This is for anyone who has pre-ordered or might have any information regarding the following:

Do you think it is reasonable for me to expect to be allowed to sit in the 8 when it comes to the car show in my area, given the fact that I have all of my pre-order doc's?

 

Yes!

 

Yes, but you will come up against a Jobsworth who has strict orders not to allow anybody near the car and it will be more than his 'job's worth' to allow this although he fully understands your situation, sees the validity of your documents, is aware of the distance you have travelled and would like to assist "but sir, if you would now kindly **** off before I have to call security"......

Clear it with Mazda first.

rael.

 

It's reasonable to expect that, but there's no guaranty.

---jps

 

what show do you plan to attend and when ?

 

The Mazda guy in Detroit went out of his way to let me sit in the display car when he found out I had pre-ordered - even took my picture in the car for me.

 

The show is the Cincinnati Auto Expo.

It is March 5th - 9th and I am assuming there is gonig to be an 8 there, however Mazda hasn't provided the show's director with a list of vehicles it will be displaying yet. But I am assuming that there will be one there. There is one huge Mazda dealership in town that serves this the entire area and the owners have their hands in a little bit of everything, so I am assuming they will be doing whatever it takes to get one there.

-Quick

 

I was one of the first people to get to the RX-8 display at the St. Louis show one of the mornings when it opened up. I busted *** to get over there before there was a mob of people around it, thinking that they might be a little more likely to let me get in it since I pre-ordered. The "product specialist" lady from Mazda would not let me in it. I begged her, but she said that she could only open it up for me to look at the inside by standing behind the rope. She was very nice about it, so I did not pester her too bad. She acted like she would lose her job or something if somebody saw her let me in it.

Later in the day I stopped back by the display and ran into another guy I know that has pre-ordered. We badgered the gal into letting us get in it. There were even quite a few people around the display at that time. She let us both get in it for about 30 seconds and that was it. Not even enough time to "soak it all in". The only thing that I really remember was that the driver's seat was super comfortable and felt great.

Just keep pestering them until they give in. If the first one won't give in, find another Mazda rep and annoy him/her until they let you into it. Most of the cars that are going around to the shows were on the floor for people to get into at the Detroit and LA shows. People scuffed up the insides of them so bad I think they are just too embarrassed to let anybody get into them now.

 

Pittsburgh Auto Show would not let me sit in it I sat in the $91,000 M-B SL500, but no $30,000 Mazda? Silly! More reason to not buy an RX-8.

Why did some shows have cars on the floor? Why did we get one on a pedestal?

No big deal as I probably won't be getting it anyway, but I wasted $15 parking and getting into the show.

 

There are a lot more $90k SL500s around than RX-8s at this time - I sat in one over a year ago at the Houston auto show. How much do you think a 'hand-assembled' prototype RX-8 costs - I doubt it is less than $100k each. I tried to get into the RX-8 at the auto show last month without success too, so I asked the presenter (6'2" tall) to get in an out of the back seat to demonstrate how easy it was which he did quite gracefully.

 

I also think it is silly -- however let's remember that these are $250k handbuilt pre-production units (that car was three times the cost of the SL500)

I sat in the three show cars in Detroit (including the revolving display red one :D ) and there is a reason for not letting people sit in these cars at the shows -- the two cars that the public could sit in where totally demolished inside and looked very bad (worn button, ripped trim, etc.) Mazda is probably trying to keep a few units for these shows that still look good enough to impress the public.

That said, I think that they should let pre-order enthusiasts sit in the vehicle!

 

costs for the RX-8 prototypes range from low 100$k's to 250$k's from what I have been told.... the preproduction units are also not as durable as a real life model. Most of the moldings and trim pieces are color matched after production. This usually includes being painted afterwards therefore resulting in lower quality and easy scratching.. the pre-production Mazda 6's looked the same way last year.

 

sadly that mean we must wait a little longer ... until the RX-8's arrives at our local area dealerships ... and then happilly we should be able to do more than just sit in one!

:D

But , for me, personally, the wait is making me crazy!

:p