zoom44

ignorance is bliss

Johnny5

I quite agree....Deepest apologies to you all

RichardK

Ah, I was thinking of the Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution. So sorry. I forget that people tend to assume the only Evo is the Lancer

RichardK

The XR4i 2.8 will do 135, just, in good health - but most of them are shagged now, and were shagged 5 years ago too. It's also not about how fast, but how it handles, and the 3500S handled properly is better than the XR4i by some margin.

If you only drove auto 3500S' then you'd have a poor impression - apparently my manual with PAS was a rare beast. Shame the base unit was rotten, really.

Ah, in the trade. That explains it

The X1/9 isn't totally outclassed by the MR2. The MR2 isn't as progressive, as communicative, or as easy to place on the road with some delicacy. MR2s had better engines, but if you look at what Toyota had to play with in 1974 when the X1/9 was launched, you realise that the decade younger MR2 brought very little 'new' to the table, and took rather a lot away.

Not that I don't like MR2s, but point to point I'd be quicker in an X1/9.

You can call the R8 Honda based for our Yankee cousins, but you should know that the R8 is as much Rover as it is Honda; that 2 litre GSi Turbo had a Rover engine, and if it was nudging 150, your speedo was over-reading. Very good sleeper though.

Well - I'm finding with the RX8 that I can brake VERY late, but most people brake the wrong kind of late - I brake late before the corner, they seem to brake going into the corner... they understand the power out bit alright, but don't quite get the stage between braking and power, so they're braking and steering at the same time - I learned on Scottish Borders roads, with rally driver friends, in a small underpowered RWD car without any 'assisted' anything. In fairness, how most of the previous generation of drivers learned (bar the rally driver bit of course), but it seems that today drivers learn "X input on wheel/pedals for Y condition seen". No... adaptability. When I learned it was the case too, but I insisted on learning in my Chevette (it was cleaner than the instructors car! - but also, I liked it and wanted to learn in it).

Heh, I was just taking the **** a bit. I lump the Scoobys and stuff with the other chav *****, not because they cost £38K new, but because the stupid boy racer types are all running about in mid-90s Impreza 2000 Turbos with Halfords spoilers and baked-bean can exhausts, driving around in circles and terrified of bends. They aspire to own the £38K one, and frankly, I do not want to appear to be what Chavs aspire to.

I think new cars are too cheap. I think a Scooby should cost £38,000, but I also think that a MINI should cost £25,000, a Yaris £18,000, and so on and so forth. Cheap cars=old cars off the road too soon=environmentally bad, far more so than running a car which does 20mpg average. Relatively speaking:

1989 - Golf GTI Cabriolet 1.8i, 45mpg average (I had one, and yes, they do), no electric anythings aside from the roof (might have still been optional then), no ABS, no airbags, no cat, no ESP, DCS, TCS, WTF. £13,995. 3-bed house? £40,000.

2004 - Beetle 1.6i Cabriolet. 8V 1.6, 33mpg average (they claim higher and I usually get good mileage from cars - I get 24-27 from the RX8), electric everything, airbags all around, all the acronyms, better trim, more 'stuff' - £15,500. 3-bed house? £120,000.

I can't be swayed, sorry. The 300M, the LH, has a wide, square stance, good suspension, a decent engine set back in the wheelbase, and is very stable. Materials are pretty crap, but the body is rigid, the car is attractive, and it was cheap and practical.

The 300C... Well, as long as it has a Hemi. But I really want a combination which we may yet get in the UK; 300C front clip, Magnum wagon body, 5.7 Hemi and the 4Matic derived AWD system.

I'm not a car dealer, btw. I just love cars, have done since I was a toddler, hence the number I've owned. I've run about in a lot of 'nice' cars, like an early 80s 90 Quattro (with locking diffs), 200 Quattro (was a wreck though), Porsche 924S, Citroen CXs - all sorts of odd stuff.

The RX8 was chosen with that background, to be something I could be happy with as my main car, without the urge to buy more. As long as they fix the damper soon, I think it will manage that

Johnny5

The Rover was roadtested by several UK magazines at 148-150mph, so my speed was not required for this info!

The 3500 S as the manual car was known, would not do much more than 120mph depite the power. It lacked the Sierras world class (In 1983) drag coefficient, and wasn't as 'Waffer theen' as the Dagenham dustbin.

In fairness, my XR4 was capable of hustling around a bend well enough as long as the right foot remained down. Lift off antics were not pretty...

RichardK

Er, no. The 3500S was different trim - Rostyles and the like - but S doesn't designate a manual, in P6 or SD1 form (I nearly bought an SD1 V8 S - rare model indeed - but it was really gutless). The 3500S was a manual by default, but the auto option existed and most survivors seem to be autos for some reason - I suspect the bulk of 3500S production went into Jam Sandwich service.

I can't find road tests for the Rover, but I don't doubt it would do 140, 148 seems optimistic to me. I wouldn't like to be in an R8 going that fast! The 0-60 in sub six seconds seems unlikely, if only for the fact that no-one bought the bloody things and I'm sure they would have with figures like that from the factory...

Johnny5

Nope, fraid you are wrong about the P6.

The S designation was reserved for manual transmission cars.

http://www.gbclassiccars.co.uk/rover_p6_3500.html

I sold loads of the things for many years before they all 'died' and the horrid SD1 took over.

There are many roadtests confirming the Rover 200/400 Bobcats ability to hit nearly 150mph, and the odd 5.9 run to 60 too. It was light and 200bhp, so it figures it should go well enough...

Rotary78

sorry to hear that, but HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE THE 8!! it's worth every dime you spend on!! I would say listen to everyone and go test drive the other cars.... My friend does have the new '06 STi and I drove it, and I like it, but I say this without starting a Flame war, but in my opinion no car has the handling of the 8! or maybe I'm just obsessed with it! plus I feel that the pros out weigh the cons, and I think everyone here would agree with me..... but hey it's your money so Good Luck to whatever you decide!

Johnny5

Most of the cars in this class, if not all of them, are very nice indeed in my humble opinion.

I would happily buy any of them. I think it's just what turns you on at the time isn't it?

RichardK

Which would explain why they made a touch over 2,000 of them - a touch over 10% of the total production - with auto boxes

sti_eric

That just tells everyone that you have no experience driving any other cars.

NgoRX8

iTrader: (1)

^ you can kinda interpret that as saying its unlike any other car in handling. not specificially saying the 8 is the best.

sti_eric

^Then you can say that about any car, since every car handles differently from every other car. So the statement "no car has the handling of the _________" is true no matter what is in the blank.