There has been a ton of discussion regarding different cars being faster than the RX8. But really, is there another car out there (under $50k) that can hit 90 mph in 3rd?

No car provides the adrenaline rush (in my opinion) above 4,000 RPM. It still keeps up with Mustang GT's and 350Z's once it gets going. And 0 - 60 in 5.8 (MotorTrend tested)? 5.8 is a very respectable time, and beats out tons of other sports cars. For example, my dad's 1984 Corvette does 0 - 60 in 6.7.

Also, top speed of 155? pretty impressive as well.

I don't understand how some people can complain about this car. The fun factor, the extremely smooth running rotary engine (never been so comfortable at 100 mph before), and the fact that it is unlike any other car on the road puts a smile on my face every day. It should for the rest of you, as well.

 

Hell yeah, Truth!

this car even at going 100mph feels like butter. so comfortable, i love the high RPM rush. and I just LOOOVE when people stare... Im a huge attention grabber, I love attention and this car here is a grabber even when it was completley Stock.

-RoMeO

 

Oh my god, I am SO glad for people like you! I was fully prepared upon clicking to bash the thread starter for ANOTHER "the RX8 is so slow kthxbai!" thread!


I totally agree with you. HOWEVER, Mazda is purely at fault for the reason everyone thinks it should be SO much faster. Calling it the "complete sportscar" or basically ALL the references they made in calling it a "sportscar" just makes it seem like it should be an FD +1.


They should have made it more obvious that this is NOT a racecar, but rather, a fun to drive 4-seater. The market they were looking for is under-30's, with 30k to spend. A pretty small market, IMO. Most people who are under 30k, and have 30k to spend, looking to buy one of these "supercars", would be looking into buying an STi or EVO. Mazda should have displayed its (limited) commericals to show exactly how amazing the car is in ALL enviornments, exactly how easy it is to drive around town, and how stable it is, no matter what the speed.


100 in this car LITERALLY feels like 60. It's so planted!

 

Thank you for posting this—I couldn't agree more!!! It never ceases to amaze me how many people can bellyache so loudly about a car this fast! Fortunately nearly every auto journalist—and auto magazine—knows better. The 8 certainly wouldn't get the rave reviews it does if the people writing them didn't feel exactly the way you do! Kudos to the engineers at Mazda!

Now if only there was a measurement for "smoothness".

 

I agree. As you pointed out, 0-60 in just under 6 seconds is not, in my opinion, slow, nor is mid-14s in the quarter mile. I have a brand new 06 STi, which I absolutely love, but I still drive the RX-8 about half the time, just because it's that damn good. I just don't think there's really anything else out there quite like it.

 

Few who have rung out an RX-8 will argue the fun factor. But those folks will also point out the fact that once past 3rd, there is very little uumph left on the loooooong way to the supposed 148mph top end. And that, sadly, is largely the only point of critizism of our fine car and the often heard request for Mazda to please, please, fill the top end with a bit more zoom!

 

I'm glad I could start this thread....too many people bash the RX8 (it seems like mostly owners) or Mazda for not making the car faster, or for the car not really being 238 hp. 238 is just a number, but really, if people didn't have dyno's how would you know it's not 238? It certainly feels that way.

 

i think its better to just enjoy your car for what it is instead of even wasting time thinking about what other people think about it.

 

I think for my part I am irritated with the cars lack of drive, it's not that I want to go 160 all day I have other means of seeing those speeds. No, It's just that when your in a car that looks like the RX looks, it would just be nice to be able to back it up when it comes to the little stop light drags. In the twisties once rolling is one thing (for a little bit) but from a stop this thing is pretty slow when compared to other modern sports cars. Ha ha, yeah we're just a bit faster than an 80's vette. Yippa. Have ya met face to face with a new one? I have and the results were predictable. How about them hopped up econo-boxes, ya know the Subaru STi's, and those damn Evo's? Have you experianced just how quickly they leave you behind??? It's frustrating...

So while I do love my RX, and it's still the most entertaining car I've had in awhile there is no way around it's lack of torque, terrible gas milage (400HP Vette gets better), and over all lack of get up and go.

All I am saying is that the rotaries LOVE Turbo's and we should get them from the factory ready to go... I want 240 RWHP!!!! Is that so wrong?

 

There is absolutely no reason anyone who owns a RX-8 should complain about how other cars are faster. For the amount of money an RX-8 costs any one of us could have bought a 350Z, Mustang GT or older Cobra, EVO, STi, SRT-4, used 3000GT, C5 Corvette, used FD the list goes on and on.

We CHOSE to buy the RX-8 and if the buyer is smart, they already did the research and knows that this car is not the fastest, in a straight line. None of us just had the car thrust upon us as some punishment, we CHOSE to buy the car. It's not as if Mazda knocked on my door, forced me to have the car and then I had no way of buying something faster. I had every opportunity to buy a faster car, and chose the RX-8 for many reasons. The biggest is that it's not only the best handling car in it's class, but one of the best handling cars out now period.

Which brings me to another point, people on here should stop complaining about the handling. It's a fantastic car in the twisties, and it's so easy to drive fast. I see way too many threads comparing the RX-8 to the S2000 or some other car. Of course there will be cars that handle better than the RX-8, but that's nothing compared to the cars it leaves in it's wake, same as the striaght line performance.

The RX-8 is fun, and that's the end of it. For as much as people on this forum bitch you'd think it's a horrible, slow, heavy lug of a car that couldn't corner wirth a damn when it's none of that at all. It's a brilliant car with astonishing performance and a fun factor that is light years ahead of anything else out there in it's price range.

 

word.

 

 

the Rx8 isn't meant to be a super sports car. it's the business man's car that can unleash into a hellish beast for periods in time.(twisties) compairing it to the purebreads it just outclassing it. The 8 is better rounded than those "faster" cars.

 

I researched the RX-8 and test drove it before buying. I've not had a single negative surprise concerning the car, power, mpg, etc. But I have had quite a number of pleasant surprises, like:

- The way it takes twisties like it owns them.

- The way I can 4-wheel slide without unpleasant surprises.

- The way the acceleration keeps coming and coming and coming...

- The way I can add after-market stuff to personalize my baby.

- The way I ran rings around a Mustang at the track.

 

Another car under 50k that gets to 100 in 3rd gear? why yes, Dodge Viper Ram. 500 ponies 100in second gear no problem. I drove that and floored it at 50 and started burning out

But personally, I am starting to feel my 8 acting sluggish. After that fuel injecting problem, it ran good but now it just doesn't have that get up and go it did 3k miles ago. btw, only 11k miles. I heard some people saying that the new recall(plugs/flash) was great for power and a lot have noticed power increases through the butt dyno. Hopefully, that will clears things up for me.

 

Funny, looking back to 2003 when the 8 was introduced, I think it was considered plenty fast in a straight line i.e. it posted nearly identical times to Mustang GT's of the day. GTI's had 180hp, Si's had 160, and Z24's were a joke.

Now we have 200hp GTI's and Si's nipping at it's heals, and mundane family sedans with 340hp hemis. I don't ever remember seeing so much performance escalation in as short a period.

Of course benchracers will have a problem with this, especially those who define a proper car by horsepower and acceleration stats alone. But fact is, nearly everybody else upped their game in the past three years.

 

Thats not really a good thing, getting into 4th at 90 is part of the reason it traps the 1/4 poorly...4th takes it to like 125. Maybe fuel economy concerns causes the high gearing, but it sure takes a moment to get back on power on that shift.

 

The Mustang I had ran out of 3rd gear @ about 115, pretty sure the new ones will be in that area as well.

Comparing the 8 to mustangs and 350z is well....... yea technically the 8 "can" do 0-60 in close to the same time but you have to launch the living crap out of it to do so while the other guy casually launches from about 1500k.

I will also say that I hardly ever used that extra power the mustang had though once at highway speeds, but it was really strong off the line.

I look at it this way, is the 8 fast enough for 90% of the time, and you don't want to race light to light? yes.

 

There are many many cars that hit 90+ in 3rd gear, that's nothing unique or special.

Gotta disagree with your second statement as well. The RX-8 just doesn't pull that hard for those of us who have owned fast cars previously, even after 4k RPMs to some people it's nothing special. 5.8 0-60 is respectable, but you have to rev the hell out of it and drop the clutch to get anywhere near that. It's also nothing many family sedans and even some small SUVs, wagons, and sport compact cars aren't capable of.

While some mag somewhere may have tested a 84 Vette at 6.7 0-60 the C4 Vette was very capable of running mid to high 5s 0-60 and low 14s in the 1/4. So that leaves you with a car that's over 20 years older and is still faster.

Top speed is pretty meaningless, and you're also wrong. The top speed of the RX-8 is more like high 140s and it will take you a while to get there. Again, top speed of high 140s is nothing special.

Yes the RX-8 is very fun. People like to say I bash it all the time but find me one post where I have ever really done so. It really is a great car, but stop trying to fool yourself into thinking it's anything but underpowered when compared to most of the competition.

 

What a shock, someone turning what is supposed to be a praisal thread into something negative about the car.

I haven't owned too many fast cars in my life, but one thing I can tell you for sure is that it is faster than my fathers car. His C4 Corvette has literally 205 horsepower from a crossfire injected V8. It's really not as fast as you would think.

As for 90 mph in 3rd gear, what I was really referring to is the 9000 RPM redline allowing high speeds in any gear. I don't think any other car out there gives as much enjoyment in every gear as this car does, due to lower shift points. What I've noticed in other cars (one of my friends owns a WRX, another a 350Z) is that you spend so much time concentrating on shift points it takes away from the
enjoyment of the car. With the RX8, you don't need to worry about such quick shifting through the gears, even with a 6 speed transmission.

 

The truth hurts

 

Yes, It may not be the fastest one in the bumch, but name any other sportscar that is so enjoyable to drive that you really don't care if youre the fastest (miata maybe)


This car is in a league of it's own as far as I'm concerned

 

I love my 8 as much as any other owner but like it or not, a bit more umph would have been nice. Had mazda been able to meet the predicted 250hp we would have a much better competitor to the s2k and 350z. Imagine our car with all of the same characteristics but that additional horsepower. You think its a track star now, add on the extra ponies and see what happens.

Most 8 owners wish they had a bit more power but love their cars nonetheless. Its a fact we can't get around but doesn't detract our love of the 8.

 

I've picked up girls with my car... They love it!


Unfortunately/fortunately I'm not single...

 

The 2-rotor rotary needs FI. Save up and wait for the S/Cs to start coming out. The money spent will put you up there with the costs of the s2ks/stis/350zs, since 8s have been thousands of dollars less. Extra oomph issue solved.

As for the thread, I agree, the RX-8 is quick and zippy and plenty fast. It's characteristics do indeed put it into a league of it's own, because there's nothing like it. Enjoy that unique feeling. It's amazing what Mazda has been able to do with the rotary.