I wonder how many of us Americans would be interested in a lower priced, light weight performance (race/autocross) package? For example: no back seats, no sound system, no A/C, no extra sound deadening, no carpet& padding – just vinyl mats, no auto suspension – just stiff shocks & sway bars, no sunroof, no plastic dress up trim…

From what I have seen so far, this car look really well thought out. I hate to imagine crash testing multiple versions.
The initial version looks like a high price, high tech flagship of sport features.

Did anyone else notice in the RX-8 introduction, the president of Mazda said he personally drives an RX-7?

Yes the car looks like an overly high tech super duper expensive technological work of art, but you also have to remember that this car employs many different ways of thinking compared to some other cars. Just look at the engine...Know of many other cars with a rotary? The seats are custom, but how custom are they, they could literally just be cheaper to put in then a regular leathe car seat. I havent seen one in person, and I havent gotten to tinker with one but I think that Mazda has a surefire winner of a car.

As for the lightweight version of this car all I have to say is....DROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL:eek:

yea the lucky guy did say he owned a RX7. Thatd be a cool company car better then the Taurus Wagons they hand out at the corporate offices where I work.

does anybody know the the approx weight of the market version?

2700 LBS is the "target" weight, since little things need to be taken care of. It will most likely be around that.