Ahem. Then it doesn't dim AT ALL.

 

I would not get too crazy about missing the rain-sensing wipers. Depending on how they are programed, they can work very well, like on my 911 turbo or so poorly, like on my wife's Volvo V70R, that she had them disconnected. If I wanted to be sad about missing items on the RX8, it would be auto climate control found on the euro models and gas struts to hold up the hood (but that can be fixed). But hey, you cant have everything and what we DO have is very very good.

PaulyG
'05 GT Titanium, Pirelli Sottozeros on 17" wheels for the winter

 

I guess it all comes down to the Finance guys who decide on what folks are willing to pay for a good sports car. The Mazda 3 has a nice feature on it, the Honda Accord has some things and on and on with car comparisons. If I were to buy another sports car I am sure I would not be concerned with some features that other cars have but more of how the car responds, how it works on the roads and how it looks. By the time they would redesign an 8 to make everyone happy with ALL the features on it, it might just be too darn expensive that it might match the price of a Corvette. Then folks would buy Corvettes and not 8s perhaps. I guess it was more a Mazda decision to keep the price down and still have a good sports car.

 

I think you hit the nail on the head

PaulyG

 

I had a Mazda3 S for a while...it didn't have that feature. In fact I was lamenting the fact that the wipers lowest setting didn't let you adjust the intermittency...which the RX-8 has.

What I do wish our U.S. RX-8s had is that cool third brake light that goes inside the rear rotary accent that foreign RX-8s have.

 

I agree with Virgil. If you add all these extraneous options onto a sports car, they end up just weighing it down and making the car bulkier than it needs to be. Like yamajj, I also use Rain-X, and using the wipers only scrapes the product away.

That being said, I also agree with MX6 (BTW, MX6, that is one disgusting avatar ) in that I would have liked to have seen auto headlights. I've posted that idea before, although the more I drive my 8, the more I wonder if that would be detrimental to the xenon lamps--my last car had auto lights and they came on and off when I went into and out of tunnels, when the sky would cloud up and clear up, etc. If the feature constantly turned the lights on and off, it'd probably blow the HID's, don't you think?

 

Hey, I love the little Mazda 3 2.3 liter Five-door, its a great looking car, great perforamnce (.87g skidpad, I was REALLY impressed when i read that number) and it has features you don't get one Hyndai's for the same price. I was kinda of flabergasted that someone would complain about a 2 inch movement of the finger. Sorry if I came off hostile, hell I didn't even know the Mazda3 had that feature, seems a bit useless to me but thats my 2 cents.

Actually, I was pondering getting one myself for a while.

 

Agree 100%. My Nissan Altima had them and it was a great feature. Yeah, you've got to expect a Sports Car to have a few less comfort/ luxury features, but Auto-on headlights should really be included on every car.

How many times have you seen someone who doesn't have their headlights on just after sunset?

Anyone know of an add on to our headlight circuitry to make them auto-on?

 

If I ever buy a car with auto wipers, there better be a way to turn off the 'auto' part of it. Either that or it's getting retrofitted. Maybe it's just me, but when it just starts to rain, i let the windshield get good and covered before i hit the wipers. Drives passengers crazy though, so it must be me :D

And as for auto headlights..... . I think I'm capable of turning on my own lights. Maybe if they came with an IQ test...

 

Agreed. Even more, when I first got my 8, I was a little taken aback by all the stuff I had to read about - ABS, TCS, DCS, tire pressure sensors, Nav system, all the radio options, steering wheel buttons, auto-dimming mirror, where the hell is my engine and what's that big plastic cover doing here, etc. Auto wipers I can do without!

 

I'm really confused. How does a normal mirror dim?

So you're going to get your auto dim mirror replaced by a normal mirror because you don't like the auto dim.

You don't use the dim shut off button on your auto dim because if you use that the auto dim mirror won't dim at all.

But how does a normal mirror dim? Or do you mean with a normal mirror you can at least flip it to get the light out of your eyes? I'm confused. (sorry for semi-thread jacking).

 

Flipping it doesn't just get the light out of your eyes - it DOES dim it. It changes the angle so that a dimmer mirror inside is now at the original angle - so you can still see, but that stupid truck with a 30" lift is no longer burning out your retinas.

 

Do you know how much Rain-X weighs?!!! Sorry, I use it too. I like the Rain-X washer fluid because it saves a step.

Thank you, thank you very much.

I don't think - it hurts. Actually, with the right software I think it would be fine and software doesn't weigh much. (Although the way Mazda writes software . . . . M-Flash #232. . . ) If I wrote software for auto headlights with HIDs they would come on when it got dark and shut off 1 min after key off if they were in the auto position. That would save the cycling, wouldn't add too much light on time if it wasn't needed and let me unlock my door. But, If wishes were walruses or however that saying goes. I already bought mine and I don't plan on changing for years so I guess I need to flip the switch.

 

I cant believe how stubborn and ignorant youguys are in the defense of Mazda NAs practices. I completely agree w/ExtensiveRx8s complaint and Imamazed some of you areeven flaming him about it. Not onlydid Mazda NA neglect to include a number of convenient extras/features for the Rx8 that are standard/available in their lower model vehicles (and standard in Rx8s in other countries) - they didnt evenbother to address any of this for the 2005 Rx8s.

Speakingof which as youall know the 2005 Rx8 got a color replacement and a new key fob. That is truly impressive. On topof that they also upped the MSRP of the car andyou have to pay extra forthe new color. That makes a lot of sense to me.

Still dont have a standard 6 CD changer - headlight washers - AUTOMATIC CLIMATE CONTROL - auto wipers - auto off headlights (even the Mazda6 got auto off headlights) - passenger power seat...I could go on andeven mention the bullshit horsepower figures that STILL arent correctly advertised. These arent even big features - its just some extra **** youd expect a 30000+ flagship vehicle to include. They raise the priceof their flagship car and give it virtually 0 upgrades while ignoring the fact that their new lower vehicle includes more. Theresno decent excuse for why they couldnt have made some minor updates to the 05 model US Rx8s - ESPECIALLY when the older non-US Rx8s already have a bunch of things that we lack - so doyourselves a favor and stop trying to come up w/all thesebullshit excuses for Mazda NAs negligence. The truth hurts - acknowledge it and accept it.

 

I want it- and I want it now! I want the goose that layed the golden egg, daddy!

 

I always wish i new what car comes stock with those so i can spit out my window and watch em go on. Yeah yeah i know im a jack *** but cmon thats hilarious.

 

A lot of those things you whine about come standard in Canada, if you get the 6SP MT GT version. I guess Mazda just hates the US

 

Meh, just more stuff for me to go through when I want to put in something...

 

Watch out with the rain-x washer fluid - it stained the hood of my daily driver (but I wash that pos about once a month).


Jerky 8 - relax. If memory serves me correctly, most of the small items you listed are not standard on most 30K cars. 6 CD changers are usually part of an option package, as well as power passenger seats, auto wipers and headlight washers. I personally don't like auto climate control, wipers, or headlights and wouldn't want the extra base cost added to my car.

Optimally, you should be able to configure your car to suit your needs exactly (think Scion, but more extensive), but economies of scale are needed to stay competitive. It would be cool if you could buy a car like you buy a sandwich at a deli and just combine whatever you like, but you can't. Unfortunately, you're stuck on an airplane and have to choose between turkey and vegetarian.
Where was I?

 

1 - My auto-dim mirror doesn't dim enough. Not good.

2 - If I turn it off, it doesn't dim at all. Also not good.

3 - By saying I'll get a "normal" mirror, I mean one that you flip the switch to get the light out of your eyes like most day/night mirrors.

Sorry for being vague.

 

I never understand anyone who buys anything, car, house, electronic equipment, food, ANYTHING and then rants and raves about it that it wasn't a good value.

Do your homework. If you're going to be that upset about missing a 6 CD changer, auto wipers, auto headlights, etc, then you really need to drive something different.

The ONLY thing I wish this car had, that my last $30,000 car had, is automatic electronic climate control (I had an Acura TL) - I love that ... set it to 68 degrees and forget about it.

Do I let this upset me? NO! I chose the RX-8 for its performance and made the decision that I was perfectly fine with its shortcomings.

Don't forget guys that this is a low volume car that shares very few parts with anything else in the Mazda line - which makes production costs quite high. I'm sure the wiring harness is unique, but I'd be the 3 and 6 use a similar harness. About the only items that seem "parts bin" are the radio module (but not the face of it), the turnsignal and wiper stalks, and the window/mirror/lock swich modules.

The -8 is the only car in the Mazda lineup to have HIDs ... and I'd bet a month's pay you cannot use the same "auto-on" module for the HIDS as you can a stock model.

AND, I'd bet that consumer research among their target audience for this car - performance enthusiast drivers - panned the idea of automatic wipers. Therefore, no auto wipers. Or, it was a way to keep cost out of the car.

Don't forget, they wanted to avoid the debacle of the $40,000 FD cars - they wanted a sub-$30,000 machine in base and "just over $30,000" for fully equipped. With a low-volume, specialized drive train with trick parts like a carbon fiber drive shaft, with its suspension bits, with it not sharing one bit of body tooling with ANY other car in the line up, to make the price targets, they had to make choices.

You folks are thinking with your emotions - the $30,000 cars you're comparing it to are cars sold in 4 and 5 times the volume as an RX-8. Understand that making these cars is a business, and needs to be a profitable one at that in order for it to keep being made, and you'll understand the decisions they make.

Stew

 

Thats pretty much the same story when I bought my laptop. I was pretty jet set on a model made by VoodooPC, the m460. Great laptop, however it had been having a LOT of problems off the bat and everyone kept buying them and then ranting about how much BS it was that they were defective. Voodoo took them off the market but the guys that bought them even after the problems were common knowledge kept whining. Voodoo was pretty accodatiing but as far as I am concerned its there own damn fault for not researching there purchase. Before I buy anything major (biggest purchase so far is a 3900 dollar laptop from VoodooPC, give me a brake I am only 18), I research the hell out of it, wether its cars, computers, aftermarket parts (haven't gotten there yet, still need to procure the car...), etc...

 

So if an overhead flock of seagulls decide to skip-bomb your windshield do you get "auto-smear"?

 

I am glad the 8 doesnt have this feature. how sensitive is the sensor? i know when theres a small amount of rain (or snow) i dont want the wipers going just for fear of there not being enough water and the wipers can just lead to scraping dirt or other particles across the glass. I usually wait til theres a good build of water before i turn the wipers on.