if anyone recalls the old picture of the tach it only went up to 9k rpms well look at this

Thats a whole new cluster!! Where did you get that pic and are your sure it is newer than the 9k tach because on the rx-8 concept (red) the tach went to 12K and looked similar to that setup.

That's a picture from rotarynews.com taken at the autoshow. The car was a non-runner though, and that dash cluster looks rough. For what its worth, I've seen a lot of pics of the dash, and many have subtle differences. For example this one shows a 8000 RPM redline: http://images.rotarynews.com/images/RX-8Tokyo/24rx8-mtp.jpg

I'm just going to trust what Mazda has confirmed at SevenStock, that the redline is 9000 RPM.

Grim, was that said by actual Mazda representatives because the pic you attached looks to be the most production ready IMO and that has me worried.

That is such a beautiful dash. Or damn good photography.

Originally posted by SPDFRK
Grim, was that said by actual Mazda representatives because the pic you attached looks to be the most production ready IMO and that has me worried.

Yeah, it was Mazda representatives at SevenStock that said the redline was 9000 RPM. The picture I posted a link too looks photoshopped (notice there is no steering wheel, just a steering wheel trunk, plus it looks way too perfect to be an actual photograph).

I hope the production tach isn't all chromed out like that. Looks tacky (tach-y? I kill me! :D). I think the gauges that show an 8k RPM redline are perfect, aside from the mismarked redline.

yes, it's funny how no matter how hard designers try with their show cars, to make them hip, fun, and attractive, that people REALLY DO like the stogier production versions better... maybe because they're usually less abrasive??
'cause i'm with you Bryan, i like the HEAVILY photoshopped dash... sorta like the "ol' skool" 7 tach... sorta...
i like everything other than that RETARDED digital speed o'meter... it'd be IMPOSSIBLE to see it there... ya, i know, on another thread, just to be clear that i'm not in favour of those things...

Originally posted by wakeech
yes, it's funny how no matter how hard designers try with their show cars, to make them hip, fun, and attractive, that people REALLY DO like the stogier production versions better... maybe because they're usually less abrasive?? You've about got it. Concepts are full of flash to help gather attention. People like to see bright color schemes like the yellow RX8, as you can see in this forum. But when you "live" with a color scheme for awhile, bright, harsh colors do tend to get abrasive.

At one of my previous jobs in the early '90s, afore windows was a standard, we set up the menus on people's computers so that they could do their own color schemes. You should have SEEN the outlandish schemes that some of these people started out with. While a handful kept the outlandish schemes, we noticed that the majority changed theirs to something else after a little while. ...i like everything other than that RETARDED digital speed o'meter... it'd be IMPOSSIBLE to see it there... I'd wait until I drove with it in front of me before I make a determination like that. From the picture in this thread (it looks more like they just took the wheel off instead of photoshopped it, to me anyway), it appears that the numbers are about 3/4" high (judging by their relation to the steering wheel stalk). Take some masking tape, draw three letters 3/4" high like that, and stick it somewhere on your current speedo where it won't block the other info, but will still be in the middle of your view. Then drive around with it for a couple of days and see how it works. You'll find that they don't need to be HUGE to be easily visible (and remember, these will be simple, drawn on numbers, not the bright numbers that the real gauges will have.

---jps

I thought the "photoshopped" dash was a legit Mazda promo shot. I also believe that it was simply taken by a company photographer whilst the steering wheel was off... Seems to me pictures of this instrument cluster are staight from the RX-8 CD ROM.

Originally posted by 73JPS
I thought the "photoshopped" dash was a legit Mazda promo shot. I also believe that it was simply taken by a company photographer whilst the steering wheel was off... Seems to me pictures of this instrument cluster are staight from the RX-8 CD ROM.

Look at the odomoter and trip odomoter readings "12345" and "678.9". At the very least those numbers have been photoshopped in. Plus, the lighting and details seem too "perfect" for me... but that's just my opinion. For what its worth, I think all the pictures on the CD have been touched-up too.

Originally posted by Grimace
...Look at the odomoter and trip odomoter readings "12345" and "678.9". At the very least those numbers have been photoshopped in... ????

What, you don't think they could make those numbers come up to show how different numbers would look?

---jps

If you look at all of the pics of the yellow car they all have the same numbers on them even the clock and HVAC settings, I think it is just a faux display setting and none are functional.

I think they could get someone good with electronics to fool around with the dash to make those numbers come up. I think its much easier to simply photoshop them in. Who knows for sure though.
There are other qualities of the dash that suggest it was a heavily photoshopped picture, but they are just my opinion.
For what its worth, that picture of the gauges we are discussing is part of a set released by Mazda in October (see http://www.rotarynews.com/view.php3?article=20011016.html ) and most of the photos from that set has been "gone over" in photoshop or another picture editor. Noteably NOT altered are the photos showing the car in motion (32rx8-ext.jpg, 30rx8-ext2.jpg, 30rx8-ext1.jpg) and the pictures of the car from ASCII24 Auto towards the bottom of the page.

Originally posted by Grimace
I think they could get someone good with electronics to fool around with the dash to make those numbers come up. I think its much easier to simply photoshop them in. Who knows for sure though... If they are going to make the lights illuminate for shows and pictures anyway, do you realize how easy it would be to make them show a certain number instead of zeros? Remember, these aren't the real McCoys in the car that they'd have to "crack" or anything. They just get the right sized LEDs, and basically hook 'em up to a battery or somethin'.

---jps

Originally posted by Sputnik
If they are going to make the lights illuminate for shows and pictures anyway, do you realize how easy it would be to make them show a certain number instead of zeros? Remember, these aren't the real McCoys in the car that they'd have to "crack" or anything. They just get the right sized LEDs, and basically hook 'em up to a battery or somethin'.

---jps

Well, you're probably right.

Anyway, just to get this thread back on track, those pics have been photoshopped, so the tach could be completely different in real life, with a different redline. Those pictures are very old, and since they were released, we've been told numerous times the redline is 9k.

Its Only Starts at 9k MUAHAHAAHAHHAHAHAHA :D :D :D :D