MadRonin

Last night I was driving home from work, cruising along in lighter-than-normal traffic, when this fuckstick in a Pontiac Sunbird comes onto the highway from an on ramp and cuts me off! I generally don't speed around this on-ramp because it usually is backed up, but since it was light traffic, I was moving at around 65mph in the far left lane. This ***** not only cut me off, they came across two nearly clear lanes at around 25mph and then straddled my lane and the middle one. With no shoulder to get onto, and a VW Jetta on my right, rear corner, I hit the brakes. The 8 slowed from 65 to 20 mph in the blink of an eye. Thankfully no one was close behind me because I doubt anyone else, not in an 8, could have stopped in time to not rear end me.

This car is beautiful. After two months I find myself enjoying it more and more. Hopefully I don't have to hit my brakes that hard ever again, but if I do, at least I know the 8 is up to the task.

SiMplyBluE

I love the handling, yesterday in heavy traffic following a car at 65. He suddenly swerved a bit to the left and good thing I was paying attention else I would've had one of those huge orange cylindrical cones hit my 8! Quick slight jerk to the left and back to the right and I was back on track! So responsive its eerie.....

Spin9k

Agreed. Last week I was driving around a perimeter road of a mall. This lady is a SUV had stopped at an intersecting point coming into the mall and was looking directly at me out her driver's side windows as I approached.

I got about 100 ft from her point at about 30mph, and she pulled slooooowly directly out in front of me, all the time looking directly at me!! WTF. I slammed the brakes, hit the horn, and she **still** just stared at me like some dumb cluck!! I stopped dead short, good thing I was in my 8!

Then merrily on her way. Brain dead from the toenails up.

RobDickinson

We do a brake test routine in the UK on the free pro-drive track day.

Oh boy - the brakes!

120-0mph ABS all the way - no hands on the wheels ! Wooohoooooooooo

MadRonin

That's something I noticed when I hit the brakes, the pedal did not pulsate like other ABS systems do. Now, the only car I have for reference is my Integra, and when the ABS came on in that car, you knew it.

Anyone else not have the ABS pulse?

Imp

Hey! There's are people that pay money to dodge cones! Where can I get in on some of this free action? Hook a brutha up! :D

dknv

We Will have to watch out for drivers behind us, that's for sure. I've been rear-ended not so long ago (that's how I came about getting the RX-8), and I had another recent experience where I watched a traffic jam turn into a 5 car pileup. A WRX driver got on their brakes and stopped in time, only to be run into by a Sentra who couldn't stop in time.

fietguy

ahh...the awesome braking of the 8...

in my opinion one of the most underrated aspects of this car...

look at the front rotors of this car....they are huge!!!

Nubo

This is one of the reasons I disagree with posters who advise the young'uns to stay away from this car because it could get them in trouble. Outweighed by its ability to keep you OUT of trouble, I think, as long as the winter/summer tire issue is dealt with.

Senseny

A squirrel who is still alive in my neighborhood owes a big debt of gratitude to my 8's brakes.
As far as the ABS is concerned, the system is there and your brake pedal will pulsate, but you have got to really jam them up to get the response. Same in my 7. The WRX's ABS is evident with any braking harder than moderate and in almost any wet conditions. This is truly a drivers car, and a non-intrusive ABS system is a great feature IMO.

Hard 8

The other day, I was driving my daughter somewhere and she asked me whether my car could stop instantly. I explained some basic physics to her; then said that, even though no car could stop instantly, the RX-8 stops shorter than virtually any production car in the world. I offered to show her how powerful the brakes were and she accepted.

We came to a wide, quiet street surrounded by vacant lots, and I told her to get her seatbelt nice and snug. Then, from about 35 MPH I firewalled the brake pedal with no mercy. Jaysus! We stopped so hard I think it gave us both big bruises from the seat belts. I've driven a lot of cars and done a fair amount of track driving, but I swear that was the hardest I have ever stopped in anything. This car flat-out rocks.

crumpmd

Awesome brakes. In the rain even. The ABS/DSC works great. I locked it up (or tried to) in the rain the other day to avoid a brain dead driver. I was able to slow quickly and maintain directional control the whole time. I have the stock Potenza tires too.

RenoIV

The brakes are incredible.
Here's a quote from an AutoWeek article in the 5-24 issue.

And in stopping power, the RX-8’s 111 feet from 60 mph to 0 equals numbers posted by a Porsche 911.

here's the link if you want to check it out


http://www.autoweek.com/search/searc...47004&record=1

w2aew

My point about the young'uns is not that this car might get them into trouble - but rather that they might get themselves into trouble by later driving an "ordinary" car and asking it to do something it can't, that the 8 does with ease.

Zoom2X

I find myself re-learning this when not driving my 8, the old Toyota just doesn't stop the same

Tatsuki

I drive for a living. I've been a courier for 10 years and have had to dodge all manner of obsticles. The most fun however was a mattress dropped on the road 30 feet in front of me at about 70 miles and hour. I dodged that bad boy in a Honda CRX. Never thought anything was more agile.

I was wrong, would you believe the same damd thing happened to me again 2 weeks after I bought my 8?!!

Whipped around the thing without even having to hit the brakes.

Awesome Car. Who needs power and speed, it's agility that matters.