Ordered Mar 03, 5 speed, velocity Red, red / black leather.

Mazda letter said delivery December,

Then informed to port Dec 2nd, delivery to me 18th Dec approx.

Then delivery to port was put back to 5th December.

Ordered 5 speed due to prefering the leather seats to faster overall speed and accleration. The 5 speed is a lot faster than my previous Lexus IS200 sport anyway.

 

Went to my dealer yesterday for a delivery update - it has been brought forward from March 03 to 7th Jan 03. (red 5spd R/B leather)

Still hoping Father Xmas will bring it though:D

 

On the subject of Xenon headlights, I noticed that Halfords do replacement Xenon bulbs. Anyone know if these just replace standard headlight bulbs and if so , if they're any good?

 

Saw a black in County Mazda Cheltenham yesterday. Does look very good, the leather is very black, unlike the silver which really has grey leather. It looks like a car you might expect the devil himself to step out of.

Cheers
---Dave

 

Ricardo

If a car, such as the 5 speed RX8, has halogen bulbs as standard, it is only possible (without massive costs) to replace these these other halogen bulbs.

Some bulb manufacturers sell 'Zenon' replacements. These are halogen bulbs with a blue tint. Issue 773 of Auto Express (AE) had a review of halogen replacements and said that tinted lenses actually had less power than non-tinted equivalents.

Osram Silver and Philips Premium won the AE test. I bought some Osram Silver and went to repace them on my car - only to find out that they were exactly what was already fitted!!

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks for that Brooker. You've just saved me some future cash. I wasn't convinced, hence the question here to guys like you that have considerably more knowledge than I do.

I see you're from Chi, not too far away from me. I guess you've ordered from Nietimeber Mazda (If you've ordered that is, mine's coming from Solent Mazda in two l-o-n-g w-e-e-k-s from now)

Have you seen any non-demo 8s around the South coast yet, because I've not.

 

Ricardo

I've not ordered yet - am waiting to test a 5 speeder first. Not seen any RX8 in the area yet.

I did test drive a 6 speeder at Nyetimber Mazda in Bognor. Not too impressed with the dealership. The staff were nice enough, it just seems too small to cope with Mazda's current brand success. And with the Mazda 3 on it way, things will only get worse. May give the dealer near Horsham a try.

That said, the car itself was excellent!

Looking forward to your review when you get yours.

 

Hi Jacab81

I have some news for you from Belgium. The cars for Germany were some time ago unloaded at Antwerp from where they will be shipped (smaler ships) to Germany, amongst other countries from Western Europe.

Eric from the Netherlands quoted that trailers with RX8 have been seen around Sint-Niklaas in Belgium, making their way to France.

So I think that the cars are underway, perhaps even IN Germany. Try to check on Leverküsen.

My 5-speed will be at the dealer on 05.12.03, as I ordered one of the first cars a long time ago (27.01.2003).
Velocity red,red/black leather, sat. nav.,...


Patrick Belgium

 

i didnt know they made a 5-speed rx-8?? any other differences between 5-speed and 6speed?

 

In Euro spec, the 5 speed has:

Less BHP (approx 228 to 189)
Slightly more torque
Red lines at 7500 rpm instead of 9000rmp
Loses drilled alloy depals
Loses Xenon headlights
And of course has 5 speed gearbox instead of 6.

In UK it costs £2000 less at £20000.

 

Xenon

 

Engine wise its similar to your Auto RX-8, just with a 5 speen manual gearbox.

Looses some toys as stated above.

Looks like the RX-8 in 2005ish will get a 5 speed asuto/manual box like BMW's SMg or Audi's new TT box thingey - i.e. electric clutch rather than torque convertor.

 

Reminds me of something I read from a newspaper motoring journalist who described the 6-speed gearbox as "the motoring world's version of the amplifier that goes all the way up to eleven".

Mind you, the Xenon lights are really good.