I've read all the comments about the automatic being less power, but honestly, the ride was extremely exhilirhating. There isn't much power in the beginning, but once you get going, the car starts to shoot in acceleration. The car felt light and very solid. The ride was pretty smooth and the engine was pretty quiet to me.

By the way, I should state that the car I bought was a Silver 4 speed AT with GT options.

Back to the ride. I am totally impressed with the steering and the ease of the controls for the stereo and paddle shifters. It was a blast driving the Activematic stick, but I didn't stay too long on it until I break it in. Although the owner's manual says that there is no special break-in necessary, it still states that to improve engine effeciency and performance, try not to go past 7 RPM in the first 1000 miles.

One thing I noticed about the car was that the immobilizer light kept blinking once the engine is off. The symbol of a car with a key in the middle kept flashing. I was wondering if this is normal. I tried looking for something about it in the manual, but I couldn't find anything. If anyone can enlighten, I would greatly appreciate it.

Overall, I love the car. I don't think I could've made a better choice. To everyone who bought an automatic, I promise, you will not be dissapointed.

 

Here is the pix.

 

Hey, the car looks great and you dressed to match! Big Congrats.

 

Congratulations on getting your car. I've seen the silver car in person, and it looks better than the pictures. Those of us getting automatics have taken a lot of crap from the 6-speeders, but I knew that Mazda would not put out a car like the RX-8 if it did not have good performance.

 

The imobilizer light is your Alarm. It will blink showing that the alarm is engaged.

-Rooster

 

I do not mean to be rude, but why would someone buy an AUTO?

I learned to drive a manual in one day and I am sure anyone else could.

Once you learn and drive a manual you will never want to go back to auto.

 

well the question here isn't really why would somone want to buy an auto as the answer to that question would simply be convenience...with most cars, the automatic isn't usually much slower than the manual version and usually has the same engine specifications...besides convenience some people just really don't care to drive stick or don't know how which is fair, if you're really not into the performance aspect than you're not, it's their choice...

what gets me about the automatic version of the RX-8 is the huge loss in performance...while with most cars an automatic is purely a loss of a few tenths of a second, of course depending on the driver in the manual, with the RX-8 you're losinng a few seconds...i guess the thousand dollar difference in price between the auto and stick version plays a big role as well...but in the end it comes down to user preference...IMHO, i probably would have gotten auto if the engine didn't take such a heavy hit.

 

I know every new member has to always bring this up but this just gets old after awhile. Can't we have a pre-canned sticky response to this question. Unfortunately, no one thinks the same or does the same, there are a number of different perspectives out there in the world and they all don't coincide with yours.

(for the record: I'm getting a manual)

 

Mazda did. What are the auto specs again? High 7's-low 8's and high 15's for the 1/4? That's not good acceleration performance imo..

 

I don't want to be rude, but Who cares.....

If you want to buy a manual, buy a manual...

If you want an automatic, buy an automatic.....

Try not to critique someone's choice of vehicle or how they configured it. It is a personal choice.

Some people just don't want to learn, can't learn, do not have the physical ability to drive a stick (my wife has a brace on one of her legs which prevents her from driving anything other than an automatic).

Also, while you might know how to drive a stick, someone in the family might not.

Don't worry and be happy

Sorry for pouncing on you. I've just seen to many of these emails.

Regards,

Rooster

 

I use to live in Colorado with a lot of mountain roads with very little traffic. Plus you could see far ahead on the road. That was a lot of fun with my RX-7's. And a stick was the thing to have.

But now living in the Midwest, an automatic is just nice, especially in a lot of city traffic. The country roads here are narrow with a lot of trees hanging over. They are not exactly the safe roads to enjoy a stick on. I am still considering an automatic for an RX-8. I admit that it does sound weird... a sports car with an automatic. I must be getting old.

 

Almost every time a person has tried to post an automatic review or ask an automatic question here, some dumbass feels it's time to set automatic owners straight. Save it.

Anyway... so, Stownz, give us more detail!
How was the shifting? Did it throw you back in the seat?
How're the paddles?

 

That's funny you said that because when preludes came with automatic transmissions, they were nothing faster than RX8 plus their prices were like $27,000 for automatic version. And it even had less torque and HP, FWD, rear seats were too small, not good in styling as RX8, etc.

stownz, congrats on the RX8. RX8 is a good car with any transmission.

 

I just read the AutoWeek review...

http://www.mpt.org/motorweek/reviews/rt2232.shtml

They stated, "The Standard Power rotary delivers 210 horsepower and 164 pound feet of torque, channeled through a four speed automatic with a steering wheel paddle shift manual mode called Activematic."

How does the "Activematic" work?

Yes, I do think that an automatic would be just as fun. It is a good choice.

 

Huh, because it fits their needs and its their money ?

 

well first, i can answer incoming phone calls much more easily with the auto and i like to eat on the go! i'm low tech, haven't gone hands-free and you can't make me, until they plan to change the law! :p
yes the manual is better i agree, but it just doesn't give me enough flexibility! I drive in the city mostly, don't think i'll ever be able to use those 207 horses anyway, chose the car plainly for itz innovative design and rotary engine!

 

Thank you liquidlam....I just asked a question and you answered.

I do not know why everyone gets offended and cries about a simple question.

 

Can someone explain how activematic works with the steering wheel buttons like which is to gear up,shift down etc.Do you push 2 buttons to shift or 1.I seen the set up and it looks like there 2 up buttons and 2 down buttons.Info would be great and i really dont know why people care what we get.This is getting so dumb.YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN MY SALESMAN FACE WHEN ASKED FOR AUTO.

 

The salesman just wanted more money :p

The steering wheel does have two up and two down shift paddles. Up paddle shifts up and down paddle shifts down.

It's catering to both "lefties" and "righties".

-Rooster

 

Actually I think it's more like the bottom paddles shift up and top paddles shift down. That's at least what it says on them.

 

Thank, i wasnt too sure.I like the fact that its one not two.Someone told me me you had to push 2 buttons at the same time but i didnt think that was the case.Thanks for the reply.By the way 210 hp is nothing to sneeze at.I havent driven a car with more than 150 hp so it will have plenty of power.Remember you can still manually shift,that is how i will be driving,its kind of the best of both worlds.Its your money,buy what you want.

 

Yeah, I noticed that the Automatic car also has the "Up/Down" thing on the gear selector. Is that the activematix thing-a-majig (thats the official name I believe) that you guys are talking about?

I've always driven an Automatic, older ones... so the idea of an Automatic that allows you to shift up and down both intrigues and puzzles me. Can anyone explain how this works?

 

I knew it was one of those :p

-Rooster

 

In a nut shell, it is an automatic, or a manual without a clutch. They make a sportshift transmission on the mazda 6 that is a blast to drive. Great choice for those of us that have bumper to bumper traffic for 80% of your driving. Some lines of vehicles (toyota spyder comes to mind) only offer this type of transmission now.

 

Its an automatic that lets you select what gear to be in. Not a cluctchless manual like BMW's SMG or Toyota's. Those use a computer controlled clutch, the mazda RX8 uses a torque converter.