I went to Jeff Haas Mazda to see the two cars they just received (finally). The pre-ordered red one had already gone - bought for a 17 year old by his father without even a test drive. The black GT with red/black interior (gorgeous of course) was unallocated and I was allowed to sit in it. That's all I was told to expect on the phone with the sales person...

First I will say this - I have been dreading the quality of the interior after seeing the Rev-It-Up car. I can finally say it is absolutely fine and I think better than the Mazda 6 (I spent 30 minutes waiting for the black RX-8 to be cleaned/inspected and so checked out the 6 and Miata). Heck it is probably better than my IS300 (first year model with really cheap interior by Lexus standards - improved dramatically in 2nd year, never buy a first year car ). The leather is not soft but looks good and feels ok, the plastics are mostly soft and not fragile/thin although the piano black plastic on the doors looks better than they feel. Didn't like the headliner or the sun shades - obviously trying to save weight. The door pulls are thin and sharp; they look good but feel odd to use, but work fine.

The driver controls fall readily to hand and are pleasant to operate. The steering wheel is superb, but the tilt adjustment does not go high enough (or perhaps I should have lowered the seat). The driver seat adjusts more than enough ways and the power lumbar support is great. Getting into the back is tricky the first few times but once there you find plenty of space (I am 5'9" tall) if you put your feet below the driver's raised seat. The retracting/sliding front seat belts work perfectly - another worry that was unfounded. The sliding cover and other cubby holes in the center tunnel are well made and not flimsy and should last well. The glove box is tiny but there is sufficient alternative storage space. I didn't spot a 2nd power outlet anywhere. The engine is extremely quiet (inaudible outdoors by the main road) at idle, and the gearchange/clutch are extremely good - almost like a Miata 5MT.

I was shocked when the sales manager asked me if I wanted a test drive. Obviously I said yes. I was fairly gentle with the car as we are experiencing Tropical Storm Claudette at the moment and the roads are awash in many places, so I stayed below 7000rpm. A testament to how good the gearshift/clutch is: I have not driven a manual transmission car in over 6 years (except various test drives) and I felt at home in this car instantly, with immediate smooth changes that felt very natural. Better than all other cars I have driven except (maybe) the Miata and S2000, and definitely better than the G35 6MT. The steering is amazing - perfect weighting and feedback - went around a few small roundabouts (circles) at 15mph and it felt like I could have handled them at 40mph+ easily in the dry (side bolsters are excellent of course). Suspension is good - went over some bumpy roads which you could hear and feel but they did not throw the car off course.

The dials are stunning and I imagine that everyone will guage their speed by the beautiful rev counter and not the tiny digital speedo which I just could't get used to looking at. I noticed that 4000rpm comes up fairly fast in first, but that things seem to slow down after that. I think the G35 revs faster to 6500 than the RX-8 does - changing gears was much more frenzied in the Infiniti as the speedo literally surges upwards. The RX-8 was much more leisurely from a standstill, although please note that I did not go near peak power at 8500rpm and that the conditions were much better during my G35 drive a few weeks back on the same route. I also drove a little at 2000rpm in 4th and the car made no complaint and pulled surely upwards to 7000rpm. The sound of the rotary is so unusual - a turbine like roar - and yes it is smooth although not at all quiet above 4000 rpm. BTW I was easily the fastest car on the roads during the test drive even though I might have implied the car didn't feel very fast - it 'can keep up with traffic' without any effort.

Overall I think the car is an absolute winner. Whoever buys this particular black GT car - sorry to add 12 miles to it but I tried to treat it well (remember the manual does not insist on a break-in). I don't know if anyone else will get to test-drive this particular car as the dealerships demo vehicle is due Thur/Fri this week. For me the next thing (maybe Friday) is the wife's test drive and then my chance to really test-drive the demo car if the weather permits. And then finally (gulp) the rear-facing baby seat test in the back with an adult in front of it, and the stroller (Graco with large air filled rubber tires - 30/85R8 I think) fitting through trunk opening test - both look very tight.

 

I also noticed that the steering wheel doesn't tilt up as high as I might want, but after driving for a few miles I didn't mind - any higher and the wheel would begin to block the speedo.

As for a second power outlet, when you slide back the driver armrest (exposing the cupholders) you can then tilt that armrest, exposing a small storage area and a scond power outlet.

One other thing I've wanted to comment on, what do you (or anybody else who has taken a look at the interior without the NAV) think of the red display? Is it just me or does it seem a bit cheap? Like the display from the DeLorean in Back To The Future. C'mon, aren't more advanced LCDs like dirt cheap nowadays?

 

I have seen the red display only in photos so far, and it does look away too crude to be in a car of this calibre.

 

Now that you mentioned it, it did look cheap. During my test drive I asked "where's the clock?", the sales guy pointed to the red display. I couldn't see a thing! The sun was shinning so strong, all I saw were red globs. They should have used the same LCD used for the speedo. Speaking of which, I'm not use to that digital speedo either. During my test drive, I had no clue how fast I was going. All I ever looked at was the big tach in the center.:D

 

i guess they are just keeping in tradition with the FC rx-7's, few of which have functional digital clocks.

 

as you should be in the first place :D

 

My understanding of the display is that you can change the color.. not so?

 

I stopped by Haas after work on a whim and saw the aforementioned black 8.

Quick impressions:

Good interior feel - much better than the pre-pro models. It really feels like there's some quality behind it.

Two tone seats - I didn't like them, I thought they looked a little boy-racer-ish and it was the only red thing on a black car. All black would've enhanced the luxuary feel. I'm definitly staying with all black interior - classic.

Trunk - bigger than I remembered from rev-it-up. Still no Buick trunk...

Vantage from the important seat - outstanding front and rear, bad blind spots

Doors - heavier and more substantial than pre-pro

Color - black was alright, but it didn't hold a candle to the red and blue at revitup. Then of course, this one was dirty. Chrome wheels would help immensly.

Car height - needs a 1-2" drop badly. Too much wheel well visible.

Seats - killer seats with nice bolsters and good power adjust.

Drive - didn't get to; they only wanted someone who had paperwork already started to drive. And besides I didn't play up any prior knowlege of 8. Dealing with 1 dealership is trouble enough.

Oh well, that's it - can't wait till mine gets in. Supposed to be Friday. Hopefully. Can't wait to see the nav.

 

I've never really understood this - I can understand people thinking it might look better lower, but if this car is anything like other cars people feel are "too high" like the S2000, you'll be scraping the heck out of the nose on road hazards the way it is.

I suppose if Texas has ruler flat roads it might not be an issue, but it is for those of us living in states with occasional road issues and I imagine TX must as well (as in you really don't want to rip the bumper off the car if there's a dead armadillo in the middle of your lane, do you? :D)

 

That's what razor sharp steering is for.:D

I think the reason it looks like it's too high may be the really big wheel openings - less to do with ride height perhaps. Either way, a 1" drop isn't going to scrape this puppy up too bad, but I'll have to live with the 8 and decide after a while whether it really needs it or not.