DrKillJoY

Confirmed: There will be no RX-8 at the Houston Auto Show.

That is the final word from the Mazda reps I spoke with today.


WE will have a RX-7 in the booth however... *sigh* I know it's not the same..

med_mx6

me =

did mazda give any reason why no rx-8? isn't houston one of the largest markets for cars?

i wonder what good a rx-7 does directly for the sales of the rx-8 ? ...

DrKillJoY

FWIW - the RX-7 at the show is a a full on outlaw drag-race car..(see www.rotarysc.com ) and really is just there as support for for the Houston RX-7 Club (we work the booth too, and help educate the visitors, since we all know salesmen know SQUAT!)..

BTW, if anyone is interested I still need some assistants for the show.

It also generates a huge amount of foot traffic through the booth... traffic that might not come over there since Mazda gets tucked away in the corner by Jaguar and Volvo...

eccles

Bummer ther'll be no RX-8 there, but will they at least have the color wall so we can see the available choices?

DrKillJoY

uhmmmmm.... <don't get me lying> I have no idea what support materials will be there..

DrKillJoY

per Cagiva :

I can confirm that in the past 15 minutes arrangements were made to expedite a Silver on Red manual trans from Irvine to Houston for the auto show.

Given no transport hassles the unit can be seen starting on Saturday. I understand that a great big thanks has to be given the Reliant Center Management for allowing a late arrival into the show!

I hear that this RX-8 is a special unit thus will be on a turntable and not on the floor open to the public.

Mazdaspeedgirl

which show, when, and what kind of assistance do you require?

DrKillJoY

Houston AutoShow.. I still have a couple of spots to fill to come out an talk about the RX-8 and rotary history etc..

call me at 281-989-1738 tomrrow for details

eccles

Can someone who has seen the Mazda display at the Houston show, confirm whether they have color samples available? I'm still tossing up whether it's worth the drive down there if we can't sit in the car and there's only one color on display (and not my chosen color).

Mazdaspeedgirl

Good question...Keith? What color(s) is(are) it(they)? :D

Mazdaspeedgirl

but still, to be able to see it in person!

DrKillJoY

The car is the sunlight silver color... (there is a limited edition Miata on display in Titanium however)

The interior is black with red seat inserts and side inserts.

No sunroof. It is a six speed car with no body cladding.. a very nice car indeed.

You can't "sit" in the car, however the view from the floor to the pedestal is about 4-6 feet max so you can get a VERY good view in...

i will be working the show Monday, Tues, Wednesday contact me for more details.

eccles

So no swatches or other examples of the other colors?

DrKillJoY

nope not really.... like i said there is a Miata that sports the same "titanium" paint... but that is it...

like I mentioned it was a HUGE stroke of luck for Mazda to take care of the Texas (Houston) boys and girls and get the car here in the first place.... the other RX-8 will be in Dallas in 2 months maybe they will have the whole road show there...

med_mx6

i went on saturday. the rx-8 was definitely the highlight... by that i mean there was definitely a steady stream of people in the mazda section and that whole portion of the exhibit hall. i suppose the availability of information on the rx-8 is somewhat limited (read: non-existent), but seeing it in person did make quite impression. it's not bloated like the 6. very svelte. looks great. it is on the top of my list (for 2005).

as far as the actual car on display, that sunlight silver is actually very blah to me... to me, it's the same silver that is on almost every other car. IMO, the titanium paint is much nicer. the turntable is elevated a few feet, so eye level (at my 5'9" ness) is right at the top/mid trunk. i couldn't get a good look at the top; i didn't even notice that there wasn't a sunroof! (d'oh!). i saw so many cars on turntables there, so i can't remember exactly, but i think the front & end of the car actually spins close enough to the edge that you could touch it. (i didn't though. ).

i thought mazda did a good job for opening weekend. they were busy. lots of 6's and miatas on the floor. a spicy orange MS Protege, couple of P5's, an MPV, the Tribute as well. i believe two trucks were there too.

overall, the auto show was very nice. if you want to really splurge, take a look at the Brabus display (for mercedes). wow. you could buy 6 rx-8's for the price of the converted sl500. the blonde working the lexus sc430 = :D . nissan had some nice displays and "product specialists" too. }) hahaha.

DrKillJoY

I was working the show.. and should have been able to asnwer many of your questions (if not I do have access to someone there who can)

The car on display has no sunroof.

There is a jacked up 4x4 truck and a normal truck the MPV and several Tributes.. the Black Flyin Miata , and the 2 special editions Miatas are there as well.

Of course the usual groupings of protege's the New Mazda 6s in (6 cyl and 4 cyl models) and the MAZDASPEED protege as mentioned.. yeah .. there was 800 HP RX-7 drag car there too...

as I noted before there is will be a lack of literature at the booth.. 1. there are no 2004 brochures yet...
2. the RX-8 was not intended to come to Houston. The unit we have is a special allocation made possible by the efforts of Mazda Gulf Coast in cooperation with Mazda North American Operations.

in other words they really are trying to take care of us
without alot of effort this car would have not made it to Houston at all.

DrKillJoY

Select Texas enthusiasts were gathered to have a close-up look at the new RX-8 and gauge feeback.

Since the car that came to Houston was not a typical "car-show-car" everyone had to take great car when entering and exiting the car. This meant shoes off, no rings or any buckles that could snap or rip the interior. Special thanks to Mazda NAO, and especially the Mazda Gulf Coast Region for making this special appearance happen!

Pics from the show : http://www.houston-rx7.net/events/2...oshow_feb_2003/

eccles

Busted link. Try this one.

DrKillJoY

DOH.. thanks.. damn that sucks

main link too -

http://www.houston-rx7.net/events/2003/

retrodog

*Moderator edit: Duplicate Post*

eccles

Folks with dialup accounts must really hate those huge pictures.