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Sorry, Autocar again ..

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Old 08-27-2003, 02:49 AM
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The thing is, it's an apples and oranges comparison anyway.

How can they compare the MX5 to the RX8 and complain that the RX8 lacks power when it's clearly more powerful than any 5?

I haven't read the article and don't plan to, but it seems like they're struggling to do proper comparative work and are simply judging each car as they see it.
I wouldn't expect a balanced piece from them and it appears I wouldn't have received one had I chosen to pick up a copy.
Old 08-27-2003, 03:00 AM
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I had a quick flick through the mag at the petrol station this morning, and i believe that the Porsche GT3 actually won, not the MX5.

The brief part i managed to find relating to the RX-8 was something to the effect:

'the RX-8 was easily the most beguiling car of the day, soft suspension should have ruled it out, but it handled superb, had a sweet chassis, and was fast'. (NOT BY ANY MEANS WORD FOR WORD!)

It did say that it was only let down by a lack of torque. But to get the best out of the car you needed to rev the **** of it, brake late and trust the superb chasis. The lap time was kind of dissapointing next to the competition, i think the mx-5 was just as quick if not quicker.

They had a fairly wide selection of drivers/reviewers for the cars, 6 in all, so it SHOULD be an impartial review.
Old 08-27-2003, 03:49 AM
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Alright, I havent seen the article (how could I ? I'm in Bruxelles :D), but so far I'm guessing there is a RX8, a MX5 and a GT3 in there, right ?

So, the GT3 should have blown the competition away (judging by lap times), while the MX5 and the RX8 are very close (again, in lap times). But, since you can buy about 15 MX5s for the price of one GT3, I'm also guessing that this is why the MX5 won....

The RX8 is claimed to be "lacking in power", because it needs to be above 4K all the time in order to be competitive, but so is the GT3. However the GT3 produces odles of power down low (compared to the MX5 or the RX8), so it has the edge there as well).

So, cannt say I'm surprised by this outcome. If the test had an Elise or a Speedster (or even a S2K), then these would easily win (based on the criteria that I mentioned). Its only logical.......
Old 08-27-2003, 03:58 AM
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Not sure, but I think the test covered a lot of cars, and for some reason the MX5 won, ove anything else.

Price/performance I guess, although I dont see how it can beat an Elise?
Old 08-27-2003, 04:09 AM
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Originally posted by RobDickinson
Not sure, but I think the test covered a lot of cars, and for some reason the MX5 won, ove anything else.

Price/performance I guess, although I dont see how it can beat an Elise?
So there was an Elise in there ? Remember, I havent seen the article, I'm only guestimating here.....
Old 08-27-2003, 04:13 AM
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lol, - I'm only guessing too, I thought the MX5 won, but aparently not...

Its odd what a track will through up though - juts look at TopGears track times, with the mix of cars, prices and times they get there.
Old 08-27-2003, 04:58 AM
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they had about 20 cars!

TVR 350, Pagani Zonda, Lambo, Caterham, Elise, RS Focus, Clio Sport, all sorts.

They were broken down into category (price+power) and the Z4 won the category that the 8 was in i think. MX-5 won it's category though. Zonda was the fastest i think, 1min 2 secs (RX8 around 1min 29, Z4 1 min 26).

I unfortunately do not possess a photographic memory, so apologise for any errors!

someone post a scan!
Old 08-27-2003, 07:53 AM
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Have Just read it. Can you believe they put it into a group of 2 seater track cars? eg Caterham, Elise, VX. Ok not all track rockets, the MX5 and Z4 were in it too. Not exactly a fair comparison.
To be fair their write-up wasnt too bad, and time-wise it beat the 206Gti 180, The S60R, and got very close to the Clio V6!
Anyway, didnt buy it, not worth £2.50-odd for a comic you can read in 2 minutes.

JH
Old 09-03-2003, 04:07 AM
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Why is this such a dead thread?

Just because the 8 was rather embrassing in the shoot out??

Come guys, let face the music, whether it's good or bad.

The test was put into diff categories, hatches, super and sports.

The 8 was in the sports which faces a lot of fierce competitions. I'm quite sad to see that the 8 was doing the worst lap time, as compared to half the cars which had less hp than the 8 itself.

Kudos to MX5, they have done it yet again.
Old 09-03-2003, 04:13 AM
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I thought it was quite a dissapointing review - although I only ficked through it this morning at the garage. I don't think it shows the RX8 in its best light at all.
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