One Month Report / 1k Report
01-25-2005 | 12:28 PM
#1
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Joined: Dec 2003
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From: San Diego, CA
One Month Report / 1k Report
This has been a fantastic month! I picked the car up on the 23rd of December. It's a Brilliant Black 2005 with GT (black leather), 6 Disc Changer and Rotary Accent Package. I'd been reading about it for 9 months or so on the forum. A month or so after I joined the forum I drove the RX-8, loved it, drove the G35 (my other choice) and realized that the RX-8 was really so much more of a joy to drive. Then we decided to put off buying the car, and finally got back to it in December.
First Impressions
There were no surprises. I'd read the Little Things thread, and the Little Disappointing Things thread, and I found the latter to be more useful. The Little Things thread is great to convince folks to buy the car, but the Disappointing Things thread was better since it showed me how trivial (from my view point at least) the faults of the car are.
Everything about the car feels solid and well put-together. It took me a couple of hundred miles to get used to the stick shift after driving an automatic for almost three years, and probably also because the last stick shift car I had before the automatic had a much looser gearbox, and a much longer throw. The only ergonomic problem I have is the skip buttons for the CD player. They are non-intuitive, causing the passenger some trepidation. The steering controls take care of it for me. Other nitpicky things are a lack of a trunk open warning light among the sea of warning lights, combined with the ease of opening the trunk with the remote. In our other car you have to hold the trunk release button on the remote for a couple of seconds before it goes off, so there's less chance of accidentally opening it. This caught me off guard and I drove with the trunk open a couple of times. Now I make sure I look at the car while the I-am-locked lights blink so I know the trunk is shut.
I found it very difficult to keep from revving the engine more than I thought I should. I started out shifting by 4k and gradually pushing it higher. There was one instance when I had about 500 miles on it and I overtook another car, only to look down and see 8k rpm! I can see why everyone loves to rev this engine, and why Autoweek keeps getting crappy mileage! I had been revving it to 8k and upto 8.5k a few times. Last night on the way home I realized I was at 1031! Beeped it in second gear taking off at the next light. I had read conflicting reports on whether you can hear the beep or not. It's pretty loud!
Comfort on the freeway is fantastic. After an initial period of, I-think-we-better-take-the-other-car-on-long-trips from the passenger-with-authority-over-such-decisions, she has shifted to looking forward to the next long trip in the RX-8. The initial reaction was a result of the relatively higher noise levels and firmer suspension that telegraphs more bumps to the cabin. It changed once the realization hit that passengers don't bounce around, and don't get tossed around in turns as they do when your suspension is softer and not damped.
Mileage Report
As of the last tank (filled up this morning on the way to work).
Please don't respond to this part of the post and make this a mileage thread!
Oil Level - there are three dots as described here:
http://www.finishlineperformance.com.../01-047-04.htm
I'll fill that column with low, dot1, dot2, dot3, full. As you can see I can now put in a quart. I haven't tracked how it went down, but I think I've used less than half a quart.
I bought the car through my Credit Union. They negotiate the deal with the dealer and you pick up the car from their office. The guy who they hired to drive it to their office obviously drove very, very carefully, which explains the mileage on the first tank. I filled 87 octane in the second tank by accident
, and wondered for a moment if that affected the mileage (up from 14.3 to 15.2), until the next tank went even better. It's too early and statistically insignificant; I just wanted to put it down.
Future Additions, etc
I plan to add - at some time in the future - an aux input for my mp3 player, satellite radio and a cargo net. Groceries sit in the little well in the trunk well, but takeout will still get tossed around without the cargo net.
Other stuff ... I received my little paint sample/bottle/thingie yesterday. And I got the best possible parking spot today - it's grinning at me from the parking lot, just outside my window!
First Impressions
There were no surprises. I'd read the Little Things thread, and the Little Disappointing Things thread, and I found the latter to be more useful. The Little Things thread is great to convince folks to buy the car, but the Disappointing Things thread was better since it showed me how trivial (from my view point at least) the faults of the car are.
Everything about the car feels solid and well put-together. It took me a couple of hundred miles to get used to the stick shift after driving an automatic for almost three years, and probably also because the last stick shift car I had before the automatic had a much looser gearbox, and a much longer throw. The only ergonomic problem I have is the skip buttons for the CD player. They are non-intuitive, causing the passenger some trepidation. The steering controls take care of it for me. Other nitpicky things are a lack of a trunk open warning light among the sea of warning lights, combined with the ease of opening the trunk with the remote. In our other car you have to hold the trunk release button on the remote for a couple of seconds before it goes off, so there's less chance of accidentally opening it. This caught me off guard and I drove with the trunk open a couple of times. Now I make sure I look at the car while the I-am-locked lights blink so I know the trunk is shut.
I found it very difficult to keep from revving the engine more than I thought I should. I started out shifting by 4k and gradually pushing it higher. There was one instance when I had about 500 miles on it and I overtook another car, only to look down and see 8k rpm! I can see why everyone loves to rev this engine, and why Autoweek keeps getting crappy mileage! I had been revving it to 8k and upto 8.5k a few times. Last night on the way home I realized I was at 1031! Beeped it in second gear taking off at the next light. I had read conflicting reports on whether you can hear the beep or not. It's pretty loud!
Comfort on the freeway is fantastic. After an initial period of, I-think-we-better-take-the-other-car-on-long-trips from the passenger-with-authority-over-such-decisions, she has shifted to looking forward to the next long trip in the RX-8. The initial reaction was a result of the relatively higher noise levels and firmer suspension that telegraphs more bumps to the cabin. It changed once the realization hit that passengers don't bounce around, and don't get tossed around in turns as they do when your suspension is softer and not damped.
Mileage Report
As of the last tank (filled up this morning on the way to work).
Please don't respond to this part of the post and make this a mileage thread!
Code:
Date Miles Gal $ Octane Oil Level mpg 12/29 233.0 11.391 25.05 91 20.5 1/7 195.3 13.677 30.08 87 14.3 1/12 198.8 13.091 28.79 91 15.2 1/17 208.5 13.477 31.52 91 15.5 1/25 202.9 13.251 29.40 91 dot2 15.3 Total miles: 1,038.5 Ave Cost: $2.232 Ave mpg: 16.0 Best mpg: 20.5 Worst mpg: 14.3
http://www.finishlineperformance.com.../01-047-04.htm
I'll fill that column with low, dot1, dot2, dot3, full. As you can see I can now put in a quart. I haven't tracked how it went down, but I think I've used less than half a quart.
I bought the car through my Credit Union. They negotiate the deal with the dealer and you pick up the car from their office. The guy who they hired to drive it to their office obviously drove very, very carefully, which explains the mileage on the first tank. I filled 87 octane in the second tank by accident
, and wondered for a moment if that affected the mileage (up from 14.3 to 15.2), until the next tank went even better. It's too early and statistically insignificant; I just wanted to put it down.Future Additions, etc
I plan to add - at some time in the future - an aux input for my mp3 player, satellite radio and a cargo net. Groceries sit in the little well in the trunk well, but takeout will still get tossed around without the cargo net.
Other stuff ... I received my little paint sample/bottle/thingie yesterday. And I got the best possible parking spot today - it's grinning at me from the parking lot, just outside my window!
01-25-2005 | 02:43 PM
#6
One more couldn't hurt
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 340
Likes: 0
From: Saskatoon, SK -- go to Winnipeg then head west
Hey, our rides share the same birthday -- Dec. 23. Dealer found a Velocity Red AT sitting at the port of Vancouver and it got delivered to the Prairies two days before Christmas. It's been a blast.
01-25-2005 | 09:39 PM
#7
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Registered User
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 122
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From: San Diego, CA
Originally Posted by V_for_velocity
Hey, our rides share the same birthday -- Dec. 23. Dealer found a Velocity Red AT sitting at the port of Vancouver and it got delivered to the Prairies two days before Christmas. It's been a blast.
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