so far:
ac doesnt work (well)

foot vents dont work

this is really starting to get to me...reminding me of a Kia.....
________
BODY SCIENCE (http://bodyscience.ws/)

negative

Originally posted by P00Man


this is really starting to get to me...reminding me of a Kia.....

The part that makes me think of a KIA is when I'm driving at very slow speeds <5 mph and low RPM's while turning and I occasionally hear scratching sounds coming from somewhere within the engine compartment. I'm not sure if this is normal of rotary engines or if it just needs settling down.

...that and the fact the dealership I purchased from was a Mazda/Kia dealer :p

Originally posted by Kap


The part that makes me think of a KIA is when I'm driving at very slow speeds <5 mph and low RPM's while turning and I occasionally hear scratching sounds coming from somewhere within the engine compartment. I'm not sure if this is normal of rotary engines or if it just needs settling down.

That's easy. In a Kia, the scratching sound is the toenails of the hamster running round in his wheel. you just can't hear it at higher rpm. Not sure what it is in the RX-8: Has anyone really looked to see what's inside that rotary? LOL!

I wonder if Rotor shaped Hamster wheels are available? :D

Biggest problem with my 8 is that it isn't here yet :mad:

P00man - from what it sounds like I don't think you'd be comfortable with any new car, esp first model year. Unless it's that new Perfection made by Perfect Motors & Co that's guaranteed problem-free for the first million miles. After that you're SOL tho so you might take that into consideration.

Seriously though, first-model year performance-oriented car. There really haven't been any major lumps yet, and really, I think if you're jumping on a first model year sports-ish car that you should be willing to take at least one recall-level lump. But we'll see how things fold out in the next few months.

Some of the stuff out now is relative to the mind of the owner. A/C - some people don't like it, some do. What do you want, the blasting A/C of the early 90s? Personally I drive my fully-loaded maxima on 105+ heat index days with the windows down, A/C off, so the A/C in the sportier-motif 8 wouldn't be a problem with me even if it was off all the time. Same goes for lack of auto climate control. Warm engine covers prohibiting dipstick access is just silly - check the oil when the car is cold anyway. etc, etc.


RXHusker - d'oh :( I've been peeking at my PM box here and there, maybe that's an adverse effect of living smack-dab in the middle of the country :(

Oh look. The sky is falling! AAAaaarrhhhh!!!!

Originally posted by P00Man
so far:
ac doesnt work (well)

foot vents dont work

this is really starting to get to me...reminding me of a Kia.....

not quite as bad as having your brakes fail.

Never had any problems with the foot vents. There are even foot vents for the rear passenger, which pleasantly surprised my wife yesterday when she had to ride back there.

Originally posted by P00Man
so far:
ac doesnt work (well)

foot vents dont work

this is really starting to get to me...reminding me of a Kia..... Having now committed to the RX-8 I hope your AC issues are either a single bad sample or unusually tough expectations on your part. However I will say that whenever the car reminds of of a Kia, you should turn off the engine, step outside and walk around the car to marvel at it's shape and size and practicality. Then you will realize it is not a Kia, but that it it may not be perfect in everything it does.

i've never heard of a rotary with good a/c the engines just doesn't take well to a/c for some reason

also i'd like to remind you guys that you did buy a sports car, if your car so much about the a/c go buy a civic, you buy an rx-8 because it's fun, it's fast and it corners like it's on rails

Originally posted by The Beav
i've never heard of a rotary with good a/c the engines just doesn't take well to a/c for some reason

also i'd like to remind you guys that you did buy a sports car, if your car so much about the a/c go buy a civic, you buy an rx-8 because it's fun, it's fast and it corners like it's on rails

It shouldn't make any difference that the engine is a rotary. All the ac needs is a pully driven compressor to move the cool stuff through the system. Everything else is the same as the heater. I hope the ac works well in mine since I live in a hot area. And, in this day/age, there is no excuse for a poor ac. Even my Miata's ac works reasonably well for a convertible.

My biggest complaint with my 8 thus far is the key and remote fob. They are INSANELY big for the fuction they serve. Having driven VW/Audi for the last 5 years I cannot believe that just the remote fob portion is bigger then the entire VW/Audi assembly including the key.

Anyone know if there are accessory verisions that are much smaller?

Originally posted by 8_wannabe


Has anyone really looked to see what's inside that rotary? LOL!

I have :o

A/C works fine
Foot vents work fine
Keyfob/remote is fine
Power is Fine
Speed is fine
Everything is fine

I love this Fine car.

My bum is a little sore though...

Kap,

Where did you get your 8? Sounds like a dealership close to where I live in Newark DE.

Originally posted by P00Man
so far:
ac doesnt work (well)

foot vents dont work

this is really starting to get to me...reminding me of a Kia.....

Your posting makes it sound like you already have yours and you're having these problems...then I continue reading and find that you're just listing a few nitpicky problems other people have whined about.

I for one am going to wait until I've seen for myself before I start complaining about things that may or may not bother me, and if they do I'm not going into this blind. It's the first year of a brand new model, and I don't expect total perfection.

What I do expect is a car that will be fun to drive, with smooth engine feel and acceleration, that is comfortable and practical, looks fantastic and gets lots of attention. I don't think I'll be disappointed by any of that.

Originally posted by jtimbck2
What I do expect is a car that will be fun to drive, with smooth engine feel and acceleration, that is comfortable and practical, looks fantastic and gets lots of attention. I don't think I'll be disappointed by any of that.
You won't be dissapointed at all. The more I drive it the more I like it. It gets more attention than the Dahm Triplets. :D

My AC works great. Foot vents work great. A KIA? You're on crack. It reminds me of a BMW. This car is tits, don't knock it till you own one and drive it.

Originally posted by The Beav
i've never heard of a rotary with good a/c the engines just doesn't take well to a/c for some reason


I beg to differ on this one. My 91 RX-7 has A/C colder than any car I have ever owned. That shit is ice cold on even the hottest days.....and the car is black on black. It makes a bunch of noise (compressor noise and the freon charge surging into the evaporator makes a funny sound) when it is on, and it totally dogs the engine, but it is worth it to me to be nice and chilly.

From what I've been seeing in the posts on here, it sounds like the 8 is not going to live up to the cooling capacity of my RX-7, which is very discouraging.

I would like to make a couple some suggestions:

1. First of all when someone sites a problem let us try to learn from it not rag on the person for bringing it up.
2. Lets figure out a way to compile the complaints and maybe even prioritize them. An AC problem in Canada may not be a big deal, in FLA, different story.

3. Lets not be so enamored with the car that we rationalize problems away like so many lemmings over the cliff.

It is true that a new model year may have problems but excusing them in this day and time IMO is a bit naive, this car was hyped out the butt and then there are a plethora of probems emerging.

Sorry, but I don't see any excuses for this stuff.

I am still looking for the founded problems. Some say yea, some say nay.

yeah, thats why im freking out...
________
Vaporizer marijuana (http://www.vaporshop.com)

does pooman even have a car yet?

Originally posted by akrx8
does pooman even have a car yet?
Not an RX8 ;) That's why he's "freking" out.

My take on the air conditioning thing from someone in PA. I honestly haven't used the AC much since I got the car on Thursday because it wasn't really needed and I like the open air driving more then AC on.

Today was a different story though as it was 90+ with 99% humidity out. I turned the air on today and at first thought that people were right that it was weak but what it appears to be is that because of the massive rev range of the engine it is "geared" to opperate best at a higher RPM.

I don't have data to back this up except my experience but at an idle the air felt weak and the temp of the air wasn't great but as soon as I was move along at 3000+ RPM it got chilly on the higher settings (3 and 4) and was completly acceptable at the 2 setting. This is mid-day with the sun blasting straight into the car. I expect that some of the differences in opinion on the AC relate to different cars and different climates. In the brutal sun of the AZ desert it might not cut the mustard but for the very hot, very humid day here in PA it was just fine for me.

I haven't had the car long enough to make judgements about most stuff and since the engine isn't broken in yet I have not even begun to rev it. From just the little usage I have had I can say the engine is very versatile and responsive over a wide rev range. It is deceptively fast because of the long flat torque area rather then a traditional torque curve.

I am bugged but certain little things that I got used to in the German cars like auto-dimming side view mirrors, true climate control (although this doesn't bother me much), a telescoping wheel (would be VERY nice to get the perfect seat position), the size of the remote fob and key, etc.

All of this stuff is little niggle stuff that I haven't grown used to yet and probably won't bother me in even a few weeks. The key and remote is the only thing I will likely even look to do anything about.

Just my 2 cents.

I've got no problem with the ac, though its pretty temperate around here. The ventilation as a whole is great. Again I had to check today to see if the ac was on because the air coming through the vents was mild, just like the outside temp!

As for the foot vents, they were good. At fan setting of one with dash & foot vents, I could feel the foot vent air with my hands when they were by my legs, though not my legs themselves. At a setting of three, I could feel it with my legs.

Originally posted by Roujin
Kap,

Where did you get your 8? Sounds like a dealership close to where I live in Newark DE.

Claremont Mazda in California, but I think I'm noticing a lot of Mazda/Kia combo dealerships.

hey those ppl that own the 8, when u drive it how does the digital speedometer work. Is it like i've seen on those limos, its kinda changes every half a second, or is it smoth just like a handle(non digital)?

I took delivery of my RX-8 on 7/17. Silver w/6sp, loaded but no nav system. Over the weekend I drove almost 300 miles. This morning the car would not shift into 6th gear. All other gears shifted smoothly including reverse.
The dealer (Courtesy Mazda (good guys)) "adjusted" the shifter and now all is well. I was wondering if anyone else with a manual transmission has had any problems?
P.S. I also feel the a/c is weak with the engine below 3000 rpm. When driving around town the air constantly gets cool then warm as the compressor cycles on and off. Once on the highway with the engine hummin' the air temp is consistant and much cooler.

i haven't been to this group in awhile, but last time i was here p00man was considered a troll. btw, i read through this whole thread and i did not find one other person complaining about the car. that was a big waste of my time.

It's good to hear that the A/C seems to work better at higher engine rpms...that's what this car is all about -- rev it up! ;)

Yesterday I went to go test drive a silver 6spd around 7pm. It was about 80 degrees outside but with the humidity it "felt like" (says the weather man) 90 degrees. Before the sales rep took the car out of the lot, I fumbled around with the A/C for a bit. I noticed that during idle, the dash vents produce mildly cool air. I also noticed that when I switch to the dash/floor vents the floor vents tend to be the strongest, the two vents near the center console (below the "nav") are the second strongest, and the vents to the left of the driver and the right of the passenger are the weakest (by far). Since I tried to keep the RPMS low, I didnt see much of a change in temp. In addition, the sales rep was allowed to take the car on the highways, so I couldnt test the A/C on the highway. Anyone see a big difference on the highway? I hope so, for all us down south...

I have to concur with Chadr on how the A/C works. I picked up my titanium 6 sp GT on Sat. When idling you have to turn the air up to 3 or 4 to feel enough cooling on you. But when you're driving normally, say 3500-5000 RPM, the A/C is fine and I could turn it down to either 2 or 1 depending on the exterior temp. FYI: I'm in Atlanta, and it was in the mid 90's the day I picked it up.

What I haven't seen anyone mention is that the best cooling during non-rainy weather is to turn on the recirc. Then you're cooling, cooler air than outside. Not to mention there's slightly extra force from the vents when the recirc is on. So I really haven't had anything to complain about where the A/C is concerned.

hey those ppl that own the 8, when u drive it how does the digital speedometer work. Is it like i've seen on those limos, its kinda changes every half a second, or is it smoth just like a handle(non digital)?

For a digital -- I like it, and believe it will very easy to get used to as time goes on. At first I thought I would not care for it -- but I might actually prefer it over a dial, as I know exactly what speed I'm going.

Originally posted by civic to 8
hey those ppl that own the 8, when u drive it how does the digital speedometer work. Is it like i've seen on those limos, its kinda changes every half a second, or is it smoth just like a handle(non digital)?

It changes with each MPH.

We discussed this A/C issue in another thread, so I'll go ahead and echo my remarks. An A/C compressor is like any other compressor or pump. It is designed for maximum efficiency at certain speeds. Since the rotary has such a wide rpm range, (and higher power peaks) it is likely that the compressor is slightly underdriven compared to that in a piston engine. While we are breaking in the cars at low rpms, I would expect the A/C to not be running at max efficiency. See what it's like after you break it in, and start driving throughout the entire rpm range. I'd almost bet you'll see much cooler A/C temps. Also, city vs. highway always makes a difference, as the amount of time you spend idling or at low rpms far outweighs the amount of time the compressor spends "at speed" while in the city/traffic. Even shifting gears causes the compressor to slow down, as compared to cruising in one gear on the highway - running the compressor at a constant speed. Give it a chance.

Originally posted by B-Nez
I'd almost bet you'll see much cooler A/C temps.

I will reiterate what was stated in the AC thread (http://www.rx8club.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7079) ... the AC shuts off at 65% up the RPM range. So once broken in, I am willing to bet that this issue will be more prevelant. I like it as is, but people will complain more later.

Originally posted by Cylo
the AC shuts off at 65% up the RPM range.no, it cuts off at 65% throttle opening, not 65% of maximum rpm.

484 miles so far and not going over 4500 rpms with 90+ temps and over 60% humidity. The A/C is fine and the car is fantastic.

Originally posted by Pam
484 miles so far and not going over 4500 rpms with 90+ temps and over 60% humidity. The A/C is fine and the car is fantastic.
OMG, that must take some serious restraint... after my first 100 miles I hat to take that baby to 7 grand to see what it's got.

An AC problem in Canada may not be a big deal

I live in Quebec (Canada) and this is not true... When we got 2 weeks at 120F (45 C in case I do a bad translation of the units) I would like to have my A/C working well.

Nevermind the underdrive that may be inherient in the compressor due to optimal drive speed - why is the AC cycling off during highway driving - 6th gear, 75 mph, 3750 rpm, fan speed (which should be irrelevant) at 2, full cold, and recirc on? I can see maybe the system cycling itself if there's a problem with evaporator temperature, or freon level, but why should it cut off during what I would consider optimal conditions when user defined 'demand' is high?