I noticed the (front!) windscreen demist button on my test drive. Pressed it and althought it obligingly lit up, nothing happened. On my BMW this would have resulted in all the vents closing, except the windscreen ones and the blower fan cranking up to full speed to clear the window.

Does the RX8 have an electric element front demist (as per some Fords) or was it just not working!?

 

.....depends on whether auto was selected on the rest of the aircon will depend on the vents blowing.

 

mines seems to work ok mate, not sure how it works I think it's just a blower system. No fancy climate comfort windscreen like in my last BM but it still does the job and at half the price! :-)

 

Cheers guys.

The fact that the button is situated right beside the rear screen heater made me assume that it was a just a matter of pushing it and off it would go.

No big deal really, just curious!

 

I just push mine and it goes. no closing vents n stuff, but it works ok.

Having said that I'm still getting the hang of the aircon etc.

Had a heated front screen in the focus, nice and quick, but the wires blured stuff, especialy lights at night.

 

Dealer told me it redirects the air to the windscreen. No integrated demister wires like Fords (probably a good thing!).

 

If auto is off, it directs the air to the screen, but you need to wind up the fan speed with the left dial. If you select auto, it turns the fan up itself, as needed.

Auto is great. Even though it wasn't that warm outsise when I got in at lunchtime, the inside of the car had warmed up in the sunshine (first time I've seen the mica paint in sunlight - FABULOUS). With auto on, I get a quick blast of cold air, just enough to cool the interior down, then it goes back to minimum fan speed and moderate temperature - cool

The only thing about auto is the A/C light stays on most of the time, which if you are used to older cars shouts fuel/power sucking and makes you want to turn it off. But I assume most of the time in the current weather it wont actually be running the compressor.

I used the heated seats this morning which was a nice feeling. It wasn't that cold so the car quickly warmed up, but I can see it will make it much more pleasent in those initial minutes when it gets really cold. It will probably wont be until then that the actual heater matrix has to be used and the auto heater in transmission tunnel next to the footwell isn't sufficent!

Cheers
---Dave

 

An Audi TT I drove had three settings with their heated seats...good as they can get too hot on the highest setting. The RX has only one setting...is it enough..?

 

I'll let you know after the first hard frost. At the moment I just turn them on for about a minute until they are nice and warm, by which time the car has also warmed up. After that I switch off as otherwise it would be a bit too hot.

The footwell and forward vent setting is really good. Warm air to the feet and cool air to the face. Absolutely ideal.

Cheers
---Dave

 

Yeah, thats great, I cnt stand hot air at my face, to stuffy, but the way the RX-8 is setup to split between foot/face is great.

My windscreen took an age to clear this morning, compared to the focus's electric heated one.

 

Heated seats...... I'd rather have cooled seats for the summer. In my last car I found the leather seats nearly as leathal as good ol' fashioned vinyl in the sunshine!

 

Get one of those silver sunshades, they do work. As long as direct sunlight is kept off the seats, they wont warm up. The air con will quickly get the air temp down, and there will be no problem.

What I do miss from the old car is a rear wiper, as I keep forgetting to wipe off the rear screen before backing out in the morning.

Cheers
---Dave

 

Everytime I get into the car in the morning I search in vain for a rear wiper control. Have to try a cloth somewhere for wiping.