Well, I dont know if my opinion will be valued here considering im a 350z owner, but I'll give it anyway.....First of all, when I saw the rx-8 at the dealership, I was floored at how beautiful the interior of the car was. It's leaps and bounds over my car. I was so taken with the car that I actually went to the dealership 2 days in a row to see it. It's a truly lovely design, from the 18 inch wheels to the rotary motif displayed throughout the car, I absolutely loved it. BUT, then I drove it. The one and only aspect of the car that I was truly dissappointed with was the performance. Now, I'm not flaming so please be patient. My OPINION is, I thought the springs were too soft for a sports car, and it did not have the acceleration to back up the wonderful design of the car. It seemed to me from the moment I hit the accelerator that the car didn't pull quite enough. That for me made all the difference, and now that Mazda has skimmped on the horsepower rating, I no longer view the car as a possible threat in the performance category. Although the car is quite beautiful, we all know that horsepower sells, thats why i'm a 350z owner. Initially, I thought the vehicles price was steep, but I accepted it due to quality of the interior, but now that the horsepower has been decreased, i'm not as willing to accept the price. Nonetheless, with this whole horsepower issue, the package is just not as attractive as it once was. Again, this is just my opinion and NOT a personal attack

thanks for the honest opinion.

honestly, i'll still buy the car even though its performance may "suck" ;)

good adjective. It does "suck", but the car is cute.

One word KIDS

You're right, nobody cares about your opinion.

Think about it first... if we went over to the 350Z forum and said "I don't mean this as a bad thing, really...." then proceeded to list how the car is cheap interior and understeers like a FWD car, then you can imagine the welcome would not be warm either.

Let me say this though... a car may be softly sprung and still hold corners better than a 'tightly sprung' 350Z. Case in point is BMW. The marvel is in suspension design that offers a perfect harmony of ride quality and roadholding. The RX-8 has achieved this balance well which is why the majority of us have bought it.

Horsepower *does* sell and you definately got the right car if you're concerned with that. Performance means different things to different people and frankly, to me it's not all about the straight line speed. I drove the 350Z and was inspired by its power but frankly... I won't use it daily and the fact the car has a strong tendency to bite down on the front end when taking a hairpin... takes a lot of the fun of the vehicle out of it for me. Its cheap interior and lack of two seats was also a minus for me but hey... that's just me.

In the end you buy the 'performance' car that matches YOUR personal views. For you to come here and tell us the RX-8 lacks in 'performance' is a very opinionated thing because the performance WE are looking for (handling, telepathy in driving, precision and feel) isn't necessarily what YOU are looking for (straight line power and uhm...?). So these threads that have continued to pop up should really stop... we've heard it all a thousand times and frankly I'm glad you can do most of your comments in a non condescending or trollish manner (the types of posts I would engage in debate), because so many 350Z and G35C owners haven't the courtesy to engage in friendly debate and come here merely to sell their own cars (ie, Skyline Maniac et al).

I'm glad you haven't come to do that, but these posts as I said, are really pointless. We've heard it all, most of us have *driven* the 350Z and found it lacking in 'performance' (to our own needs), and we've made up our minds in getting the RX-8. A lot of people that return the car (and not all of them, I realize) are those that wanted to drive a magazine and since the numbers are not up there with the competition any longer, they feel the need to return the car. Those are the people that don't know performance if it smacked them in the head, and the people that will most likely appeal to your post.

Anyhoo... welcome to the board, and I hope to engage you in thorough debate! Let's keep it clean before it escalates to levels of idiocy on my part and others :P

Cheers!

Originally posted by Hercules
You're right, nobody cares about your opinion.

Why are you such a fvcking jackass? This guy is NOTHING like that other Z owner, Blue350Z or whatever his name was and you've got to launch right into being a prick for no reason.

Originally posted by 350zowner
good adjective. It does "suck", but the car is cute.

Please don't call the car cute.. j/k :D

Herc, you are way out of line and the "level of idiocy" you describe has already been breached by yourself. Things are stressed out for pre-owners enough faced with a tuff decision, and 350Zowner came here to offer a sincere opinion and not to rub it in. Your reply with personal flame-baiting once again(read it again if you disagree). Next occurrence you are perma-banned, period. I'm doing it publicly because you obviously cant take the hint in PM's over continuous past transgressions when I and others trusted you in the forum. PM me if you care to discuss again, but it will be the last time I assure you. And we have noticed that your original post has been edited.

Sorry peoples and sorry to lock your thread, 350zowner.
:(