Hi all,

For those who haven't read my "I just joined the club" post, I just picked up a RX-8 (Red, GT, Red/Black Leather, etc).

I traded in my S2000 (which I loved) but I needed back seats for our son who will be born within a couple of months.

The RX-8 seemed like the logical choice as it has many of the characteristics of the S2000 (9k redline, similar hp, etc).

I am actually leasing this car so my question is How is Mazda in general about simple mods such as a CAI?

I am not planning on chipping and getting all the extras I normally do but the car is a little to quiet and docile sounding for my likes. I just want to give it a deeper growl and higher RPMs.

I have never leased a car before so I don't know if different rules apply. My general experience with previous CAI has been that they don't really cause any real HP gains but they sound better.

Any feedback on Mazda and simple mods would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Dean

 

It sounds like you already know what to expect!

Welcome to the club!

No one will get on your case about doing mods that don't permantely change the vehicle. A catback exhaust is fine. An intake is fine. Just don't try to rebuild the engine or anything serious like that. Just be sure that whatever you do to the car can be easily undone.

 

A CAI will usually make a car sound better, but you should maybe open the airbox on the '8 and have a listen before you invest heavily in that mod.

The intake howl is loud, raspy and coarse, many owners have taken their new systems off, and gone back to stock....

S

 

Stealth. Point taken. Anyone have a wave file of what an CAI sounds like on a 8?

However, I am sure different intakes produce different sounds.

Dean

 

Welcome to the club Dean2900, you're off to a good start!

If you want a more agressive tone, look no further than a good catback exhaust. Borla, Racing Beat, Greddy, RX8Store, and Rotary Extreme (if they ever get their exhaust on the market) are all good choices. I have the Borla and am in love with it. :D Almost no dealer will give you problems about an exhaust either - it's so far "down stream" of the engine that few will try to blame problems on it.

An intake on the other hand, might cause you problems with both your car and/or the dealership. Not all dealerships like to see things under the hood. Plus it's "up stream" and theoretically all sorts of problems past them could be blamed on them.

They're also VERY loud... especially the K&N, which often causes idle and other problems too. The Rotary Extreme one works pretty well though, and has the added advantage of heat shielding - which also allows you to insulate it and mitigate the noise to a reasonable level. You probably won't like it without... as StealthTL says, the intake howl is loud, raspy and coarse, and many owners have taken their new systems off and gone back to stock. The intake is SO loud, in fact, that at WOT and 7000+ RPM it vibrates the entire cabin of the car.

Hope this helps.

 

Omicron,

Thanks for the heads up on the CAI. I do not want it shaking the whole car.

I really want a mod that only gets louder when doing heavy accelerating. I accomplished this on my S2000 with a AEM CAI and Spugen Exhaust Combo and it made the car sound great.

I am a firm believer in keeping cars near stock. I am new to the RX-8 and the rotary engine so I am doing research on this forums. I just see a lot of disparate information at the moment.

Can you describe how your Borla exahst makes your 8 sounds? I am not a 20 year old kid looking just be loud and obnoxious and this is technically my business car. I would like to keep the car as stock sounding as possible during normal crusing but have that deep loud sound when doing heavy accelerating preferably above 6k only.

Thanks for the welcome to the club. I will be a member for at least 3 years

Dean