I was a happy 2001 v6 mustang driver until I slid it out on an icy road heading to a ski race and totaled it after being struck by an oncoming car, and then the EMT’s arrived and cut the roof off to finish the job. I ended up with a broken neck (C2 Fracture), some broken ribs, neurological trauma, and a collapsed lung among other things.

My parents still have some say in my car choices, and suddenly safety became the most important aspect of my car, go figure, along with ability to drive in the snow. From everything I’ve read about the RX-8 from Mazda, 3-rd party sources, and this message board, it’s very hard to find a displeased owner. The car looks great and has more safety features than the parents SUV and Minivan so it quickly became my choice car with a possibility of parental consent. There is nothing I want more than to join the awesome group of Mazda RX-8 owners, so I need some help. I know the list of safety features and have explanations on all of them but I can’t find any crash test data. Most of the US testers just say ‘to-be-tested’. I’m hoping to get the car in a month and I doubt many tests are going to finish by then. If anyone knows of any legitimate sources to who have already published crash test ratings for this car please let me know. Also if there are any figures or articles about traction especially in the winter (I know these are especially hard to find favorable for a rear wheel drive sports car) send the links. I appreciate the help.

 

You'll find some data from an actual crash at https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...threadid=20050

 

You're not going to be able to drive the RX-8 with the stock tires in the winter. There are tons of threads on this issue, including stories of people getting stuck trying to so just that. Furthermore, you can/should not drive with the stock tires even on dry pavement if the temperature is even a few degrees above freezing, as the soft-compound rubber loses its grip as the temperature drops.

People who've put winter tires on say it's pretty good in the snow given cautionary driving. Honestly though, if you're going to be driving in the snow a lot, particularly on curvy mountain roads (you did say you ski, right?) you may want to consider a Subaru, or an A4 Quattro.

I hope you recovered well from your accident - sorry to hear you had to endure that.

 

I second that- you're going to need snow tires if you're driving in much snow and ice. Aside from that, sounds like you'll fit right in here!

 

Thx for the responses, you guys have any recomendations on what snow tires to get for the 18" Rims??

 

You don't get snow tires for 18" Rims. You'll have to get a cheap rim (probably 16"; not sure if 15" rims will fit over the brakes) and some tires to go with it.

Perhaps you meant all-season tires?

 

Another safety related thread is HERE

The problem with the 8 is, what do reviewers compare it to? A 2 door sports car or 4 door sedan? The review in the link gives it the side impact strength of a 4 door...pretty good I think?

 

Not quite true. There are winter tires by Dunlop and Bridgestone that are OEM size and fit the 18" rim; what many of us did is buy 17" wheels and fit 17" winter tires. You can't fit 16" wheels over the huge front brakes, and even some 17" wheels won't fit.

There are many threads discussing winter tire choices - search for "winter tire" in the Tires and Wheels forum section, as well as the Canada regional section. If you're keeping the car more than 3 years, it can be cheaper to buy a separate set of 17" wheels and tires than to buy more expensive 18" tires and pay to have them changed and re-balanced twice per year.

KBert - summer tires on snow are downright dangerous - this doesn't just apply to the RX-8, but to any car driving on performance summer tires in winter conditions. What tires did your Mustang have on it? All-seasons are a poor compromise for winter conditions, and if you drive in winter conditions with any regularity you need real winter tires. The RX-8 does very well with winter tires, you don't need to drive especially cautiously - with winter tires, it will corner and brake better than 90% of the other vehicles on the winter roads, including SUVs, because most of them are on poorer all-season tires. I took my RX-8 skiing several times this winter, and drove it all winter, with no problems.

Regards,
Gordon

 

I love my Dunlop Wintersport M2s.

I'm not sure if they offer a set that will fit on the RX8 but I have nothing but great things to say about them (especially coupled with Quattro).

-Eric