ok well didn't realize that. anyway back to the topic please...

 

Yeah, if I have my music on loud, I can be at the higher RPMs and not even notice it. I actually hit fuel cut off once when blasting some music and accelerating onto the freeway. Oops. Now that feels weird. Kinda feels like your car just died in the middle of the freeway.

 

Ok went out for a spin today. Did mostly relaxed driving and never felt any vibrations through the clutch. Did feel a small engine buzz through the accelerator though. The gearshift vibrated like regular.


Unrelated: I'm still having a little trouble getting my upshifts smooth. What is the best way to get rid of the jerk when upshifting without slipping the clutch?

 

About the unrelated:

When I shift I: foot off gas/clutch in, shift, clutch out about half way, start to give gas, and then finish the clutch. Seeing it typed it looks retarded, but when I do it i get a clean shift everytime.

But I think the RX-8 is definately the smoothest car I have owned. My 1990 240SX comes in second vs. the mazda6. I love the way the transmission sounds when youre downshifting into first coming to a stop just for like a stopsign. I love everything about this car.

 

press the gas to get up in rpms before letting go of the clutch with time u will learn where the rpms will be in each gear at speeds other than that you will feel a little bit of a pull which is normal unless you switch gears at the perfect rpm but what fun is that. also i read that you live in cali in 1 of your posts what part of cali?

 

wow,
this is almost as good as your 15 mpg thread....

you are doomed..

beers

 

Yeah see I've been doing that but I keep feeling like I'm wearing the clutch unecessarily. I saw a vid of a guy driving the 8 on a track agressively and he just either had the clutch on or off when upshifting. He never held it where it catches to get the clutch to catch smoothly. Anyway, I havn't smelled any burnt clutch yet soo I guess I'm doing ok. I'll keep working at it though.


To swoope: we're all doomed.

 

clutch sould be in or out... if out foot should be off the pedal.

exception feathering the clutch on a launch.... it avoids wheelspin and axle hop... but has to be practiced....

4.5k to 5k works well... note. get your foot off the pedal..

but this has nothing to the smooth ? you ask. that was a high rpm thing, correct?

beers

 

Yeah at high rpms, especially in 1st and 2nd gear, it doesn't feel smooth because of the vibration. I guess I've been pampered by Auto tranny's that are free of tranny noise and vibration.

 

you actually have to try really hard to wear a clutch out, I've never had any trouble with a clutch ever, except the very few first times I was learning to drive and trying to start on a hill. and it was a rental too... hehe. I only know one person who has killed a clutch and it was already torn to crap by the previous owner when he bought it, it was an impreza RS and he later smashed it thinking he was good at street racing... dumbass...

Another fun trick to learn is how to learn to shift without the clutch (no I'm not joking), if you time it just right and know your tranny well (especially one that makes a lot of noise like this one) you can take it out of gear, then wait for the revs to fall and ease it into the next gear at exactly the right time without using the clutch at all. My dad can do it but I've never had the ***** to actually try it, I'd rather keep my gears in good shape.

One of the reasons you can hear the tranny so much is that it's right next to you, front wheel drive cars have the tranny too far from you to really hear anything

 

When people like Jeremy Clarkson and so many others say the 8 is "smooth", they're referring to the smoothness of the rotary engine, which gives any rotary engine car a subtle yet distinctly different "feel" than a car powered by a traditional piston engine. With 4, 6, 8 or more pistons constantly starting and stopping their motion as they go up and down, up and down—over and over again—an engine with a spinning rotor is going to be, for lack of a better term, "smoother". It's intuitive. It's why the elliptical machine at the gym is smoother than the treadmill. It's why early Mazda commercials said (with sound effects) that ordinary engines go "boing, boing, boing" while the rotary engine goes "hmmmmmmm".

That's what people mean when they say "smooth".

 

I found that I had to shift much more quickly than in my old civic (you can get smooth engagement at any time in those things). If you let the rpms drop between shifts in the 8 it's pretty hard to get a smooth engagement. Just force yourself to shift more quickly and see how that works out for you.

 

You know he might just need some flash updates or a new engine

 

i love the feedback i get it lets me know im driving

 

You must become one with the Renesis, young padawan

 

I love that

 

Rinkadink, in regards to your upshifting...

while I tought myself stick on my 8, many of my friends have been driving MTs for years. I let them take my 8 for a spin (to let their jealousy grow to new levels), and they all comment that it has a very "tight clutch." Apparently there is a narrow band for your clutch to catch as opposed to some other cars that might have bigger "grace period" on their clutch. Either way, these experienced drivers end up jerking the car a lot more than they expect, and their ultra-critical-whining about my shifting habits suddenly disappears.