Confused about which car to get...
 

Well, it has come down to it. the 350 Z(Ultra Yellow) vs the RX-8 AT(Ultra Yellow)

Tough choice. First off let me say that I prefer the exterior of the Z. I have not actually test driven it, just sat in it. Interior is nothing special. The RX-8, I love the way it looks. Just a tad below the Z. Truth be told, there ARE different shades of yellow, and I prefer the RX-8's yellow to the Z's yellow. I have never driven the RX-8(i will test drive it later this week).

I know this is an RX-8 forum, and many of you will prefer the RX-8(vice versa with my350z.com forums...) . But I wanted some viewpoints from both sides.

Things I'm assuming:

Z will turn more heads

Z has more power, but more difficult to handle

RX-8 seems like a smoother ride

RX-8 is 2+2, Z isn't.



Any advice?

You wont get a New RX8 in Yellow. They dont offer it anymore. I might be mistaken though.

Believe it or not, RX8's turn more heads than 350Z's do.

As for handling. I have driven both. Both haven been at high speed too. The RX8 glides at low & high speeds. The 350Z is bulky at low speeds & moves everywhere at high speeds.

Smoother ride, I would have to give that to the RX8.

It might seem like I am trying to talk you out of getting a 350Z, but I am not. I almost traded in my RX8 for a 350Z once. But I realized how much I needed 4 seats.

RX-8 might turn more heads cuz there's less of them around. Z's... you practically see everyday.
Z's are heavy but do get better gas mileage.
RX-8's handling is far above the Z's class.
Yeah, it is a smoother ride. 2+2 seats are great.
I personally never liked the styling of the rear end of a Z. But, that car is respectable. I don't think you could go wrong with either a RX-8 or a Z. What do you like better? No one else can answer that for you. ^^

If you're buying automatic, get the Z. The 8 is pathetic in auto form.

the 8 definately gets a lot of attention. see my thread here.

https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-multimedia-photo-gallery-6/why-i-love-rx-8-a-70861/

really, blueyes? that sucks.. i know how everyone talks about, "if you're gonna get a sports car, you better get a stick, its the only way to ride it!". but i dont know how to drive a stick, i just dont have the time to. and i sure as hell wont learn how to drive a stick from a brand new rx-8/z.

any more opinions? thanks for the replies so far everyone.

The Z turns more heads?

lol, not likely. there are so many on the road.

learn to drive, seriously. a good friend of mine learned how to drive stick on a 50k car (97 tt supra)

yeah everyday i do see tons of silver and black z's. but the z i want is ultra yellow. rarely do you see those.

Yeah, it has a less powerful engine. 197 vs 238 hp IIRC and a lowly 7500 rpm redline. It's slow as molases. You've got to learn stick sometime. Can't really do too much damage to a new car, unless you're incredibly terrible at it. I had a freind recently have a salesman teach him the basics before he took delivery of his car, they did it on a POS used car that was on the parking lot. I don't know if he was exceptionally nice, or my buddy paid, or what the deal was, but something to think about.

Kinda have to agree on this. It's really not that hard to learn stick. I learned it in couple hours on the weekend before I bought my 8. Parking will be harder in the beginning but you'll get use to it. Go to a parking lot & try it out for about a hour then go to a hill to learn how to drive on hills.

yeah that is a pretty big diff in horsepower. hmmm... i just remember driving my dad's 94 tercel. it was a stick. and i kept on messing up and the car engine just shut off everytime i did.

I'm making the same purchasing decision, and I drove both cars last weekend.

The interior of the Z is like a coffin. The interior of the 8 is roomy and it feels absolutely great behind the wheel.

I was hauling down SR 167 last Saturday afternoon with the Mazda salesmen at 85 MPH following a couple of dueling WRX STI / Mutsubishi rice rockets. I forgot how much fun you can have in a true sports car.

I tend to think the Z is probably more reliable, but I have no proof of that. From last weekend, my gut tells me to buy the RX.

HEY!!! I learned how to drive a stick on a new 8!! I also learned how to drive a stick pretty much from this very forum. It worked out great BTW. Only takes a couple of hours, the same amount of time you might spend eating at a resturant. The 8 is a great car to learn how to drive a stick, and the stick is is very forgiving. By the sound of it, you're buying a 04 RX-8 versus a 05 350Z and I dunno if you're buying a leftover or used, but a manual is the only way you can get the most bang for your buck period.

Yea, don't go for an automatic 8, unless you don't care about the power difference. A manual rx8 would be much more fun.

To reiterate...

Yellow RX8's were model year 2004 only. So unless you are talking about used cars there's not much chance of getting a yellow 8.

RX8's turn more heads. Around here there are 350z's every 100 feet. No need to turn your head, there's always one right next to you.

If you only drive an at and you only want an at, wait for the 2006 model year. The RX8 at is going to be 212 hp and 6 speed. Don't even look at auto until then. Numerous at 8 owners have traded for mt, never the other way around.

My buddy has a 350z and loves to drive my 8. So does my buddy with a heavily modded C5.

Test drive both. Unless your other car is some sort of supercar, you will love the 8.

I was completely new to the stick shift when I bought mine a few weeks ago. In two days, you'll understand how to ride it. In four, you'll be able to take it anywhere you want as long as you practice a little bit each day.

Taking the time out, on a weekend perhaps, to learn a stick is more than worth it. Even if it's brand new, it can handle a few stalls here and there, just as long you don't stall it consistently for a long period of time. And, I've heard the RX8 is easier to grasp than most other cars.

And then there's more horsepower. Get stick.

P.S: The RX8 will exponentially turn more heads than a Z, guaranteed :p , and 4 seats with suicide doors always come in handy.

REGARDLESS of which car you get: learning to drive a stick is a present you give yourself for the rest of your life.

And it's not that hard. Get a friend who knows it to teach you. In an hour, you'll be able to do it. In two weeks of doing it everyday, you'll be pretty comfortable with it.

Stick. Kicks. Ass.

Krankor
05 Shinka 6MT

It's just a matter of what you like, ultimately you will make that decision, because you will have to live with your purchase. I've driven three RX8's and two Z's, (one was a touring model and the other was a track model, and frankly I love the ride, refinement and build quality of the 8. Although I can live with the styling of the Z, I don't particulary love it...on the other hand, the styling of the 8 is absolutely gorgeous, but that's my opinion. In my area of the country there are many Z's and G35 coupes, but RX8's are not seen that often, so there is a sense of exclusivity. The thing I didn't like about the Z besides it's crappy interior was the engine. Although the engine was torquey and powerful, it sounded like a tractor at high RPM's whereas the 8's rotary sounded like a ultra fine singer sewing machine. To drive the Z (especially the track model) was like arm wrestling...I just got tired and also I felt every crevice in the street. Although it's not a big car, it felt harder to handle vs. the 8. It's like the Z looked for a fight whereas the 8 is like..."whatever". The 8 was civil, but taught. I'm just biased though...I've had an RX7 and my oldest brother has had two 7's. It's hard for me to wait to purchase an '06, but "good things come to those"........well you finish the sentence.

I was facing the same delima..........
 

Hello everyone, I'm new to the forum but certainly not new to the RX family. I have been in the automobile industry for 20+ years, I have owned nearly every sports car under 40k there is to own, Supra turbos & non-turbos, IROC Z, 280Z, 300Z, Integra GSR, etc. I have owned 7 count them 7 RX7's 1-79, 3-80's, 1- 81, 1-86 & 1-93 Turbo. I am currently a Porsche Sales Professional in KY. I just purchased a 2005 RX8 3 weeks ago after much debate, drove a 350Z, hated it, cheapest car on the inside I have ever seen in that price range, wasn't much fun to drive either, great exterior, poor everything else, drive Boxsters & Carrera's every day, too expensive, drove Mini Cooper S, hated it, drove S 2000, in my opinion the most overrated car on the market & I might add very dangerous at high speed, RX8 for the money is nothing short of amazing. You could easily spend twice the money and get half the performance. Sure it has some quirky stuff, but all in all you should be thanking your lucky stars you own one. Of course this is just one guys opinion, but if there is one thing I know for sure owning an RX8 is a true pleasure.........

At 80+ speeds the rx8 feels like your flying low. An experience that I love and that the Z will never duplicate.

just bought my yellow 8 in march 05 - leftover on the lot - and it was hard to find back then. there are used yellows out there however. Anyway, i had narrowed my search down to 2 cars - the 350z and the 8 - and I too was looking at yellow in both. I ended up with the 8 for several reasons:

first, it's my daily driver and I wanted more than a 2-seater. that was the biggest factor.

second, lots of tire issues with the z - run over to edmunds.com and check out those forums. some z owners are buying tires every 10K miles and lots of other probs that nissan does not seem to be taking care of. too costly for me.

last, for the deal i got on the leftover 04 8, I could get a lot more bang for my buck. to stay in the same price range, i had to let go of a lot of options on the z. i think there are more rebates and incentives on the z now than there were when I was shopping.

I do strongly suggest that you learn to drive a stick and get the mt if you go with the 8. If you are set on an auto, you may be better off with the z.

my opinion so stated!!

How old are you purple? By the sounds of your posts you sound very young, but I could be off.

If you are new to driving in general neither of these cars will be a great choice, although if you have to pick one then the rx8 would be a lot more friendlier and safer.

The 04-05 RX8 auto's are awful as far as straight line performance goes, you would get trumped by lots of cars out there from a dig. Of course, to some people that doens't matter because street racing is silly, around a track the difference wouldn't be that big.

The 06 rx8 is going to have a 6 speed AT which might be a bit better. Still wont be anything special from 0, but should have a nice boost in performance. The problem with mating the rx8 with a AT is that the rx8's have no low end torque which means dad's minivan could eat you alive.

I would highly HIGHLY HIGHLY suggest getting either of the car in MT form. It wont take you more then a day to learn to drive stick, take your car to the parking lot and give it a go. The most important thing about learning to drive stick is to remember you can get the car moving in 1st gear without even using the gas, it's all about learning to control your left foot.

The way i teach people how to drive stick is take them to a lot and have them practice getting the car moving without gas. No gas at all, reason for that is n00b's tend to give a lot of gas and a little clutch and end up burning the clutch, that's no good. You'll get it quick... it's worth it. Either that or buy a junk car with a MT learn on it, then get the rx8 or 350z.

But if you're young like i said, neither of these machines are really a good choice, lots of power...

Why....do you type.....like this?? It's incredbly.....annoying.....and it makes me doubt you have.....graduated from highschool, owned a single car.....(let alone 7 rx7's)......or even have a job............................................... .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. ..................................

Who asked you anyway..........
 

First of all I shouldn't even reply to such nonsense as your post, secondly I thought this forum was for offering opinions on cars not personal attacks....you can go to a chat room for that sort of childish behavior. I assure you everything I post is factual. You might want to consider spell checking your post prior to posting them....makes you look pretty uneducated not being able to spell. Last but not least, its assholes like you that keep knowledgeable people like me out of forums like this....................keep your coments to your self asswipe.

Mark I think it was a bit more light hearted then you read it. But maybe it wasn't. However i'll jump on the bandwagon and say that the ...... is a little on the goofy side, maybe it's a uk thing :p

I'm sure everything you post is factual. I'm just saying you look like a 13 year old girl text messaging her boyfreind when you type like that. It's clear from this post you understand how to form proper sentences and paragraphs, so keep it up. It's a lot easier and far less annoying to read.

UK stands for The University of Kentucky where I received my Masters degree in Mass Communications, not United Kingdom. It sickens me to think it should matter where I'm from to be a car enthusiast. I thought I had found a forum where I could share my 20 years of automobile experience and maybe, just maybe help some other enthusiast make informed decisions when it comes to purchasing their cars, I guess I was wrong.

Best advice I can give you go out and test drive them back to back, and drive them like you would normally drive a car and see which one you like better. Both are respectable cars and have their pro's and con's; I would highly recommend showing up to one of your local meets and get to talk to some of the owners.

Not wrong at all. Feel free to share your experiences, welcome aboard. It's always nice to have new faces, and opinions. Just don't type like a school girl using instant messaging. It's obnoxious.

I like both the 350Z and RX-8, just like the 8 a little bit more. There are tons of threads on this 8 vs. Z topic (search button). The cars are pretty close in MT form, but if you must get the AT, I'd certainly say get the AT 350Z.

Or wait for an '06 RX-8, as it will have a new 6spd AT and a bump in power to 212 hp. But it will still be slower vs. the MT RX-8 (238 hp) or the AT 350Z. I'd also wait for a '06 350Z for that matter, as all Z's will get the 300hp engine of this years 35th anniversary model. '06 Z's also get a slight face lift and updated interior.

Regarding the yellows, I actually like the Z's ultra yellow a little better than the RX-8's lightning yellow. Ultra yellow is a darker, almost mango like color with mica pearl (metallic?) flakes. The RX-8's yellow is more like a Ferrari fly yellow. However, yellow is no longer offered on the RX-8 for '05s and '06s. The '05 was the first year of yellow for the Z, not sure if it will still be around for '06.

Holy hell it was a joke, damn someone is really really sensitive!

For the record, *I * claim the right to separate thoughts with ellipsis here whenever I wish. Not that I have a burning desire to do so, but there's nothing wrong with it. Flaming someone for form rather than content is petty and counterproductive. Look at how this thread has gotten cluttered with cruft because of it.

Krankor
05 Shinka 6MT

You're welcome to seperate every word with ellipsis if you like. I won't read what you have to say, and neither will others. It's really not that hard yo type legibly. I don't care if you don't capitalize, spell correctly, just don't go out of your way to make it hard to follow. Really, read what he said again, it's a nightmare. As far as this thread, there are a million other 8 vs Z threads on this site.

EDIT: I see he fixed his formatting. Thanks!

a Z doesn't turn more heads, i'm still the only blue 8 in my town... hopefully it'll stay that way. but there has to be atleast 2 Z's of every color. i test drove the Z before i got the 8 and i liked it, but as soon as i turned on the 8 i knew that this was the car for me...

I'm not at all sensitive, I've been in the car business for over 20 years, but when someone personally attacks my credibility, I feel compelled to respond. Enough said, end of discussion.

Damn, you seem to have had a fulfilling life of cars. You going to be driving the new Cayman anytime soon!?!? :D I'm jealous of you.

I'd say to go for the stick on either car. I prefer the RX8 just due to its functionality, but you absolutely have to have a stick or you'll probably end up kicking yourself over it. The 350Z is a beefier car, but not as well-rounded in so many aspects. In a stick, deciding between the two cars would be a pretty tough decision. However if, for whatever reason, you absolutely HAVE to purchase an auto, go with the 350 and don't look back.

Stick really isn't that hard, you can get help all over the internet (like here) and you'll wonder how you ever enjoyed driving an auto after you get it down pat.

Good luck with the hunt :)

Get the Z, trust me..... the last thing you want is an auto 8. With all the cars quirks and the lack of the auto's performance, you'll regret it.

Going to the Launch in November at Road Atlanta. Can't wait. We are sold out through April already.

lol
what if your mom have to drive the car...
because my mom is too "old" to drive a stick (thats what she said)
if I do get a RX-8, or any kind of car
it has to be a slushybox!
i feel sorry for myself... but is the auto 8 REALLY THAT BAD?

Yes, but for a youngin such as yourself that's probably a good thing...

thats true
i'm just happy that i can even get a car from my parents (of course i'll get a job and pay part of it, you have to earn it :) )