oilman

I must be the luckiest guy on the planet. I drove a silver hi-power RX8 for 1 and 1/2 hours today!

At last and WOW what a car!

No point giving chapter and verse but there were some great moments for me.

We set off onto the A30, a dual carriageway and decided to give it some welly up the filter lane, a slight incline I changed out of 2nd at 66mph and out of 3rd at 90mph both occasions after hearing the warning gong. I bottled it at 110mph in 4th due to rapidly approaching speed cameras! This car goes and really 5/6th are economy only gears.

I was surprised at just how smooth the power delivery was and just how much more there always seemed to be. It will pull away from almost standstill in 4th as I found out by accident! Truly awesome range in the gears.

From the dual carriageway we did 30 miles of good old Cornish twisties including 3 hairpins. The car is so stable and surefooted. It was dry but, I couldn't get the DSC light to come on even when I dropped a couple of gears and floored it out of a couple of sharp corners it just went where I pointed it without any sign of getting out of shape.

I found so many positive attributes to this car and it's truly a drivers car if you're prepared to paddle the gearbox which is short and precise.
What I found so enjoyable was that the car in 3rd or 4th at 2000/3000 revs is so benign and for those days when I'm not feeling like Michael Schumacher it really is an easy car to drive. It wouldn't even scare the wife at low revs!

The engine is fabulous and what a noise.
Up until 6000 revs it sounds quite sedate but floor it and.........WOW a sound hard to describe other than a racing bike but with a growl to it. I was so captivated by the noise I didn't turn the CD on, just found myself dropping a cog or two to hear it over and over. TRULY AWESOME!

The rest of the package was just fine for me, space, doors, fit and finish all good and no complaints.

Well, that's it apart from the pic of a very happy Oilman. Those that are cancelling go ahead but, you're making a big mistake. This car was and is worth the wait. Mazda have a winner and they know it, SO DO I.

Cheers
Oilman

oilman

A very happy Oilman

Stu C

It's great to see such a positive outlook. I loved the car for the same reasons and more, and I agree, not getting one will be a mistake!

The engine really rocks, the suspension is fabulous, the comfort level is great, and all the small bits and pieces make the package.

:D

Stu C

Lensman

Bravo!
Amazing to think we're into the final six weeks isn't it. To actually drive away in my car will be one of the most surreal experiences of my life (and I've had a few). Oilman: you look nothing like I expected.

goodyrx8

Congradulations Oilman. Sounds like some nice roads.

MarkW

Told you so! I never doubted for a minute that you would love it, sounds like a great drive

AnilS

Oilman, 1.5 hour test drive!!!!! How comfy did you feel after such a long drive ?


AnilS

Murphy

"No point giving chapter and verse"

Yes there is! We want more! Tell us more! :D

druck

Oilman, if I was some crude teenager, I'd probably make some comment about spoiling my underwear after reading a review like that, but I wont, your grin says it all!

My memories of Cornwall from holidays as kid was endless miles of single track road with high hedgerows, so I'm gald you found somewhere to open her up. If it wasn't now going to be the middle of winter before we get the car I was considering a little trip from Lands End to John-O-Groats to break mine in, but I'm sure I'll take a spin down there at some point. Get ready to say snap.

I still haven't heard the sound of the car, will someone please take along a mini disc recorder on a test drive.

Cheers
---Dave

zoom44

well you know i get to drive one every day as long as i want(well at least until the mrs. expects me home)

truly wonderful that you had such a test drive oilman! the grin in the pic says it all. congratulations. not long now :D

hairyfrog

Yet another great review that makes me think the pre-order was a good idea.... apart from I just read the canada forum where a guy is getting 20L/100km mileage. Now I don't know what that is in mpg, but I know it's TERRIBLE. Like articulated lorry terrible!

I really am in two minds at the mo on whether to cancel, see what happens when people get their cars, and pick one up in the spring....

brothervoodoo

Congrats on the test drive Oilman. I have been reading your posts for sometime on the forum well before they car ever hit the states. Good to hear you finally had a chance to sink your teeth into an 8 after all the waiting.

renegade_si

Well done sir!

Glad, but of course not overly surprised that you loved it.

What about the silver colour then :D

Typical you test drove a silver and I test drove a red with the leather interior.

I'm back everyone. We now have a son - Ben Jamie was born at 4:10am on Thursday morning. As I was up all weds night I didn't manage to get on until ... now!!!

Hoorah one boy and one girl - hopefully no more (!)

Si

rot8

Congratulations Si, but what do you mean "one boy and one girl - hopefully no more!" . Aren't you getting another baby delivered in November?

renegade_si

Rot8 - Already have a three year old girl!

And yes this is why I sold my Eunos to get the RX-8...

Kids taken less time to come than the car....

Ordered the car two weeks after we found my wife was pregnant.

c170673

Great review from the "great Oilman"

I have tried hard since my test drive (2 weeks ago) to remember exactly what the engine noise was like. All I can say that it was addictive and I cannot wait for the ??? Novemeber when I get hold of my car and can listen to the noise everyday.

Chris

RobDickinson

Gratz on the test drive oilman!

Seems even back of beyond (devon/cw) gets cars to test, yet the Northwest of England still cant sort it out.

rael

Good to hear your positive comments.

rael

oilman

Managed to blag another 20 minute test drive yesterday, up to nearly 2 hours now!

AWESOME, TOTALLY ADDICTED, so is my Dealer!

Cheers
Oilman

Wing

That's 11 MPG or 14 MPIG (imperial) That was / is me. I was getting 12-14L/100Km average then it got cold (4-10c) for a week and it dropped like a rock.

AndyPearce

14 MPIG!

That means I'd use almost 10 gallons a day!!!! With the current petrol prices at my local (72.9p litre) that works out at £32.45 a day in petrol - let's hope we can see much better MPG than that....

ChrisW

Were you mainly doing short journeys? I think most cars use lots of fuel when they are cold, and obviously with colder weather they take longer to warm up.

I used to get terrible mpg on a Ford Fiesta when I had a 5 mile commute, because half of my driving was with a cold engine.

Wing

Most of my trips are fairly short 20 min or so. But it doesn't take long for the engine to heat up, 3-5min max for full temp at 5 celcius.

This is a-typical though, during the summer I was getting 12-14L/100Km which is 18-20MPG. Highway best was 10.5L/100km.

ChrisW

The temperature dial measures coolant temperature, I think the engine itself takes a little longer to fully warm up (or at least I read this somewhere).

Also, this car has to meet some emissions regulations when cold, even before the cat has warmed up. I don't know how the ECU achieves this but it is probably not pretty and it will be running very inefficiently for the first few minutes.

I believe there is also a requirement that the cat must be up to full operating temperature within five minutes. It even has to do this if the car is sat idling, so it probably burns a lot more fuel than necessary even at idle for the first five minutes, just to heat up the cat.

All in all, I bet it could easily be burning fuel at double the normal rate until the engine warms up, especially if the start of your journey is slow town traffic. In cold weather it would spend much longer operating in this way, and thus have a bigger effect on your overall mileage figures.

I don't know if this would explain all of the deterioration in mileage you're seeing, but I bet it at least explains a big chunk of it.

Wing

Very possible, but even with that explaination and how logical it is and all it doesn't really excuse the fact that it is doing it.

I'm driving the same route the same way the same everything, but double the fuel consumption? I guess if you had a longer route it wouldn't be double, but still high.

That's the bad thing. Hey I'm not too worried about it anymore, if I get another 8, it will be a summer only car.