Well up in richmond hill here we have freezing rain for the morning....wondering how everyone drove thier eight.....

good luck......

carful driving=)! :ylsuper:

mine is sitting parked nicely in the garage. Wont come out till tonight when i have to head to the gym. even then, i might ask for a ride :)

Starting in second prevented the DSC light from coming on...

For the most part I was impressed with the majority of drivers here in the GTA. I drove across the 401 from 409 to Yonge street around 7:45am. Most folks had figured out rapid manouvers and higher speed would not work.

A few hairy moments ahead of me, twice - tractor w/ trailers tried to stop and swung the ass end around ( took up 2 1/2 lanes ) yikees !

Toyo Garit HT's and cheapo steel 17" wheels worked great again. With correct tires the 8 is extremely good / fun in the snow.

Stock tires, no problems. its all about taking your time

No issues hear , I put a 60lb bag of sand in the trunk that make it just that much more stable . Very worth the effort.

We only got rain here in the deep south. Had one day of reasonable snow. No problems. I've got Michelin X-ice. So far so good.

the 8 is still at the dealership.. driving my CX7 and loving the car in this weather!!

Starting in second prevented the DSC light from coming on...

What's wrong with the DSC light? Mine was on a lot today!

With winter tires the car is great in the ice and snow.

Only problem today; I left my scraper at home.

Edit:
It was difficult at times to keep the windshield ice free. At times I had the defrost on with the fan at 4 and still needed to spray antifreeze periodically to enable visibility.

My car felt like it did when I installed the clutch. it was cold when that took place too, i dunno.

-Cody

Stock tires, no problems. its all about taking your time

lol.....crazy bastard.......everysince i drove with snows...i dunt think i will ever go back to all seasons........but i wish u good luck getting throught the entire "winter" without accident=)

the 8 is still at the dealership.. driving my CX7 and loving the car in this weather!!


lucky=)....perfect timing for you car to be at the dealer, and very lucky they gave u a cx7..=)

pm-ing you about ur car...check it!

no.. Turbo Eight.. the CX7 is my daily driver.. got ur PM!!

Snow storm in Montreal and around area...I guess it's a good car because it was only the third time my girlfriend took my car and her first snow storm with a RWD...lol...And the car came back in one pieces!..:O)

i have to agree tho.. the 8 handles way better than 350Zs and G coupes in the winter with proper snow tires.. i had a lota fun driving the 8 around in the snow last year!!

Blizzaks performed amazingly well.

The stock tires are summer only and their wear rating reflects it.

Love the winter wheels as I'm not damaging the alloys.
They are sitting pretty in the garage.

Our dealership has a sale on winter wheels & tires.
It is worth every penny!

Safe driving everybody.

Dave Biagioni
Oakville Mazda

Can't believe so few people in Ontario get snow tires. I even have 'em on my wife's AWD SUV. I got Vikings on '17 alloys, the car is unstopable, but it stays home on heavy snow days simply because it's too low.

Pet peeve are drivers with their all seasons driving along at 20km/h. Of course we should all slow down, but why should it take me hours commuting around 'cause some schmoe won't shell out for proper tires. This is where we could learn lots from Quebec drivers.

Otherwise, it wasn't bad, 'cept my car is now filthy!

Can't believe so few people in Ontario get snow tires. I even have 'em on my wife's AWD SUV. I got Vikings on '17 alloys, the car is unstopable, but it stays home on heavy snow days simply because it's too low.

Pet peeve are drivers with their all seasons driving along at 20km/h. Of course we should all slow down, but why should it take me hours commuting around 'cause some schmoe won't shell out for proper tires. This is where we could learn lots from Quebec drivers.

Otherwise, it wasn't bad, 'cept my car is now filthy!

Just because you have snow tires on doesnt mean you can drive around like its summer time, I have snows on my beater and I still take my time

winter beater ... RX8 is safe in the garage.... no black ice this year

Just because you have snow tires on doesnt mean you can drive around like its summer time, I have snows on my beater and I still take my time

But at least you can keep up with the traffic flow without white knuckles on proper tires. I saw a G35 on summer tires doing 50 on the 401 yesterday when the traffic flow was 80. That's just flat out dangerous. Some people make their life unnecessarily complicated just to save a couple hundred bucks.

I cant believe so many ppl find driving the 8 in the winter with snow tires fun. i guess I just dont have the balls. Everytime I feel the tail coming off a little bit and see the DSC light coming on I get a little scared! Definitly not used the tail spinning. Maybe I need to have a little more faith in the traction control, but it sucks to be the slowest car when the light turn green, even slower than the sunfires.. ouch.

After having a FWD car for a while I love being back in a RWD. The tail sliding out isn't so bad because at least you have control of the vehicle still if you know how to handle it. If you start to spin out a little with a FWD then that's when you should get a little nervous since it's much harder to correct.

Those early days of driving dangerously with an overpowered Mustang are actually paying off!

still keeping all the traction systems fully off, driving is a blast :) Pirelli SottoZero 215 width.

Pirelli 210A Winter Asymetrico's 225s on stock wheels.

The car spent the ice day in the garage - away from the crazies.
Over 500+ collisions reported in the GTA alone - source? who knows if it is accurate.

Insurance companies aren't sympathetic to your crying - "but there was nothing I could do - there was black ice..." booo hooo.

You had a choice to drive that day - you drive in those conditions, you are responsible.

Spent the day draining the oil, and topping up the fluids.

Great car in the snow? I beg to differ. Try starting on snow/slush covered 5 degree incline, then you tell me how good it is.

I can't think that 215's or even 205's are going to help that much.

Now, a true snow tire might help - but what fun is that for Toronto drivers who drive on dry/salt stained roads for the most of the winter.

I use momentum, and stop signs are optional.
I call it predictive driving 101 - look way ahead, and plan the route.

I posted in this forum before that my awd with bald-ass dunlop summer tires will easily out accelerate ANY RX-8 with studless snows. Just no comparison.
Does it make any sense? Not really.

Bring on the SNOW!

500+ collisions? Wow, that sounds as bad as Vancouver when they get 1 cm of snow.

You do know that 78% of all stats are made up, though.... :)

Being in a place where you rarely see the pavement in the winter, I see the full value in throwing winter grips on. To be honest, I really don't know how you could make it through a winter on the stock tires even if you do only get snow a few times a month during the winter months. I tried driving on mine with a small amount of snow on the road and was practically sliding backwards on small inclines.

Winter tires are way more safe and don't make you sweat the forecast when it calls for snow. It also keeps your summer rims away from all of the dirt and salt on the roads. I'd rather pay for a 2nd set up front and have the winter tire option than be forced to replace my originals prematurely.

no.. Turbo Eight.. the CX7 is my daily driver.. got ur PM!!


got my pm but no reply=(?

Great car in the snow? I beg to differ. Try starting on snow/slush covered 5 degree incline, then you tell me how good it is.
I think when people make that comment they're saying it with snow tires on. I started on a steeper incline than that yesterday and I was fine. This is even my first winter driving manual and a RWD car.


Now, a true snow tire might help - but what fun is that for Toronto drivers who drive on dry/salt stained roads for the most of the winter.
I think most people get high performance winter tires. And it's just as fun as the stock tires IMO.

I kept hearing how bad the rx-8 is in the winter (before I bought the car) from personal experience I wouldn't say it is as bad as people make out to be. This my second winter now and the car has yet to let me down. While keeping the traction systems off allows some fun drifting and cornering.

All that said if owned the car I would probaby keep it in the garage (during bad weather), overall Toronto has no idea of what driving is about be it summer or winter.

This car is so much easier to drive in the snow than your average FWD econobox. It doesn't understeer, the rear-end is easily adjustable using the throttle, it has heavy steering effort so you don't get the white knuckles, and the limited-slip differential allows you to put the power down when one wheel is riding on snow and the other on asphalt (most FWD cars fail miserably at this scenario). All the good characteristics of summer handling translate directly into winter driving.

I finally got a chance to play around in the snow with the RX-8 last night here in Toronto. It's my first time driving a LSD-equipped RWD car. I must say it is surprising good, exceeded all my expectations.

It is actually quite difficult to make the car spin out with the LSD (all electronic aids off of course). The car naturally "understeer" while hanging the tail out. It takes very aggressive throttle inputs to keep the car in a controlled, continous drift in a circle countersteering, even on snow. Otherwise the car would tend to straighten out.

I can gain confidence very quickly with this car. (Not so much so that it would turn back and bite me) Very happy with it indeed. Cheers.

I finally got a chance to play around in the snow with the RX-8 last night here in Toronto. It's my first time driving a LSD-equipped RWD car. I must say it is surprising good, exceeded all my expectations.

It is actually quite difficult to make the car spin out with the LSD (all electronic aids off of course). The car naturally "understeer" while hanging the tail out. It takes very aggressive throttle inputs to keep the car in a controlled, continous drift in a circle countersteering, even on snow. Otherwise the car would tend to straighten out.

I can gain confidence very quickly with this car. (Not so much so that it would turn back and bite me) Very happy with it indeed. Cheers.


glad to hear that=0

Just got back from Toronto this pm. On the way home, around 8:00 pm, we got freezing rain at Woodstock and into London (naturally!). The car was great, tires were awesome but the upper portion of the windshield continually froze over. It was like the defroster couldn't get the heat to the top part of the windshield. Had it at max heat, fan at 3 and the rain still froze. Went through a lot of fluid tonight!!

Driving to work today, i got so many people staring at me. Driving my 8 in 3 inches of snow in the hilly parts of cincinnati. LOL Not a single problem with the Dunlop m3 wintter sports on. the only times i slide was when i punched i on purpose.

I finally got a chance to play around in the snow with the RX-8 last night here in Toronto. It's my first time driving a LSD-equipped RWD car. I must say it is surprising good, exceeded all my expectations.

It is actually quite difficult to make the car spin out with the LSD (all electronic aids off of course). The car naturally "understeer" while hanging the tail out. It takes very aggressive throttle inputs to keep the car in a controlled, continous drift in a circle countersteering, even on snow. Otherwise the car would tend to straighten out.

I can gain confidence very quickly with this car. (Not so much so that it would turn back and bite me) Very happy with it indeed. Cheers.

Do you mind if I ask where? I'd love to find someplace where I could "learn" how the 8 handles in winter properly, plus have some fun too ;)

For practicing, any large parking lot will do. Just find one that doesn't have many lamp posts.
One with a surface that's smooth and flat (without bumps and/or sewers would be a bonus.

If you're good and brave, then just go out late at night when there are no cars around. Go to any commercial/industrial area where the roads are wider and no one will complain about noise.