truemagellen

from the same original rumor

fortunately it is total bullshit...the RX-8 is a huge sucess for Mazda, kill it? I don't think so, in fact thinking so is rather asinine so ignore those people

qwkphkr

Even beyond how successful it is, it's unlikely Mazda would invest the $$ they have into this engine/body style only to drop it after 3 production runs. Both the RX and the 350z are selling very well so it wouldn't make any sense at all.

Gambit

There's no chance they'd drop it this fast. After putting that much work into it, and getting rave reviews from car mags and critics and such, and they're selling pretty well. Not a chance. Pontiac has been making the Aztek since 01, and the RX-8 probably passed them in total sales the first year, and EVERYONE says how damn ugly that thing is. But they invested too much into it to just can it.

Sigma

The RX-8 gets more press than every other model in Mazda's lineup put together. There is no value that can be placed on that, but if there was it would surely be worth more than the relatively lax sales numbers. As long as the line isn't hemmoraging hundreds of millions of dollars a year, it will remain. Mazda needs a halo car, it's the only thing keeping it on the radar thesedays, else it will fall into the same slump it did for almost 10 years in this country. The only way the RX-8 is going away is when something better is in the lineup to take its' place.

Glyphon

i think the only concievable reason why the 8 would be dropped after 06, is if the 7 was coming back in 07, and was built off the 8's platform.

unpocoloco

If they do introduce the black cherry for 06, and I were already a Shinka owner, I'd be pissed. I don't think it's right to call a car a "special edition" with a special color, and then turn around and use that on their standard colorset. Yeah, I know the Shinka isn't only about the color, but that's the part most people see and will ever know. I think if you've paid the extra money to get those special features, they ought to stay special!

Oh yeah, and (1) I guess the black cherry color is growing on me, but I'd get the red first. Or the titanium. Or, the new blue, or the white, or the black. Pretty much everything but the yellow! (sorry yellows)

That blue is sweet...looks more like the shade on X-Men II (where it was fun to say, "that's the car I'm going to get!!")

Apex Eater

Unfortunatly Mazda is known for releasing a special edition one year and then the next year putting out a similar car. In 96 they made the special edition Miata and then the next year they made the STO version which was virturaly the same car, just with a very slightly different color.

I agree though, i'd pissed as well if I owned a Shinka.

griffj10

A friend of mind is a GM for a large dealer in the DC metro area. I stopped by to see him today to pick up some touch up paint for my Shinka and asked about next years line up: To his knowledge: The Shinka color will remain "Special Edition". There is no F/I for mass production (he has heard rumors about a limited edition MS with turbo. He also has heard rumors about RX-7 in 2007. He said that in his opinion the 7 would cost much more than the 8. He is a Rotary junky and had a 95 twin turbo. Loves the cars. Drives an 8 as a company car. The 8 makes up 15% of his dealerships sales and he is happy with it. The lowest price (sticker) 8 he has on his lot is $31,500, so he aint selling them cheap. We live in a high rent area so everything costs more. He said the car was never intended to be a high volume seller but to give Mazda something to hang their Zoom Zoom hat on. Over all Mazda is happy with the 8 and is unlikely to make any whole sale changes to the vehicle in 06. They are using the attention the 8 has created to roll out upgrades to the rest of the line. They have a new SUV/mini van and a new SUV that are likely to have wider appeal then the 8. Not to mention the Mazdaspeed editions of the 6 and the 5.

I asked him about mods and he said that because the Shinka is SE that I should leave it stock. Told me he could get me an 03 or 04 next year with 30k miles and for $10k-$12k to mod if I still have the bug to do it He believes the Shinka will hold its value and become a collecters item. BTW he sold me the car for $2k off sticker and has not been able to get another.

A lot of what he told me was his opinion however, he does go to corporate meetings where product roll out is discussed. If any of you work for a major corp. you know what these conventions are like. The home office folks always want to "Wow" the guys in the field, so they rarely hold back if they have something exciting on the herizon. For what it's worth.

FBIsnowman

I think the most we should expect is maybe a few changed options and a few new colors added/deleted.

The most significant change might be the addition of a new automatic transmission to the high hp model and perhaps a 5 speed manual to the low HP model. We heard rumors of this a long time ago. So the odds of this are good. But the vehicle is barely 2 model years old and they will not make radical changes to a vehicle so early in its production cycle.

DreRX8

I'd guess that they would discontinue the 4-port alltogether if an auto was available with the 6-port. I agree that would be the biggest news for 06.

khtm

So basically if you drive an MT like most people, there's nothing exciting about 2006 (except for another colour...wooo-frickin-hoo).

Great.

DreRX8

basically--however, I am anxious to see what the Tokyo auto show has in store for 07 and beyond from Mazda. I guess for '06 a new wheel design could happen.

khtm

Yeah the rumours for '07 sound a lot more interesting...Mazdaspeed 8...maybe a RX-7 (or 9)....hmmmmmm

snizzle

this sucks, i'd have to reconsider trading my car in if Mazda brings out the higher power 6 port mated to an AT.... which i don't want to do considering the money i'd lose

so it would have to be a new transmission and new cat converter bare minimum for a new AT version of the RX8.... anyone know about any other limitations?

even so, none of these more radical changes will happen for '06... i'm just surprised Mazda isn't at least talking about a MSRX8 yet

DreRX8

Unless I got a helluva deal on a trade into the an A/T 6-port I'd just wait for the rumoured SMG or just get a used 6spd. My guess is that an A/T 6-port would be 0-60 in the low to mid 7s. I guess something like a 330Ci A/T or slightly slower.

Cattywampus

Geesh. Is it posswible for the AT 8 to get any slower. Why would Mazda make the AT as powerful as the MT. Why not just do hp adjustments to both.

DreRX8

why wouldn't they give the "a/t" more power?

slllygrl10

They should have done that in the first place.

slllygrl10

I need to pay off my 8 then release rx7 or 9 dam.