madkeen73

Hi all.
I just joined up to this forum this week as I think I am finally going to concede my 10th Anniversary MX5 for a new RX8. My one and only reason is to get back seats! By the way, this forum has been AWESOME for iofo!

Took my first RX8 test drive today and really liked the car, but was slightly underwhelmed by it's power. Somehow didn;t feel any quicker than my MX5!?? Nevertheless, it ticks lots of other boxes, and not many other cars in the price range do.

Can anyone suggest some not-too-extreme ways of getting more power out of an RX8..without voiding warranty, or spending a fortune? After having quite a few car's with exhaust systems, i'd prefer not to get this one too loud if possible. I don;t want to be paying for supercharding/turbos. Maybe a chip or something I'm afraid I'm not to mechanically minded. Any suggestions...please?

I live in Brisbane. Are there any RX8 specialist workshops?

ta

expo1

This topic has been discussed over and over. There are no inexpensive ways to increase power that Mazda has not already put into the car. Here is a link to the same question from last week
https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-tech-garage-22/performance-123475/

takahashi

welcome to be family mate.

expo is right. Same as the MX-5, RX-8 has the same issue. You can do exhaust and intake, it aint going to do much.

You have to spend. There is no single mod doing magic.

Edit: Expo and I have very similar category of mod... that has been guided by trailed and error by the people around here.

Drop in filter.
Flywheel clutch
muffler
Spark plug and cord, some earthing.
Tune by expert to knows your mod

rotaryPilot

Well there is not such a tip for increasing performance. Just consider that if there were an inexpensive modification then Mazda should have made something very wrong when building the RX-8.

I guess the most inexpensive performance mod which is not so inexpensive because it includes money for fuel , is to make more miles. It is proven as the miles increase the renesis performance also increases.

Gomez

Remove the space saver spare wheel and toss it in the back shed.

Buy a lightweight Cloth Pack....that Bose **** is heavy. So it that electric seat. And those useless foglights. Steer clear of body kits, that's just more weight and drag.

Keep your tyre pressures up.

Really, there isn't a single performance mod under ten grand worth buying.

Brettus

iTrader: (2)

See my avatar - press that all the way to the floor . Works for me

rxAMZ

Driver training, learn to drive it better/faster/efficiently, cheap does the trick

enforcer

As a matter of interest Madkeen, are you expecting a good return on your MX5?

dbb

Don't short shift ... then you might notice the rx8 is quicker than an mx5 ...

Revolver

Lose weight...

DrewMan

youre better off doing the suspension upgrades rather than engine mods

and maybe a flywheel/pulley combo to give that tiny bit of extra pull

e5cape

lighter rims and better tyres

e.g this http://www.trademotion.com/partlocat...catalogid=3987

Revolver

The OEM rims are actually pretty light for a factory unit.

Of course you can do better but it is quite a few dollars for only a marginal gain.

I also think the stock tyres are pretty good for grip but get noisy when they wear a bit. After that, agreed that there is better rubber out there.

labrat

Although initially I had doubts, I am starting to come round to the point of view that running 98 or even 100RON fuel does give you a little extra in performance, and slightly lower fuel consumption. That, and the fact that my car has done 70k km, so it is starting to be run in.

madkeen73

Thanks for the feedback guys. Sounds like there's no cheap fix. That's ok...I think I'll wait to get used to teh stock car first anyway.
ta

yiksing

I believe RON doesnt make any power difference unless tuning is done to make use of the slow burning properties of the fuel.

erx8s

If the above advice doesnt work for you get the .......EVO X

Ben

enforcer

Ben, we need an EVO like a hole in the head....and the chicks don't dig the ride

erx8s

Trevor

Have you some statistics to confirm your theory re-chicks and EVOS

Ben

labrat

Do you believe or do you know? Is it necessary to re-tune the Renesis to make best use of fuels of different RON? Can evidence be supplied to support this point of view?

I consider Gomez' advice to be the best put forward on the subject to date, i.e., keep the weight down on the car. It does seem incongruous that Mazda has a "not one gram more" design philosophy, and then punters bolt on all sorts of heavy, ricy cosmetic stuff. I must get around to doing the maths sometime to quantify the effect, but the fact is that every kg added to the mass of the car (including the driver) detracts from its performance. Gomez' advice is easy and really cheap to implement.

enforcer

No...but this blows both of our theories out of the water...sound on

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...55829449987448

DrewMan

parking would be a thing of the past.

it would be pretty hard to carry 1 and a half tonnes in your handbag though

matt13b

Gomez,that is my exact way of thinking and I have been trying to explain it to all my other car friends since I got the rx8.I got the cloth pack simly because I wanted the car to have optimum performance.I could not see how leather extra eakers,foglights,electric seat motors and the rest were going to help my performance,bodykits&wings just add weight(as do bigger wheels).These are all fine for someone who just wants to drive from a-b but if you want the most from the car remove the spare wheel and get the base model! Finally I know i'm not crazy or at least we both are..

Gomez

The RX-8 is often criticised for it's perceived lack of power. In the main, the critics are turbo RX-7 drivers or Americans (or both).

It has a sufficient amount of traffic light GP horsepower as far as I'm concerned. The RX-8 isn't a drag queen, it's the king of corners. Many critics miss that point.

In early 2004 I was looking for a new car. Being a lifelong Ford V8 owner, I considered the Falcon GT, the XR8 and the XR6T. I wanted a four door car that handled, had sufficient poke, and looked good in my garage.

I test drove the XR8 and the XR6T and was unimpressed by the build quality, handling and (surprisingly) the performance. These are heavy cars. They didn't feel any faster than my automatic 1994 EF Falcon XR8. I put the purchasing decision on hold while I pondered what to do next.

While on holiday up on the Gold Coast, I happen to see TV footage announcing the RX-8 as Wheels Magazine 2003 Car of the Year. I read the Feb 2004 Wheels cover-to-cover on the flight back home. Cut to the chase....I buy an RX-8. It's over 450kg lighter than a BA Falcon 5spd man XR8. That's nearly half a tonne.......!!

Every kilo carried affects the cars performance. I maximise the performance, handling (and fuel economy) of my cars by lightening the load wherever practicable. I don't carry spare wheels. FWIW, the Leather Pack RX-8 is 16.5kg heavier than a Cloth Pack. Part of that weight increase is offset by the corresponding reduction in weight of the LP owners wallet though.... .

Cheers

zoom3

How about filling the 60 litre fuel tank no more than half full. That's a minimum weight saving of 30 kg. And it doesn't cost anything. In fact it saves you money