(https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...9&page=1&pp=15)
^ The current thread about things you can pack in the RX-8 that you could never do in a 2-seater got me thinking of raising the topic of the most people carried in the RX-8.

The most I've had is 6.

4 adult-sized people + 2 larger-sized kids. With four in the back and two adults up front, there's easily room for one more in the front passenger seat (although there are some questions I'd need answered before trying that).

 

4- one per seat belt

 

Let me guess, no one was wearing a seat belt right? I can't wait to read about you in the Darwin awards... And you did this with children in the car?

 

And this ^^ person owns an 8? I've had 5 in mine. One adult (me) two teenage girls (my daughter and her friend) and my two younger boys (5 and 8), we drove two to three blocks (all residential and very carefully) and everybody had a seat belt around them. With a twofer in one of the back seats. It was as safe as could be.

 

This might come as shocking news to some people, but it is quite common in the United States and elsewhere around the world for Police Officers to patrol on duty without wearing seat belts themselves! I see it all the time. They do it in broad daylight, totally exposed for everyone to see them doing it, even when they are out on the highways. And they make absolutely no excuses for setting such an example. (What is more amazing is that these very same officers have the authority to write tickets against other motorists who aren't wearing seat belts.)

So there are thousands of cops out there who are perfectly ok with cruising around on the highways without any seat belts, yet I present a scenario where I had passengers in my car who may not have been wearing a seat belt on unspecified roads and this forum gets freaked.

...even to the point of wishing death upon me.

I'm certain that we can be more positive in our crossflow of information on here.

 

I've had 5 adults in mine.... 2 in the back and 3 in the front and no, we weren't wearing seatbelts. :p

 

Me driving: 5'11" 145 lbs
Buddy in front: 5'10" ~300 lbs
Buddy behind me: 5'10" 175 lbs
Buddy behind front passenger: 6'2" ~350 lbs

4 people, ~970 lbs. all over 5'10" Believe they all had the seat belts on.

Car understeered quite a bit.

 

> ...and no, we weren't wearing seatbelts.

For those times when I have driven with four passengers in the back, they were snug enough that I wasn't too particular whether or not they chose to put on seatbelts.

But I hope that everyone is aware that it is far worse to have a seatbelt around BOTH people when one is sitting on the other's lap. If flung forward in a crash, the weight of the person behind (underneath) will crush the forward person (on top) as they are both pressed into the belt. It is much safer to belt only the bottom person and have them hold the person on top.

I myself always put on my seatbelt for driving.

If the need ever arises, someday I may try to fit 7 people, with 4 in back and 3 up front. But I would insist on the front seat passengers to sit side-by-side. I'm guessing that an air bag could make it pretty messy with the on-the-lap technique.

As far as my comments about cops, of course I was referring to those riding motorcycles, a vehicle that is statistically FAR more fatal than automobiles (yet I don't wish death on anyone I see riding one).

 

Wow, that's quite the load. If you were going out for lunch it must have been even worse on the trip back.

I've had three six-footers squeeze into mine with a 6'3'' person sitting behind someone 6'5''. No one was quite that beefy, though. All weighed less than 250 lbs. This felt like it was at, if not very close to the leg room limit. There was obviously plenty of room for extra girth, so it would seem that an occupancy load of 1400 lbs (350x4, or .7 tons!) is possible. Though it wouldn't be a pretty sight. Talk about understeer!

 

You do realize that the gross vehicle weight rating of the car is barely enough for 4 adults and a duffel bag in the trunk.

Are you actually driving around with all these passengers or just playing clown car in a parking lot? Don't be surprised if you find your door handles and hard plastic surfaces cracked.

 

We haven't even started talking roof rack or coilovers yet... Ha!

 

back when i was little, my family/relatives used to scale narrow mountain roads in a ZAZ 966... we had four adults in the car, then me (8 years old at the time) in the back on the lap, a ~12 yr kid in the passenger seat (on the lap as well) (the car looked much like the one in in this photo).

that was on the way up the mountain. 30-something hp car couldn't take much more weight. however, on the way down the mountain, we'd often have another kid taking up the rear seat (so all seats are doubled-up, except for the driver) and the neighbors' teen kid riding on the ROOF RACK! that's a person riding on the roof rack down a mountain road with no barriers and steep drop-offs.

talk about unsafe

 

Well, it kind of grates against me to have to stick up for the cops, but...

Police are, by definition, in the business of risk. As a consequence, they sometimes have to follow riskier procedures than normal people in order to do their job. I can totally see how needing to get out of the car quickly to deal with some emergency might trump the officer maximizing his personal safety by wearing the belt. The public's safety can sometimes trump the individual officer's safety. You wouldn't catch me dead wearing the riding gear that a motorcycle cop wears, but they have different priorities than mine. I, for instance, will in no circumstance wear anything less than a full-face helmet. Cops, on the other hand *never* wear one. I've heard that the reason is that they need to be accessible to the public and the covered-face helmet intimidates people.

So it's not necessarily pure hypocrisy on their part.

Krankor
05 Shinka 6MT

 

Those comments I made weren’t intended to knock cops. I was just trying to point out that there are radically different safety standards among different groups of people. Astral’s story is classic. Some see the roof rack as a passenger necessity, others see it as child abuse. Some see bikes as donorcycles, others see them as hellafun. Speaking of radical transportation, if you happen to be into ‘train surfing’, go to India and you’ll fit right in (see attached).

Instead of slamming on people who don’t conform to my personal standards of safety, I prefer the approach of seeking a balanced perspective on risks vs rewards. If you need to take a bunch of people down a mountain and you only have one car, is it smarter to take two trips and more than double the probability that you’ll crash? (Particularly if you take fatigue into account.) Maybe there’s a solid argument for a roof rack / duct tape solution! That would make for one wacky photo of an RX-8. Heh.

Back to the original point, I consider my passengers to be far safer in the back seat of my RX-8 wearing no belt versus hanging on to me on the back of a motorcycle. Yet where I am located, I risk a $200 fine for a beltless RX-8 back seater while it would be totally legal to do the motorcycle option with neither one of us wearing a helmet! I’ll stop short of calling it hypocritical, but there is definitely a huge discontinuity there.

 

Some of us RX8 owners have families. I always insist on everyone belting up for safety and do not apologize for it. Do you think that only reckless people can own this car? I drive my '8 like the sports car it is but always with safety first.
Just because you were not in an accident and everything worked out for you (thank goodness) does not make your actions safe. Teaching children to disregard safety belts is not a good thing for an adult to do. BTW, check your owners manual regarding doubling up people with one seat belt. I am sure that you drove carefully but had you be hit by someone the two children doubled up could have been seriously hurt and you could have been charged with negligence.

 

This reminds me of when I was stationed at Fort Bliss. I was driving through one of the national parks in NM in an 88 Nissan Pulsar. Had 7 in there (2 in the front, 3 in the back, and 2 in the "trunk" area). While I'm not that far removed from that age I'd like to think that I've matured alot and would never attempt such a stunt again (but god those days were fun).

 

When I was a fool college kid driving my 84 RX-7 (2-seater) I would regularly cram 8 people (myself included) and a cooler for a 45 min drive to the beach

me driving
1 girl on the shifter tunnel betweet seats (I had a lot of fun shifting gears :D )
2 ppl on the front passenger seat
4 ppl behind the front seats, 2 facing forward and 2 back
a cooler in the laps of the ones nearest the hatch
hatch open

except one time that a cop pulled me over for driving with the hatch open at 4 am, me being the only sober one and he asked all of us out of the car, the look on his face was priceless :D

I told him that we lived 40 minutes away and if he would be so kind to take everyone home... after a few silent moments he said to just drive carefully and keep the hatch closed

it was great!

 

4 people, comfortably, with enough clothes for all 4 people for 10 days! Also a good ammount of snacks/soda for the trip, 1500 miles each way!

It was one of few long car trips that when we stop for gas...i dont feel like I need to stand up and stretch, totaly comfortable.

 

I think we have a winner

 

2nd gen RX-7s had even more room. I used mine like a pick up truck.

 

I consider it important to discern which warnings are there to protect us, and which ones are there to protect Mazda.

 

The warning against putting 2 people into 1 seatbelt is there to protect you.

As a former first responser I can tell you that I have seen severe injuries and death to the person on top in the double belting scenario. Since the lap sitter is typically a child or light weight person and the person on bottom is a heavier adult, the seat belt at best crushes the person on top. You don't want to know what happens at worst.

 

I've had 5 people a couple times in my 8, 4 in the seats, 1 in the trunk. And I tend to drive in a more spirited fashion with someone back there

 

8

One driver
2 in passenger seat
4 in the rear seats
1 in the trunk

:p

 

^ wow, your car must have felt like an AT. Just kidding guys!!! :D