93rdcurrent

Ike WRX,

Sorry to hi-jack this thread but where are your "dancing" bananas?

To keep it in the subject: I have to say that this car is doing something close to the posted hp ratings. I have gone up against a number of cars and been successful in my runs. There have been some ties but for the most part I have been successful against stock cars. VW's & Audi A4's no chance (stock hp ratings 175-220), BMW's 325's were smoked 330's were very close and i got a good launch, Honda's were smoked, Acura's well I've smoked them too. I will give some of that to driver experience since I have been driving high hp cars fast for years. Some of that is just the fact that the Integra's or Civic's are not in the same league as the RX-8. As far as the WRX is concerned it has the AWD feature everyone talks about and true it has quick launch times however the reliability of the AWD differential under hard driving conditions and over a period of time is a question. They are good cars but AWD is hard on the differential. I know if I drove my wife's A4 Quattro Sport the way I drive my RX-8 the differential would be fairly short lived. Just my 2 cents of course.

Ike

It's not the diff we worry about, it's the tranny. As far as I can tell my 'Nanas are still there, aren't they???

Winning_BlueRX8

yup, still there "dancing" over and over and over and ov...

Lufa

Wow another HP thread... I really dont know what Mazda can do at this point, its pretty clear that the car does not do 238hp stock. No one comes close to 200 - 210 on a dyno, unless they have a mod or 2.

I really dont care either way at this point. I suppose I can increase my post count.

Imp

I figured just putting the car and HP wasn't going to suffice, so I had to find a published number someplace.

Yeah, a bit off topic....sorry. Subaru drivetrains last depending on how hard you beat on the car. Beat on anything, and yep. it's going to wear. Even tho I'm a rocket scientist (not really) it doesn't take one of me to figure that out.

This AWD system has been around since 1992. Had a few tweaks along the way, yet has been unchanged for the most part (until the STi 6 speed). You don't hear much of it here in the states becuase the WRX hasn't been around for a long time, but in the other parts of the World, they have, and making 220 hp.

Living in New England, I can vouch for the longevity of the Subaru Drivetrain, espeically when comparing it to other makes like Volvo, Audi, BMW. There are more 'cheap' Subarus on the road up here than all the others combined.... from the 90s.

Just like the old advertising that Subaru is trying to get out of... "Subaru... cheap, and built to stay that way". The cost of repair, if any, is not expensive either. Why? These cars are made to be field stripped in an hour or two on rally stages... and that DOES filter down into the base cars. Eveythings accessable, not complicated, and fits really well (not to be confused with fit/finish for the interior).

Those that you hear with issues on the WRX are like those here with various other issues. The complainers get heard, those that don't have problems, are in the majority.

BTW, just hit 50,000 miles on my 3 year old WRX wagon. 43 K in the 1st year with the last two it's been mostly an auto-x car... and you know what? I still have the stock tranny, clutch, engine. Figure in the past 3 years, the cars been auto-xed in about 50 events with close to 300 auto-x runs, with about 100 of them ProSolo launches (pro solo launches are drag race launches with a tree).

The driver makes the biggest difference in how long a car will last, IMHO.

I keep eyeing the RX8s on my way to and from work at a dealer. I've driven one at an auto-x. The only way for me to get one, according to my wife, "You'd have to sell the wagon."

Not this year... need to defend my title.

Roaddemon

Com'on. The wrx is a pocket rocket boy toy. I would'nt get caught dead driving one. Myself and wife went to a suburu dealer to look at one before buying the 8. We pulled in the lot and saw one righrt away. 1st time I set eyes one one. We both broke out laughing. Never test drove it. No need since it's so uuugly we did'nt even consider it. Same goes for the other econobox hot rods some keep talking about here.

Don't compare that ugly little toad thing to the 8. It is nowwhere near the 8 in class and style. The only thing in common is the price range. I don't think that little wrx thing is even rated as a sportscar. Why compare it to the 8 in hp or otherwise.

If I sound predjudice thats because I am. I thought this was a mazda rx8 forum. As far as advertized hp is concerned, Do a search on hp and you will find the 8 holds it's own against other cars(private street racing) in it's class in the same hp/weight range. I'm talking sportscars now. High hp Escort type econoboxes with big spoilers on the back are not my idea of a sportscar. They're just a "Fast and Furious" fad right now. Next thing you Know Geo Metro will be making one.

Imp

I know it's a Mazda forum, and I understand it as such. But I'm confused, since when does answering your question with accurate data...
... constitute an all access pass to your bashing of one of the most award winning and highly praised cars in the past few years on the road?

So you don't like it, that's fine... but you can't tell me that I didn't answer your question exactly as asked. Sorry if the truth hurts. (And is cheaper). [Pushes buttons]

I don't have a big spoiler on the back of my car... it's a wagon. So I resent the fact that you're lumping everyone that drives a WRX into a class of street racers. Shall I assume that you're stereotypical of all RX-8 drivers, or just the small portion of it that thinks the RX-8 is the end-all-be-all of roadgoing (mmmm Porsche? BMW?)

Nice attitude.

Again, share the road with other cars. Owning the road should be saved for the track.

--kC

Meowloud

I'm just wondering how in the heck a question about HP legalities turned into an arguement over (2) cars?!?

Men, GEESH!

Roaddemon

Like I said. Im predjudice. Like many other rx8 owners I think I have the cats meow.

Yeah, Porsh and BMW are more like it. I respect them.

Roaddemon

Sharp cars and hp are very emotional things to men. Obviously a phenomenom that can't be explained. In this case we are pulled between the two. Conflict is the result.

Meowloud

Geezuz, then I would hate to see what would happen if I started a thread about go-karts!! Ha ha :D

Imp

:D

Meowloud

ROFL!!!! :D

Roaddemon

Cool Kart, I wonder what the crank hp is.

Psylence

As a WRX owner AND an 8 owner, and having abused both cars on the same stretches of road numerous times..

Unless you are prepared to clutch DROP the WRX (which is horrible for the Subie 5 speed) the WRX isn't walking away. In fact, if each car gets an aggressive but not abusive launch, the '8 edges out the WRX by several MPH on the same measured acceleration run.

False advertising my butt.

Roaddemon

Alright, that's what I wanted to hear. Real experience tells the real truth about our 8s and crank hp. I already knew this but others have to wake up.

LeMans1991

I must say that there are a lot of "morons" on this thread that have no idea what they are talking about when it comes to measuring horsepower.

The bottomline is that different horsepower dynamometers will spit out different results on teh same car depending on their design and how carefully the tester manages the variables. "There's no really accurate way to get engine HP from a chassis dyo," says Matt Harwood of MUSTANG DYNAMOMETER, a major supplier of chassis dynos in Twinsburg, Ohio. Some tuners use the so-called 15/20 rule, which assumes a 15 percent driveline loss for manual trannies and a 20 percent loss for automatics. Yet, Harwood says that he has seen losses as high as 35%.

Take a look at the MAY issue of "Car & Driver" and on page 128 you can read all you want about how DINAN measures Horsepower via the dyno. Basically, they spent $7,000 on a turbine to blow air over the front of the engine. Dinan also wires the cars with a battery of sensors that report when the airflow over the bumper is too little, when the inlet air is too hot, and when the water temps in the block and radiator are too close together. In fact, mos turbocharged and supercharged cars also "know" when their intercoolers aren't cooling enough.

The computer on the car reacts by "backing-off" the spark and turning up the richness - - - and as a result, turning down the power - - - to prevent catastrophic engine meltdowns.

rx8miami

how id mazda get caught falsly advertising the 8's hp at 250 anyway? if so, they woudl get caught at 238 right? I believe that they are on the money because otherwise their butts woudl be up the creek for doign it again.

Roaddemon

Your right. the original hp as advertized was 250 in Japan but Mazda had to detune the american engine to 238 to meet american emissions and catalytic converter longevity. This was done at the last minute because the car was already in production. They offered to buy back american rx8s because they did not meet original hp figures here. If you buy an rx8 in Japan it will still have the original 250 hp. UK has even stricter emission laws and their rx8s are detuned to 230 hp. The ECU could be retuned to gain back the 12 hp. I'm sure the aftermarket will catch up to it, but then my car would not be emission legal in the US. the warranty may also be jeprodized.