crabacle

Now that in the States they have been driving this for some weeks, has anybody check and got some decent figures for mpg? - I've seen anything from 18 t0 24?

Stu C

With our slightly lower bhp, euro spoilers and imperial gallons we will no doubt get slightly higher mpgs in theory. All should contribute a bit to increasing our figures. (remember the US gallon is about 7/8ths of our gallon so we should see an extra 1/7th minimum on top of their figures.)

Anyway, we'll see...

Stu C

mac

There is a thread (link) in the Canada forum where users are posting their results on an on-going basis.

I believe that there are couple throughout the US forums but remember not mix up the numbers since in Canada it's either posted in L/100 Km or miles per gallon (imperial) that is while the US uses US gallons.

crabacle

Thanks Mac,

Had a quick look - seems to be low - only saving grace is that they all seem to be really screwing it - only time will tell

mac

Yes, there are only 2 who are reporting below 12 L/100 km. Both have the GS model (no traction controla or DCS). There is a thread from someone in the US who has been driving with DCS and TCS completely off which supposedly significantly improved his fuel consumption. There are several owners currently trying to replicate his findings. If this is proven to be true, it's both a good thing and a bad thing. Good because you can get the forcasted fuel consumption but at the cost of loss of the safety features. We will know within the next few days.

FYI, I still don't have mine but should be picking it up on Wednesday.:D

specman

lets do some basic sums for the UK market:
You are used to 30mpg over 15000 per annum.
Thats 500 UK gallons.
Thats 500x£3.40=£1700 per annum on petrol.

Your new RX8 gets lets say the 25mpg suggested UK figure
Thats 600 UK gallons
Thats 600x£3.40=£2040 per annum on petrol.
So over three years you spend £340x3=£1020 extra on petrol compared to what you are used to.

Yet the car costed approximately £4000 less than its nearest rival.
End result is you are still £3000 better off than buying a dearer car that gives the same features...oh and no suicide doors.

I reckon that for the RX8 to be not competitively costed overall over three years the fuel consumption would have to be so bad it would swallow up the difference between the RX8 and its nearest rival.

So based on these estimated figures the mpg would have to be below 17mpg before the RX8 becomes uneconomic over 3yrs and 45000 miles when considering the nearest competitors car is costing £4000 more.

Forgot to say I am personally used to 22mpg so anything can surely match that!!!!!!!

Titanium Grey

Yep, same here 22.4 MPG.

I'm hoping for similar, if not improved, economy coupled with better performance.

Don't think I'll be dissapointed.

RobDickinson

By far the biggest cost of buying a new car is the depreciation.

That'll possibly be far more than any increased petrol costs.

Hopefully it wont depreciate to much tho

specman

depreciation nightmares:

Try this. This is the sort of car I will buy if the RX8 turns out to be a pig in a poke.

March 2002 745 well specced up at Damon Hill BMW.
List price when new approx £64000
On sale with 19k on odometer at £32950.
A 50% loss in 18 months............

RobDickinson

yeah, their new designer realy screwed that up, no one likes its looks, amazing bit of motor engineering.

In for a revamp/restyle to try help sales... but the 3,5,z4 etc all have same 'flame' type doodahs.

specman

revamp has started production 01/09/2003.
No dealer will openly admit to it as they are sworn to secrecy. However I have four different dealer confirmations.
The used price will plummit BIG TIME come first deliveries in November 2003 of the "rearranged car."
A record turnaround:
launch the car February 2002
restyled and on sale with 21 months.
It wont do their reputation any good.

They are trying real hard to shift the old stock.
Scottish Daily Mail 6th September 2003:
Contract hire 7 series @ £549 per month

Contract hire an Audi A8 for £799 per month.

Just shows how bad they are doing when new.
Would love to see a glasses guide on them right now.

labrat

I posted my results of this morning on other threads. I got 10.2L/100km after a mix of suburban and highway driving, about 23miles per US gallon. Under similar conditions in my old Celica I would have got under 8L/100km, however in the case of the RX-8 we're talking about a real car! Premium petrol in Oz (Queensland)is about AUD 0.85/L or say 34p/L.

garygfx

Why "suicide" doors? Is that because there's no way of opening them if you're in the back and the people in the front are unconcious after an accident???

RobDickinson

2 reasons, if opened while moving airflow catches the door and pull sit open, usualy with the passenger.

2nd - if opened whilst stationary and the door gets hit by anothr car coming past, unline normal doors, the doro is pushed into the car, right into you trying to get out.

As for accidents, no different to any of the 3 dor cars now on sale.

ZASKAR-RX8

I think there is something under the seat which it you can open the rear doors althouth the front are closed.

RX-Late

No, because when they were installed on far earlier cars they had a habit of opening when least expected and they were considered dangerous!

ZASKAR-RX8

Thanks for the information :D

garygfx

A handy side ejector seat if the driver had rear door release controls! Seriously, it looked to me that the back doors can only come open if the front ones are opened first.

Depends on which side of the road you're parked on. It could happen to normal doors too, but I guess most of the time you're parked on the correct side of the road.

RX-Late

[QUOTE]Originally posted by garygfx
Seriously, it looked to me that the back doors can only come open if the front ones are opened first.
QUOTE]

This is true with the RX8 but not with earlier cars which such doors - hence the name.

garygfx

Ah, I see. A bad name is hard to shake! Luckily the motor press aren't calling them suicide doors (from what I've read) otherwise I'm sure the take-up amoung regular punters would be pretty low! Wives everywhere would be laying down the law to their poor hubbies! Thanks everyone.

druck

I've not seen one article that didn't describe them as suicide doors! Most don't even explain where the term comes from, but at least nearlly all mention the safety feature that they cant be opened independantly of the fronts.

Cheers
---Dave