Thank you everyone at rx8club! This site has been an invaluable resource and a great way to meet other rx8 drivers.

I love the RX8. Its steering feel, shifter, responsive throttle, fun-to-rev engine, braking, handling, and driving dynamics are awesome and it remains my favorite "jack of all trades" family performance/sports car. So this was a tough decision, but the time was right for a number of reasons. Ultimately, at this point it makes sense for me to move to the traditional model of having a more practical daily driver + a weekend toy. So the RX8 is gone and there will be either a Miata or a motorcycle in my future

We ended up getting a Prius. It's going to be primarily my wife's car, though we'll both use it. There isn't a lot of love for hybrids on sports car forums, but it's actually got very nice interior, a quiet and smooth ride, enough power to get up to highway speed and pass, and reasonable handling and road feel (for a daily driver). Also its handsfree bluetooth is mucho useful. And it's averaged over 50 MPG since we got it a couple hundred miles ago (here in hilly western MA with the A/C running!)

BTW, between the bank and dealership, three separate people filling out three different forms asked me how many cylinders my trade-in has. Each time when I replied "0", the look on their face was priceless

Anyway, thanks for reading and good luck to all of you!

P.S. I'll have some stuff for sale soon: iPod audio link, radar detector, clear corners, service manuals, oil filters, etc

 

 

LOL. <Kyle's dad>Tha-anks!</Kyle's dad> (anyone who isn't familiar with the South Park reference: wikipedia, video)

Actually my first choice was a Honda Fit, but they're hard to find and my wife really wanted the Prius. I like the Prius too and (equally important) a happy wife = less resistance over motorcycle

 

Nice choice.
I'm still not personally convinced about the whole hybrid thing - what with the extra energy to make the batteries in the first place, and the >$7k replacement cost in a few years' time, plus the real-world MPG being far below toyota's predictions. The total fossil fuel costs from cradle-to-grave are probably not that different between an 8 and a pruis. Its just in the case of an RX-8, the end user pays more of those costs as gasoline, whereas for the prius, some poor sod in china living next to a smelting plant pays the cost. Agreed though, the prius is a nice drive, and very practical - with the seats folded down they have as much room in the back as our subie impreza wagon.

 

Prius = feel good car.

If you want economy without lugging around a bazillion nicads, look at diesels. Honda's accord gets about 62 mpg on the highway. We get it next year in the united states

 

sorry to hear you go but if you get that miata you have to join the new england spring run each year.

 

eewwww

will you still wave at us 8 drivers, or will you tell us how we're killing the planet?



just playing w/you. GL w/it.


(oh, and when did Ike come back to play?)

 

You should turbocharge it.

 

Good luck with the Prius, I can only imagine what 50 MPG feels like.

Can I get dibs on the audiolink? Hook up a fellow Masshole.

 

You should have just bought a used corolla and a motorcycle/sports car

 

ask your wife what third world country those batteries will be dumped in once their duty cycle is over....

sad to see any 8 owner go, good luck with the Miata.

 

Now that I think about it, a turbo would be bad. Just get Nitrous for when you need that extra jump.

 

Blind people don't like hybrids...they can't hear them coming.

 

prius' are nice. thing about the batteries doesnt make them that eco-friendly imo. turbodiesel is definitely a very good choice. i didnt know honda was coming out with one. will definitely have to tell my mom about it.

 

hybrid cars are about making a statement more than providing any net savings over a gasolene car. You are better off getting a gas-powered iVtec civic or a TDI vehicle.

 

There was a study done by an independent lab b/w a Prius and a Hummer. It showed that the Hummer was more environmentally friendly then the Prius over the course of there respective lives.

 

I heard even a minor accident can total a hybrid. Drive carefully.

 

Good to have you back, Ike.

 

TAKE A HIKE IKE!

 

Everyday I think about getting rid of my 8, but then I think what could replace it in this price range.

 

A friend of mine was telling me about how his brother wants to be a firefighter, thus took a course to see what it would be like. In the course, they talked about how, should a Prius be smashed so badly that the Jaws of Life are needed, the passengers inside are SOL. Because of concerns about voltage from the batteries, they will not use the Jaws.

 

LOL. I shoulda known that even mentioning the Prius here would elicit such responses.

Hybrids are like Apple: they're so trendy it's puke inducing. But like Macs/iPods/iPhones, they do offer some tangible benefits and whether those offset their disadvantages depends on one's needs. Ignore both the hype and anti-hype backlash and research it before jumping to any conclusions. And don't believe everything you read without checking your sources. A few responses:

1. Not everyone buys a Prius to feel good or for their image, just as not everyone buys a sports car for image

2. I've always liked the VW TDIs and the Accord diesel looks interesting, but last I read it's not coming here until MY2010. Also we need a hatchback. And ULSD isn't widely available yet in the USA anyway. Maybe our next car will be a diesel (or a hybrid diesel... who knows?)

3. A set of Prius replacement batteries costs $3600, not $7000. Also, they're supposed to last 150-200k miles (ie the life of the car... we'll see if that ends up being optimistic)

4. The Prius vs Hummer study was amusing, but it's filled with errors and misinformation and was debunked

5. As far as jaws of life goes, a while back the AP ran a sensational article stating that emergency workers might face dangers cutting into a crashed hybrid due to electric cables running near the doors. The article was filled with inaccuracies and was actually retracted and a correction was issued (but that hasn't stopped the "my brother/cousin/friend is a volunteer firefighter and says no jaws of life on hybrids" story from being perpetuated).

The reality is that the high voltage lines are near the lower center of the car inside a metal shroud far away from the doors and roof. Also emergency responders have supposedly been provided with notices of their locations as well as the safety disconnect switches to kill the vehicle's power.

6. The batteries' negative effect on the environment is obviously a tradeoff against the extra fuel an equivalent non-hybrid would burn.

For how and where we drive, we're looking at 50+ MPG average vs 30 MPG in a comparable non-hybrid vehicle (based on actual experience, not just EPA estimates). That yields a 2000+ gallon fuel savings for 150k miles (what we expect to hit in 10 years).

Given that the Prius' NiMH batteries aren't as toxic as NiCds and there's a recycling program, can anyone explain whether or not extracting, refining, distributing, and burning 2000+ gallons of fuel is better for the environment/global warming/whatever than manufacturing and recycling the two battery packs in the Prius?

I'm not here to advocate hybrids or preach. In fact when I initially started this thread, I was going to leave out which car I traded in for, but I figured I'd get inundated with questions. Note that I never told anyone what car to buy while some of you guys are telling me that I shouldn't have gotten a Prius

I'll PM you about it.

 

1

 

Razz1, I commented on fuel consumption in the context of environmental impact of fuel vs recycling batteries (and only in response to all the stuff people have posted). I never once mentioned fuel cost.

However, since you (and ALP22) brought up cost, even accounting for interest, the fuel savings over the next 8 years actually exceeds the extra we paid up front over a comparable non-hybrid car. That's based on gas prices staying at above $2.50/gallon (if the long-term average drops below that, then we woulda saved more money with a non-hybrid). Anything is possible, but I think it's more likely the average for gas over the next 8 years will remain higher than that. I'm really not too worried either way.

Obviously if the battery does die sooner than expected, we could end up losing money, just as one would if any component broke out of warranty. But the warranty covers the battery for 8 years and 100k miles. If we have reason to believe the battery won't last much past that, we'll trade it in before the end of the warranty.

How come everyone is so quick to criticize our choice? While I wouldn't expect much love for hybrids in a sports car forum, I also didn't expect such a negative knee-jerk reaction (especially since I brought it up in a neutral way). Again, I didn't start this thread to advocate hybrids; we all make our own choices and what you drive is your business. But I did research the Prius before shelling out for it.

Again, good luck to all of you! I'll look back fondly on my days with the RX8 and this forum has been fun. I'll pop in from time to time.

 

i don't know that it's really new. we all get poor gas mileage and know it and so we need to bash one that gets more than 2mpg so we can sleep easier at night. i'm not bashing the 8 - i love it and don't really care about mpg b/c work pays for gas and i don't drive a ton. if it were coming out of my pocket and i drove a lot i might be more defensive in justifying why i still have it so i could sleep easier at night.

plus it's the internet and if one person starts bashing, more are sure to follow. it's that whole herd mentality. i'm not saying i've always been above that but it's all in good fun. don't take it personally and just enjoy what you have without thinking twice about it. plus you still have to join us if you get that miata.

oh, and hybrids are just fun to pick on