From listening to all the chat it seems I must be the only person on the forum to have ordered the 5spd.

I was lucky enough (didn't realise at the time) to be able to test drive the hi and low power examples last Saturday and decided the characteristics of the 5 spd would suit me better. 4 miles to work each day sat in queues and the occasional motorway trip.

What I hadn't thought though is maybe when I get the car I will be going for pleasure drives again (haven't done that since I sold my motorbike) rather than just commuting. mmmmmmmmmm......

Did any of you test drive the 5 speeder?

Have not driven any car but automatically chose the hi powered as I also want to have some fun with it.

I understand that the lo powered car has better torque but less speed.

rael

Also, cannot be a loser with any RX8 at that price, spec, looks and unique engine characteristics.

rael.

I think blueadept has driven a 5 speed, he thought it was great and believed he would be well happy with it. Even though he has a six speed on order.

Blue was it you? Give this chap a lift, tell him about your drive.

Yeah, the salesman said the 5 speeder was the better choice but everyone was ordering the high power cos it was a 'mans thing' Obviously after that I decided I needed the HP too, but with only a £22K budget I opted for LP with leather and metallic paint.

Don't get me wrong I was still over the moon driving the 5 speeder, it's just that nagging little thought.

It is such a fantastic bargain though. To think I was looking at year 2000 Audi TT's with 30,000 miles on them for £20K this time last week.

The RX8 makes a TT look soooooooo boring.

Absolutely NOT.

I believe you got the impression that not a lot of people ordered the 5 spd because 5sp is not available in North America and a lot of us over here are North Americans.

Don't worry, you JUST CANNOT be a loser if you are driving an 8. :D

It could be a very smart move.

There was a magazine test in Japan where they compared the Japan 5 speed (210 ps) versus the Japan 6 speed (250 ps) and found the performance was almost identical. The extra high rev power of the 6 speed just wasn't there (similar to reported US horsepower problems).

If the high end power on our 6 speed cars is similarly AWOL then you have got a good deal.

Yes, I must admit on the test drives I didn't really notice much difference between the two, however there was half an hour between drives, and I wasn't changing at 9000rpm for every gearchange on the HP:D

The only other thing is the website says there will initially very limited numbers of LP vs HP coming into the country and recommends you to order a HP (cheeky). I'm assuming they are talking about the first shipment (which i have missed) and not the second.

You lucky blighters getting your RX8 in 6? weeks time. I'll be waiting 6?months, although I suppose you have already done that.

I don't think you'll be disappointed with the "lower" power, you can't really call it low power anyway.
I had my hi power test drive a couple of weeks ago and my lower power test drive last week so there was at least 7 days between driving the 2 cars. I nearly cancelled the lower power test drive as I thought it pointless but then thought...well it would be nice to see how slow the lower power was in comparison to the hi, but I must say my preconceptions went out the window as its certainly not slow and didn't feel any slower than the other. The only difference I noticed was that the buzzer sounded earlier in the rev range.

I was actually very impressed with it and to think that its only £20k its a ruddy bargain.

I ordered Hi power in January for a few reasons.
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Obviously the extra performance.......now I've driven both there's not a lot in it.
6 speed box....autocar said it doesn't need the 6th gear.
Zenons....lo power wasn't going to have them.
Bose system...lo power wasn't going to have it.
18" alloys....lo power supposed to have 16's.
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This was before all the specs were confirmed but now there really isn't as much going for the Hi power over the lo.

Originally posted by Titanium Grey
I think blueadept has driven a 5 speed, he thought it was great and believed he would be well happy with it. Even though he has a six speed on order.

Blue was it you? Give this chap a lift, tell him about your drive.

it may be me you were thinking of. Here's my review my review (http://www.rx8forum.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=10166) . I'd be very surprised if the hi-power is that much quicker tbh. I wise purchase I think.:)