My boss just bought an RX8. Good looking car inside and out. You guys crack me up with your comments. I am not surprised by them though. RX8 is a typical Mazda: great suspension, excellent steering and connection to the road, underpowered. Yeah, that basically sums up most Mazdas.

My boss seems to enjoy the car. The funny thing is that the car comes equipped with the same RE040s that my Z came with from factory. Same lamo tires. Interestingly enough, my boss used to own the 240, 300 and the 350 Zs in the past. I asked him how the RX8 stacks up against them and he admitted he'd take the Z over the Mazda. But, he needed rear seats so he compromised and G37 was too much cash then what he wanted to spend. I am sure it's still fun to drive. I may own one some day and see what the rotary feels like. I used to drive 2.0L WRX so I'm no stranger to all high RPMs, all the time. Just something that you have to be aware of when driving. Heck, I developed this habit to a point that I find myself cruising not wanting to go below 3500 RPMs in the Z...old habits die hard.

For those of you that complain about rotary eating oil.....yeah, it's what they do. I think everybody knows MPG rating is also poor on the car. I think that's a well known fact and if you bought the car and didn't know these things, shame on you as an ignorant consumer. Not like Z doesn't have its share of issues. Just look at the number of outstanding TSBs....scary. My Subaru didn't have half of the problems Zs seem to be plagued with....and I was pounding on that car daily. Price you pay for beauty

 

There are a lot of us that don't have any issues with our Z's. We just don't post that because it's of no value generally. I've had seven Z's, all of them gems. The ones I keep past 200K miles ran like new too. I just keep stepping up. Getting ready to do that again after a couple more years.

Maybe, I just take care of my cars and do what required to keep a sports car running perfect. I figure that must be it. A little love goes a long way.

Every Mazda RX8 I've been around seems to be broken most of the time or is running poorly. At the track, they do well boosted but, are always breaking.

If I want to beat on something it's something with some meat to it. The Z is a lot like domestics in that way.

 

gf had the rx8 b4 the sti. .thing starting puking oil into the filter housing at 18k. .dealer told her it was because i was using synthetic in the car IN WHICH thats what the car required anyway. regardless she traded it in due to the main fact that the car although looked pretty good was SLOW AS HELL!!. .

 

you know the REAL reason that she trades the car in for an STI is because she wants to beat your Z badly!!!

 

hahah yes . .I KNOW THIS!!!! hahah. .and she freaking does. im .

 

The Z is pretty much a non-player in BSP either. SCCA really has screwed the 350Z. The last guy to actually that actually competed (several years ago) came pretty close...but the next year he was driving an RX-8.

It's the low-speed handling of the car. The Z is pretty easy to get out of shape on an AutoX course and given the power and weight you can't carry as much energy through a AutoX-style turn as the 8.

Let the Z get up and go and it'll own a lot of cars that are generally thought of as good AutoX cars. I've been trying to tell my friends in the local SCCA region for a while that the Z is designed for road courses....not AutoX.

I guess it really comes down to whether you want to buy a car to autox or autox the car you like.

 

I wonder how a Miata would do in a autoX coarse. Or even a Mini Cooper.

 

I have serveral listings of the Miata (old and new) in auto X it does extremlyy well first of all in one listing of multiple division it was the most used vehicle and in some incidents out performed the Honda S2Ks, RX-8s even 350Zs. The Corvette did well in its own division but the Miata is no punk in Auto crossing its one of the cars to have on a tight track.

The Mini Copper did well but didn't even beat the old Miatas or same year or newer Honda S2000 or 350Zs.

One of the things I disliked about the Rx-8 is the flooding problem that once exist, i think its since been fixed or they gun the engine before shutting off by habit. But Imagine backing up to pull the lawn mower out of the garage cut the car off and now your can't pull the Rx-8 back in bc its flooded, if you don't go by the rules.

 

rx8s couldve been a great concept if they made the car more powerfull and ditched the renesis . Clearly the renesis for a DD isnt the marvel we all hoped. The suspension and cars design is extremely functional but the cars output is so weak it has problems surpassing sports compacts much less sports cars.


They need to concentrate on making it a direct sports car rather then hybrid all the diff functions into what is the rx8.


Now the race rolex series rx8s are simple tuned at there hgihest level of performance. Thats when i really respect the rotory engine . However i will never own one due to it just not being practical .

If it wasnt good for mercedes when they dithed it ...tells you something about its functionality in the real world. And may be why rx8s have decreaseing sales year by year.

 

+1. Miatas are hard to shake/beat on the track/twisties. But once a straight opens up, they get eaten alive (unless heavily modified).

 

That has to be a joke.

 

I'm a Z owner and would never trade it with a RX8. But I would choose the RX8 over my car any day for Autocrossing...


For the prime auto x car I think imo it would be the RX-8s little brother the 1.) MX5, 2.) Honda S2000 or if money was not an factor 3.) Lotus Elise or Porsche Boxtster S/Cayman then maybe if you can drive a 4.) 350Z or RX-8.

Really the RX-8 might be behind the S2K if you can keep it running.

 

trade me for a 3rd gen rx-7 single or twin T. .and i'll trade the Z any day. But for an rx-8 i wouldn't take or buy one. If anyone driven one hard core for a lil bit you'll notice the damn tranz puts so much eat into the cockpit you roast your *** off. .GF's original one was a sweat bucket on long trips. .<3 sti<3

 

Oh I dont think he is joking. I think Rx8's interior is better than the z, too !

 

Same here... just because we all own the Z doesn't mean its perfect

 

EXACTLY !!!

 

I said what I said because I've yet to see a Z beat an RX8 on autocross. I've been autocrossing my Z for 3 years, and I'll admit some of the RX8 drivers are just better drivers than me...But, still I drove both cars and the RX8 just performs better. Lighter, more nimble, and more balanced. Z's should not be in the same class in the SCCA.

I agree, the Z is definitely more at home on a road course.

 

I'm trying to figure out where in the real world of driving do you see turns as tight as an auto cross. Maybe there are a couple on the steep mountain roads around here. But, you need the power to climb them which the Z has. Now downhill those same roads the Z would probably have a hard time keeping up with said miata, RX8, or MG miget for that matter. Would I own any one of those .... nah, just not sexy enough or comfortable enough for me.

 

Most of the comments in this discussion focus on the RX8’s performance and reliability. Something that no one has mentioned is the Mazda’s CES. Since that is something I consider important, I would like to offer some comments.

The RX8 I drove was a Touring model that comes with an OEM Bose CES. The OEM Mazda Bose configuration is a 9-speaker 300 watt sound system with an in-dash 6-CD changer. It sounds just great; that is very different from the experience people who have the OEM Bose CES in 350Z’s report.

The Mazda’s dash H/U doesn’t look as though it is an easy swap-out for an aftermarket product. I think that might be considered a disadvantage for audiophiles who want to improve the CES or add aftermarket features.

I wonder if anyone has comments about this. (Sorry if I’m getting off-topic... diverting from the current and very interesting performance discussion)

--Spike

 

Re Miatas and Minis: The Miata is probably the most autocrossed vehicle on this planet. They're cheap, plentiful and right out of the box you can alter the suspension geometry. When they get modified...they're even quicker. If you want to keep up with a Miata in the twisties...you'd better have some serious skills.

As for the Mini....the Cooper S has been absolutely dominant in it's class. So much so that the SCCA has either moved it up a level or is seriously considering it. I can't recall if they actually pulled the trigger or not.

The RX-8 is a serious AutoX'er...but that's almost all it's good for. As mentioned before....give the Z room to run and it's all over. I've said it before in other threads like this one...the Z forces you to become a better driver in order to go fast in it. The RX-8 is easy to drive out of the box and doesn't force you to learn anything. While a Z Driver will progress and get faster....an RX-8 driver will be in the same place they were at 1 year as they were at 1 month. My personal opinion....but I just feel that you have to learn the car and learn to drive it to be fast.