Virgil

Actually, there are MAJOR differances when comparing sport bikes, even in thier own engine classes (600cc and 1000cc). It really all comes down to a riders skill but for the most part overall you can have large differances between each bike.

Cattywampus

This post might **** all of you off but the RX-8 and Z are not high performance vehicles. They are far from it. The z is no where near high performance. It's Nissans sports car not their high performance nascar. High performance is your top performance vehicles. Not a factory made sports car. Both cars are very nice and I prefer the 8 over both the z and the G35. The 8 is better all around in my opinion. But to say the z is a high performance vehicle is just stupid

scottmhr1

NASCAR cars are high performance?? They will not touch the land speed record holders that run at the white sands desert! NASCAR should just fold up and go away with those cars that only go 200MPH. Apples and Oranges??

sexy325

honestly tho.. a 350z would walk on rx-8...

Razpewton

Then go infect the 350Z forum. You're only here to start trouble anyway.

I test drove the Z and was preparing to buy one when I researched the 350Z forum and read what their drivers were saying about the car. Road noise is extreme, tires wearing out (cupping) with less than 14K miles and ungodly blind spots. The Z drove like a tank compared to the 8.

If you like the Z, go buy one...you won't hurt our feelings.....honest.

Omicron

There's room for all types of cars in the world guys. Let's all chill.

SilverEIGHT

I’m new to following the Grand-Am racing program and I may be wrong about the following statement. So, be kind if I screw this up.

The 350Z and the RX-8 are not even in the same class so how can you compare them. If a sanctioned body has defined them as different, then I think we should accept that.

GS CLASS
Porsche 996
Nissan 350Z
Cadillac CTS-V
Mustang Cobra
Mustang
Saleen
BMW M3

ST CLASS
Mazda RX-8
Acura RSX – S
Lexus IS300
BMW Z4
BMW 330
BMW 330i
BMW Z3
Dodge SRT4
Nissan Sentra SE-R

Personally, I could give a crap if either is “high performance” or not. It all boils down to which one I feel best in. It’s not a matter of specs, exhaust, driver or cost, it’s which one gives you that special warm fuzzy feeling or smile for no apparent reason. You get out of your car and know you made the right decision. An RX-8 of course!

Maolin34

I think it is amazing that this thread made it this far....I love this forum, and all of you guys that post. It makes for great comedy at times, and other times....helpful.

As it was mentioned earlier....High Performance, and Skid Pad.

I agree that high performance has anything to do with torque. It has more to do with overall performance. I immediatley thought of the Lotus Elise. The motorsport Elise hangs tough with a vette on the Nurburgring, almost passes it in the turns. To think that it basicall runs on a 200hp 2.0L Saturn 4 cylinder....but is faster than the 350z, the 8, and alot of other cars in the GS category.

Skid Pad figures do indicate a cars handling capability. The 8 and the 350z are about even....but the Z needs wider tires to do it. I wonder what the skidpad results would be if the 8 was equipped with 235's or 245's.

High performance in engines is typically measured by hp per liter. The rotary engine cheats a little....some say that it really isn't a 1.3L. Is this the count of one rotary chamber or two. When the Renesis won engine of the year, it was placed in the 2.5-3.0L category. But either way...if it's a 1.3 it produces 183hp per liter and if it's a 2.6...91hp per liter. At what point, based on horsepower per liter would an engine be considered high performance? To put this in perspective, the new Vette with a 6.0L V8 and 400hp only makes 66hp per liter, and how about a Dodge Viper? A mere 60hp per liter. Aren't these cars considered "High Performance"?

We all know that a car with high hp/L numbers don't usually handle like a bus. I personally despise the Corvette, and the Viper....but nevertheless I believe they are high performance cars, in there price range, in there category....just like the RX-8 is.

Virgil

True, it does perform with the best but the engine it uses is the same one out of the toyota Celica GT-S w/ 8500 rpm reline and 180 hp and 130-40 lb&ft of torque, thus really all performance cars boil down to power to wieght ratio, not just power to engine size.

Think about it, you could get ten guys and go pick up a freak enzo off the ground, roughly 6-7 needed to pick up a lotus elise. These cars are to very differant beasts, one a legal f1 car the other considered the best "drivers car" made in a long while.

The Yankee metality of more is better doesn't apply in the sport compact world, I wonder when americans with 7 liter v-8's realize this when they get there asses hadned to them by a 3.4 liter twin turbo supra that displacement isn't everything.

And before people start flaming me about muscle cars owning imports in the drag (for the most part they do) and turbo's being *fake hp* then you need to remember the buick grand nationals with the turbo/intercooled v6 that smoked every big bore car out there with a little tweaks. What is this? *Fake* hp coming from one of the greates muscle cars and possibley one of the best sleeper cars ever made? Amazing...

Also, wasn't shelby playing around with turbo's before the japanese even got there?

Also, we are forgetting the general concept of balance when addressing the Zed and the 8, the 8 has 50/50 balance due to the tucked nature of the engine, much like what BMW does with there cars, the zed has one that is out quite far in front which causes the thing we know and love: understeer. Were would drifters be w/o it? I like good balance and a big heavy engine in front doesn't excite be beyond hte fact that if I crash in to a compact I will kill him if I am going head on.

Picture it, a chevy 454 malibu going 70 in the front of a festiva...

shakRpahX8

Ok
ANYWAYS i was lost way before page 7 or so
umm All i gotta say is 350Z is like a TRUCK ENGINE
it will sound like a truck engine and feel like truck engine as we can find out
the owners are even complaining about the noise and feel
RX8 ......drool* here i come...just one more week....

Razpewton

That's what I said. :D

Nubo

LOL. I would have offered to buy the vehicle for full MSRP, no test-drive, if he could back his statement up with proof.

Jaisin

I'm going to pay Nissan another visit some day. See if somethin werid happens again.

Ike

Yeah... that's why the VQ has been on 10 best lists and won many awards for multiple years in a row...

Hard 8

Yeah, I dig the 350Z; there's no need to bash it. It's just that I wanted a four-door, four-seat car, and the rest is history.

Cattywampus

No. A Viper would walk on a civic. A z would not walk on a RX-8. Stupidity from your comment proves you know absolutely nothing about performance or the comparison from 2 types of vehicles.

Jaisin

Me too. The four-seats was the deal breaker. Its so much more practical. :D I love to see peoples faces when they find out it has four seats!

Ike

WTF? Are you on drugs?

zevans

Hum... to combine two of these discussions then...

It's easier for an average driver to get track times out of a slightly understeery car than for that driver to get good times out of a 50/50 car. Understeer is easy to deal with.

Therefore, a lot of people will find a Z faster in daily use, quite aside from the extra torque. (And a lot of people could hack a Civic round a track faster than they could bring themselves to commit in a Viper.)

The 8 is more of a challenge to get the best out of, because you have to understand cornering properly, and because you have to use the gears properly. For me, that's what makes it more of a driver's car. But then, I am someone who drifts FWD diesels, let alone RWD rotaries. :D

If you really want to choose between the S2000, the Z, and the RX8 you should choose on looks, number of seats, soft / hardtop, rotary or boinger, revvy or torquey, and cost - the gap in actual performance is smaller than the gap between two drivers' performance chosen at random.

For me the RX8 had the best cockpit (hated the S2000 so didn't even drive it, tho the Z possibly had best driving position of the three), was more involving than the Z (I drove both), was less of a lump than the Z, was cheaper, and had two more seats. It also felt stiffer, not sure why. The 350 didn't wallow but the 8 REALLY doesn't wallow.

Bizarrely, the other car on my list was a Leon Cupra, for the same driver involvement factor, and another cracking chassis.

Comparisons with rally homol cars are pointless - the 8 is not one and never will be one - and comparisons with BMW M-type saloon cars - Audi S, VW R, etc, are pointless for the same reason. Comparison with a Fezza, well, that's just silly - in the UK at least you are looking at 4-5 times the cost.

jsh1120

I thought Leon Cupra was a Vegas lounge singer. Sorry, just a comment from one of those provincial North Americans.

TODreamer

What.. do you really think a Z will whip an 8 that bad???? c'mon these are all "sport cars" somehwt at the same level give or take a bit here or there.. nothing is "walking on" anything... unless like Police said.. you compare a Viper to a civic... yeah... now thats an embarrassment

TODreamer

my sentiments exactly

Shiri

A lot of opinions/misinformation? I won't bother going through all of them.

However, I will say that the RX8 is a performance car, just as an SRT4, a Hyundai Coupe, Toyota Celica etc etc are.

Now whether they are comparable to the 350z is something else.

Ask yourlself this question, if you were up against a 350z on the drag strip or track, can you beat it given equal mods and drivers? Seriously people, you only have to look at how far each car has gone in motor racing and from what I last heard, the Z is doing pretty well in Japan.

Another point that I would like to mention, is that the RX8 feels a little more responsive because its light on its feet (its lighter to put simply). Add weight (ie. extra power) and how would it fare at high cornering speed? The Z is a better car for this type of situation, its more stable. The RX8 may have the advantage at low speed corners, but that really depends on the course doesn't it? They should do better at AutoX right? Well are they? The Z is a faster car period and it will walk the 8 pretty easier, I don't think this warrants further discussion. The track will however show the 8's true strength and that's where it surprises people.

This is not to take anything away from the RX8. I'm sure its feels great driving it, but the end result is more important than the process of getting there in motor racing. It doesn't matter if something feels "good" if it doesn't help the car perform better. So if I had to choose a car for track racing between the Z and the 8, it would be the Z.

My 4 yen.

zevans

No, I wouldn't either. :D

On a drag strip, no. On a track, maybe - especially on a technical track rather than something that's effectively an oval.

Leave mods out of it - the discussion gets too complicated.

But the RX8 now holds a couple of endurance racing records. Which is rather embarrasing, because the Z shares an awful lot of parts with the G35 - an alleged GT. :D

I think you should rephrase this - it sounds a little like you're saying more weight can be a good thing! That's never, ever, true.

I took the same cloverleaf in both cars at 80mph+, and they're both quite stable. The Z understeers so it feels safer on sweepers, that's all. However, this also means there's a danger it will snap into understeer when coming out of oversteer - can you say tank-slapper?

The Z's ride is not as smooth on poor surfaces, by the way - so on public roads the 8 possibly maintains more grip.

Choose the car that's heavier, less nimble, and relies heavily on active suspension rather than a naturally sound balance and setup? I won't, thanks, I'll take the 8.

Deca Auto

I wonder how many RX8 owners actually race/drift/track their cars. If you do you would know your cars aren't fast, they're very slow. Mazda wanted to build a dynamically new looking car, and the size of the rotary accomplished that. Mazda also builds the most balanced cars, and the RX8 is undoubtedly the most balanced car out right now (thanks to 13b). Thats why its a favorite for drifting or tracking. But if you actually raced your car you would know its slow. Stop magazine/internet racing, and face the fact that you car is slow. Anyone can go 70 on an offramp, I can do that in my Hyundai.