crabacle

I thought that if anybody else actually saw the car this weekend that they could add their views here.

First of all here is the picture that I took. After this I'll add my review.

crabacle

First of all a few details.

The car was a Japanese spec pre-production model and wasn't up to UK spec. Having said that it is awesome. As you can see the metallic blue isn't really a rich blue, so I'm glad that mine's black, but the color swatches looked good, the tit grey looks superb, but the red looks a bit 'dark' still that's just personal choice. If anybody ordered the leather it looks mighty fine.

Now the car. It will be worth the wait. The 'cockpit' is fantastic, loads of room surrounded by the gadgets that are all to hand. - What can I say? It's just awesome. - The passenger seat gives loads of room, but now what about the back seats?

I'm 6 foot and broad (perfectly trimmed) I got in the back seat and had LOADS of room. Stacks of headroom, not scrunched up legs - it was OK. - I wouldn't want to travel Europe in the back, but it was totally big enough. My lad got in the back and thought that it was bigger than the back of my MX3. Also there are loads of spaces for storing things - cup holders galore and 2 cig lighter sockets. (1 for speed trap detector and a 2nd for iPaq GPS - so that good in my book).

The boot will fit a set of golf clubs but forget the trolley, and the access isn't huge, but remember that this is a sports car, so forget the Samsonite suitcases. - But the back seats have an insert in the middle that comes out for the skis. - (Skis???)

They wouldn' start it or even light up the dash, so I can't comment on that, but with the keys out all of the controls are black and invisible.

A snippet that I got from them was if that if you are over 6 foot 2 DO NOT GET A SUNROOF!! - It will not give you sufficient clearance.

The accessories were all on show and looked good, but to be honest that car looks fantastic without them.

To sum up - the car looks the dogs danglies, be patient and wait for it.

PS. - Gave the Mazda CRM people a bit of a bashing and I understand that they have taken away 'about a thousand' comments for feedback back to Mazda. So let's wait and see. - Mainly I gave grief about the wait, lack of info and the high price of the accessories. (On that last piece however, as one of the salesmen said, 'If it was a porsche you wouldn't be complaining!' - Well - it isn't is it!!

c170673

Thanks for the pic,

I had sort of forgotten how good the car looks.

You mentioned the leather looking "mighty fine", the car I saw the beginning of July had cloth seats, have they changed the car?

Chris

renegade_si

Thanks for the posts, nothing new there though - which in a way is good cos at least its all consistent. No comment about the extras!

You can tell from the photo that its the cloth seats, so I'm not sure what is meant by the leather either?! Was the red car there too?

Stu C

Well, I was there too and only the blue was on show.

I'd like to point out a subtle change from previous appearances of this car - it now had 18" wheels, unlike previous reports. I talked to the Leeds dealership owner and he said they were trying to make it look more british spec where they could.

I t was also cool to actually see the accesories, it helped me decide that the fins, air vent bezels and front rotary symbol (between the lower lights) are in.

I'm 6'4" and fitted in the driver seat fine, but glad i'm not 6'5". It was a close thing!

More amazingly, I got my wife to sit in the passenger seat while I sat in the back, directly behind, and while I was a bit hunched up, it wasn't that bad, and the door shape allows plenty of leg room. Excellent piece of design! Also, it didn't feel too claustrophobic in the back, but I do have an FTO and that IS a closed in space...

And yes, they look amazing in real life. :D Roll on the next ten weeks.

Stu

crabacle

OK Just to clarify. -

The car there had cloth seats, but there was a display to show the leather - which looked great.

Also, the point about the height thing was if you are over 6ft 2, then don't have the sunroof. - The car their didn't have a sunroof fitted. :D

renegade_si

Stu thanks for the update, but the other official mazda previews all had the car with the 18" wheels too.

See my Henley post from July 14th for eg.... same car, same wheels.

cheers

Si


http://www.rx8forum.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6556

RobDickinson

I was there too! Bloke with the pony tail

Looked better in reality than in the pictures, more 3dimensional (of course) but in pics you dont get the curve of the body or roof etc. Wife though it was more jag like than she though (which is a good thing).

Lower and more aggresive/squat than I thought too. Blue is nice but I sticking with titanium.

Good room in the car, we had 4 adults in comfortably, on criticism is there isnt a lot of room for feet under the front seets for rear passengers , so no streching legs mid journey.


Prices of ally tat are beyond stupid, will be sticking with the obligatory fins only .

Car is as said the usualy jap lo-power but with the 18" wheels AND the bigger front brakes (wasnt sure, they look HUUGE, bigger would have been emense).

I only spoted 1 oil coole on the passenger side with the drivers side blanked off, no grill on the passenger side oil cooler. Anytone know if the low-power only has 1 oil cooler?

Rubber was potenza s03's , blurb from sales woman only states 'bridgstone' 225/45/r18, nothing abit what type...hope its the s03's.

Boot looked big enough for me, bigger than the focus (seats up,shelf in) which is enough to live with. we only have soft bags so no need to ebay the samsonite cases lol.

Driving position was comfortable, didnt(couldnt) mess with mirrors etc, brake peddle was unpushable due to no servo power and accelarator was way back (due to same) , didnt look easy to heal/toe it but I guess it'll be different when the cars up and running as I've heard its supposed to be easy.

I wasnt sure we were getting that 2nd power outlet, but I hope we are, will be very usefull.

whiteco

I also turned up to the 3-4pm slot. I've got 10-12 pics from all angles (inside and out) from a 5Megapixel Camera, if anyone is interested I`ll post them somewhere.

I was very impressed. I liked the cloth interior, much better than I had imagined, but I`m not going to deviate from the leather on my order.

They also pointed out that the car will sit 1" lower than the one in the picture at the top of this post. It was also sitting on 0.5" perspex plates, so all in all it will be 1.5" lower than shown in the above pic.

Colin

Evil Weevil

I also turned up to the 3-4pm slot. I've got 10-12 pics from all angles (inside and out) from a 5Megapixel Camera, if anyone is interested I`ll post them somewhere.

(In a Basil Fawlty style...) "If anyone's interested... IF ANYONE'S INTERESTED ??!!!"

... Please post 'em!

Stu C

I'm sure that I read somewhere it started with 16" wheels, but oh well - better if more people have seen it with 18" ones! :D

Stu