Been and gone and done it!
09-21-2003, 01:16 PM
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Been and gone and done it!
Went along to my local dealer to get my first look at the RX8 today.
I have to say, I was not dissapointed! What a fantastic looking car!
Initially, I had to go through the showroom to the workshop. Sales staff said they hadn't had the opportunity to move it since it arrived because of the number of people wanting to see it... and it was no exaggeration. I couldnt get near it - people were crawling all over it!
Eventually the sales staff asked people to stand back while they moved it to the showroom. I didnt think the rotary engine sounded at all different when the car first started but when the salesman reved it up and pulled away (with some wheel spin) it did sound very distinctive - difficult to describe - just different I suppose!
To cut a long story short I placed my order without even asking for a test drive. Tried to haggle a bit but knew I was on a hiding to nothing! I have been promised accessories at cost price and some free mats, so that's something!
Delivery date is estimated as late January. :p
Sales guy showed me the revised MPG figures from Mazda (I'm sure he said it was dated 13th September).
Combined cycle was showing 25.2 MPG
Ex-urban 32.5
Also suprised to be told I still qualify for the Pro Drive track day - I thought that was only for the first 1000 pre orders?
Regardless, I'm well pleased and my wife didn't even shout at me when I came home and told her what I'd been up to :D
I have to say, I was not dissapointed! What a fantastic looking car!
Initially, I had to go through the showroom to the workshop. Sales staff said they hadn't had the opportunity to move it since it arrived because of the number of people wanting to see it... and it was no exaggeration. I couldnt get near it - people were crawling all over it!
Eventually the sales staff asked people to stand back while they moved it to the showroom. I didnt think the rotary engine sounded at all different when the car first started but when the salesman reved it up and pulled away (with some wheel spin) it did sound very distinctive - difficult to describe - just different I suppose!
To cut a long story short I placed my order without even asking for a test drive. Tried to haggle a bit but knew I was on a hiding to nothing! I have been promised accessories at cost price and some free mats, so that's something!
Delivery date is estimated as late January. :p
Sales guy showed me the revised MPG figures from Mazda (I'm sure he said it was dated 13th September).
Combined cycle was showing 25.2 MPG
Ex-urban 32.5
Also suprised to be told I still qualify for the Pro Drive track day - I thought that was only for the first 1000 pre orders?
Regardless, I'm well pleased and my wife didn't even shout at me when I came home and told her what I'd been up to :D
09-21-2003, 01:41 PM
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Congratulations Murphy,
My wife was as excited as me when I ordered one last weekend:D
Suprised about your delivery date though. My dealer said that Mazda were advising them to tell customers that the second shipment would not arrive until March, even though he hoped it would be Feb. I hope your dealer was right with his Jan prediction, that would be fantastic.
My dealer would not be pushed on any deals on the car - fair enough I suppose, since the salesman I dealt with had taken orders for 11 RX8's himself that day
My wife was as excited as me when I ordered one last weekend:D
Suprised about your delivery date though. My dealer said that Mazda were advising them to tell customers that the second shipment would not arrive until March, even though he hoped it would be Feb. I hope your dealer was right with his Jan prediction, that would be fantastic.
My dealer would not be pushed on any deals on the car - fair enough I suppose, since the salesman I dealt with had taken orders for 11 RX8's himself that day
09-21-2003, 02:14 PM
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On the MPG front I would guess we'll all be lucky to get anything more than 20MPG.
For me that's fine ... it's what I expect from this beast, just don't expect what's being quoted.
For me that's fine ... it's what I expect from this beast, just don't expect what's being quoted.
09-22-2003, 11:04 AM
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Congratulations Murphy
welcome to the family.
Looks like I beat you to the test drive, just back from sunny stirling where i've spent the afternoon blatting around the countryside in a silver high power.
Mazda can rest easy that my 22k is now firmly spent.
It certainly feels like a 200bhp+ machine, three up standing start (about 4k on the clock) mentally counted about 6 seconds, just before the change out of second gear, small chirp from the wheels but launched smartly
I don't know if you've ever been on the link road between the stirling straights and the blair drummond road, but on that kind of surface it excels, well damped with no tram-lining fantastic stoppers (ABS gives a little slip without taking over) and through the woods back to viewforth the exhaust note is a peach.
bose sounded reasonable to me, although a quick play showed that someone had already tweaked the settings, bass at 3, treble at 5 and fade at 1 to rear. mentioned the large graduations on the dial, and the salesman found a way of refining it, made it far easier to find a comfortable level (did notice that classical music on radio 3 sounded great? is that the kind of music it's been set up for?)
took my brother along for the ride, he mentioned that there was a fair amount of tyre noise from the rear although the exhaust note was worth putting up with it. (he also mentioned there's nothing to hang onto in the back seats, he's 6'4" and looked a little cramped back there, he wouldn't have been able to sit behind me as i had the seat all the way back, but the salesman was a little shorter)
all my concerns over driving position were unfounded, offset pedals and lump in the footwell are all but unnoticable once you start chasing that rev limiter. (only rang the bell on three occasions)
also worth noting that the leather seats were good, but the lumbar support is great, particularly with my duff back, would be nice if the headrest was slightly further forward though.
was okay to park (not as easy as the '6) but that lip spoiler helps you find the tail, while the wheelarches help guide the front end.
my one reservation was the gear change, i found it hard to change smoothly when you're trying to get the power down, it's okay if you really nail it, but between bimbling speed and that point it seems a little reluctant to match revs. Made me feel a bit like a learner. The issue was particularly noticable when trying to drop quickly down the gears before a corner, although i would note that you can get away with a third where you would expect second.
in terms of power, easily the fastest car i've ever driven (240bhp saab on the way there was the second) feels effortless out of corners, despite my comments about the gear change it always seemed to have ample power coming out of corners irrespective of the gear.
In fact it almost felt too powerful for the really twisty stuff, the rate of acceleration was such that it was always going from flat out to full anchors . It felt like a decent driver with familiarity for the road could have extracted far more, perhaps I needed to be cornering more agressively, but I couldn't drive that hard on unseen roads. (salesman mentioned that a 225 TT owner had utterly thrashed it earlier in the day, a local I hope.)
handling wise it doesn't corner as sharply as my '6 (it's got 4WS) but is far more confidence inspiring, the nose comes round accurately with little understeer while the car stays very level (think i'm trying to say that it's got great body control)
didn't get to try it on the motorway (but I wouldn't have swapped for a go on the doune road, car magazine road test territory)
could be a licence looser as it's just too tempting to play with the revs (not sure exactly sure what the top two gears are for, anyone else know?)
got my print, lobbed it in the boot and bimbled home dreaming of the day my new toy arrives.
EDIT: forgot to mention the cup warmers - warm..
welcome to the family.
Looks like I beat you to the test drive, just back from sunny stirling where i've spent the afternoon blatting around the countryside in a silver high power.
Mazda can rest easy that my 22k is now firmly spent.
It certainly feels like a 200bhp+ machine, three up standing start (about 4k on the clock) mentally counted about 6 seconds, just before the change out of second gear, small chirp from the wheels but launched smartly
I don't know if you've ever been on the link road between the stirling straights and the blair drummond road, but on that kind of surface it excels, well damped with no tram-lining fantastic stoppers (ABS gives a little slip without taking over) and through the woods back to viewforth the exhaust note is a peach.
bose sounded reasonable to me, although a quick play showed that someone had already tweaked the settings, bass at 3, treble at 5 and fade at 1 to rear. mentioned the large graduations on the dial, and the salesman found a way of refining it, made it far easier to find a comfortable level (did notice that classical music on radio 3 sounded great? is that the kind of music it's been set up for?)
took my brother along for the ride, he mentioned that there was a fair amount of tyre noise from the rear although the exhaust note was worth putting up with it. (he also mentioned there's nothing to hang onto in the back seats, he's 6'4" and looked a little cramped back there, he wouldn't have been able to sit behind me as i had the seat all the way back, but the salesman was a little shorter)
all my concerns over driving position were unfounded, offset pedals and lump in the footwell are all but unnoticable once you start chasing that rev limiter. (only rang the bell on three occasions)
also worth noting that the leather seats were good, but the lumbar support is great, particularly with my duff back, would be nice if the headrest was slightly further forward though.
was okay to park (not as easy as the '6) but that lip spoiler helps you find the tail, while the wheelarches help guide the front end.
my one reservation was the gear change, i found it hard to change smoothly when you're trying to get the power down, it's okay if you really nail it, but between bimbling speed and that point it seems a little reluctant to match revs. Made me feel a bit like a learner. The issue was particularly noticable when trying to drop quickly down the gears before a corner, although i would note that you can get away with a third where you would expect second.
in terms of power, easily the fastest car i've ever driven (240bhp saab on the way there was the second) feels effortless out of corners, despite my comments about the gear change it always seemed to have ample power coming out of corners irrespective of the gear.
In fact it almost felt too powerful for the really twisty stuff, the rate of acceleration was such that it was always going from flat out to full anchors . It felt like a decent driver with familiarity for the road could have extracted far more, perhaps I needed to be cornering more agressively, but I couldn't drive that hard on unseen roads. (salesman mentioned that a 225 TT owner had utterly thrashed it earlier in the day, a local I hope.)
handling wise it doesn't corner as sharply as my '6 (it's got 4WS) but is far more confidence inspiring, the nose comes round accurately with little understeer while the car stays very level (think i'm trying to say that it's got great body control)
didn't get to try it on the motorway (but I wouldn't have swapped for a go on the doune road, car magazine road test territory)
could be a licence looser as it's just too tempting to play with the revs (not sure exactly sure what the top two gears are for, anyone else know?)
got my print, lobbed it in the boot and bimbled home dreaming of the day my new toy arrives.
EDIT: forgot to mention the cup warmers - warm..
Last edited by KEF; 09-22-2003 at 11:17 AM.
09-22-2003, 12:33 PM
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Thanks for the comments and the welcome guys!
Deskjet - Re my delivery date: My dealer said Mazda UK would prefer him to say Junuary/February but with UK production now in full swing he was confident I would have the car by the end of January. (This was AFTER I had signed up!)
Applying a suitable dose of salt to that remark, I'm preparing myself to wait until late February so that I dont feel dissapointed. Besides, whats a few weeks compared to what some of you have been through! I dont know how you kept faith - I suspect I would have cancelled long before now.
Nice review KEF! Glad you got your test drive.
I could have booked one for today but just couldn't get the time off work
Guess I'll just have to wait until October.
Glad we agree on the colour choice RX-Late
Deskjet - Re my delivery date: My dealer said Mazda UK would prefer him to say Junuary/February but with UK production now in full swing he was confident I would have the car by the end of January. (This was AFTER I had signed up!)
Applying a suitable dose of salt to that remark, I'm preparing myself to wait until late February so that I dont feel dissapointed. Besides, whats a few weeks compared to what some of you have been through! I dont know how you kept faith - I suspect I would have cancelled long before now.
Nice review KEF! Glad you got your test drive.
I could have booked one for today but just couldn't get the time off work
Guess I'll just have to wait until October.Glad we agree on the colour choice RX-Late
09-22-2003, 04:06 PM
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Just a comment on delivery dates. I ordered my high power '8' just 2 weeks ago and the salesman was confident that it would be here in December or at the veryt latest January 04.
