Brief Update and Review from MazdaUK
 

My contact at Mazda was in Austria last week and I was sent an unofficial (maybe slightly biased ;) ) review of her thoughts on the car.

But firstly, especially for Oilman, Jimbobjoe and co who have ordered Velocity Red, it has been confirmed to me that you DO get the red/black wheel with the red/black interior trim contrary to what some people have been told.

They are also trying (but NOT PROMISING) to do everything they can to enable pre-orderers to test drive the car.

Here is the main contents of the review....... (with thanks to the author :) )

The test drive was fantastic! I was actually in Austria (at the same
location as Stakato).

The car handles superbly and is so much fun to drive. The one thing that struck me on the road routes was that, through the rev range, this car seems to have endless torque. It feels as if it wants you to push it continually and on the Austrian Autobahn that is a hard temptation to resist!!!

The engine noise is phenomenal, There really is nothing like the sound of a rotary engine. The pitch is higher, but it seems so much less harsh than a conventional piston engine as it revs so freely.

We also had the opportunity to drive the car on a dynamic handling circuit testing the DSC and even with my appalling dynamic driving skills the car retained complete control!! The DSC is fantastic and would make someone like me feel a whole lot safer, but for those who want to enjoy 'pure' unrestricted driving, it has a dual stage off switch. Push it once and
it's partially off, allowing the DSC to cut in under braking (for safety), push it again and hold for 7 seconds and it is completely off.

We got to test the RX-8 on a circuit against some competitors. We drove vs the Audi TT, Toyota Celica, Alfa 156 and Mercedes CLK and although they all have very different driving dynamics, the RX-8 would get my vote every time.

In terms of pure driving enjoyment, the RX-8 beats the competition, no contest! The driving position helps to achieve this, because of the low driving position you manage to get the feeling you get when in an MX-5, it really is a true sports car.

For your information, the Austrians had a weekend slot which they were able to use to allow pre-order customers to test drive. The main reason for this is that Mazda Europe have a fleet of press cars that weren't being used for 2 days and Mazda Austria were given the opportunity as they had paid for some of the events fixed costs. These cars are LHD and its not feasible
for us to bring them to the UK.

We are currently investigating opportunities to get our pre-order customers into vehicles for test drives as soon as is possible. Please understand that vehicle availability is a major factor in the UK so we can't confirm at present whether this will be possible, but rest assured we will do anything we can!
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Cheers
Mark

Mark,

Your inside information has again proved to be an inspiration, lets hope they do manage to arrange something for us.

I would rather that than receive "limited edition print".

Chris

Thanks Mark for the info and..................

Thanks MAZDA for keeping us in the loop. It really is much appreciated whilst we endure the next tortuous 3+ months.

Cheers and THANKS
Oilman

:( Just spoke to Mazda helpline and they gave me the following info:

The dealer's demonstrators will not start being manufactured until 28th July

Dealers will probably have these for demonstration in September!!

My car will most likely be delivered "close to the new year" -- Mind you I only ordered a few weeks back.

Theres gona be roughly 20 Uk test cars before the mian shippment I think.

Dealer launch is 3rd August on, should be with some of these. Then the press get their mits on them.

Production of UK/Euro cars starts on the 28th of July (this has been known for ages), and ends 20th August. If the whole factory is working on these then that should = about 1000 cars.

I assume they may ship(fly?) some over before the end of the run to use as dealer demonstrators, but in US the demonstrators were shipped and available same time as the first customer cars.

nice info but still nothing concrete though.

THE UK press launch starts tomorrow (Friday 18th) I was also informed yesterday, so there will be lots of magazines to buy in the next few weeks........

Oh well, that should keep us going for a day or two then.........

I wonder whether EVO and CAR will review in next issue as these are my two subs.

Should get these before my hols starting 9/8.

Would dearly love to see the RX8 pitched against some other 4 door 4 seat coupes but I guess we'll see the predictable:

NissanZ?
Honda S2000?
Z4 or 330ci?
Audi TT
?
?
?

Still we'll find out pretty soon just how good the UK press think it is, most early reports were positive though!

Cheers
Oilman

I would be very surprised if they pitched it against the S2000. It makes no sense.

The RX should, IMHO be pitched against

TT Coupe (just - given the pathetic rear seats)
BM Coupe
R32 Golf
Evo?

It really is not easy to pitch it against other vehicles given the fact that it is the only car in it's class/price...


I spoke to RX8 line today, about my lack of book (even though they sent me a letter stating it was at my dealer), and asked them about compensation. The girl had a standard statment she read about the delivery date never having been promised in the first place. She also referred to delivery as "late oct-nov"...

I just hope that someone at Mazda has said - they might be here september, but lets not screw this up again, and set an expectation of oct/nov that we might beat.... To hopefull?

Sorry Ed,

I would say so. Build by 20/8 with shipping 6-8 weeks, off load and transport to Dealers a week or two.

I think we're looking at late October earliest but more likely mid-November.

I'm trying to be realistic:(

Cheers
Oilman

Sadly I suspect you are right. B@stards! If it were not for the 2 facts a) There is nothing else I like for the money - or even more money b) They wouldnt give a sod, I'd cancel my order!

Ed,

If you've seen the car, you'll wait.

There's nothing quite like it. Although it's frustrating and I share your sentiments, what else would you buy at this late stage that is going to have the same appeal as the RX8.

Cheers
Oilman

Exactly oilman.

Since seeing it again at the preview in Henley and the Euro (albeit LHD) cars, plus the USA guys getting theirs and their tales, I'm waiting. INteresting turn around - wonder what the people who cancelled theirs would think now (Anyone lurking?)

Not lurking - monitoring :-)
 

Although not cancelled yet, its pretty much a done deal as I've gone off on another tangent and ordered a differnet vehicle.

For the record still thing the 8 looks great but really dont want an 8 to start to drive through the winter....

Hoping to test drive one in the US in the next month or so but will likely have cancelled by then. If I fall in love then I'll order one for the spring/summer as Mazda should have sorted out their supply chain by then.

More seriously when I do, I'd be happy to have my dealer contact anyone who wants moved up the queue if Mazda allow this - my EP is lower than anyones on the list....car is sunlight silver, with black leather and sunroof. If interested send me a private mail and I'll get back to you when I know whats possible.

Cheers

BK

Can we ask what tangent you have gone on? 4by4? People carrier?!