Well I've had the 8 for a little over a week now, and I'm absolutely loving it! And since I'm in work mode right now I'll post my impressions in bullet format

• The handling in this car is a dream. I can toss it around corners with ease and still go over mild potholes without wincing. This was not the case in my lowered Tiburon.
• The car looks amazing. Every time I park I have to glance back at it a couple times before walking inside.
• I can't get over how smooth the power output is once you get past 3k on the tach. It just keeps on giving all the way up to the happy buzzer.
• I've always loved having a car that you don't see everywhere on the road. That was the draw of the Tib when I bought it in 2003. I still have yet to see another copper red 8 on the road!
• Not a big fan of the Bose stereo. I work in pro audio, and the mantra holds true "No highs, no lows, must be Bose"
• Gas mileage is acceptable so far. I've been driving the car a bit hard, and I'm still getting around 18.5mpg.
• It's already getting old that the person next to me at the stoplight constantly assumes I'm trying to race them. Even when I'm just cruising around town or commuting to work it's easy to let the RPMs hit 5000 before shifting in this car. The person next to me in the Grand Prix hears that and assumes it's go time
• There are no roads in the Chicago area that are twisty enough for this car. Must find better ones!!

 

Nice bullets

Do you plan on doing anything with this car other than daily driving?


...and you DID do your homework... right? You aren't going to be posting about oil changes in 3 weeks, are you?

 

So true! I am disappointed with this system in the GT. I expected better!

 

you think the Bose stereo is bad... I have a base 04' with a sound that will make you dislike any band you play.

Copper Red is such a sexy color, I have the Velocity Red and I love it! G/L with your car and post as many pics as you can because I can't get enough of looking at these cars.

 

Chicago roads are the pits for this car and traffic is a killer just to many cars on the roads. I feel like a Tiger in a zoo cage.

 

Congrats! I agree about the Bose. Only Bose products I like are the Wave clock radio and the noise-cancelling headphones. A company called Clearwater makes plug-'n-play speaker upgrades for the Bose stereo in a Miata—wish they had that for the RX-8.

One of the reasons I left Chicago was for the lack of twisty roads within an hour's drive. (There's always the s-curve in Glencoe.) And for a nice weekend trip, head west on Rt. 20 to Galena and then do some of the Great River Road. Fabulous!

 

Welcome to our humble midst!

You must be young. I'm nearly 50 and the Bose sounds great to me. Can't hear the highs and lows anymore anyway. But the sound system isn't Mazda, and I'm pretty sure you know how to punch it up to suit yourself. After the POS stereo in my old Ford, I can live with the Bose.

Enjoy the car, you've discovered what the rest of us know. Somebody else posted this (Rhawb?), it's a car that pastes a big smile on your face every time you get in. So damn true.

 

Welcome to the club...
Enjoy the car..

 

i had an acura rsx type s before my rx8. the rsx also had a bose system in it but it had a 4? inch subwoofer that sat on top of the spare tire. that bose system sucked even with the small subwoofer. the rx8's bose system is way better than the acura's. like jethro, i can't really complain about the rx8's bose system.

congrats on the car. i've had mine for 4 months now and i love it as much as i did the first time i drove it.

 

I'm right in your parts, SD; and although I shouldn't condone this but there are many on and off ramps where you can get your fix of really high speeds. It ain't quite Tail of the Dragon but if in one 30 mile trip you can go slightly out of your way to do a dozen or so of 'em it might alleviate some of your race car driver wannabe frustrations.

Congrats on the car, by the way. Which dealer's pocketbook did you fatten?

 

Congrats & welcome.
I've only seen one other CR in my area, and I think it was an auto.

 

Another satisfied customer. Welcome to the Club. Enjoy.

 

For now it's just going to be the daily driver. A very fun daily driver once I manage to break away from traffic!

I wasn't planning on posting about oil changes, but since you mentioned it....

My Tib had a stock Infiniti stereo with an 8" sub in the back. It was surprisingly decent for a stock system. I liked it much better than the Bose.

Yep, I live in Schaumburg, and there's a fantastic on-ramp from 53N to 90E. The problem is hitting it when there's no car in front of you. It can be good fun when you get those rare moments. I actually took that ramp over the weekend and had a newer GTO in front of me. He tried to take the turns with some speed, but the car just couldn't handle it.

 

I've had mine for 2 1/2 years now and the honeymoon continues. I still get long looks from people while driving it. And it's an absolute blast on the track. I agree that the Bose in the GT is pretty mediocre, but the sound system hasn't been a high priority to me -- yet.

 

Bill Jacobs VW in Naperville. Pretty nice dealership actually, the service was good. They just didn't know a damn thing about the 8 except that it was a rotary. They had the car about 2 months before dropping the price down to where I bought it.

 

I soo love my car also, especially when people looks at it!
Makes me feel liek I'm a MultiMillioner !

 

Congrats and welcome. If you accept the fact that no one will understand your love of the car, you'll never be disappointed.

 

Hello and Welcome....

By the way Check out ChicagorotaryRC3forum.com

 

My previous car was a '03 G35 Coupe, and I do have to say that the handling in the 8 is 20x better. Acceleration is a bit slower in the 8, but not by much. The G35had the Bose as well. I don't think Bose is all that bad. Much better than the stock JBL in my wife's 4Runner.

 

I drove a G35 a few times before moving my interest to the RX-8. Yes, the acceleration was a bit better, but the car just felt so heavy and ponderous through turns. I'd much rather sacrifice straight line acceleration for race car handling.

I did some more tweaking of the EQ (or lack thereof) this morning and got the stereo to an acceptable point. I don't expect a whole lot out of my car stereos, as a car cabin is a terrible acoustic environment, but I was at least expecting this system to be better than the Infiniti in my Tiburon.

 

I just got an 8 and the previous owner said that at first the Bose system was awful and then 6 months or so in it started sounding better. It sounds great to me. I don't know why or how this would happen, anyone else experience this? Maybe there nuts

Welcome & GL with your 8!

 

^^^^You're probably like me and never had a good sound system in your car before. So by comparison, the Bose sounds amazing

 

glad to hear you like it!