Are there any company's out there planning on making or in process of making something to improve the shift characteristics of the A/T 8's?

IMO, our tranny's should not be shifting this sluggish for the type of car that it is.

our trannies suck--I don't know why they didn't fit the 5spd auto thats in the Mazda 6 to the RX8.

Originally posted by DreRX8
our trannies suck--I don't know why they didn't fit the 5spd auto thats in the Mazda 6 to the RX8.

Probably because 1) front-drive transaxle isn't easily reconfigured for a rear wheel drive application, and 2) it probably can't stand the high RPMs of the Renesis.

true and also this was the only one that would fit that was available to them at the time they needed to get everything ready for production. they just ran out of developement time and money for what they really want to do. you'll see that for the 2006 US model year.

The A/T is limited at 7000 RPM (I think)... What is the red line for the 6?

Originally posted by DreRX8
our trannies suck--I don't know why they didn't fit the 5spd auto thats in the Mazda 6 to the RX8.

We've discussed this often - as mentioned, that's a transverse gearbox with integrated differential. Not exactly suitable for a RWD RX-8, is it?

Mazda is developing a 5 speed auto trans that can handle the 9000 rpm redline of the high-power Renesis - they didn't have the development budget or manpower to have it ready for the RX-8 introduction, so that's why the AT so far is the old 4 speed that is rev-limited to 7500 rpm. The new 5 spd AT will be available on the 2006 RX-8, along with a new 6 speed SMG (semi-manual) gearbox.

Regards,
Gordon

Originally posted by Gord96BRG
The new 5 spd AT will be available on the 2006 RX-8, along with a new 6 speed SMG (semi-manual) gearbox.

Regards,
Gordon

HEY YOU TOLD HIM!! i was going to string him along with hints and "i am not at liberty to say right now" kinds of statements:p

Originally posted by Gord96BRG
along with a new 6 speed SMG (semi-manual) gearbox.

Any official announcement regarding this?

I doubt Mazda is going to come out with a SMG verison gearbox for the 8. The cost alone for the tranny is $2,500 for a BMW M3 option. $2,500 is a lot less when considering a $50k+ car, not a $27k car. The Automatic in this car has to be the same as my 2003 Hyundai Tiburon. It is 4 speeds, shifts the same, and has no lock to prevent neutral slams.

Troy J.

Originally posted by JeupRX-8
I doubt Mazda is going to come out with a SMG verison gearbox for the 8. The cost alone for the tranny is $2,500 for a BMW M3 option. $2,500 is a lot less when considering a $50k+ car, not a $27k car.

Don't forget, however, the MR2 Spyder has SMT at around $26k nowadays.. Didn't like the car much myself.. too small for me to fit.. but I did find the SMT fun to play with.. Shame they didn't go the whole 10 yards and make it fully auto if needed.. but anyhow.. back to our normal programming...

SMT is not nearly as quick as BMW's SMG or Ferrari's F1 transmission.

Originally posted by NavyDood
Are there any company's out there planning on making or in process of making something to improve the shift characteristics of the A/T 8's?

IMO, our tranny's should not be shifting this sluggish for the type of car that it is.

I am trying to get in touch with LEVELTEN.COM (http://www.levelten.com/)<-- I think thats the web site. In a back issue of SS mag, one of the editors has a IS 400 or 330, the small one, that has 400+ hp or something like that. He has Level-10 on his sproty/AT. He said this way he wont melt the gears in his car.

Originally posted by JeupRX-8
SMT is not nearly as quick as BMW's SMG or Ferrari's F1 transmission.

*chuckle* Of course not.. but then you are not paying BMW or Ferrari's prices either..... For the money it's not a bad system... just not as good as "the real thing!"

Originally posted by red_rx8_red_int
Any official announcement regarding this?

Nope, not yet. I was told by an 'inside' source that is reliable, but I can't and won't name names. It probably won't be announced for almost a year (until the 2006 models are near release).

Regards,
Gordon

Now that Ivehad my automatic for 15000 miles the lackof response from the transmission has become very noticeable. I haventbeen babying my car at all but I havent been ragging it out either. Lately its always taking up to 4 seconds for it to shift from 4th to 2nd gear whileIm cruising on the highway. For instance when Im in 4th gear at 45 - 50 then go into tiptronic mode and drop down to 2nd gear the time it takes for the car to go down 2 gears seems to have doubled.

Another strange occurrence that oftenly happens now w/my automatic is if Im calmly cruising for a bit andthen I all of a sudden floor the pedal the entire car completely lurches forward right after the gear changes and the power kicks in violently instead of smoothly like it used to. It feels likethe car is on a wild slingshot all of a sudden and Iknow this type of behavior was not happening 6 months ago. I thinkits time for me to get my transmission checked out