stryder

Dear members,
I've had some ideas bout the 8 for quite some time. Couple of questions.
1. How much lacking in pick up is the auto versus the manual?
2. Does the car feel draggy/heavy?
3. Fuel consumption, expected, so no worries!

Thanks in advance!!!

Cal

1. On paper, 5.9s vs 7.8s. In real life, depends on how much you want to drop crutch and spoil your transmission (for auto).
2. No! Unless you're used to Elise or something.
3. 7-8km/litre.

coupe07

1. the auto can manage 10secs flat from 0-100. Tried in spore. Manual is slightly more than 6secs. Also tried in spore.

2. Not heavy. But it doesnt feel like a "guni gong" either. Low end is slight sluggish for a sports car. However, still can edge out 80% of the cars on roads.

3. Has been touched on many times.

End of the day, u are paying for a "looker" sports car which no other cars can manage the kind of woos and wows and wahs. U compare rx8 to the the coupes/sports car, i'm sure this is the ultimate reason u come to find the rx8club forum, rite? Other factors should juz be secondary.....

CoupeM

erm...when u sae 6plus sec for manual is which version ar? PI or MM? MM claim is 6.4 rite? I know figures are not everything but curious....kekeke

coupe07

MM model. in fact i believe the 5MT can do the same too, provided the launch is good.

6.4sec is not impossible, but its difficult. well, can be done one.....

Rotor Kreuzer

I presume this is because the PI ones are JDMs? Or am I mistaken?

stryder

Dear members,
Again thanks, preciate the answers! Was at MM and PI this morning. Comparing first hand the auto vs the manual, they are so diff. MM offers 18" rims etc...The good salesman told me auto is not that suitable due to local climate humidity that can overheat the auto transmission as it has one oil or so I remember while the manual has two, ...wenkel engine stuffs. Anyways, a little torn in between now, didnt test drive any, not allowed
1. Is the sunroof on the manual quiet or rattling?
2. Surely the manual is torqueky all the way, I bet my *** on that!
3. Is running on 18" low profile noisy?
4. Fellas, anyway I can join ur meet-up? Fancy having a better look!!!

Cheers!

sqflyer

Cal, where did you see 5.9s for manual and 7.8s for auto on paper? Those times are waaaay off for stock condition 8s in real life. As what Coupe07 posted, real life figures are closer to around 6+s for manual and 10s for auto. I have never seen a stock condition auto 8 break the 10s barrier.

CoupeM, MM published 7.1s unless they revised it.

Stryder, MM's offer is really quite decent. Yes, no doubt you will be paying more, but you also get more. It's NOT paying extra just because it's from MM but getting the same thing as what PIs offer. If this was the case, MM could never have muscled the PIs out of the 6MT market. To answer your new questions:
1. Quiet. I have never ever heard it rattling.
2. Not as torquey as you would expect. The Wankel actually puts out a lot less torque for the amount of HP it produces.
3. Tires are your best friend, even if they are a bit noisier. Anyway, the 8 wasn't designed to win awards for the quietest cabins. I hardly notice the tire noise... but then again, maybe I'm just having too much fun driving the 8 to be bothered with the noise.
4. In fact, you are highly encouraged to come to our meets before you decide to spend your hard earned money. But if you are spending someone else's money, then please go ahead and buy any car you like (and register it under my name... :p)

Cal

Bro Flyer, to your question:
From this forum?!? Do a search on 0-100 or 0-60 and you'll get many threads talking abt it, many of which are real life testing.
One example

To be objective, 100km/h is 62mph and people on the forum used 0-60 or 0-100 loosely depending on where they're from.

To get these good timings, you are required to do a drop clutch from 7000rpm (for manual) or brake launch (for auto). Either one isn't good for your car. If our 8 cost only S$35k like the those in America, I might be more tempted to verify it myself

As to why our testing locally indicates different timing from those in other countries? Well, it might be the humidity and temperature (which will degrade engine performance) or it might be the accuracy of the method of test. I am not the expert nor am I very keen to investigate. What I do know is that I have a gorgeous looking car with good handling and able to outrun 95% of the cars on the road between traffic lights if I wanted to. That's good enough for me

Back to poster,

Pse take what anyone says with a pinch of salt - us on the forum, or the agents from MM or PI. MM agents will tell you all sorts of bad things abt the PI and vice versa. Yes, PI cars have 16" rims which aren't nice... Change it to something you like after you get the car! If you think one cooler is not enough (most people think one is sufficient unless you want to go racing), add another one! These things cost in hundreds of dollars only (rim may be more... much more :P Ask NaughtyBoy abt his ) and is much less than the 20k difference in MM and PI cars.

My advice will still be - decide if you want an auto or manual and buy accordingly. Manual from MM and auto from PI. Simple enough

Good luck! :D

sqflyer

Cal, I was refering to "paper" as in officially published figures from Mazda. In any case, we can't really compare 0-60mph against 0-100kmh, and similarly figures from places with other climates (and cost of cars) aren't as realistic as local figures. We have done our own local testing and the figures are as what we've posted. For manuals, dropping clutch at 7000pm is not the problem, it's the wheelspin and associated sideslip that is hard to control and the speed of the gearshift too. For autos, brake launching does not help much simply because you can't raise the RPM beyond 2000+rpm (if I remember correctly) with the brakes engaged. Like I said, realistic figures for the auto is around 10s, no where near 7.8s unless FI'ed.

That being said, there is more to the 8 than just straight line power. It offers so much more in other areas to be enjoyed. We are just discussing figures for the purpose of answering stryder's question.

Emperor

I used to get about 10 - 11 sec with the EK3 civic. 130 HP with CVT auto trans. The 8 definately feels quicker than my old civic. And i got this figure without preloading or throwing the gear from N to D. So perhaps the auto 8 is slightly faster. Considering all factor, i think it may be somewhere in the 9 sec region.

Actual times will really vary, depends on tail-wind, humidity, air-temp, engine warm up or not, gradient of road, age of car, etc, etc.

It not about the car, its about the driver.

Then again why really bother about whose 0-100 times are quicker. Its the whole driving experience that counts.

sgrenesis

Its about 2500 to 3000rpm

sqflyer

sgrenesis, thanks for the reminder... I don't remember the actual rpm coz I'm usually not riding along during runs.

Emperor, you may may feel quicker but the timings don't lie. Auto 8s are consistently pulling 10s without doing torque converter killing maneuvers. For auto runs, it's pretty straightforward. The driver has little to do and does not affect the timing much unless he/she does a boo boo.

stryder

Fellas thanks a heap. Is there a specific MEET-UPS threads you folks have for me to refer to. And who is my contact person? Any kind soul willing to assist?
Cheers

Cal

The last I checked, Mazda in US and UK does not publish 0-100 or 0-60 figures officially. What one sees around are usually numbers tested by car review magazines. Also, the 7.1s posted by Mazda S'pore is worse than any testing results I've read. One interesting small print on Mazda S'pore website is "*specifications may vary from actual vehicle"... Doh, that doesn't give me much confidence at all

Also, since there're no "paper" auto RX8 0-100 figures from Mazda S'pore, we have to use car review ones of both manual & auto for an apple-to-apple comparison. Make sense, right?

I recall 7.8s was gotten from a review which tested the stock version. Still trying to find that link. That figure will certainly involve potentially torque converter destroying launches since the tester won't give a damn abt the car. Some auto owners also posted times of 8+ sec using brake launches, and from their prior posts, I do not think they're just bs-ing (with a pinch of salt of course :P). Also, my own experience is that climbing from 0-3k rpm is the slowest part for an auto RX8. If the car is brake launched at 2500 rpm, I believe the timing would be significantly better than that tested without.

Agree

sqflyer

Cal, like I have said about the 3rd time now... Singapore auto 8 time is around 10s. It has been tried & tested MULTIPLE times on MULTIPLE vehicles, MULTIPLE drivers, MULTIPLE venues & MULTIPLE techniques. No need to doubt or question the different launch techniques because auto sprints are fairly straightforward. 10+s is already done with max brake launch, best gearshift rpms and even if the owner is willing to do a drop gear launch, it barely breaks the 10s at 9.999s as done by one of our more adventurous auto owner.

Coupe07, I think it may be time for another sprint session or GP outing since we have quite a few new members now who either have not attend one previously or who might be interested to put their 8's potential to the test. What's the consensus guys & girls?

Cal

Dear sqflyer, we all hear you... the first time round. NO one had, or is disputing that S'pore auto 8 owners have tested their cars and got 10s sprint time. However, that does not mean that the car is not capable of more in stock conditions. I hope no one is arrogant enough to think that just becos we cannot do so, means that no one else in the world can do so in our environment.

I'm do not want to turn this thread into a discussion abt 0-100 timing for auto RX8. I posted "On paper, 5.9s vs 7.8s. In real life, depends..." from what I read in reasonably credible car reviews and posts in the main forum. Those are very interested abt this topic can go read on the main forum and make your own judgement, with a pinch of salt of salt as required

This will be my last post on an already off-topic thread. Going off to enjoy my auto 8, crawling along slowly in a stop-go traffic along West Coast Road!

sqflyer

It's not a matter of being arrogant, it never was, so I hope you do not take it personally or make it personal. I do not think the stock auto 8 is capable of more in our environment and I base this on factual data. It's not MY personal opinion or a gut feeling, just purely on the numbers. It's just something that nobody has been able to do for as long as we have been doing sprint testing. If anyone can obtain a sprint time well below 10s in a stock auto 8 locally, I'm sure we would all love to see it and learn a thing or two. Stryer asked and we answered, so I don't see anything off-topic about this discussion, yet.

coupe07

No autos has ever clocked below 10s within our club, in our presence, in singapore. Of cos there are many factors which i shan go into...

To go below 10s for autos, seriously its not too possible here. The pickup is very disappointing. The auto guys can attest to that. It feels slow initially until a certain gear and certain rpm, that car starts to get alive. Dats y it may feel fast at certain point...

anyway, shall not go into much details..... dun worry abt off topic, i tink its a pretty healthy discussion.

As for GP session, of cos i on. Since when i not sporting one.......... do one before cannavaro flys back. At least he has something to dream about when he goes back. Get a good strength to go too. Anyway, 5 cars oso $x. 20 cars oso $x. u noe wat i mean hor. Think the rest of the few saturdays, u r pretty free hor??? We shall do one before our dear bro flys back to Aussie.

BlackEight

Hmmmm...I was juz wondering what would
Super charging do for the 8 Auto in terms of improving the timing.

But then again, there isn't an Supercharger built for the 8 Auto yet.
(in progress, yes)

Hmm then again I wonder whether the Blitz SC can be "modified" for 8 auto or is
there any gadget that can improve the pick up, for example air charger or the electric turbine mounted after the air filter that is suppose to work similar to F.I. gadgets.

I would lurv to see an auto hit below 9s.

RX8ster

I'm onz!!

sgrenesis

Actually there is a Sc that is available for the auto by blitz. One version is for manual and another is for auto.

In terms of power gains you are probably looking at about 40bhp.

stryder

Ok ok alright already folks, 5,6,7 9.99 secs century sprints. We all got the msg. Bottom line, I fancy meeting/ attending your meet ups if there;s one upcoming so that I can get a better look at the 8s without some salesmen bullshitting bout this bout that. I'd like to hear it from u folks. No one doubt the 8, but all cars have limitations and we all have to live with it. So while u own the 8, appreciate and be greatful the things that we have cause a lot of people dont have the luxury that we have. So lots of sugar and lots of cream, where can we all arrange for a meet up.

Love you fellas.

Stryder " Team titleist "

by the way, any golfers out here!!!!!

Emperor

The are pros and cons to each the MT and AT.

There are times when MT drivers wishs theirs is a AT (3 hour causeway jams) and AT drivers wishs theirs is a MT (slow lauches).

But whatever it is, we are all driving a great car.

lowrider

Stryder: I golf (low 90's on good days; low 100s on sucky days!) but not very well nowadays. (Not played a lot all of last year due to work.) Where do you normally play?