Gomez

August 2005 Motor has a comparo between the SE RX-8 (Shinka) and the Munro CV8.

I'll cut to the chase.....the RX-8 gets the nod.

Imagine how much they would have liked it if a Cloth Pack ($8500 cheaper) went up against the Munro. The article did not mention any SE features at all (with the exception of the beige leather), so the SE got no votes for winning the bling trophy by a country mile.

I hate the SE (Shinka), but it's nice to see that motoring journalists in this country can still pick a winner independant of who pays the bills (Holden advertise big in Motor, Mazda don't). Well done boys, you get criticised for bias fairly often, but not from this little black duck .

Cheers,
Gomez.

(Taylor....send the cheque to the usual address )

Lock & Load

Read the article , no offense but you are comparing Old world teckhnology being that of the monaros lousy old engine and gearbox with the mazdas latest

I live near a redneck who happens to have a Monaro and i take great pleasure in wooping his *** specially in the corners and roundabouts , i am accelerating/steering intu a rounabout while he is braking :D

No comparison especially in handling and smoothness heck i have more problems shacking off the ******** in Utes .

B...free
michael

FunkyR

really rx8 faster than a monaro in a straight line?? u sure?

RXE16T

Funny how coincidentally this thread came up...... last night on the way home I had a modified Monaro trying to keep up with me through some twisties........ all was well until the road straightened up and he left me for dead.

RXE16T

Depends on the driver, the Monaro has heaps of grunt but not exactly a great gearbox/clutch setup.

ILIV48

In the article the Monaro was faster down the quarter mile. A 14.3 compared to a 14.6. The reviewer just prefered the overall feel of the RX8 more. The RX8 always does well when the reviewer has other criteria for a good car other than how fast it is in a straight line!

timbo

The Munro was never on my list when I went shopping...and won't be next time, either. I like the way the 8 does it by balnce, technology and overall finesse. Still not a lot around that matches it in these areas, either

takahashi

The 8 is much easier to drive fast....

I don't think I can control the beast of the Monaro on the track. Yes if you put Dean Evans or Jimmy Richards in there he will drive faster than in the 8.... But not for me

Revolver

I've always thought of the Monaro as big, dumb and crude - a bit like the big forwards we all used to play footy with - effective in limited situations but you wouldn't want to live with 'em.

Apart from Holden's legendary build quality (not :p ), you have to put up with a prehistoric gearbox and Yank styling so they can sell more GTOs.

No, I think there's really no contest (except in a street drag, which is so last year people). I'll take a mobile fly-half over a prop any day! :D :D

Gomez

I was quoting the magazine and this is what they said ABOUT THE RX-8....

So, in spite of it's extra cost, fuel use, and time down the quarter.....it still wins.
Sorry for the confusion...

Gomez.

StratoMike

I used to drive an xr6t , which is faster than a monaro in a straight line and also feels better to drive. I would still choose the RX8 over it (in fact I DID choose it over the Xr6T).
The mazda just feels so much better and you can drive it so much faster.

That said , I loved the way the XR6 could press you into your seat :-D

AMG

I was tailing a new M3 through the hills, couldn't shake me through the corners, however when the road straightened up left me for dead only to get right on his *** when we got to the twisties again. We both pulled up together at a house inspection, I smirked @ him and said to him "nice car", he ignored me...LOL @ him. The M3 is a nice car, but gotta admit the 8 is nicely engineered, just needs a tad more grunt.

Revolver

Just what I always thought - RX8 owners have a sense of humour, whilst M3 owners...don't. :p :D :D

I remember at the start of the Sydney run an older dude showed up at Dural Maccas when a bunch of us were there. He sat in his car munching his congealed fat and eyed us all for a while - looked quite jealous he did. Then, he pulled out and made a point of flooring it once around the roundabout as if to say "I may have no friends but look at me, my car's fast!" Must have been a merchant banker (rhyming slang).

timbo

I have to say...I like M3's. Nice power and balance from a sweet NA motor. Of course, that does not extend to some of the duckwits that drive them

xxup

For me, the problem is that the Monaro, WRX, BMW (possible exception the Z3) and other have is that they all look like ordinary sedans with bits added on in an attempt to make them a "sports car".. Lipstick on a pig really.. The RX-8, Porsche, Lotus and the like are designed from the ground up to be sports cars - and they always look and feel much better than the family sedan frankenstiens that they complete with in the marketplace..

Revolver

Agree with all that!

RIX XXX

Ditto. I couldn't agree more

RXP33D

The Rx8 is slower around the race track?

Must be alot of straights. D

Did you check out the 911 vs. bike...

QUOTE: "WOW! This is the fastest production car in a straight line in Australia!"

Oh, I saw them on Pyrmont Road taking out there 350z, type S and clio sport

and decided to play cat and mouse.

fu1982

Although I've gotta admit, when I went down the National Parks, the red elise wasn't really able to get away from me - no power, no torque, but then it's heaps light, and it was sexy, honestly...

Revolver

Finally got a chance to read the article in question. A bit lightweight and lacking depth of analysis but at least we got the nod.

I found the performance stats interesting. Aways less than a second behind the Munro and only 0.3 seconds difference in the 0-100 sprint. Unless you had one beside you, I doubt most people would notice such a marginal difference in performance in day to day driving.

However, you would notice things like the gear shift and handling, not to say looks, etc. Probably why the 8 came out on top.

Sigma

How did an RX-8 perform that close to a Monaro? Your Monaro CV8 is the same as our 2004 5.7L GTO state-side -- a car that runs 0-100 (assuming you meant MPH) a whopping 3 seconds (about 25%) faster than an RX-8. And if you meant 100kph, the difference is still almost a full second.

The driver of their Monaro simply must not have known what he was doing -- he only pulled a 14.3 in the 1/4-mile when he should have been able to pull a Mid-13. That's surprising because he was able to get very respectable times from the RX-8.

Revolver

I was similarly surprised Sigma, which is why I commented on it. The journo did say that neither car achieved it's best ever sprint times so there is probably a lot in what you say.

Just dug out Wheels Magazine which records 5.8 secs for 0-100km/h for the manual Monaro CV8 and 6.4 secs for the manual RX8. They test two-up, which indicates the Motor scribbler needs to work on his techique I'd say.

takahashi

It is much harder to drive a Monaro than an RX-8... I think I had a look at the Monaro driver during the track day and he does not seems to like his car being passed by a black 8

Revolver

Just as a footnote to this thread, I read today that production of the Monaro is scheduled to cease later this year (to maintain resale values ).

Of course, Holden will continue to make GTOs for the yanks.

'Nuff said.

RRS

what will fat, bald middle aged bogans with a little cash do for their mid life crisis car now then?

the mind boggles..

Rowds