In the thread about the painted centre console, some of our American friends raised the question of the parking brake being on the RHS of the gear shift. Incongruous for them, but quite comfortable for us. Does this indicate a bias towards right hand drive in the RX-8 design? I think taken into context with the right hand foot well, the answer could be "well, possibly". Not being a person of the larger persuasion, I find the narrow foot well good for driving. The larger left hand well is good for passengers who like to stretch out and put things at their feet (my wife, for example). Why would Mazda do this? The home Japanese market is important for them, and Japan drives left. Comparitively larger (than the Japanese) Americans get the larger left hand well, although in the body mass stakes, Australians aren't far behind the USA.

 

I think Mazda engineers (along with Honda, by reference to my wife's Accord Euro) design with RHD in mind. This also seems evident from the Yamaguchi book -- their domestic market is very big -- but the marketing johnnies constantly remind them of the LHD opportunities, so there are very few of the design 'glitches' you find in the reverse (ie, from LHD domestic market to RHD), as executed poorly for years by the French and the Italians

 

strange = i remember the brits and others being worried the hanbrake design and placement would be difficuly for RHD before they got the cars in hand. i dont remember any left handers worried about it for themselves.

the footwell bulge is to accomodate a portion of the engine/tranny combination because of its placement due to the engine being pushed so far back. nothing to do with driver placement

 

My point was that a number of modern Japanese cars have the handbrake on the right.

The Yamaguchi book talks about the RH footwell bulge as of concern to driver comfort, reflecting a RHD perspective

 

Put it that way... Japan is right hand drive and I am sure they have local market in mind first.

 

Good point. How many times have you jumped into a Euro car and turned the wipers on when you wanted to indicate?

Do they swap the stalks over in the 8 for the LHD cars?

And labrat, know where you're coming from but the yanks in the console pad thread seemed to think WE were shortchanged by the handbrake placement. I couldn't follow their argument myself as it seems to be on the "right" side to me (pardon the pun).

More and more cars are engineered with both sides in mind these days and I reckon the 8 was one of them, which is why it works so well worldwide. Comments such as the one mentioned by Timbo in the book suggest considerations only, nothing determinative in my view.

 

The old MX-5s had the hand brake on the left of the transmission tunnel. Causes me no end of confusion when going between the two now.

 

No way. If anything, it was designed for the American market. I haven't seen the thread labrat refers to, but I have seen North Americans question how we handle having the handbrake so close to our leg. They feel very comfortable with it being located on the far side of the console.

If it weren't for the Yanks, this car would not have been built, IMO. The predicted sales figure of 30K/year into the US would have been vital for the car to get the green light. The Renesis side port redesign was the only way Mazda could engineer the 13B to pass Californian emission regulations.

Even the Japanese are in love with the Greenback, we can thank the Yanks for this car......

 

...Gomez, my post was a cue for you to go off at Peugeot

 

I saw the word "French" and my eyes glazed over......

 

You're right on all counts of course, Gomez, although by fixing the emissions, they also did a partial fix on fuel consumption. Wish they could fix it a bit more.

 

Most regular visitors to the Tech areas of this forum are of the opinion that there is not a lot more to be squeezed out of the rotary in that regard. We would all like to see a 50% improvement in fuel economy, but I'd say the best we could hope for is 10%.

 

Check the handbrake on this bit of American muscle......

 

As does the hand brake on my 1985 RX-7.

 

I have to say also that I recently drove a new Camary hire car, it's hand brake was on the far side of the Tunnel, not on the near side.

For my liking I am happy where the hand brake is for RHD RX-8s. When I am doing those tricky hand brake turns I don't want to fumble across the tunnel to get it, where it is makes it easy to get either on the gear stick or back on the wheel quicker.

For our friends from America...

Yes you are right it was designed around the LHD drives destined for the USA, however the reason they designed it that way is because they knew that Australians would not tollerate such a cumbersome process of having the tunnel get in the way when we are trying to use the hand brake....I guess they just realise what driving purists we are.

 

I'll take it!!!!

 

i'd agree with taka on the jap domestic market design concept...... on most jap cars anyway...

the FD is on the RHS of the tunnel
the SW20 MR2 = RHS
the S2000 - LHS ( )
the HSV = RHS (australian domestic market )
the TT = middle (on wonder it won the gayest car of the year once )

 

What about those foot operated things.

Do any cars still have them??

 

My Mazda Astina SP had the handbrake slap bang in the middle. Probably why it didn't have any cup holders or storage bins between the front seats. I actually prefer the park brake in that position however i quickly got used to it being against my left thigh.

You may also notice that in RHD cars, the ignition key is closest to the door whereas in LHD the ignition is located closest to the centre of the car. Long winded way of saying it's on the right of the steering column.... I'm guessing the steering wheel controls are also in the same position too.

 

some lexus early 90's models have them....
the drifter we picked up from brisbane (91 model nissan cefiro) last year had the stupid/weird hand brake setup and the annoying foot brake thingo..... making drifting impossible.
we have since done the RB20DET and 5 speed/normal hand brake/clutch convo.... with new sussy soon it will be drifting all day long
(/i can not stand drifting..... )