I experienced a strong hesitation as I was driving......like it was gonna die on me....it took a few seconds and then the car picked up and went. I have the automatic and I had just left the garage and I am thinking maybe the car needed to warm up......temps were decent out. Also, it seems when I use the manual shift mode the car is smoother as it shifts then in regular drive mode. Anyone Have any thoughts about this stuff? Thanks.

definatly let it warm up. my dakota does this if it is not warmed up pretty much to full temp. it is an automatic. granted it is not a rx8 but it does the exact same thing when it is not warmed up unless i just slam the gas petal to the floor.

You might be experiencing the cold program rev limiter.

When the engine has not been warmed up the rev limiter would be around 6000 I believe. If you reached that RPM, you would defiately feel a strong hesitation. A few Forum member have posted very similar findings. This is for A/T ot M/T cars alike.

I will tell you my husband is not impressed with the car's power. I like it fine, although I agree with him that it drives way better in manual shift mode. It's guzzling gas....will have to figure out what MPG I am getting. I guess I will let her warm up a bit before I drive.......not used to the different kind of engine. I hope MPG improves. Thanks for the input gang!