Call me a crazy ******* but this morning I decided to swap my 30k mile Titanium 04 automatic for a never titled "new" Lightning Yellow 04 manual w/just about 1000 miles on it. It cost a pretty penny to go into a car w/the same interior and exterior + a stick and added accessories, but no more than what I wouldhave had to pay to succesfully install and tune a turbo kit on my disappointing performer of an automatic.

I'm not really looking forward to the calf exercises I'll be performing w/my left leg while I'm stuck in rush hour, but the fun factor of this car offsets that inconvenience. Also not driving manual in 2 and a half years doesn't help much either but I'll be golden by next week.

Maybe it's because I'm coming from the automatic version of this car, but I really don't know why you M/T people are always complaining so much about the manual's lack of performance. I mean yeah it doesn't have much pick up from take off (which is something I'm grown accustom to over the past two years with my automatic), but once you get this bitch moving, it rockets. Can't say the same about my old automatic. I never really test drove the manual the way I've actually been driving it all day today, and it's a significant difference from where I used to be. I had a late model Trans Am a couple years back which was easily faster than this but nowhere near as fun to drive - and the handling was crap (not to mention the turning radius was so bad thatit took 3 lanes to make a u-turn).

Is it worth the cash I lost after owning a slower version of the same car for almost 2 years? Not exactly...but coming from the stand point that I was going to spend this amount of money in the near future anyway, there is some merit to what I have done. If you want to look at it another way though, basically I paid interest (and then some) on a $1,000 mistake I made in 2003 and got a brand new warranty.

I feel like a hypocrite somewhat since I thought I would be a proud owner of a turbo automatic RX-8 some day but after weighing my options and realizing how much money I'd have to spend if I traded my automatic for a completely different car, this made the most sense to me. Sure I could have sold my automatic privately and purchased a shitload of older cars in stellar condition that could out perform any of today's sports cars within the 20 - 40k range, but there's just something about this car that I didn't want to lose.

I guess this means that now you can add me to the handful of owners that have joined the RX-8 swap club. I'm in the gray area now. Not sure if that's an honor or an embarrassment. But you won't see me joining in w/the 6spd owners on here who bash the automatic owners because they're unhappy w/the lack of pick up in the manual (unless of course you count the automatic RX-8 farewell page w/waxed pics I made on CarDomain :D).

EDIT: By the way -- I've only had this car for a few hours, but it already seems to be getting better mileage than my automatic. I've been going easy on it - staying below 4000 RPM (it's new for christ's sake), and after 60 miles of various driving it's only at 3/4 tank (20 miles more than what it was usually at by 3/4 full in the automatic). Very strange indeed.

 

Congrats! 40 extra HP is nothing to be ashamed about...lol

 

I'm glad you made the switch. Sportscars were meant to be driven with stick. The only way to go. Have fun with the new toy.

 

I wanna switch....

 

welcome to another yellow

 

Congratulations dont feel guilty if you would have waited till they bring out the 6 speed automatic apparently due in 2006 you would have taken a huge dive in the resale of your 4 speed automatic .

Another yellow great

cheers
michael

 

^good call ... if there was ever a time to switch it appears now is taht time:D

 

congrats
you wanted that for a long time

 

Well what I really wanted was some type of F/I actually tested on the automatic that could yield enough horsepower gains to surpass the performance of...let's just say... a stock 350z for instance...without having to worry about replacing the transmission a month later. (Basically something reliabe that transformed our automatics into incredible cars.)

Now that dealerships are offering at least $4,000 off 04s I knew I had a limited window to make a move on a swap. Or I could sit around and continue driving a car I was no longer happy with...while praying for some type of miracle turbo kit to be released for a vehicle that has been almost flat out rejected by the aftermarket community. I chose the former.

So here are a couple unsteady pics I took in the morning while they were prepping my car. I was a little excited (not as much as the first time around though) so that's my excuse for the shitty shots.

The first shot is money - second pic is decent but you notice that the color doesn't seem as sharp on the right side of the car - and the 3rd one the light is hitting the car completely differently and the paints suddenly looks lighter for some reason - almost like a highlighter. Not too appealing to my eye, and basically everytime I ever saw the yellow RX-8 in the past I always saw it the way it is shown in the 3rd pic - too light - and never liked it. But when it's in that "proper" amount of light like in the 1st shot and somewhat in the second pic...it looks pretty hot.

And of course the 4th shot has a glimpse of the most important feature of all - the navigat...I mean the stick! Yup - that's a navigation system w/cloth and not leather straight from the factory...weird right? That's all they had left..and it's a rare setup anyway..and at least I've still got the Xenons and DSC.

I'm not too disappointed about the fact that I don't have leather seats, Bose stereo, seat heaters, homelink mirror, or a power driver's seat but the sunroof is something I would have enjoyed. Two tone leather isn't available in yellow so I didn't mind that I don't have black on black leather, the Bose stereo is horrible, seat heaters are useless in this city, mirror doesn't mean much to me, and power driver's seat makes loading a rear passenger a bitch...especially when it's raining. I think overall I got a good selection here. But when I'm sitting inside of the thing - it still feels just like the first one, only with a stick I can wobble around and a screen that pops out in front of the windshield.

Anyway thanks for all your support guys...especially with such an uneconomical decision like this one.

 

Congrats. Now go over to the Axial Flow site and pick of "Dicks" short sticks.......it's clearly a nike...just do it!

 

Hey, no embarassment, you stuck with the same car. (the RX8 that is)

I'm embarassed to say, I'd like to be driving with an auto more of the time. But I'd wanna wait for a High Output engine to be paired with a 5 or 6 speed sequential (or whatever an automatically shifted manual gearbox is called) tranny.

 

I don't think anyone will call you that.

The RX-8 has such a light clutch that it is as easy as an automatic. My last car was a Mustang Cobra with a high performance clutch. After I drove an 8 for a couple of days (I got a 4 day demo ride from the dealer) and got back into my car I thought someone welded the clutch so it wouldn't move. I hardly notice the clutch effort and find myself sitting in traffic with the clutch in instead of shifting to neutral like I used to.

 

i have an auto (becasue the wife cannot drive stick and she enjoys the car as much as i do).

but my plan is to wait until the 06 models come out and see if there are changes, give her the auto and by myself a manual. if the 06's arent much different, then there will be some o5's left at a steal of a price

 

On one hand you feel bad on the other you don't.

You made a wise choice. I almost traded my stick in for a new one!

 

It's really not as bad as all that... I commute from San Diego to Santa Monica (about 130 miles on some of the most congested freeways in the known universe) about once a week and the stop & go isn't really much of an issue once you've figured out how to be smooth with the clutch. For me the benefits of having a stick (mainly the fun factor) far outwiegh any perceived negatives.

If your commute was stop & go up a continuous 15% grade then things might be a different story...

Simon.

 

Welcome to the 9K club JeRKy - I wondered how long before you'd give in and switch. Now you're experiencing what I've been raving about for a while now... fun, ain't it?! I'm quite jealous of the color - yellow was my first choice, and now that it's going to be rare you've got something special there.

Have fun with the 6 speeds and 9000RPM... it never gets old. However since I installed my Greddy Exhaust, I feel like a kid with a new toy again- I'm constantly upshifting and downshifting to hear the mechanical music of the rotary amplified throught the exhaust... it's awesome.

 

Congrats!
Many people seem to have been swapping to stick lately... I will need too as well.
Enjoy your 9ks

 

Awwwwww such a romantic story. You sound like you've fallen in love all over again Jerky! Oh and your gas mileage....as soon as you start driving this car they way it was designed to be driven, well, that 4000 rpm break-in gas mileage you're getting ain't gonna last :D

Congrats on your decision and I must ditto the others...welcome to the redline @ 9000rpm club.

 

EXCELLENT COLOR DUDE! Welcome to the sub-cult of the wild-eyed LY owners society!

 

Can't figure out what this is. it's not on any of your other pics

edit: sorry i can't figure out how to make it bigger

 

Hahaha... "that" is a wash guy. If you look closely inside of the car on the other pics he's in them as well. He was detailing in the interior while I was taking pics ...so "that" would be his white while he was detailing the pedals.

It's pretty funny because in the automatic I didn't have any aluminum pedals - they were just black and I always wanted them. Yet now that I have them w/the manual...it's like I don't even care. Same goes for having the ACTUAL rotary accents instead of the artificial ones I painted on my old one for $10. I don't even appreciate them. Sad how life works sometimes..

 

OK ... congratulations crazy *******.

I came across a used Chrysler Crossfire when I was looking for my RX8. The previous owner bought it new and had it for just four months. I said to the sales chick, "What kind of idiot takes a loss like that on a car? What a shitferbrains!" Approx 7 months later I understood where that dude was coming from. I loved my RX8, but was miserable without a convertible. I decided I was paying too much each month for the car to not be happy and traded it in for a Honda S2000.

You did the right thing. Congrats again.

PS - nice choice on the yellow.

 

My brother and I sat there for 15 minutes looking like idiots trying to figure that out. I see it now. :p

 

I think you will find with the stick and extra hp that you will be more connected with the car like skiing in powder down the edges of a run.
I'll have a manual car in the family until my left knee will no longer allow me to drive a stick. No disrespect for auto owners, but the rotary is enjoyed more with a stick.

Enjoy the Drive!

 

You made the right move and picked the right color! I know some people need automatics for whatever reasons, but the car just drives so much better with a stick. The RX-8's stick is one of the best out there. Combined with the higher power Renesis and 9k redline, it's one of the best features of driving this car.