Ok, first, dont mind what appears to be a trolling nickname I'll admit, I do have some love for the RX-8 despite its shortcomings. I likes its styling, the tight interior, suicide doors, but i never got over its engine. I know, for many of u the rotary is what defines the Rx. For me, I'm like. .to hell with it.. drop a conventional piston engine and I would've bought one!

So here it is, a hypothetical scenario - if you had to buy the Rx8 all over again, would you prefer the 263 hp and 280 lb-ft turbo'd 2.3 engine found in the mazdaspeed 3?
Or the current 9000 rpm 232 hp and 159 lb-ft rotary?

 

Unless they can boost the rotary output....I choose a piston engine.

 

I have to chose the rotary but I'd still like more power

 

Piston...ONLY because of the more HP and TQ.

 

I love too much the sound of a rotary !!!! Sorry, I prefer the currently used engine.

 

LOVE the sound and feel of a Rotary. (even with less hp / tq)

 

so put a turbo on the car. as for an rx with anything but a rotary...it just aint right. I knew when i bought this one that it wasnt the highest horsepower car out there for the dollars....but I can't drive at the peak of this cars performance daily anyways....so why would i want more that I can't use? and since we are talking pure imagination anyway, if i was going to wish for anything it would be the mythical "mazdaspeed" version with FI since that would more than make up for the difference in hp from the 8 to the ms3

 

There is so much more to a car than the HP.
Looks, handling and price.
And rear seats.....

 

Yeah, I love everything about my rotary.

 

I said rotary, but if my rotary blows before I'm done paying for it, I might change my mind, but for now ROTARY.
________
Depakote attorney

 

The traditional Rotary engine currently used

 

Nice poll. I'd stick with the rotary though...I love the sound and the power is plenty for what I need. I don't street race, but I like to take the twisties faster than I should. More low end torque would be nifty, but I have no regrets on my purchase.

 

though alot of people here complain about the low power, its really more about what the engine is. Thought i've been saying for awhile that a rear drive turbo 4 (aka silvia type car) what be awesome, i don't know if i'd take one over what I have now.

 

I bought it for the rotary.

 

i like spinning doriotos.

plus, you can alwas turbo the rotary

 

i bought this car because of the rotary engine.

also, why would I want to go down to 260 hp?

 

Pistons............lol.

 

What you fail to realize is that the RX8 wouldn't be an RX-8 without its rotary engine, as a piston engine wouldn't be small and compact enough—the Renesis is barely 13" tall—to fit in the space the Renesis occupies. The remarkable handling—and especially "feel" of the 8—is no accident. It's a direct function of the engine's small size, weight and near mid-engine placement.

You seem to be under the impression that the rotary engine was merely an alternative that could just as easily have been a piston engine. No! Replacing the rotary with a piston engine wouldn't just change power and smoothness—it would dramatically alter the unique and wonderful "feel" and balance of the car—the one thing we "get" by having a small, light, not-very-torquey, not-very-powerful rotary engine instead of a big, heavy reciprocating one. You'd be giving up the very thing that every auto journalist and car magazine gushes about after driving an 8.

 

the car is fast enough for me.

 

I too bought it because of the Rotary Engine.

Without the compact and lightweight characteristics of this engine, the 8 would not handle the way it does.

Plop an piston engine into the 8 and it may be faster in a straight line, but with a detriment to the handling and styling.

 

RX= Rotary eXperimental

That's what it stands for. That's what the lineage of name means. If we all chip in a few bucks each, will you leave?

 

Yep, with a piston engine, it would probably be an MX8.

 

umm... rotary engine of course. if i wanted a piston engine, i would've gotten a bmw z4 or something...

 

I bought it for the Rotary Engine, not for a piston engine.
So if it had a piston engine I would not have bought it and I would not be answering this silly question.

 

if I want a piston engin, I buy a mazdaspeed 6.