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i cant find anything i really want. nothing seems to be the size of my 8 with the ease of the half doors, with the amount of trunk space i have, that fits as well and drives as well. hell several cars i tried recently were bigger than the 8 with smaller back seat room and smaller trunk space. how do you design that? where does the space go?
That's the problem...nothing in the current market floats my boat. The closest "upgrade" to the RX-8 would probably be the Cayman and I'm not sure I want to shell out that kind of money now only to get rid of it in a few years. The Z is stale, and the BRZ is underpowered so that doesn't leave much else. The only possible other compromise might be the WRX but I have a hard time getting over the ugly with that one.
The new 2017 Cayman will be released soon, sporting a turbo flat 4, base with 300 hp, and S with 350 hp, just like the new 718 Boxster that was just released.
Or, you can pick up a slightly used Cayman for a decent discount off MSRP, and you won't be "wasting" so much money when you "get rid of it".
That's the great thing about Porsches.
You never really do either one, unless you really just aren't a Porsche person.
The answer is 2 wheels. Something fun and different that you wont regret buying if a new RX comes out soon-ish
My wife is starting to bug me about getting her a new bike.
As of last night, she wants a Ducati Monster 821.
Apparently an Abarth and a Cayman aren't enough, it seems.
She can't fit on my 848, since her legs aren't even remotely close to touching either of her toes when the bike is upright.
hell several cars i tried recently were bigger than the 8 with smaller back seat room and smaller trunk space. how do you design that? where does the space go?
Crash structure.
Ever-tighter government-mandated crash standards are dictating the size and shape of modern cars. More of the vehicle structure has to be dedicated to withstanding things like the small-offset collision test. It's why A-pillars are now thick as a telephone pole. It's why the Charger, Challenger, and Camaro all look like overweight versions of the originals. (And are overweight!) Pedestrian safety laws dictate the nose profile of every new car looks basically the same.
Not that this is a bad thing. It's nice to be able to walk away from horrifying wrecks. But it is damaging the options for style and creativity in automobile designs.
Ever-tighter government-mandated crash standards are dictating the size and shape of modern cars. More of the vehicle structure has to be dedicated to withstanding things like the small-offset collision test. It's why A-pillars are now thick as a telephone pole. It's why the Charger, Challenger, and Camaro all look like overweight versions of the originals. (And are overweight!) Pedestrian safety laws dictate the nose profile of every new car looks basically the same.
Not that this is a bad thing. It's nice to be able to walk away from horrifying wrecks. But it is damaging the options for style and creativity in automobile designs.
I still don't understand how this works. If the modern muscle cars need to be overweight pigs to adhere to safety standards, how can cars like the MX-5, Alfa Romeo 4C, and anything from Lotus even exist at about half the weight?
I still don't understand how this works. If the modern muscle cars need to be overweight pigs to adhere to safety standards, how can cars like the MX-5, Alfa Romeo 4C, and anything from Lotus even exist at about half the weight?
I don't think Wanklebolt's reasoning is correct. It's correct for a lot of the looks and design cues, but not the weight from what I see.
I believe that the two biggest reasons for weight in modern American Muscle are:
1) because they literally are trying to make it look imposing. It requires more metal/structure/etc... to do this.
2) Because of the horsepower wars. Making more power requires more weight to be added everywhere. Bigger brakes, thicker axles, bigger driveshaft, beefier transmission, more coolant system hardware, more oil system hardware. And of course more technology to try to keep people from killing themselves.
European weight gets added for the same #2 reason, but instead of physical presence, it's luxury stuff that adds the weight. Well, that and over-engineering.
Anyone discarding the horsepower war, and discarding the upsizing, will be able to make a car that is still very light. That's how the MX-5 and similar lightweight cars exist.
An AC and Radio is not safety equipment (but all the parts are heavy for any AC, there is about 150 lbs, nor is a adjustable passenger seat (add 12 lbs for a sliding seat runner).
Side Curtain air bags yes (50 lbs max), and 'thicker' carbon fibre structure (find that hard to believe still, but CF is very lightweight), but it is not 342 lb's (155 kgs) worth of 'safety equipment/standards'.
But hey lets not split hairs, after all what a motoring journalist says must be true, and they never exaggerate the facts with churnalism.
An AC and Radio is not safety equipment (but all the parts are heavy for any AC, there is about 150 lbs, nor is a adjustable passenger seat (add 12 lbs for a sliding seat runner).
Side Curtain air bags yes (50 lbs max), and 'thicker' carbon fibre structure (find that hard to believe still, but CF is very lightweight), but it is not 342 lb's (155 kgs) worth of 'safety equipment/standards'.
But hey lets not split hairs, after all what a motoring journalist says must be true, and they never exaggerate the facts with churnalism.
It's heavier due to the loop holes and negotiating they did with the EU. They basically stripped it down and limited it to 1,000 units. I'd be willing to bet that the next gen will much more similar to the US spec in terms in weight as they won't get a pass from the EU again...not to mention they seem to be having some crash test issues lately.
Back to the RX-?...does anyone have any info on what Mazda is going to release in Geneva? I don't get how Mazda manages to keep things so tight lipped in todays connected world of Pinstragram, FaceChat and these Snaptweet gizmos.
IMO, they keep things tight-lipped by not having very much to leak. That or they threaten their employee's pets.
Honestly, though, my guess is that most of what is reported as a "leak" from other manufacturers is deliberately done by the manufacturer and I don't Mazda plays that game as often as others.
I'm sure there is an explicit policy that if you leak you're canned. Not sure about the petricide.
I also think Mazda has a higher-than-average esprit de corps, being a small manufacturer with a singular and sharply-defined raison d'etre. (Two French expressions in 1 sentence. W@@T!) They are "the little car company that could". So in addition to not having much to leak, I think it's a point of pride amongst the employees that they can keep what little there is to leak from leaking.
I don't think Wanklebolt's reasoning is correct. It's correct for a lot of the looks and design cues, but not the weight from what I see.
I believe that the two biggest reasons for weight in modern American Muscle are:
1) because they literally are trying to make it look imposing. It requires more metal/structure/etc... to do this.
i had a ride in a 2013 Camaro yesterday, and it was actually pretty well done, IMO, it looks right, makes the right noises, and the interior was much better than normal GM, which isn't saying much, but all in all it seems like a pretty good package.
i did spend some time just looking at it, and it is ENORMOUS. on the outside. inside its about like an Rx8.
it is almost like they took a RWD sedan, and just put a camaro body over the top of it, which i think in fact what they did.
the challenger, which i haven't had a ride in, is a similar story, it is basically a mid 90's Mercedes E class, with a big v8 and a muscle car body.
so its not more structure to make it look imposing, its imposing because its like a car with a flashier car on top of it.
I really hope the new rotary has a turbo and includes a water injection system like the BMW m4. Mazda can kill countless birds with one stone.
Are you reading this Mazda?
It would be a good idea, but Mazda tends to not care what anyone else thinks, which I guess can be good and bad. They've already pretty much told those of us who want high performance to buy from another brand anyway.
With the RX-VISION @ Geneva Motor Show, I have noticed a bit of chatter lately that Mazda "may be" making a major announcement on it?, I can not confirm from my source yet.
Prior to the annual Geneva Motor Show, there have been many rumours linking Mazda to make a huge announcement about their rotary developments at the event. Well, Geneva is happening as we speak and all we saw was Mazda unveiling the RX-Vision Concept all over again.
Mazda also revealed the exact same things about the RX-Vision like how they are working on a solution to every problem with the rotary engine. Mazda wants the rotary setup to be more reliable, economical and powerful at the same time.
For us, we really hope to see Mazda succeed with their rotary vision as it will only lead to the development of the next RX car. We are just disappointed that we didn’t get to learn anything significantly new about the RX-Vision concept.
I went to the Geneva motor show last saturday, and one of my main goals was to see the Rx-vision for myself .
The car was behind a row of barriers and it was closed and shut off, so no good chance of seeing the interior unfortunately .
I did take a lot of photos, but I'm not a great photographer and most of these are not that interesting if you've already seen the countless photos taken by magazines, so I don't think it's necessary to post all of the photos I took.
But there's one that may be significant:
There's clearly a radiator behind that grille. I don't know whether it's a fake or a real radiator, or whether it's connected to something that needs cooling (ehr... an engine perhaps? ). But why put a radiator there if it's not doing something? It's so hidden behind the front grille that it cannot be an aesthetic item.
All of this to say that PERHAPS there's a working rotary engine under that infinite hood.
After all, if the Taiki was a working car, why can't the Rx-vision be a working car as well?
02-09-2016, 08:43 PM
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). But why put a radiator there if it's not doing something? It's so hidden behind the front grille that it cannot be an aesthetic item.
