MarkW
07-16-2003, 11:36 AM
My contact at Mazda was in Austria last week and I was sent an unofficial (maybe slightly biased ;) ) review of her thoughts on the car.
But firstly, especially for Oilman, Jimbobjoe and co who have ordered Velocity Red, it has been confirmed to me that you DO get the red/black wheel with the red/black interior trim contrary to what some people have been told.
They are also trying (but NOT PROMISING) to do everything they can to enable pre-orderers to test drive the car.
Here is the main contents of the review....... (with thanks to the author :) )
The test drive was fantastic! I was actually in Austria (at the same
location as Stakato).
The car handles superbly and is so much fun to drive. The one thing that struck me on the road routes was that, through the rev range, this car seems to have endless torque. It feels as if it wants you to push it continually and on the Austrian Autobahn that is a hard temptation to resist!!!
The engine noise is phenomenal, There really is nothing like the sound of a rotary engine. The pitch is higher, but it seems so much less harsh than a conventional piston engine as it revs so freely.
We also had the opportunity to drive the car on a dynamic handling circuit testing the DSC and even with my appalling dynamic driving skills the car retained complete control!! The DSC is fantastic and would make someone like me feel a whole lot safer, but for those who want to enjoy 'pure' unrestricted driving, it has a dual stage off switch. Push it once and
it's partially off, allowing the DSC to cut in under braking (for safety), push it again and hold for 7 seconds and it is completely off.
We got to test the RX-8 on a circuit against some competitors. We drove vs the Audi TT, Toyota Celica, Alfa 156 and Mercedes CLK and although they all have very different driving dynamics, the RX-8 would get my vote every time.
In terms of pure driving enjoyment, the RX-8 beats the competition, no contest! The driving position helps to achieve this, because of the low driving position you manage to get the feeling you get when in an MX-5, it really is a true sports car.
For your information, the Austrians had a weekend slot which they were able to use to allow pre-order customers to test drive. The main reason for this is that Mazda Europe have a fleet of press cars that weren't being used for 2 days and Mazda Austria were given the opportunity as they had paid for some of the events fixed costs. These cars are LHD and its not feasible
for us to bring them to the UK.
We are currently investigating opportunities to get our pre-order customers into vehicles for test drives as soon as is possible. Please understand that vehicle availability is a major factor in the UK so we can't confirm at present whether this will be possible, but rest assured we will do anything we can!
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Cheers
Mark
But firstly, especially for Oilman, Jimbobjoe and co who have ordered Velocity Red, it has been confirmed to me that you DO get the red/black wheel with the red/black interior trim contrary to what some people have been told.
They are also trying (but NOT PROMISING) to do everything they can to enable pre-orderers to test drive the car.
Here is the main contents of the review....... (with thanks to the author :) )
The test drive was fantastic! I was actually in Austria (at the same
location as Stakato).
The car handles superbly and is so much fun to drive. The one thing that struck me on the road routes was that, through the rev range, this car seems to have endless torque. It feels as if it wants you to push it continually and on the Austrian Autobahn that is a hard temptation to resist!!!
The engine noise is phenomenal, There really is nothing like the sound of a rotary engine. The pitch is higher, but it seems so much less harsh than a conventional piston engine as it revs so freely.
We also had the opportunity to drive the car on a dynamic handling circuit testing the DSC and even with my appalling dynamic driving skills the car retained complete control!! The DSC is fantastic and would make someone like me feel a whole lot safer, but for those who want to enjoy 'pure' unrestricted driving, it has a dual stage off switch. Push it once and
it's partially off, allowing the DSC to cut in under braking (for safety), push it again and hold for 7 seconds and it is completely off.
We got to test the RX-8 on a circuit against some competitors. We drove vs the Audi TT, Toyota Celica, Alfa 156 and Mercedes CLK and although they all have very different driving dynamics, the RX-8 would get my vote every time.
In terms of pure driving enjoyment, the RX-8 beats the competition, no contest! The driving position helps to achieve this, because of the low driving position you manage to get the feeling you get when in an MX-5, it really is a true sports car.
For your information, the Austrians had a weekend slot which they were able to use to allow pre-order customers to test drive. The main reason for this is that Mazda Europe have a fleet of press cars that weren't being used for 2 days and Mazda Austria were given the opportunity as they had paid for some of the events fixed costs. These cars are LHD and its not feasible
for us to bring them to the UK.
We are currently investigating opportunities to get our pre-order customers into vehicles for test drives as soon as is possible. Please understand that vehicle availability is a major factor in the UK so we can't confirm at present whether this will be possible, but rest assured we will do anything we can!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Cheers
Mark