JSG
05-11-2003, 09:33 PM
Straight after I picked the car up from the dealer, drove it home and took some pictures I wrote down my first impressions for you guys. Here's an unordered list of what I thought:
Colour - excellent. I was really nervous before seeing it but I'm 100% happy with my choice. There is some blue in it under sunlight and it's not as dark and lifeless as the 6 grey.
The roof has roofrack strips.
Recommend rotor accents - I didn't get them but think I'll put them on later. Still undecided about calliper paint.
The boot has actually a flat floor with the deeper part at the back covered by a (removable) hatch. In there is the toolkit. On the right hand side is the puncture repair kit - this was all just a bit wierd so I joined JAF - the breakdown club in Japan!
Rear speakers and amp are not covered so careful when ramming stuff in the boot.
There is an undertray running from the front spoiler to the bottom of the radiator so this should stop the worries about stones flying up into the radiator.
The front lights are "different" colours. The sidelights have a bulb which is kind of misty while the headlights are clear and bright. Fogs are powerful but only light up the immediate vicinity in the front of the car.
There is a cigarette lighter in the middle bins! There are actually 3 bins as the front one is dual function which I didn't realise. The 2nd lighter socket is in part 2 of the front bin (slide back and then lift the cover over to one side to reveal it). It's 120W.
Scuff plate option - so/so.
Mats - so/so. I think East Moons sports type look better - I got the regular ones. Trunk mat is nice though.
Bulge on floor of drivers side is a bit of a problem. It turns the foot rest into a toe rest as you can't get your heal over there. I'll try different ways of getting used to it.
Door closing - bad. Front door is heavy. You have to really slam it to shut it and when you do both it and the rear door bounce open a bit. Nothing to stop me wanting the car but something that could be improved upon.
Bonnet closes really nicely.
Lots of vibration on idle through the gear stick.
Clutch is low down. The throttle has a dead period before you get some response so you have to push it a way before you get anything (compared to S2000).
Roof "dents" still exist even with sunroof - don't know how they did it but it looks good with the middle part of the roof lower.
Body, wheels and vents look really purposeful and aggressive. At home I park next to a new Merc E430 and the 8 makes that look old and slow. The 8 looks so mean & like a piece of sculpture with all the curves - so beautiful. The 18" wheels make it look seriously a lot faster than other cars.
The noise - oh the noise! It's fantastic! A real raspy exhaust note. Hard to describe but great. I watched all the videos before to try to get an idea of what a rotary sounded like. All I can say is you have to hear it yourself! In the same way an M3 sound is different so is this.
This was all just from the 2km drive home. In my next post I'll cover the next 200km over mountain roads.
Colour - excellent. I was really nervous before seeing it but I'm 100% happy with my choice. There is some blue in it under sunlight and it's not as dark and lifeless as the 6 grey.
The roof has roofrack strips.
Recommend rotor accents - I didn't get them but think I'll put them on later. Still undecided about calliper paint.
The boot has actually a flat floor with the deeper part at the back covered by a (removable) hatch. In there is the toolkit. On the right hand side is the puncture repair kit - this was all just a bit wierd so I joined JAF - the breakdown club in Japan!
Rear speakers and amp are not covered so careful when ramming stuff in the boot.
There is an undertray running from the front spoiler to the bottom of the radiator so this should stop the worries about stones flying up into the radiator.
The front lights are "different" colours. The sidelights have a bulb which is kind of misty while the headlights are clear and bright. Fogs are powerful but only light up the immediate vicinity in the front of the car.
There is a cigarette lighter in the middle bins! There are actually 3 bins as the front one is dual function which I didn't realise. The 2nd lighter socket is in part 2 of the front bin (slide back and then lift the cover over to one side to reveal it). It's 120W.
Scuff plate option - so/so.
Mats - so/so. I think East Moons sports type look better - I got the regular ones. Trunk mat is nice though.
Bulge on floor of drivers side is a bit of a problem. It turns the foot rest into a toe rest as you can't get your heal over there. I'll try different ways of getting used to it.
Door closing - bad. Front door is heavy. You have to really slam it to shut it and when you do both it and the rear door bounce open a bit. Nothing to stop me wanting the car but something that could be improved upon.
Bonnet closes really nicely.
Lots of vibration on idle through the gear stick.
Clutch is low down. The throttle has a dead period before you get some response so you have to push it a way before you get anything (compared to S2000).
Roof "dents" still exist even with sunroof - don't know how they did it but it looks good with the middle part of the roof lower.
Body, wheels and vents look really purposeful and aggressive. At home I park next to a new Merc E430 and the 8 makes that look old and slow. The 8 looks so mean & like a piece of sculpture with all the curves - so beautiful. The 18" wheels make it look seriously a lot faster than other cars.
The noise - oh the noise! It's fantastic! A real raspy exhaust note. Hard to describe but great. I watched all the videos before to try to get an idea of what a rotary sounded like. All I can say is you have to hear it yourself! In the same way an M3 sound is different so is this.
This was all just from the 2km drive home. In my next post I'll cover the next 200km over mountain roads.