Some strange things are happening with my car. Ended today with 950 miles.

Last week (Wed the 20th) I got pissed at seeing the black soot again, so I took chrome cleaner and polished the pipes really shiny good. Wanted to watch exactly how long it took to go black again.

Went for a short around town, no soot, but only about 10 miles.
Went away this weekend, came home and decided the 8 needed some exercise. The weather had also changed from totally hot and muggy to bright, clear and cool... just perfect weather! Tried some things and found:

- if you go say 4000 rpm in 2nd and just hold it there on a QUIET road with the windows down.... you realize just how quiet the engine is. I mean very quiet. Since 80 mph in 6th it is also at 4000 rpm... I now realize virtually anything heard at that speed is NOT the engine. The thing is just amazingly smooth and quiet.

- I did steady state on the highway doing 60 and up mph in 3rd, 80and up in 4th, holding it there and then accelerating back and forth and my butt dyno says there is excellent push available, great throttle response to be had. Seems all that's needed is to keep revs up where you wouldn't normally think it OK, but after realizing just how effortless the high RPM is for the engine, it is very happy working there.

Did a bunch of redlining, and I discovered at about 7200 the engine sound changed from just quiet to a kind of fuzzy rattling sound until redline buzzer. I had never noticed this before, but also hadn't been working right at that rev and listening purposefully. Still there is a definite character change in engine sound there, possibly the crossover pipe doing the back and forth intake compression I think it is? Any other ideas on this?

I don't know whether to believe my butt, but I absolutely can say that I felt the EXTRA push as 7270 rpm with more and faster acceleration. I don't remember this before, it had always seemed to go the same acceleration all the way up.

So I get back and I go to take a look at by exhausts and what do you know, SHINY CLEAN! I thought now that is strange, because I had noticed (and repeatedly cleaned) way too much thick black soot way from when I 1st picked up my car and even took it to the dealer and he agreed that wasn't right a week or so ago.

Thinking this was great I had to convince myself I wasn't seeing things, so I went back and ran my finger ALL AROUND - top and bottom - THE INSIDE OF THE PIPE, and all I got was just a light smudge of soot on my finger, nothing like before.

Are any of these things connected? Weather, no soot, engine sound, and butt accelration at high rpm????

I don't know. But I like what it is doing right now. Anyone else finding this change in their car?

 

I am still getting soot -- but it has been over 100 degrees here - I will be interested to see if cooler weather affects this issue.

Engine sound definitely changes at the top end :D Lots of power felt at the top -- and YES there is an extra push around 7500k. I have over 850 miles on it now and it definitely feels more loose and free reving than it did a few hundred miles ago. From 6k to 9k this car has great acceleration and push (got a nice tire chirp going into second today even with the DSC engaged) -- engine makes a great sound too -- my wife was outside when I was coming home yesterday and she said she could tell I was coming from quite a distance away -- very unique sound almost like a jet fighter.

I have driven a 350Z -- for a week last fall -- and the RX-8 doesn't have the raw push of the Z but I think it is a whole lot more fun to drive and I really can't tell much of a difference in acceleration. The Z reminded me of a Mustang (not a favorable comparison IMHO) while the RX is uncomparable :D Not to mention that I couldn't get my suitcase and golf clubs in the Z but have NO problems in my RX getting 2 sets of clubs, my wife and our 2 kids (including child car seat)!

People may be griping over the HP issue but I am very pleased with the performance of my car. Had a friendly go with a new BMW 330 coupe and the RX was even for the first few seconds (normal 3k start -- no tire squeal) then pulled slowly away until he gave up and turned (about half mile). That is good enough real world performance for me. I don't care about magazine reviews, SVT Mustangs, or track times etc... If I wanted such a beast I would have bought one in the first place -- no class, no refinement, no practicality.

 

Amen.. this is why I drive an NA rotary. These are drivers cars and are a BLAST to drive.. Yeah so what if a Mustang is faster 0-60.. who cares? These cars all all about driving and they handle like a dream. You have 100% hit the nail on the head.

My car has 150 hp from the factory.. but at the track with R compound tires on I will put it up against almost anything.

Just yesterday I had someone in.. I think it was a Mustang pushing hard on me.. going up next to me and trying to get me to race them.. I didn't I won't street race.. instead I kept my speed knowing there were twisties about 500 yards ahead.. I didn't lower my speed, hit the apex and left the mustang back in turn 1 where he had to slow down.

For all the people that compare this to a 350.. I think that Best Motoring said it best.. the 350z is a sports car for people who don't know what a sports car is. It's not a drivers car.. they even went so far as saying it felt American.. ouch.. Car and Driver said that a Mustang's steering wheel had the response of a stereo dial.. come on.. please.

Mazda mades awesome cars. They feel right and the controls are right. I love driving my car and I loved driving the 8 when I had a chance to do it.

Don't play the numbers games!

Oh I saw someone earier comparing an RX8 to a V-6 Honda Accord.. talk about missing the point...

It's nice to read about someone who LIKES their 8 instead of whining that it doesn't win on paper.

 

Spin9k,

Good observation. Thanks for passing on that info amd your experience. I'll pass this on to my wife to see if she notices some of the same things as you. I'm sure she'll get a thrill of duplicating your testing methods. :D

 

BTW, I hope you don't then wonder why you get 15 MPG or so for this tank. :D :D

 

Stop! You're killing me! My car arrives this week! I'm dying!!!!!

 

I was worried too, so many low numbers going around. So with the light on at 245.8 miles I filled with 13.8 gal for 17.94 mpg!!

I'd really been enjoying the car this tank and I was flabergasted.. I mean the other tanks pre-600 miles were between 18.1 and 19.8 mpg. I barely nicked it! Guess I have to go FASTER QUICKER - Gosh I love this car, it turns a boring ride somewhere into the most fun you can have driving.. :D

 

These are comfy seats, but some more torque would be nice.

-Butt Dyno