mikeb

Out of all the friends and people at car shops or coffee shops or work---Not one person has made one comment that has been bad about my rx8--Everyone that see's the car loves it ---including me

jham

If you have the Nav screen up, about 3-5 seconds after turning the car off it folds itself down. Then when you turn the car back on again it remembers and pops right back up.

Also, I love the way the Nav inverts the white and black of the streets and open space when your lights are on.

Last night I was out for a late night drive and hit the Nav open button. The screen opened very quitely and all of a sudden there was a map floating there, a very nice effect.

Racer X-8

Some great posts here! I've learned a few things too!

So here's 3 more for ya

The windshield washer jets are tucked away & out of common sight, as opposed to being displayed prominantly on the hood.

The rear glass has no moulding. Sweet.

There is a grab handle for the front passenger, above the door, mounted in a recess pocket, so you might not have even noticed it. What's so sweet about it is, pull it down like you're using it, then release it. It slowly returns upward into its recess by itself! Sweet.

sco

For those of us lucky enough to have climate control... the sunlight sensor on the top of the dash (left hand corner) that automatically increases the air flow and drops the temperature when sunlight hits the dash.

This is especially good for those of us in a northern australian summer... it's the heat from the dash that causes the most problems.

P00Man

i had ZERO idea about that handle!!!

that is sweet, gunna look for it tomorow
________
Political Risk Insurance Dicussion

8_wannabe

The ka-chunk sound the car makes when shifting (you can hear it outside, or inside if there is a wall reflecting the sound back at you.) That together with the shotgun handle parking brake means this car is locked, loaded and ready to fire!

canzoomer

Not mentioned here, so this is MY favourite thing:

The brakes.

Like dropping a 30 ton anchor on a velvet rope.

Last weekend, I was with a group of Mazda owners doing a long mountain highway fun run.

Picture this:
Sunny afternoon, middleof the Rocky Mountains.
Long EMPTY twisty highway.

No cars in sight. Maybe see a car going the other way every 15 minutes.

This is a sports car, let's use it.
I am well enough past my break-in, so time to see what it feels like.

Driving with 3 other cars, swapping lead every 5km or so.

Finally, got tired of following, now confident enough in the cornering, so let's open her up a bit and go for it!

I crest a big hill, and I am looking down at the hill at a straight empty stretch at least 5 miles long.
Can we say "top speed run" ?

Finally get to the hill at the other end of the valley.
Go up the hill, starting to ease off the gas and slowing down.
Over the top of the hill, look down at the speedo: 215kmh

HOLY SH&% - COWS!

The brakes work.

They REALLY WORK!

QuantumTheory08

...I was putting something away in the ash tray (I don't smoke), and I noticed that the underside of the ash tray has a rubber linening to muffle any type of rattle; way cool.:p

I like the 7-way window washer sprayer. Man! I have never seen a car with that many little spray washer dealys before - I think it is neat.

....If you look at the front of the car way down below, there is a HUGE cavity for air to enter the radiator. It is interestingly "tilted". This car is waiting for a Radar absorbing bra - I bet the radar signature would be very small.

I like that if you push the LOCK button once, the lights blink. If you push it again, you get a honk to confirm the lock.

I also like that when you UNLOCK the car, you get two blinks of the lights and if you press the button a second time, the passenger door is unlocked but the lights don't blink any more after the first button push.

:D :D :D

Racer X-8

eccles, "Locking the doors with the inside door-lock **** will not arm the system." (same page 3-24)

I could swear that somehow I found out that the system arms only if the door is open when the inside door-lock **** is pressed. If it is pressed while the door is closed, the system will not arm!

A nice feature if someone wants to stay in the car, but wants to lock it. Some cars arm the system when a person locks it from the inside, but there's no way for that same person to unlock it without triggering the alarm. Embarrasing to say the least!

So, looks like we've just surfaced another "little thing"!

I haven't tested this and so it needs to be verified if I am correct in this.

eccles

That's correct: locking them with the door-lock **** - the small **** above the door release pull - will not arm the alarm. But locking them with the Lock switch on the armrest above the window switches will arm the alarm and you will get a confirmation flash of the indicators when you close the last door.

I have confirmed all three methods by empirical experimentation.

canzoomer

Manual does not explicitly state this, but other cars I own/have owned work this way.
Why else would it take two pushes to make it beep?
Why not just the first push??

Nice thing :
At night, want to lock car and set alarm. Push my button twice, hear beep, know it is locked and alarmed without going to my car.

Who knows? Maybe it only takes one push to set the alarm, but if so why not beep the first time then?

It DOES take two pushes to unlock all the doors..

moto_monkey

I pulled this from another one of my posts. More appropriate here.

Overall, I'm very happy with the car. I really appreciate Mazda keeping the rotary alive and building cars that other companies wouldn't dare. When the RX-7 was available, who would of believed that successor would have been a 4 seater with suicide doors?

Bold. Guts. I like that. We should be thankful.

Since there is plenty about what some folks dislike about the car, l'm going to list what I like:

1. I get in it and it feels right.
2. The cruise control works great! doesn't jerk.
3. Joshua Redman and John Coltrane sound great on the stereo.
4. The steering is fabulous. The car communicates so much through the wheel.
5. It soaks up rough roads reasonably, and works great through the corners. Great compromise set up for real world driving.
6. Those headlights are awesome! but I'm coming from a Miata so a relatively powerful flashlight impresses me....
7. I can take my wife and kidlet for a drive with me.

Some good press that i have read on the RX-8:

"Overwhelmingly, however, the RX-8 is about neutrality. Tipped into a corner, there's more than a stricly sporting degree of body roll, but excellent grip and confident body control to go with it. When that runs out, lazily and controllably, the chassis maintains its neutrality, aided by one of those rare DSC systms that acknowledges options other than 'more understeer'."
CAR, Jan 03

"On a smooth track, the Mazda would be outclassed, but on real-world, opposite camber, slippery and bumpy corners, the RX-8 is an agile and superfast machine. Stability control electronics don't induce the understeer of rival systems, even allowing a small amount of oversteer before reining things in." 4/5 stars
EVO, Jan 03

"But if you believe that the best drivers' cars are not necessarily the quickest, but those that blend dynamics and performance so seamlessly and cohesively that the dirving experience is a powerful singularity rather than a collection of dazzling party tricks, the RX-8 hits the sweet spot with uncanny accuracy." 5/5 stars
EVO, Sep 03

Cheers,

Monkey

Wankeler

This is the first car I've owned where even though the headrest isn't adjustable, it fits me! It feels good! I don't have to assume the "dentist's chair" neck crane to feel the headrest supporting my noggin. The rest of the seat, after about 60 minutes of total adjustment, fits me like a glove... the lumbar support is awesome. Where are my 5 point seatbelts????

I'm thinking of getting fitted sheets for my seat... high thread count of course. I'd have no problem sleeping 8 hours in these seats.

Peace

astrlsrfr

yah. love this. It reminds me of my old first gen '79 RX-7. The way the rear glass hatch looked. Somehow, I don't think this is by accident...

I am also big fan of:
o handling (ok, not such a "little" thing). this car has a way of provding plenty of suspension travel, while remaining ultra tight. Its suspension system is tops.
o tight turning radius
o center consol features
o cruise contol that can be dialed in exactly 1mph at a time
o sick-o 18" wheels - so easy to clean em too. I read somewhere they were considering 19" wheels in development.
o ultra-kool xenon headlamps
o fast windows and sunroof. much better than my 97 prelude
o small, tight and comfy steering wheel
o metal foot pedals. especially cool on bare feet!
o 6th gear. first car I've had with 6 speeds.
o sunglass holder
o homelink system

before reading this thread - I didn't know about:
o the little slit in the sunvisors
o the passenger hideaway handle
o the well-engineered wiring
o speedo working in reverse

nice going 8-wannabe

Fab 8

When you unlock the car, the lights under the wing mirrors light up to illuminate the ground :D

MadJoker

Oufff,

finally got thru reading. Great thread.
here is one that no one mentioned..



The wife (passenger side ) can't see the speedometer, so she can never nag ...... slow down :D


MAdjoker

MaRX8

Hmm, yeah those certianly would of been nice, if they had GIVEN them to us in North America...

P00Man

blahahahahaha thats pretty funny

how about how bright the inside cabin lights are?
or how the sunglasses holder can perfectly fit a cell


i think i might go for a drive...
________
Wellbutrin class action

graphicguy

I even like the way the controls work...everything is very precise with no play in them whether you're turning up/down the HVAC **** or using the turn signal. It's like everything "turnns on/off, snicks, opens/closes" with a lot of controlled precision. I've found this trait in other cars buy they usually say Mercedes or Lexus on them.

eccles

My experience has been just the opposite:

Wife: "Why are we going so slowly?"
Me: "Um, I'm doing 80."
Wife: "Oh, OK."

:D

o_town_racer

How about that spectacular Winning Blue paint! Also my Clicker brand garage door remote control fits perfectly in the ash tray (nobody will ever smoke in my car). The coin cubby hole closes so your loose change doesn't spill all over the car. The fact that the 12 volt outlets turn off when you turn off the car (lets me leave the radar detector and phone charger plugged in all the time....my Corvette had a dead batter after I forgot to turn off it's Passport...DOH!).

zoom44

on a rainy day(we get those here on Oregon) when you open the trunk the water runs off the trunk lid, into this HUGE gutter around the opening down some drain holes at the rear and out under the tailights! no water in the trunk! simply great and thoughtful engineering.

oh and since i don't have sunglasses the holder makes a great place to store my large easily readable highly accurate analog tire pressure gauge :D

and the beautiful Sunlight Silver paint

Elara

On long trips, to keep your drinks cold and forgo the cooler- just set them on the floor in the backseat and set the a/c to floor. Voila! Cold drinks all around!

texian

OK, here's a super obscure one.

With the steering wheel pulled pretty far down (that's where I like it to be when I drive), there is a cool little space between the steering wheel column and the dash board. It's perfect for storing a cellphone handsfree wire, or a cloth to clean your sunglasses.

The space may be there with the wheel up higher, not sure.

Zoom.

RXhusker

The little things like making a run to Sam's Club to pick up some stuff for the office and getting:

1 - 15 roll bag of paper towels
2 - 5000 count boxes of copy paper
2 - 30 packs of 1/2 liter bottles of water

and

10 cases of soda cans!

All that plus myself and a passenger :D

Not bad for a sports car -- lets see you try to get that in a s2k, 350Z, etc., etc.