stickmantijuana

what's all the arguments about?

just turbo an rx8.

if u're worried about mpg and such, just drop an ls1 or ls7 to the either rx7 or rx8 chassy.

if u're into lightweight, 13b in a miata or ls7 in an rx7? well just a thought.

any above combination should smoke most cars mentioned and made.

ASH8

I think I have said it before...but from MAZDA I would like to see a very light weight MX-5/Miata with say a 12B RENESIS or even 13B.

The problem would be what effect would it have on existing MX-5 sales and RX-8 sales with another rotary engined car, we have not seen more than one rotary model for over 25 years now...so I don't like my new years wish!

Remember the RX-3,4 and 5.

brillo

You can make a safe , lightweight car that doesn't need super exotic materials.

The biggest issue with an aluminum frame other than cost, is its much harder to repair. A solution to that would be to make the frame from steel alloys and then bolt aluminum reinforcements where needed. Then, and this is key, everything that hangs of the frame is made of aluminum, doors, hood, body panels, subframe, etc...which essentially are things that are replacable.

they heaviest parts of the 8 are the doors, exhaust system, wheels/tires, PPF, and subframe, all of which could be lightened.

Umbra

I totally agree, it's all about weight. A sport coupe, much less a sports car, should NEVER be over 3000lbs. I don't particularly consider the RX8 light either.

Anyway the quickest way to drop some weight off production cars is to go with less stereo speakers and amps, and get rid of some of the sound deadening materials and creature comforts like carpet.

guy321

There's a new TT comin out with more power.

DaveCM203

My bad. I typed it too fast with out proof reading. I left off a 0 off the weight. Our numbers are still a little different, but as you said, it would also depend on the overall weights. I am not an engineer. I was just trying to recall what I have read a couple of times. Thanks for keeping me honest.

DaveCM203

I took a 97 NSX in on trade once and we did not give him any where near 50g for the car. In fact, it was only $17,500. I drove the car a few times. A couple of times for about 30 min. I was not that impressed with it. Of course, it had a lot more torque than my 8, but did not seem any quicker. To me, it did not realy handle better either, just rode a lot more stiff. On realy bumpy NC roads, it had some trouble copeing with them. The suspension was more for perfictly smooth roads. My wife gave me the go ahead to buy it. But did not after driving it for a while. I have always wanted one. Driving it got me over it.

mwc

I second your comment on wheels/tires. So many automakers, including Mazda, don't have the courage to stand up to the current fashion of putting large, bling wheels on their cars. Even the MX-5 Miata has suffered from this trend. There are always trade-offs (i.e. tire sidewall width), but you definitely pay a penalty when you put on large "wagon wheels" with all of the mass pushed out to the outer diameter of the wheel. That really increases the rotational inertia. Plus, you risk adding a lot of unsprung weight.

DaveCM203

I just hope it all ends soon like the other fads with wheels. Like when they pushed the wheels about a foot outside the wheel wells, wide rims with realy narrow tires, spinners. I knew it was getting out of hand when I saw a Civic with 20" rims on it. We should have the right to simply walk up to stupid people and just slap the @#$% out of them. It is funny when someone with 22's hit a pothole and damage the rim(s) because they did not have enough sidewall to protect it.

WhiteDealershipRice

That just comes to proove that you always get screwed when you trade in a car (at least when it comes to getting fair market value out of the car, it still is a LOT less of a hassle than trying to sell it onthe street to then buy another car)

What you fail to mention is what the car sold for when your Dealer turned arround and sold it (I'm pretty darn sure $34K to $37K since that is the KBB on it)
Unless the car was beat to hell- I doubt that was the case, since you were actually considering keeping the car yourself.

so you made a $20K profit on it (by the way, KBB trade in value puts it at $25K so basically you uversold whatever the poor guy bought by about $8k)

I trully hope the poor sap LOVES what he bought, since you basically fleeced him for $28K extra on the trade/purchase. (damn, that's about the price of a new RX-8) Or considering that a "service charge" that must have been the most pleasant/hassle free trade/ title/registration/ tags transaction in the history of mankind

TODreamer

Its actually shorter than a 911

DaveCM203

I was just the salesman. The managers at that dealership gave me the numbers to go by. We showed him $21,000 for his car. We basicly moved money from the one he was buying onto the trade to make him a bit happier (you nailed that one). We did have to send the car to an Acura dealership for A/C and to get checked out. (I was with a Toyota store at the time.) I do not know how much the car sold for. The Acura dealership bought it from us. The paint was worn, and once the A/C was fixed it was fine otherwise. The only reason the guy traded it was his wife pushing him to. He bought a Sequoia. Personaly I would have went with a cheaper SUV and kept the NSX. The NSX was paid for.

It does go to show you that you not only need to do your homework on the value of the car you are buying, but also know what your trade is worth. If he had done homework on the Sequoia, he would have known that we had a ton of markup. He got it from both ends.

WhiteDealershipRice

^^ Dave, I'm NOT Blaming you.
That is exactly how the game is played, And you can only go with what the management policy/numbers are at your dealership. Bottom line, you work for them, not the customer. (A lot of people fail to realize this- that is their downfall)

I am actually surprised the guy actually went ahead with that trade. You must have caught a crapload of flack during those negotiations.
And yes, if you haven't done your homework, stepping into the dealership is just begging to get fleeced.

murix

I have always been curious to how this plays out as well. Short of the power difference, how does the rest play out?

The Elise is not holding is value well on the used market and might turn into a good idea after all. Recently there was one here locally for sale exactly how I want it for $32k. That was tempting.