I am looking in to ordering the RX 8.....totally excited I might add! I am female and I have an autistic 4 year old boy, a cell phone and I am not really into the car for it's speed....more it's beauty in and out and it's handling. I have a 2002 Protege5 sport wagon and I love the way it drives.....it's onlt 130 hp and it's a blast. More power is great so I think the 207 hp automatic is sufficient for me. Anyone have the automatic or test driven one? I WANT TO KNOW HOW IT IS TO DRIVE? Sunlight silver.....Auto, GT package, red/ black leather, rotary accant package is what I want.Thanks everyone! :cool:

My wife is looking for the same thing, in the same color. I'd like to know various opinions on it as well. I'd like to think it will still be 'peppy' and fun for her to drive, but I'm concerned. I drove the stick and it had very poor low end torque. I'll be curious to hear what people who own them think.

I have the RX8 AT silver with everything!!!!. However, I really wanted the manual transmission. I too am a girl but I love speed and I love cars. I figure any sports car is only worth driving in its true form--manual. I was dead set on getting the MT so I went to the dealer and drove the MT with everything. Now let me put it in perspective. From 1991-2001 I had a manual car. Then from 2001-now I had an automatic. I thought I would be rusty driving the MT but WOW!!! I had so much fun driving the MT. The gear shift just needed a flick of the wrist and I was having a blast. But the one they had available was red and I wanted silver or titanium. They had a silver AT also available and the sales girl told me to try it. I did and it too was fun. I drove it in both the AT and "MT" mode and was having fun. Then I had to decide. I live in Miami where there is ALWAYS traffic. So I thought about how I dreaded being in traffic and having to go from 1st to 2nd and stop and back to 1st to 2nd etc. Truly, the whole MT thing gets tiring after a while. I chose convenience and drove away in the silver AT. And I love it. Whenever I feel the need to drive MT I simply change to "MT" mode and go.
U won't be disappointed. The car is beautiful either way.

I am sure it will be fun but want to really hear it from others since I may not be able to test drive one beforehand. Anyone else out there have or test driven the automatic? Thanks for the input!

Originally posted by evypt
I have the RX8 AT silver with everything!!!!. However, I really wanted the manual transmission. I too am a girl but I love speed and I love cars. I figure any sports car is only worth driving in its true form--manual. I was dead set on getting the MT so I went to the dealer and drove the MT with everything. Now let me put it in perspective. From 1991-2001 I had a manual car. Then from 2001-now I had an automatic. I thought I would be rusty driving the MT but WOW!!! I had so much fun driving the MT. The gear shift just needed a flick of the wrist and I was having a blast. But the one they had available was red and I wanted silver or titanium. They had a silver AT also available and the sales girl told me to try it. I did and it too was fun. I drove it in both the AT and "MT" mode and was having fun. Then I had to decide. I live in Miami where there is ALWAYS traffic. So I thought about how I dreaded being in traffic and having to go from 1st to 2nd and stop and back to 1st to 2nd etc. Truly, the whole MT thing gets tiring after a while. I chose convenience and drove away in the silver AT. And I love it. Whenever I feel the need to drive MT I simply change to "MT" mode and go.
U won't be disappointed. The car is beautiful either way.

How noticable is the difference in how it drives power-wise?

I've test driven my dealer's AT demo twice and loved every second of it! I plan to drive it again a few more times before my car comes in - hopefully, early Sept.

It seemed at least as fast (but I think much faster) than my previous car - 2k Celica GT-S (RIP). The manual mode was fun, but I need to get used to it before going exclusively in manual mode (like I did in my Celica) - two 20 min test drives aren't enough.

Long story short: you will be very happy with the AT.

One issue that you might want to consider is the trunk space. Though it's fine for me, others may have different needs and storage considerations.

Good luck!

Your input is helping me seal the deal on the automatic......heck I figure I only have a car(Mazda Protege5) with 130hp....207hp should suit me just fine, huh!! Appreciate your responses everyone!

My mother hasn't even test driven one (She's ordered a Winning Blue with AT however) and already she loves the car when I test drove it with her and a salesguy, even though I drove stick. The car will definitely be a blast driving in automatic. I've owned 2 2nd Gen RX-7s with AT, so it seems like a natural step up in terms of sheer fun factor.

Looks like I will be ordering one this week....anyone lease this vehicle? Also, who ever cares........a car seat fits like a dream in the back seat so load up the kiddies!!!! I want the sunlight silver, AT, GT pkg, red/black leather with the rotary accent pkg. Did I say that already?