RX2 Sedan

Hi,

from Auckland, NZ. Just found this forum while checking out some details on the RX8.

I see that there are a lot of Aussies here, do you have the 8 released already over there?

I think it's not till October / November here.

Alby

Maestro

3 kiwi's in total that I have found :D

Including me

Maestro

RX-8 is release officially 30th August.

However I do have :D

Come to North Harbour Mazda

Ask for Rian

I'll show you one :D

RX8U

from new zealand, my old man owns an rx8, i own a series 1 rx7, just checking this site out, any kiwis had problems with flooding?

Dez

Tenakoto RX2 Sedan..

Or should that be:

Tenakoto, tenakoto, tenakoto, na hari mai! Kiora, te teke pa nui ho ne takananua moui te mau mai..

Hee hee.. oh the humanity of it all

I've been thinking of driving my little 8 onto a ship that leaves Sydney and gets to Wellington a day or so later where you can drive it off, and with the cover of a Carnet ( it's like a visa for cars ) doing a round trip of the South Island..

Prolly ferry accross to Picton, turn left to Kaikura for some cheap lobster, cruise that freak of nature coastal road flat out to christchurch [ via the hot spings at Hamna for a few hours ], then down past the big rocks to Queenstown, a sharp right over to Mout Cook and the Franz Joseph glacier, up through Westport, Greymouth [ don't forget to take a quick run out to the coast there to see the little fury penguins ( 'lo tux ) what prolly won't be there for ever ], and an emergency stop for a pub lunch at the Royal just north of Greymouth - it's famous for it - and through to Nelson, a hard left out though to Takaka for that mind blowing drive over the moutain in the middle at hairy mind blowing speed up and down, accross to the far west coast for a farm stay at Jakes place [ he's the wild man that will shoot at you if you don't bring cold beers ] - then back to Nelson, prolly drive south a little again through Wakefield, to Murcheson and then inland to the lakes Rotoiti and so, round further freaks of nature in the form of some of the worlds best moutain roads and logging zones.. back through Nelson, north back to Picton via senic route through the sounds, and the ferry back to Wellington, back on the boat and to Sydney.. and get sedated to make the come down easier!

I'll do the North Island on another trip.

That would be a scream up the west coast through to Palmeston North, drive like a wild monkey through those fantastic country roads out the northern side there, up througth to Taupo, and scream along that deadly deasert road, around the far side of the lake on those windy bloody death defying anti gravity hills, back quickly through to Hamilton with a short Rotorua stop for the best burgers in that area just on the west side of Rotorua which gets you lots more country roads winding through pine forrests with almost no traffic, a hard left at Hamilton out to Raglan for a trip down memory lane.. prolly hire a board for a quick surf to try yet again to get that three break wave from the very far point all the way back into the bay ( three waves in one - what a rush if you ever get it ) - then a race up through to Auckland, do the north beach area and out through to the racing track paid for by tax payers in the form of the road up to 90 mile beach, go wide there and aim to not run low on gass.. then all the way back down to Hamilton again, hard left out through to Paeroa via Waitoa for that open streatch of road that never has cops on it where you can clock all the speed you want as nobody polices a train track side road - then through the gorge east to Whangamata, fast, as this is as close to the hill roads in Sardania in the medeterainian you're going to get on a sub thousand dollar air fair - thats a wild drive through there, and all the way to just as you drive over the last hill before the Whangamata golf course, you're foot to the floor, heavy heal toe work, and preying you'll make the gass station up on the beach before you drive the car dry! Then a days racing the beach roads of Whangamata and then some fo the worlds best fish and chips at a little shop that has been in my Mum's side of the family for three generations, and while swigging cold coke to break down the fat and oil, drive like a deamon north out through the commercial forrest roads that are now all tar sealed, and out throught to thames, and some local fish soup, then back south and all the way to the bay of plenty, then cruise the coasal [ heavily policed ] road all the way back to wellington - stopping over at Silverstream in upper hut to throw stones through St Patricks college for boys [ boarding school ] for some good therapy if nothing else, and then back to driving onto the boat, and watching the car head home, a quick lunch at Dougs cafe in the heart of the city - it's been there for around 3,000 years I think - and fly home, in time to start planning the drive around Tassie when the new ferry starts running between Sydney and Tasmania!!

By the way - maestro: isn't there an e on end of "Bridgeston"? As in "275/35/17 Bridgeston Potenza RE-711" - shouldn't that be "275/35/17 Bridgestone Potenza RE-711"?

The Potenza RE 040's seem to be OEM - is that right? Does everyone have them on their RX8?

++dez;

ps: hey, I wonder if we should start a "do this drive with your RX8 if you're in XYZ area.." thread?

Dez

Darn.. I forgot to schedule lunch in Christchurch on the way through.. see the Wizard and tell him off for going to the dark side and getting a web site [ it's everything he stands against using the web! ] and there would also be the obligatory scream around Christchurch's square one way traffic system, then a rip out to the shipping yards at night through the tunnel there and a hair raising rip back through to the beach road over what has to be one of the worlds steapest mountain trails covered barely in tar seal - oh, and the lookout there over the city at night - well worth the life threatening drive up through the weirdest suburb built by man kind outside of the town of Lipari on the island of Lipari in the Aoleian islands just north of Sicily [ it's a bloody active volcano for christ sake and they seal the roads every time it shakes ].

++dez;

sco

Hey Dez, out of curiosity... how much does the trip on the boat cost for the RX-8?

Dez

The NZ trip?

I'll dig out the last receipt for shipping my folk's Toyota Land Cruiser over here for you and post tomorrow [ about to get my minimum of 3.5 hours worth of Zz's before a 6:30 breakfast meeting and a drive to Newcastle in the morning ].

Or were you asking about the Tassie trip?

++dez;

Maestro

Thanks for the spelling lesson.

Yeah RE-040 are OEM.

The RE-711 is the tyre before you goto the RE-01 which is the dot slick and full race slick.

RE are better than S02 etc.

Don't be fooled by tyre monkeys !!!!

P.S. If you do the kiwi trip let me know.

I'll hook up a RX-7 / RX-8 escort for you through the drive.

Maestro

Let me guess it has a number plate [RX8U]

And was at Taupo raceway about weeks ago ???

hehehe

I saw it there.

Also reguarding NZ RX-8's

I have the following turning up over the next 2 months.

Titanium 6-Speed Arriving 02/12/03
Red 6-Speed Arriving 15/12/03
Yellow 6-Speed Arriving 15/01/04
Red 4-Speed Automatic 17/01/04

sco

Dez... I meant NZ... Cheers.

sco

Dez

Maestro:

> Thanks for the spelling lesson.

sorry - no insult intended there.. and the first lesson is free * grin *

sco:

thought so - now I should say that it's been a few years since I organised this for my dad's toyota land cruiser but it would still be around the same cost / process I'm sure.

last time we did it for him, it cost around AUD$1,500, so I'm sure by now it's around the $2k mark plus gst.

the way it works is in Sydney, you drive your car to the wharf, leave it there with keys [ yea, not idea ] and they load it on the ship once the boat gets into port.

this can take a week at times as the ships are some times delayed at other ports.

they drive it on the boat, generally unfortunately the cars are stored on an outside deck [ yuk ].

they secure the car, this usually involves those cloth straps, chains [ eek ] and such.

they let the tires down most of the way, then secure the car, then pump the tires back up so that the car is nice and tight and all that.

it's by no means an ideal thing perhasp for an RX8 of course.

then you can pick it up in NZ at any one of half a dozen docks, depending on where you want to go of course, wellington is the easiest.


I spoke to dad about this as the more I thought about it the more I started to worry about what the RX8 would look like at the other end.

The adivce from him was that he wouldn't do it - he said that his truck usually got "there" in one piece each time, but that was a reasonably rugged 4wd.

He said [ and I agree ] that an RX8 being dropped off and entrusted to a bunch of hard nut wharfies, would see around 2,000 km added to the clock in wharf racing, and then the usual "who does this dick head think he is" boot in the door from shippie dudes walking on the deck.. envy and all that green eyed ****.

So I've written off any thoughts of shipping the car to NZ for a drive now.. If I ever want to do an RX8 drive of NZ I'll find money to buy one there and sell it when I'm finished I think.

So now I'm back to doing the home work on the Sydney -> Tazzie ferry trip as thats a lot more safe from what everyone is telling me.

I know from having driven around most of the world and using ferry trips in a car that the risk of driving your own car on and off of a ferry, even in Scicily where you're between trains for example, is far less of an issue.

So I'd have to say forget shipping to NZ, and start planning to join me any anyone else I can find in a Tassie trip from Sydney * grin *

++dez;

Dez

<-- Wahoo!! 100 posts! Senior Member!! I can wear big boy undies now!!!

RX8U

hey maestro, are those rx8s yr getting in used imports?

sco

Thanks Dez... I figure given the price, time and other info it'd be much cheaper to hire something nice (maybe an RX-8) for a holiday over there.

Maestro

Naa NZ ones. I work for North Harbour Mazda

Dez

Have any of the K1W1 members here driven the Coromandel Penninsula area yet? In particular to Whangamata - from Thames, Kopu, to Paeroa Karangahaki gorge, through Waikino [ the little place with the tunnel and trains ] then through to Whangamata then over the northern road back to Thames?

God I miss that drive!

++dez;

jeffneil

Greetings All,
My wife and I have just returned from spending 2 weeks driving around the North Island of NZ - unfortunately not in an RX-8 though - ours had to stay home ! My point is - these cars are CHEAP over there - I was told by an Auckland salesman that the on road cost of theirs is only NZ$63,000 approx - this is for the leather pack man/auto - same price for both !! Now that is only about AU$55,200 - which is substantially less than the $69,000 ours cost us in Aust. NZ apparently has less taxes and no LCT and less on road costs so I was almost tempted to buy one over there too ! They even had a winning blue one (with possibly every available extra bit of bolt on plastic on it!) that the dealer seemed to be driving somewhere every lunchtime around the dealership area. They miss out on some of the colours there though - no Nordic Green or Sunlight Silver in NZ !
The only other (black) one we saw was in the dealer yard in Hamilton but they are still very thin on the ground over there at present so they tell me.
Regards
Jeffneil

jax8

Valete All Blacks ! Black Saturday for some, esp. around Bondi, but go easy on the boys when they cross the ditch: take them for a spin.

Maestro

I locked the gates they can stay in aussie..... Unless they wanna buy 22 RX-8's for the team.

Dez

christ I want to drive the whitianga region flat out.. right now... !!

or the takaka hill between takaka and nelson.. that has to be the single best road suited to the RX8!

++dez;