tricky sometimes, even though the boot is big enough to take the item.

The doors are good- providing you have LOTs of room to use them.. the front doors are long, and need to be fully open to get someone in the back door easily. I wouldn't want to have to get a kid in a car seat in a shopping centre carpark.. the rear seat is quite low cf to the tiny window so little people won't see much - especially cos the front seat backs are solid- even a big person in the back can't see a lot but we semi regularly have friends in the back (hi fro) and even someone my size (175 cm, and 105 kg) is completely comfortable.

the cruise control is excellent - it even brakes properly down steep hills, the Stability control is fairly harsh when it's on- but you have to try to provoke it in the dry- cos the grip is pretty high - well for me anyway..in the wet, its' harsh- generally cutting power and braking individual wheels if you give it a bootful just when you or I are starting to wind off the lock and correct the side- which means that you can end up pointing at the gutter momentarily until you remember not to correct...

You can switch it off in 2 stages- the 1st leaves the EBD on, and the final level takes everything but the ABS away.. either way your sideways and wheelspinning in the wet..on dry roads with DSC off only had one oversteer moment, and I was trying really really hard to make it happen.. but it was completely catchable @ 90 km/hr...

I think that's it..the chime at 9000 rpm is a touch addictive though !... shames it's 107 km/hr in 2nd gear...

Anything else?

Rowds

Nah, cheers I think you covered it and I should really get off my lazy arse and go drive one.

I'm kinda surprised that you can't hang that tail out...not even a little bit?

[rowdytoot]

I'm kinda surprised that you can't hang that tail out...not even a little bit?

DSC on no way... power cut instantly as fro and spac will attest to my demo's to them..

it is provokable with DSC off, but for me it's a factor of a) it's 60 K car, and really it's my S/O's- and she would probably disown me if I pranged-and that would be bad! b) it's got a LOT of rear end grip cf to torque & cos it's nicely balanced it doesn't unload or overload the inside or outside rear overly.. c) the road speed you need it 2nd gear to have enough torque @ the wheels to overcome the grip is up at a 90- 100 km/hr - and this was a 90 degree bend marked at 35...you could probably easily do it in 1st though at 40- 65 km/hr... but who does that except in a motorkhana.. d) I probably drive it once a month

yeah go drive one... we drove one, went Oh yeah!.. signed up then went back the next day and drove the same one again, and went Mmmmm, still tasty! definately a good choice..

Rowds

[Captiva Fan]

I think Forg means the Mazda6 MPS turbo 4wd thingy.

No I was being a smart-arse, I mean one of those Tributyl things. The advertising would have you believe it's really a sports car; it just happens to look like it's for girlymen & shemales.

[Evo_Lee]

Troy- swap you a drive of your EVO??

Rowds

Anytime mate, anytime...like I say coming from the Evo so balanced and grippy...I enjoyed the RX-8 drive considering the power level and would consider one. Never had a chance to drive one on a circuit though.

[rowdytoot]

done deal.... now where can I send KT away to that weekend??

I'll probably never drive one on a circuit either! :p... but after my OP trip yesterday I'm a bit less concerned about tracking the RX-8- but it's not me who holds the keys so to speak!

Rowds

[Paddington]

they're shite. and Im a rotary owner so Im not showing my bias.

ask a few ausrotary members how many replacement engine's or cars they've had.

[nui]

You can change the colour of the dash!

[TonyJZX]

they're shite. and Im a rotary owner so Im not showing my bias.

ask a few ausrotary members how many replacement engine's or cars they've had.

Please explain.

That sounds a lot worse than what PF has seen but then we're a small subset of the actual 'RX8 experience' as it were.

T.