Right. Just spoken to Mazda Marketing (Number removed - was supplied by someone in Cust relations - but apparently a DDI.. Apologies to Mazda UK).

1. Production is "on track". Not on boats I ask? No, European production started about on time, of which the UK is part. On boat "shortly".

2. 120 will be delaer demos first in late October.

3. Some customer cars may trickle through in very late October.

4. Mine is confirmed November. Letters coming out late this week/ early next week. Will as I understand it only say Month. Dont think anyones will be saying October. Another month before you get a more specific date.

5. I quizzed her about power, and she said UK was still 231PS.

:-(

:(

Thnaks for the update.

One thing that bothers me, I am sure one of Mazda's communications (through MarkW) insist that pre-order customers would have their cars before any dealers got demos?

Also, if the dealers are getting cars in late October, why will we possibly have to wait until November, surely they are on the same boat?

The longer I wait, the more I am convinced I will see my new child before this car (baby is due in early January)

Chris :mad: :mad:

Hmmm..

Indeed. Mark made the same comment to me. I get the impression he has been told not to speak to anyone. He doesnt answer his mobile, or emails anymore.

He assured me all cars would be delivered in September when I last spoke to him.

If the 3.2 TT was cheaper, or there was anything else I was remotely interested in I'd have bu**ered off by now.

I will make a final decision when I test drive on the 12th. Mazda UK just blame Mazda Japan. As far as I am concerned they are one company, and the handling of this has been a farce.

I hope you are listening Mazda.

Personaly I'm thinking of test driving a golf R32 or CupraR.

I know what I'm getting with them, and when.

Although a 2nd hand XKR might be fun too...

My problem is that I took me so long to decide on the RX-8 that I cannot think about anything else.

I too have toyed with the idea of a R32 or Cupra R or 147 GTA but they have fleeting thoughts.

I hope my faith is justified and Mazda do pull their collective fingers out and provide me with the car I ordered (in March) before too long.

Chris :mad: :mad:

Originally posted by c170673
My problem is that I took me so long to decide on the RX-8 that I cannot think about anything else.

I too have toyed with the idea of a R32 or Cupra R or 147 GTA but they have fleeting thoughts.

I hope my faith is justified and Mazda do pull their collective fingers out and provide me with the car I ordered (in March) before too long.

Me too realy, if any of the above were RWD I'd probably have driven them already.

Originally posted by Edo
2. 120 will be delaer demos first in late October.

Good. With all the confusion about power outputs I definitely want to drive a production vehicle (other than mine which will not be run in) before I commit to taking delivery.

Originally posted by ChrisW

Good. With all the confusion about power outputs I definitely want to drive a production vehicle (other than mine which will not be run in) before I commit to taking delivery.

me too.

Read the Top Gear review last night, and one part woried me greatly - 'Felt gutless above 6000rpm'

Even if that demo car isnt run in I'm bouncing it off the limiter just to find out.

Originally posted by RobDickinson


Me too realy, if any of the above were RWD I'd probably have driven them already.

Exactly. There is no way I want this sort of power in a front wheel drive car.

For RWD it is the usual suspects, BMW, S2000 etc. But lets not revisit all that yet again.

I have a question.

Do we know whether the pre-production cars that we (and the press) have been driving are the 228bhp or 237bhp car?
I suspect that they have the EURO3 chip as these cars existed before Mazda told us about the power drop.
Does that matter to anyone ???

UK members check out article about rx8 in september 03 issue of UK CAR magazine PAGES 109 and pages 158 , journalist felt car was underpowered ???

I'm OK with the 231ps car. Any further drop will worry me significantly though.


With the poor fuel consumption, and relativly heavy car any less HP and just about any hot hatch will be laughing at us.

I know someone with a Saxo VTR + supercharger that does 200bhp+, anything less than 231ps will mean we have to watch Civicbreadvan typeR's pull away - and god forbid, ST170 focuses...

UK CAR magazine quoted 228 bhp, see my thread in australia forum as it has been coviniently removed by a moderator in the US forum .
SO MUCH FOR FREEDOM OF SPEECH .

Originally posted by jimbobjoe
I have a question.

Do we know whether the pre-production cars that we (and the press) have been driving are the 228bhp or 237bhp car?
I suspect that they have the EURO3 chip as these cars existed before Mazda told us about the power drop.
Does that matter to anyone ???
I don't think these cars have been around that long, and we have known about the power drop for several months now. Anyway, it would only take minutes to reprogram the ECU's to EURO 4 spec. All the tests say the cars are (nominally) 231 PS.

I'M BLOODY LIVID.

Sorry, but after the upbeat nature of last week, my blood is boiling

where the bloody picture we were promised in August
wheres my delivery date (Not month?)

peed off!

Pi$$ed off again!!

Waiting since January, my deposit was paid over in bloody January!! COME ON MAZDA, IS THIS REASONABLE????

If I don't get my car in October, A letter to the MD of MADZA UK will be flying off my computer as it's getting beyond a joke.

I find it incomprehensible that MAZDA UK don't know what's going on at this late stage.

IF YOU'RE READING MAZDA UK, AND WE KNOW YOU ARE, PLEASE EMAIL MARKW AND GIVE US SOME FIRM NEWS.........

Cheers
OILMAN

I don't see thepoint of giving a delivery month only when they might not stick to it - i.e saying it will be November but then delivering in late October. It would be a nice surprise but you can't organise anything (like selling your current car) based on a month only.

Everything here is old news as far as I'm concerned so it's as we were.

Originally posted by AndyPearce
I don't see thepoint of giving a delivery month only when they might not stick to it - i.e saying it will be November but then delivering in late October. It would be a nice surprise but you can't organise anything (like selling your current car) based on a month only.

Exactly. If they thought they "might" be able to get the car to me in late October, but could definately get it to me by the first week of November I'd rather they said you *will* get your car on the 7th of November and stick to that rather than be given a speculative date where I might get lucky and get it a matter of days earlier.
I'd rather wait one week longer and have everything organised than have the (pleasant) surprise of it just turning up and having to do everything on the spot.

Originally posted by c170673
Thnaks for the update.

One thing that bothers me, I am sure one of Mazda's communications (through MarkW) insist that pre-order customers would have their cars before any dealers got demos?

Chris :mad: :mad:

Chris, I think you may have been right originally, but the most recent update I had and posted here stated that the dealers would be getting their cars first now in October. A few customer cars would appear late October, with remained of first batch November.

Mazda have gone a bit quiet in the last couple of weeks and not answered any of my questions via email.

Originally posted by Edo
Indeed. Mark made the same comment to me. I get the impression he has been told not to speak to anyone. He doesnt answer his mobile, or emails anymore.
I hope you are listening Mazda.

Edo, Which Mark is this? Not me I presume :)

I dont have evidence either way, but I beleive that no customer cars are on the boat at the moment :( . If they were, why would good news be kept from us??




Mark

No sorry, the Mazda Customer relations Mark....

PS - phone number that I has been given by someone at Mazda UK someone's direct number. Moved at Mazda's request..

spoke to some dizzy ignorant twit of a female yesterday who said

"everyone will get there cars in october"


asked has it left japan yet? answer dont know

Bloody useless.

Im beginning to loose faith in all of this. Just about to cough up 500 quid to put my existing car through a service because of these incompetent f%$kwits.

If anyone actually know anything (including rubbish from the 'helpline' please put it here.

http://www.rx8club.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9805

4 gods sake. The people on the RX8 line are telling customers different thiings to the marketing people...

Pointless speculating any more. Perhaps they are on their way, and they are going to say Nov - but surprise us with October?
Perhaps they havent a clue? More likley.

Originally posted by cw007
Im beginning to loose faith in all of this. Just about to cough up 500 quid to put my existing car through a service because of these incompetent f%$kwits.

My current car needs a servie, needs break pads etc too.

So how long do I leave it mazda?

Same deal here.
My car will need a service and tyres in the next month.(which I obviously do NOT want to spend).

I am going to sell it anyway and go see my dealer. Explain that my car had to go and I need a car until the RX8 is delivered.
As far as I am concerned this is directly becasue of Mazdas broken delivery promises (I ordered mine in January and was told July!)
I will buy anything in his stock, on the condition that I can trade it in against the RX8 for minimal loss. (I accept a small charge of say £100 per 1000 miles I put on it may be applicable).

If this is refused , I will have involve Mazda UK I suppose. I dont think I am being unreasonable here. Do you ?

M.

Originally posted by morganrogers
Same deal here.
My car will need a service and tyres in the next month.(which I obviously do NOT want to spend).

I am going to sell it anyway and go see my dealer. Explain that my car had to go and I need a car until the RX8 is delivered.
As far as I am concerned this is directly becasue of Mazdas broken delivery promises (I ordered mine in January and was told July!)
I will buy anything in his stock, on the condition that I can trade it in against the RX8 for minimal loss. (I accept a small charge of say £100 per 1000 miles I put on it may be applicable).

If this is refused , I will have involve Mazda UK I suppose. I dont think I am being unreasonable here. Do you ?

M.

I think it's perfectly reasonable but unlikely to happen. Please let us know how you get on as I was thinking of the same thing. I may end up selling mine and buying a banger with a couple of months tax left on it to get me through. Unfortuntely my 138 miles a day commute dictates that I can't take too many risks on reliability.

Just had to get the MX-6 through it's MOT.

New brake disks front and rear new rear pads, and to top it all the timing belt tensioner failed just as I was pulling in to the garage to get the work done. Around 450 quid all told with labour, Thank god it's a non interference engine otherwise would have been looking at a few grand (around what the car is worth).
:(

Hope mazda give me a good deal on the trade in (my deposit) as they know how well the car has been looked after as they have done most of the work on it themselves.

Either that or some consideration towards accessories or such as this is mony that would have been spent on the RX-8.

Originally posted by jimbobjoe


Exactly. There is no way I want this sort of power in a front wheel drive car.

For RWD it is the usual suspects, BMW, S2000 etc. But lets not revisit all that yet again.



The R32 isn't front drive, its 4WD, and the handling for a hatchback is superb, but I know where your coming from.

If I could put the 3.2 engine in a sports car then that would be my choice. And before anyone says the TT 3.2, I did consider it but its still based on my Golf which is fairly old (chassis wise) and for the price I'd rather have another Porsche.

My dealer offered to "bridge" my car for a month if need be (which was very nice of him, it's not his fault).

Trouble is............. How long do I have to wait for my RX8??

COME ON MAZDA, GIVE US A SIGN!!!

Cheers
Oilman

I feel almost adulterous, I went to see a man about a 147 GTA yesterday. I have a test drive booked for Saturday.

I am taking the wife with me as a voice of reason, otherwise I will be be sorely tempted (due to the 6 week delivery and actually having 250bhp)

Chris

Originally posted by c170673
I am taking the wife with me as a voice of reason, otherwise I will be be sorely tempted (due to the 6 week delivery and actually having 250bhp)


But, to the front wheels man, the FRONT WHEELS!

close call on an alfa V6 or renasis tho...

Originally posted by c170673
I feel almost adulterous, I went to see a man about a 147 GTA yesterday. I have a test drive booked for Saturday.

I am taking the wife with me as a voice of reason, otherwise I will be be sorely tempted (due to the 6 week delivery and actually having 250bhp)

Chris

Remember residuals on the 147 are not looking good as with most Alfas.
If you don't want to be too temped take some earplugs as the engine supposed to be the best soundtrack this side of a Ferrari F355.

I made the salesman start it for me yesterday, it was trouser tremblingly good.

(No no, I must be patient - My wife insists the RX-8 is much sexier and for once she is right)

Chris

Originally posted by morganrogers
Same deal here.
My car will need a service and tyres in the next month.(which I obviously do NOT want to spend).

I am going to sell it anyway and go see my dealer. Explain that my car had to go and I need a car until the RX8 is delivered.
As far as I am concerned this is directly becasue of Mazdas broken delivery promises (I ordered mine in January and was told July!)
I will buy anything in his stock, on the condition that I can trade it in against the RX8 for minimal loss. (I accept a small charge of say £100 per 1000 miles I put on it may be applicable).

If this is refused , I will have involve Mazda UK I suppose. I dont think I am being unreasonable here. Do you ?

M.

I think you may struggle with this but good luck to ya, and I'd be interested to hear how you get on. After all the only card you have is to cancel/walk away, and they probably would be quite happy to have an extra RX8 to sell :(

Because of the situation I have spent in the last month:

4 new Goodyear F1's £452
20,000 mile service £165
6 months tax £88

I also only have 2500 miles left in my brake pads (about 2 months max for me) and they will need replacing at £150ish.

This is £855 and my car is worth no more for it, in fact its probably worth less due to more mileage and depreciation.

I hope I get offered a decent price for my car when the time comes, or that could be another stumbling block.....

Originally posted by MarkW

Because of the situation I have spent in the last month:

6 months tax £88



D'oh , D'oh and double D'oh - got new tax at the end of last month and got 12 months on autopilot....:(

Originally posted by AndyPearce


D'oh , D'oh and double D'oh - got new tax at the end of last month and got 12 months on autopilot....:(


You can get a refund for unused months.

Originally posted by RobDickinson



You can get a refund for unused months.

I know that I could but it will be a lot harder to sell it privately without tax.:(

I am told launch date late October.

Interestingly but due to their fcuk up, re no moonroof orders to be taken for clients over 6', they will lend me a car free for additional delay my changed order will result in.

Same arguement could be made for August delay.

The 147 GTA looks and sounds the bollocks and really fun to drive but and BIG bloody but, you deal with Alpha dealerships, bad service history and tumbling 2nd hand values. Also, not that well rated recently.

rael

Isn't the 147 GTA one of the few cars with worse mpg figures than the RX-8? Mind you, at least you get the performance to go with it.

Usually if i purchase a new car and it arrives late october or november i get the car registered in the following year , why have a 2003 car registered for 2 months only .Id want a 2004 regristration , when it comes to resale you loose approximately$5000 for 2 months being a 2003 car as opposed to 2004 .

By some coincidence, I too started browsing the Alfa website looking at the GTA. My first 2 cars were Alfas so its in the blood but the '80's cars were made out of aspirin and I got my fingers burned. I am still tempted though - plus points, nice looks, glorious engine, goes like a dragster. Bad points - MPG not much better than a rotary, still dubious build quality and residuals, and most importantly - terminal understeer. All the reviews I have read say that this car doesnt do corners. What puts me off is that the RX-8 sounds like a brilliant drivers car, so depends what your priorities are. I will wait a bit longer, because steering / handing / cornering is the selling point and the GTA cannot match it in that department.
JH