Looks like when my 8's lease is up this April, I'm probably going to go Pontiac. But when that Pontiac is done, I'm definitely going to be checking up on the 8. After driving one for two years, here is my wish list of things I'd like to see, in no particular order.

A turbo option
Theoretically this would give you more power when driving like a maniac without killing your gas milage when you were driving normal. Plus everyone loves the sound of a turbo.

A third rotor
By my most simple math skills, I calculate that just adding another rotor would put the RX8's power in the area of 360HP. Need I say more...

An iPod Dock connector
That way I wouldn't have to solder up my radio's pcbs, and i could use my steering wheel controls to change the ipod, yay!

Climate Control
Much nicer than the simple on/off heat.

Multi Level Heated Seats
Not just multi level, but the hottest setting, needs to be HOTTER!!!
Cadillac Cateras has 5 or 6 levels on their heated seats i believe.

Heated steering wheel, and maybe even shift ****
I live in boston, its friggin COLD here in the winter!

Drivers side seat net
The passenger side seat has a 'cargo net' on the back of it. How about the drivers side? That would be super handy for me!

Bigger sunroof
What do we get now about 2/3 of the sunroof open, with 1/3 still covered by glass? That being said, if they whole enclosure was bigger, much bigger, we'd get 4/3 :-P I'm thinking something that front to back, it twice as large as what they have now.

Automatic Headlights
Some people hate them. I hate manual headlights.

More Race Inspired Look
I don't have anything specific in mind. But I'm NOT talking about retarded glue-on plastic ground effects. Still somehow it would be nice if the car looked more... aggressive.

Power Rear Windows
Yeah, the little flip open windows. Those would be nice if they were power and you could open them from the front. As they are, just make the flip out mechanism motorized. I'm not talking about making them roll down, though that might not be a bad idea either.

Better rear visibility
Not sure how this could be done. Wouldn't want it done at the expense of something else, but still would be nice if i could SEE out the back!

Tire Pressure monitors
The current system is a joke. More cars with sensors will tell you the PSI of each tire, and weather that number is high or low. My 8 just tells me something, somewhere, is somehow not right.

I'm sure I can think of some more when i'm not so tired. I still love the car, I'd just love it more if it had... more.

 

What pontiac are you going to? GTO?

 

Yeah. Though thats not definite yet, I still have to drive the GTO, the TrailBlazer SS, a Nissan Z, and maybe an 06 RX8. Are they really more powerful than the 04's? By how much? But in the end, between the cost probably being less, the HP being so much more, and my RX8s snow tires fitting on the GTO. I'm probably just going to go for it. Oh and it will be much easier for me to service.

 

so u want a race inspired car but with luxuries like heated steering wheels shift ***??? automatic headlights, more storage compartments, ipod connection, and super ultra heated seats?

u cant have both my friend... and ur definately not gonna find it in the next rx7 or rx8 or in a pontiac... but good luck! i would say check out the wrx or sti... u wouldnt need snow tires with awd :D

 

I'll second those two. In a big way. The 8's heated seats are... to be kind... disappointing.

 

I'll agree with the TPMS, at least tell me which tire so when I'm out in the freezing Chicago winter I don't have to be running around the car to find the culprit.

 

Did you know that there used to be a time when you would have to crank a lever on the door in order to make the window go down! Can you imagine that?!? You actually had to make a circular motion with your arm just to get fresh air!


Damn, people are lazy. Now we need TPMS, power everything, and auto-dimming, self-leveling, hydro-formed, energy-saving, back-massaging, cancer-curing, xenon headlights. It's a freaking light! Be glad there's not a lantern hanging from a stick. (Yeah, I guess I would fall into the "hate them" category)


Phew, sorry, rant over. I will admit though that some of those items listed do have merit simply because buyers may not feel they are getting what they paid for (i.e., heated seats). But as far as available options go, there are people on both ends of the spectrum -- those who want a bare-bones sports car, and those who want a sporty land yacht -- and I feel Mazda has already split the middle fairly well considering what the RX-8 is meant to be...

 

My $65K lexus doesn't even tell me which tire is low. I think the reason they do is that is so that you HAVE to check all the tires. The TPMS is suppose to be used in conjuction with normal manual tire checking.

 

My Mazda is the only car i've ever driven that has a TPMS that didn't tell me the PSI of each tire. I guess thats another reason I don't like lexuses

 

It's a good rant. I agree with you.

Exactly; I previously cited the heated seats, on exactly those lines. If you're GOING to put in heated seats, put in good ones. Same with the sunroof: if you're going to put one in, put in a good one.

I can kind of see 1008com's argument about the TPMS, though. Given that the car *already has* the TPMS telling the car there's a tire problem, it should've been just nothing to have the car tell YOU just what's going on. I mean, all that's really required for that would be a small cheap extra display somewhere on the dash, and about three lines of software. Hell, I don't even care if it tells me the exact psi, but it would be nice if it told me WHICH tire has the problem. IT knows, why can't it tell ME? In short, same argument as before: if you're GOING to put in TPMS, put in a good one.

 

That might indeed be the reason, but it's a dumb reason. Adding fuel and checking the oil are also normal maintenance routines, should we just have one light that lights up for a problem with the tires, oil, or fuel? Following this logic, we end up with the Brian Kernigan car, the one with only one light on the dashboard, a question mark that lights up whenever there's anything wrong with the car, and its up to you to figure out just what the problem is.

No, the purpose of dashboard indicators is to give the driver as much information as possible. This is why most serious drivers prefer guages to idiot lights. The notion of Mazda being our Mommy, telling us "You really should go check ALL your tires! And wear a sweater!" is unsavory.

 

Just out of curiosity, what were those other cars?

 

I worked at a dealership for 2 years, 2 years ago. It was a gm dealer but we got a large variety. So in other words I have no idea. Lots of cadillacs, even old 90's cadillacs. I would assume also audis and bmws. I can assure you that they all cost less than $65,000 though.

 

if you ask me if you want sports car expect less of comfort. if you want more comfort then get a sedan. if anything the 8 is done up plenty as far as luxury goes. and then as far as 3 rotor plus and or turbo. we all are hoping for it. but i mean if you don't like the car thats ya choice. Although with mazda fitting affordability along with performance and some bit of luxury the product seems like i can't get much better then what it is right now.

 

Rotary Rasp is it a SC430?

That is currently the car my wife would like to get.

Didn't look like as much room in the back seats as the 8 though.


As for the powered rear windows Truemagellen and I are planning on setting ours up to be powered, sometime this summer when we have some time. :D

Couple of minivan actuators and a passenger window switch to power both of them. If I open one I open the other, make it easy and wire them to the same switch and only have to hit one switch.

 

The powered rear windows isn't even about luxury. I very rarely have rear passengers, so Id like to be able to open those windows from the drivers seat, rather than having to get out of the car and climb all the way into the back

 

So Cadillacs, Audis, and BMWs? This is a Mazda...

 

The current system is much simpler, and programmed to recognize a low-PSI signal coming from any sensor within its range. To recognize which wheel and report back actual PSI, it's going to be way more than 3 extra lines of code... Having worked on a TPMS-style project before, you've got four wheels with embedded sensors that are rotated from corner to corner, so you can't just program the computer to recognize each sensor's serial code. What you'll need is a directional receiver, or individual receivers with a smaller detection range at each wheel well. That = more weight. You also can't ignore the cost of the more sophisticated circuitry too. At the end of the day, the RX-8 is pretty damn affordable. You can get luxury for the amount we paid. You can also get sports car performance for the amount we paid. Getting both? You'll either have to pay a lot more, or compromise on one or both... Personally, I believe Mazda threaded the needle in achieving a balance of the two.

-P23

 

Why not? This is precisely what I was envisaging when I said it was easy. Please elaborate.