Lensman

Which is why Aston-Martin's are grey, S2000s look best in grey, the new uber-MG is grey etc etc. It's not the colour, it's the shape. A grey econobox will look boring but a car the shape of the RX-8 will look classy and interesting.
Anyway: the B2 Spirit stealth bomber is DESIGNED to disappear and you can't deny that's cool.

AndyPearce

Congrats KEF - I bet it will take a few weeks for the grin on your face to ease a little!

After seeing the picture I've realsied that I'm having my RX8 regardless of whether my passengers fit!

specman

Quite right too Andy. AFter all even with your high mileage I am sure you could justify lonesome cruising to and from work - just make it your hobby allowance as well:D

KEF

Hello again kids.

Just back after a weekend of driving, driving and more driving, with the odometer now reading 500 miles.

for anyone interested 1st tank mileage was 24mpg, 260 miles from full to warning light coming on. Fairly relaxed driving, staying well away from the warning buzzer, only touching 7k on a couple of occasions.

Rest assured the car is fantastic,
~ ride is firm but relaxing,
~ the brakes are better than anything else I've driven, VAG, BMW, etc
~ that engine note is addictive, sounds like a motor bike when you punch through the gears.
~ Bose is fine, although i'm not a fan of the audio pilot.
~ styling has generally been very well recieved, although black makes it a bit of a stealth car. (but kids love it)
~ rear space is good:

I took my brother and dad over to Crail for the tarmac rally, all 5'10" of my dad fitted fine behind my 6'3" brother, although it looked a little tighter when roles were reversed (but they both fell asleep on the way home so must have been ok)
Followed up today with a trip to Loch Fyne with two of my large mates (say about 15 stone apiece) no problems there either.

everyone comments that the back is like being in a private jet.

~ xenons are so good that high beam is a bit of a disappointment when you switch it on
~ the dash lights are superb, the white day illumination is better than anything I've ever seen while the red night lighs are clear without being distracting.

in terms of running, performance is deceptive, builds speed rapidly but quietly, even at running in speeds it is easy to get around in rapid fashion, 80mph is only 4k in sixth.

pulls well as long as you're in vaguely the right gear, you can accelerate out of a 30 zone in sixth gear at a resonable rate, but don't expect daft miracles.

handling is superb, rides firmly, corners level and grips comfortably at sane speeds (i've been faced with some wild weather over the weekend)

In all once I'd overcome buyers remorse I'm delighted. couple of downers but I can live with them:

Visibility is terrible compared to my old MX-6, I've already heavily kerbed one wheel when I thought I had acres of room to maneuver. The beveled wind mirrors help on the motorway though.

Turning circle is again worse than my MX-6 (missed my parents driveway on my first reversing attempt) but then again I'm used to four wheel steer, so I doubt I'd find any other current car better.

Quality is fantastic although my car seems to have a bizzare fault, the rear suspension makes a horrible creaking noise on tight bumpy corners, I'll have to get it looked at and will let you know the outcome.

got some new pictures but please bear in mind the weather was crap sat and sun, I'll download them from work tomorrow.

PS. the mansion in the photo was an admin building at stirling university, nice place. the response from everyone has got me thinking, I may go on a tour of scottish castles during my holiday at the end of the month.

PPS. enjoy topgear tonight, and fingers crossed you'll all be driving one soon.

rich606

Glad to hear that you're having loads of fun with your 8!!

I have kept away from showroom all weekend as I have my 1st test drive tomorrow:D :D :D

Not sure if I'll see any Lochs or castles but as long as what I am seeing is a soon to be blury memory I will not care

Jon H

KEF
Good write-up.
I agree with all your comments, I havent done the distance you have, partly due to some awful weather. Not much to add. One quirk I noticed, do you find it difficult to get from 3rd to 4th when your caning the ***** off it? No problem at low revs. Or is it me.
JH

renegade_si

Jon - why aren't you driving your car?



3rd to 4th - what happens - do you go to 6th or is it notchy? I thought that 3rd to 4th should be the easiest as its centered around these gears so its just a straight down movement to go to 4th?

KEF

Jon
I know what you mean, the gate is quite tight, I seem to hit the separator between 3rd and 5th fairly regularly,

did crunch 4th on a (probably unnecessary) overtaking maneuver but I had my mate in his Focus RS pinned up my **** at the time,

also sounds like you're experiencing similar weather, despite the xenons I lost sight of the motorway for a couple of second on saturday night, quite frightening only being able to see the flash of brake lights coming on somewhere infront of me.

========================

any glitches with your car Jon?
I'm a little worried about the noise from the back end, but I'm reluctant to let them have the car back to check it out so soon.

========================

The temptation to ignore my self imposed running in period has been almost overwhelming, that engine noise is intoxicating (i keep switching the stereo off when accelerating)

(have a few pics of the '8 and the RS together nice briefs.)

KEF

renegade

the layout is quite tight, when you see the selector in 5th or 6th it's almost straight up, more like you'd expect from 3rd and 4th.

perhaps they've tilted the linkage to give greater handbrake clearance.

forgot to mention, I absolutely love that handbrake position, it's perfect...

Jon H

Hopefully just takes practice, there does seem to be a kink between 3rd and 4th but I've only experienced resistance at higher revs. By the way I was told I dont need to run it in, but am just being semi sensible with the revs. Tricky....

KEF

because the gears are so close you need to keep positive pressure on the stick for 1,2 and 5,6.
Problem seems to be not applying lateral load in the midrange, hard to do when you're really punching up the box


my dealer got himself tied up in verbal knots regarding running in, initially said no period, then muttered about being careful for the first 2-3 thousand, then realised he was being silly, personally trying to keep it down for at least the 1st 600. (think there may be something in the owners manual, but I've been to busy to read it carefully)

I'm sure you'll pass my mileage this week Jon, I've put the car into the garage for another week, I live within a couple of miles of work so for me the car is a weekend hobby.

(plus I'd be terrified to park the car in the scheme behind my office)

Jon H

The manual just says for the first 600 dont maintain high revs for a sustained period; also dont brake too hard, accelerate away too hard or, interestingly dont maintain a constant engine speed for too long!
I do about 42 miles a day all week, so no worries about not enough driving!
And on your other point, I havent noticed any suspension noise on tight corners - have been driving with the Bose off. No glitches I can think of. Best mention it to your dealer.
I'm sure (hoping) the gear thing is just a 6 speed characteristic and I will get used to it. Will do some practising on the motorway....

Stuartt

Jon and KEF,

have you noticed that your gear stick and centre console (near the handbrake) is quite warm? I went out for my 1st 15min test drive on Saturday. The car had been used all day but it was still surprisely warm.

KEF

to be honest I hadn't noticed, I put a couple of cans in there at a petrol station but drank them too quickly for them to warm up.

when cruising I quite usually sit with my elbow on the armrest and my hand sitting over the handbrake so I rarely touch the console.

Contigo

That sounds too high. Are you sure it wasn't fith. Most of the cars I have owned have been doing around 3.5k rpm at 80mph in 5th. From my experience of the 8 I would say more like 3k rpm at 80mph in 6th.

Contigo

Hey guys have you noticed a weird grinding sound around 7-8k rpm from the gear box?

KEF

That sounds serious, get it back to the dealer.

fairly confident that it's about 4k at 80mph, are you used to a car that can rev to 9k ?

here have some more pics to lighten the mood.
(sorry about the quality, I spent the weekend trying to outrun the weather.)

KEF

waiting to be collected (hurry up)

KEF

beauty and the beast

KEF

top of the world

KEF

you'll never take our freedom!!!

KEF

1st full tank all done.

KEF

down at the quay

KEF

before the rain came down

Murphy

Great pics KEF.
Cheered me up on a wet & windy Monday!

They are very good - you should drop a few into the Multimedia/Photo Gallery forum to let more people see them.