Interesting....... Unless I read it incorrectly I didn't have my glasses on.

The manual states the canadian spec RX8 is 3050lbs I believe the US is 3028. Anywho.....

Open your driver door and check the weight listed there. Mine says something like 3500!!

I'm going to double check it.

Is that gross (max) vehicle weight?

The GVWR is the maximum allowable weight of the vehicle, including occupants, cargo, fluids and fuel. Also: Gasoline: 6.0 pounds per gallon.

Curb Weight 3029 5-sp 3053 auto, source: USA RX-8 manual

That is NOT curb weight!

It's GVWR - gross vehiclw weight rating

GVWR is the max weight, the car itself, passengers and luggage can not excede the GVWR

Curb weight is the weight of an empty car with a tank full of gas and all fluids topped off.

Wait, so this means we can only add less than 400 lbs in passengers/cargo? That's not very much!

Excuse my extreme ignorance on this stuff, but if the car weighs roughly 3,000 pounds without occupants and the max weight is 3,500 pounds, how is it safe to have four adults in this car?

They'd have to be four women. Or myself and three naked supermodels. I guess that would be ok.

GVWR is actually about 3850 lbs. Or about 800 lbs. of "stuff"

GVWR = 3809 lbs 5-sp 3854 lbs auto, source: USA RX-8 manual

or 780lbs for 5-sp, 801 lbs auto for everything but EXCEPT what is included here:

Curb Weight: The weight of an empty vehicle (without passengers or payload), but including oil, gas, coolant, and other standard equipment.

Originally posted by IwantONE2
if the car weighs roughly 3,000 pounds without occupants and the max weight is 3,500 pounds, how is it safe to have four adults in this car?It's hard to explain, but try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and finding yourself confined forever in another dimension.

Oops, no, that's if you cross the beams. Probably perfectly safe then. Try it, and let us know when you return from that other dimension. ;)

Still, 800 lbs is quite low.

I think the average American male weighs about 200 lbs ... thats about 4 people right there ... which leaves nothing left for the stuff in the trunk.

I am just curious, maybe this is normal for cars of this size ... I dont know. :confused:

EDIT: I checked online and found that the actual average American male weight is 179 lbs, which totals to about 716 for 4 people. That leaves about 84 lbs left to haul stuff. Not much...

Arg, now I find out that I am overweight based on that average... time to reduce my junk food intake! :eek:

It gets worse.

The GVWR does not include gas either. A full tank is about 100 lbs.

EDIT: Curb weight does have fuel factored in.

Mazda advertises the car is designed for "4 6-footers". The healty weight limit for a 6 foot male is 190 lbs. (yes, over about 190 and a 6 foot male is technically considered "overweight")

So 4 X 190lb + 100lb = 860lbs (Edit: make that 760lb)

So with 4 non-overweight 6 foot males, a full tank of gas, and NO luggage you have already exceeded (edit: close to exceeding) the maximum safe weight rating (GVWR) for the car.

Have a nice day,

-Mr. Wigggles

Ps. A lot of cars have this problem. In the US this GVWR issue is typically ignored unless you are doing something ridiculus, but in Canada I think they take it a little more seriously. http://www.pc.gov.bc.ca/cmg/newweb/GVW.htm

The US may start taking GVW more serious, especially the FAA. Out of date standards for body weight was considered as a possible contributor to the miscalculation of the take-off weight and balance of a commuter plane crash a few months back.

Originally posted by Tweety-nator
Arg, now I find out that I am overweight based on that average... time to reduce my junk food intake! :eek:

dude, the (rather rediculous) American BMI puts me at almost 40 lbs overweight for my height (i'm 190cm, 6'2.6", i weigh about 220lbs), and trust me, < 25 lbs of that is fat (less than 10%bf).

Originally posted by MrWigggles
It gets worse.

The GVWR does not include gas either. A full tank is about 100 lbs.

-Mr. Wigggles


Think you better check again Mr Wigggles, GVWR includes fuel and more. See previous post above.

Who has 3 supermodels in their 8! j/k

Originally posted by wakeech


dude, the (rather rediculous) American BMI puts me at almost 40 lbs overweight for my height (i'm 190cm, 6'2.6", i weigh about 220lbs), and trust me, < 25 lbs of that is fat (less than 10%bf).

You seem to be a very fit/healthy person ... however bear in mind that because you weigh in at 220 lbs that means 4 of you will definitely exceed the RX-8's GVWR!

Make sure any friends you bring along for a ride are malnourished to compensate :D

Originally posted by Spin9k


Think you better check again Mr Wigggles, GVWR includes fuel and more. See previous post above.

Yes you are correct. fuel is included in the curb weight.

So, I guess Mazda was correct. The car can hold eight 6 foot males as long as none of them are overweight and there is no luggage. :)

-Mr. Wigggles

Damn, I definately exceeded GVWR at lunch then.
4 IT people, and you know how slimming sitting in front of a computer 8+ hours a day can be :)

If we didn't exceed it leaving work, I'm betting we did by the time we left the Chinese restaurant :D