Meet in Colorado?
 

If you're interested in having an RX-8 meet here in Colorado, stand up and be counted here! Please list potential dates you could do it. I'm thinking Denver or Longmont as the most central location...

I could meet most weekends and locations. Ft. Collins is closer to WY members and Golden could be an alternative for Denver. I know some good places there so am biased ;) I have thought about rejoining the local Miata club but my feelings are we need a rotary club.

Agreed! So now there is 3 of us interested... you, me, and doccable.

I think the easiest thing to do, eventually, will be to pick a date at random (weekend, of course) then all meet in Longmont at some predetermined location and time. Once everyone is there, we can have a nice *leisurely* (in deference to the winter) drive, um, maybe up to Estes Park via highway 36? Once to our destination we'll go to some restaurant and have lunch. After lunch, we'll all admire each other's cars, then head our separate ways.

What do you think? Be kinda cool to caravan a string of '8s up to Estes.

Anyone else interested???

I'm in Aurora although most of my time is either at work or spending family time since we have a 2 month old. :)

We actually got our first fender bender last night. My wife's cousin was in town with her family who had never seen snow before. They ran into the back of our 2001 Tribute at a stoplight. I feathered my brakes to stop before an intersection with a little bit of sliding. Since they didn't have any experience in snow, their rental car's brakes just locked up and they slid into the back of us. Fortunately everybody was ok. The Tribute took a little damage to the bumper mainly but the rental car was a bit messed up.

Be careful on the roads guys.

Brian

Yah, the roads suck, plus no one seems to know how to drive on the slick stuff. {"Slick roads? Must speed UP and drive MORE aggressively!"} Arg! Idiots! But I've been driving my Grand Cherokee, so it's less of a big deal in that than it would be in my RX-8...

I'm thinking maybe having the meet in the spring. At the rate of response (or lack thereof!) to the meet thus far from my fellow Colorado area members, it'll take at least 4 months before a half dozen people sign up! ;) Think you could get away for 1/2 a day by then Buger?

So far, it looks like the following people might be interested:
-Omicron
-Doccable
-JCC
-Buger (??)

Other people from the area who have not said they're interested, but may be...

Bolder8
Digisan
Jazzman
Serff
Icanrel-8

The last couple of guys don't yet have an '8, but as far as I'm concerned, they're welcome to join us. Agreed?

Sure, I'm down. I'll go for a ride along to make me want the car even more...;)

If you guys are still looking for good places to go on a drive, let me know. i have a bunch of friends who go on drives like this a lot so they know of good places. I love the drive out of golden up US 6 and last blackhawk/central city and up on 119 and down boulder canyon. that is a fun drive. let me know what you guys decide on.

serff

Ok, you're in. Our list now looks like:

-Omicron
-Doccable
-JCC
-Serff (ride along :) )
-Buger (??)

Anyone else? Anyone?.... anyone?... Buger?... anyone...? :D

I think for the first meet we should keep it simple and short to get more participation. If interest grows, and we all have more time to do this, then we'll expand to the longer drives. The way I've planned it so far we should be done in about 4 hours, including to and from the meet place, and thats short enough to make it easier for more people to come. Just my 2 cents, we'll see how it pans out.

meet?
 

Sorry...uh, I've been away in forgotten password land...

(having 2 little kids who tag-team hours awake crying at night ain't helping...):o :o zzzz

Yes! Count me in on a meet. I would love to be a part of any trip, but I, too, would prefer to spend no more than half a day, at first.

Thanks for including me, I'll help with gas or whatever for whoever is letting me ride along. I might as well get used to buying premium now.

Ok, you're in too. Our list now looks like:

-Omicron
-Doccable
-JCC
-Serff (ride along :) )
-Icanrel-8 (ride along :) )
-Buger (??)

Anyone else? Anyone?.... anyone?... Buger?... anyone...? :D

I'm sure I can escape for half a day one day in the spring. :) It would be cool to meet some of the RX-8 owners here since I don't have one yet. Maybe I can ride along with somebody also (and chip in for gas etc)? :)

Brian

Excellent, you're in too. Our list now looks like:

-Omicron
-Doccable
-JCC
-Serff (ride along :) )
-Icanrel-8 (ride along :) )
-Buger (ride along :) )

Anyone else? Anyone?.... anyone?...

ACTUALLY, can you guys do me a favor? Please keep an eye on the "Location" field of users out in the main forums, and drop me a PM or note here when you notice someone from Colorado or Wyoming. I figure NM is too far away for anyone to join us from there. Hopefully I can drum up some more interest by getting directly in touch with some of these folks... I mean, we've now got 3 RX-8s, 3 drivers, and 3 riders. We need a few more actual CARS, dontcha think? :)

Maybe you should wait till the weather gets a bit nicer? Could be a while... :(

D'oh! I forgot about you Digisan, and you and I were the first to start discussing this! Sorry about that!!!

So I gather you'll want to join us? Sure hope so...

Yes, the plan now (unless someone wants to disagree) is to go sometime during the spring - unless we get a batch of REALLY nice weather, and that's hard to plan for.

Our list now looks like:

-Omicron
-Digisan
-Doccable
-JCC
-Serff (ride along :) )
-Icanrel-8 (ride along :) )
-Buger (ride along :) )

Anyone else? Anyone?.... anyone?...

Ya know, now would be a good time to plan a Spring driving/looking-over-cars meet, especially for those who would need to make a trip from Wyoming or Co. Springs or the other side of the divide.

But don't wait until then to have the first meeting because of the weather. Pick some central-ish place like a Fridays or Dennys or such, where we can all meet for a meal on some weekend (in my experience, holidays will be hard to get everybody). That way, we can place faces to a name, and get to know each other much better than we can online, and not worry about the weather (unless the roads are so bad that we shouldn't drive unless we have to). I can tell you from experience, the best way to get a group started from scratch (whether it eventually becomes an officially legally organized club, or whether it remains an informal group of fellow enthusiasts), is to just start with a couple of simple get-togethers, even if only a few of us can make it the first couple of times.

---jps

Sounds like a good idea Sputnik. So I gather you'll be joining us too?

So let's do this... why don't we plan on an informal get together some weekend in early January? We'll plan the longer "drive to a restaurant" outing for sometime in spring.

Please cast your "vote" for what weekend works best for you in January (to get us past the holidays), as well as any you can NOT make for whatever reason. Choices are:

Jan 4-5
Jan 11-12 <= My first choice
Jan 18-99 <= I cannot make this one (my birthday is 1/16)
Jan 25-26 <= My second choice

Let us know what's good for you...

------------------------------
Current attendees are:
-Omicron
-Digisan
-Doccable
-JCC
-Serff (ride along :) )
-Icanrel-8 (ride along :) )
-Buger (ride along :) )
-Sputnik (ride along :) )
------------------------------

Weekend of January 17-18 Does not work for me, but at a point close to or before that, I'll probably have an 8 of my own. Oh, yeah!

Otherwise, I'm pretty flexible, so I'll just follow the posts...

Thanks to Omicron for putting all of this together. :)

I'm scheduled to work on Sun and Mon evenings but I can probably take a day off if a date is decided. I'll check at work tomorrow.

Brian

You're welcome :)

So it sounds like weekend 18-19 is out, that leaves...

Jan 4-5
Jan 11-12 <= My first choice
Jan 25-26 <= My second choice

Just about any date is good with me... I am thinking about con tacting the various dealerships in the area, and let them know about the forum, and ask that they pass the URL along to new owners. Maybe this will help!
-Doc

Damn good idea Doc!

Just my 2 cents.... I stumbled onto this forum searching about the vehicle. I wish the dealer had provided it to me, and I agree with Doccable's idea.

There could be one problem, though. Will dealers be able to stand the thought that potential buyers will be privy to each thread that discusses frankly the negatives, ie HP, oil, flooding, and gripes both legit and petty? And IkeWRX? Just kidding, man, I like hearing you rant...:D

It looks like a few dealer people are members and I thank them for being large enough to stay around to help clarify and bring us insider-type info on these issues. Overall, I get the impression that these folks are working hard on all of the 8's issues.

Cause if I didn't, not only would I NOT hang around the forum, I also wouldn't be about to go and plunk down 30 large on a newly brought to market vehicle. Heck, I once had a 1978 MGB. I've already had sexy car that broke down every week. BTDT

So, to any dealers that read this: the negatives may turn away some buyers, but if you don't care about the true quality of your product, and stand up about problems, you'll not only lose customers, you'll be taking back cars left and right under class-action lawsuits. Treat me like a grown-up, and I'll reward that with my loyalty and trust. Whew! bla, bla, bla...

P.s. Icanrel-8 just posted the 2 cents thing. I have no idea how I got logged on as Rotorite... I am not using any (other) alias...

Apologies to Rotorite if you exist. OK, so I'm not very tech-y, but if anyone wants to take exception to the post, just blame me. And I'm not from Sacramento, either. Strange...

Icanrel-8

I think he said "pass the URL along to new owners" not "potential buyers," which may overcome some of your objections. But point well taken. I just want to figure out a way to get the word out here in CO about the meet... sure would be cool to have 25-50 RX8s show up... :D

The fact that there are so many "ride-alongs" might motivate a dealership or salespeople to get involved. There is little for a dealership to gain by working with people who already bought their cars, but if there are alot of potential sales out there...

---jps

I don't know that I would agree with that. The main advertisement for almost anything is by word of mouth. I'm also an 'honary' member of the colorad lexus club because that is the car i used to be in love with before the rx8 came out. They are sponsered by Kuni Lexus. They have deals where they will give their members like $250 for refering someone to buy a lexus. They have also worked a deal where they get discounts on work done at their shop. They also will install aftermarket parts and they will warrenty the work. Pretty crazy. So i wouldn't say that dealerships don't recognize their oweners adversitement power through word of mouth. I don't know that a Mazda dealership would sponser us, but hey, it would be cool if they would!

Icanrel-8 here again... actually, Sputnik, you're right on..but-- I am a Land Rover owner, and the dealers have regular offroad day trips scheduled for free for owners and their vehicles. They provide radios for each vehicle for on-trail communication, a free hamburger cookout lunch, and dealer personnel to teach offroad driving skills and spot obstacles. It's very cool. It's real offroading but stops at the level of likely vehicle damage. Did I say it's free?

Why bother? It's part of the image, and image sells. Rover is proud to take their stock vehicles offroad, because they can. They sell mods at the dealership, and install them for you (for a price). They don't whine about voiding the warranty, they OFFER winches, lights, brushbars, skid plates -even had turbos for a while.

Mazda can take the same tack: take these owners out to a closed course or racetrack, and have Jackie Stewart or whoever teach us maniacs how to run these cars right, how to power through curves, accident avoidance drills and kick in a lunch at the track. Have techs out to shoot the bull about mods, and new developments. Get an image-- sporty sexy cars for the people who care-- we the Rotarians! Whatever.

Shoot, the cars are in the range of some Land Rover products' prices. Come on Mazda! Get us out for ZoomZoom Day!

What Land Rover products, the floor mats? ;)

Lexus and Land Rover vehicles are in a totally different price bracket (while there might be some overlap, that particular Land Rover is the cheapo econo version, and the RX8 is one of the more expensive Mazdas). They sell fewer cars or bigger profit margins per car, and their customers are more apt to make purchases based on relationships, so it's worth their time, money, and effort to develop relationships for return business and word of mouth. Meanwhile, Mazda (like Toyota, Ford, GM, etc.) does a bulk business. They have much smaller profit margins per car, and the great majority of their customers make their decision on the best deal, instead of any previous relationship. And remember, Mazda dealerships also have to compete with several other Mazda dealerships in town, while there are much fewer Lexus and Land Rover dealerships (big cities like Denver are the only places where they even have any same brand competition). So it is normally not worth a dealership's time, money, and effort to develop expanded relationships with existing owners.

But that's not to say that they won't get involved. My point is that to get dealerships involved with something like this, you have to understand their situation and needs, and what would bring them. Establishing relationships with people who already spent their money will not. But establishing relationships with a significant amount of future confirmed and possible customers, and those of us (especially moderators) involved with a site where many more potential customers go for advice and knowledge, will bring them. This will be the first time that potential customers will be able to get a close look at, a ride in, or even a chance to drive an RX8. This is the perfect time for a salesman to meet up with customers. They are excited about a new car, they are in a much less pressure packed situation (than being in a dealership, where people understandably become wary and untrusting), and they are surrounded by others who are also excited about getting the car (excitement is contagious). So that is what you need to emphasize when talking to dealerships about being involved with a meet at some level. Chances are good that someone might even bring a demo car for people to test-drive.

---jps

Doesn't mazda do this in other states already? Have a track day of some sort? I forget what they call it. i would love it if they would come to Colorado and do that.

How many of you are going to track your cars anyway? Anyone? I'm going to go at least once when i get mine up to second creek just to learn more about how my cars handles.

I'm crackin' up :D :D Ya got me there, Sput! C'mon, though, the door handles aren't too expensive, unless you're talking installation, but you would only spend, say as much as a Protege 5 on that...:D

But, Mazda is a larger company with more volume, and while I'm in no position to argue whether Mazda or Rover are better able to pay for it, I bet that [U]some[U/] form of owner training/appreciation could fit into a plan if they decided to... heck, I never knew the 8 was out till last month. They must be selling well enough to skip advertising.

And joking aside, RX-8 Forum may be the input that reaches the marketing division and the idea could catch on. This here is a gold mine of feedback for Mazda. Of course, the track idea, etc will require support from MazdaUSA, it isn't something that dealers can afford to try out.

All of your points are well taken. Still, I'd love to run around a track a couple of times, because I never drove a car at 140 or whatever they can do (honest, officer, my mom's Camaro only could do...oops). And I really think it would be a missed opportunity (for Mazda) if people like us end up doing it outside of a dealer-sponsored event that could attract publicity and buyers. Showing that you treat owners really well is a sales tool. And EVEN Land Rover's not serving steaks or champagne while you get your oil changed. (Note to my Rover dealer: Serve steaks and champagne while I get my oil changed, maybe I won't buy a Mazda---nah)

But don't get me wrong... I totally agree with your post above. They will want to get the best sales response from any cost/effort input, and they would be silly to do otherwise. I just hope that they don't squander the energy that this many people who LOVE this car are creating (that and THIS SITE are a major part of what has me convinced to buy one, that's direct sales effect). See ya at the meet! :)

I

So Doc, you gonna call around to dealerships, or what? :D

I've already started to e-mail some of the ones that are close, but have had no response. I will send one to the dealership in Colorado Springs, (where I got mine from), and ask them as well. If you get a free minute, Omicron, could you PM me?
Thanks!
-Doc

Just dropped you a line...

Hey Omicron, I just realized what is in your Sig. We have a Mazda 6s as well. I think you stole the car we wanted. :) We wanted the Sepang green, but ended up with the Steel Gray one for my wife. Is yours a "wife" car as well? Pretty funny that we might have the same car setup (except i don't have a Jeep). Have you guys done anything to your 6? I'm thinking about clearing out the tail lights, but can't decide. I saw one in europe and one here i think like that. It looks pretty sweet.

Sorry for poluting this thread...just wanted to put it somewhere and didn't feel like making a new thread. :)

Yep, it's a "wife" car... in fact, it's what got us into Mazda dealerships in the first place.

Mrs. Omicron was due for a new car... she'd been driving the same '91 Acura Integra GS since she took it over from me in '87, and was overdue. We did the car shopping thing and looked at all the usual subjects, eventually narrowing it down the Accord V6 and the Mazda 6S. Then we drove 'em back to back and the 6 won hands down. Had to hunt a bit to find the color & options she wanted (V6, AT, Sepang, Sport package, Cloth) but eventually found it in Lakewood. She LOVES it, as do I... it's an awesome car.

I like it so much in fact that I almost bought another one for myself... but we decided that it would be nice to have some variety, so I went for the 8. Never looked back since.

As for mods... not likely! She doesn't like me to tinker with the stuff she uses. We've still got an old laptop running Windows 3.11 which she drags out from time to time that she won't let me upgrade. LOL.

So back to our regularly scheduled programming... about the meet... here's what been talked about thus far...

A new '8 owner, dplore, just spoke up from another thread and will hopefully throw his hat in the ring here for the meet. Also, Switchbacker from New Mexico may be interested in joining us too.

------------------------------
Current attendees are:
-Omicron
-Digisan
-Doccable
-JCC
-Serff (ride along :) )
-Icanrel-8 (ride along :) )
-Buger (ride along :) )
-Sputnik (ride along :) )
-Switchbacker (??)
-Dplore (??)
------------------------------

Sure, that's my point. And we do see MazdaUSA do things like this, but on a national basis, like last fall's event in Las Vegas for all sporty Mazdas.
Regardless of the date, etc., I will always be a maybe, and will never be able to commit to anything. And you don't need to find a seat for me on a drive (if that's what "ride along" means).

---jps

Ok, you're a "maybe" then. :) Figured you might want to ride along with one of us with a real car. :D

A real car? Now be careful. It wouldn't look too good to go around thumping your chest about "real" cars, only to have them outrun by a little "girly" Miata. ;)

---jps

P.S. Click on the homepage...

LOL, I know Sput, just funnin with ya. :D

Update: We have another (potential) attendee. So the list now looks like:

------------------------------
Current attendees are:
-Omicron
-Digisan
-Doccable
-JCC
-Sputnik
-gpsvorndb
-Serff (ride along)
-Icanrel-8 (ride along)
-Buger (ride along)
-Switchbacker (??)
-Dplore (??)
------------------------------

Still need to hear from everyone on what a good weekend for a "Pre-meet" would be... thus far I've only heard from about 1 other person. Possible dates are Jan 11-12 or Jan 25-26. Please let me know what works for all you.

Finally, it's obvious very few people check this forum often, so can you please PM me with all of your "real" email addresses, so I can keep this thing going? Thanks...

I'm subscribed to this thread, so i read it everytime something comes up. I would encourage that all the Colorado people subscribe to this thread and the other Colorado thread as well. Along those lines, we should try not to open too many new threads about colorado i guess either. That way we will always know when people are talkin...

Anyway, about the meet, is there a reason you chose a Sunday-Monday meet instead of a Sat-Sun meet? Or are you looking at this years calander? :) I am pretty much up for either date except i can't go till about 11:00 on the saturdays and I think i could go after 12:00 on the Sundays (although i would prefer saturday).

Also, i have a friend with a super charged s2000 (and another with an s2000 with other mods) that might go with us if we want more cars (even if they are the enemy...hehe). Let me know.

serff

Any weekend in January works for me.

January is okay with me probably. But I would think sometime
in the spring would be better. Especially if it involves driving.
A little tour through Boulder up to Nederland and hit a restaurant
up there. Or up Coal Creek Canyon (hwy 93) to Wondervu Cafe.
(or other inspiring drive, after all, the RX8 was made to be
driven)

Alternatively we could meet out at Second Creek Raceway.
http://www.2ndcreekraceway.com/

Weather permitting, we could go there in late Feb
or early March before regular events start up. Don't
have to drive on the track if you don't want to. But
if you do, it's $60 for a half day I believe. This is a steal
as in most parts of the country, it's several hundred dollars
and up. There is a Beginnigan's about 3-4 miles away that
we could meet at.

May 22-23 is a multicar club event. We could hang
out then.

-Darren
04 RX8 silver
93 Miata - limited edition
85 RX7 EP Race Car

Hi guys. I've been off line awhile while so sorry for not checking in sooner. Yes I would be interested in getting together and I like the mountain drive idea if weather permits. Estes or Coal Creek or Boulder Canyon all sound fun.

Oh and "hi" to dplore. I know where you work, dude! ;)

Yah, the January thing is just a pre-meet thing. Just an excuse to get together and get to know everyone, and to plan the REAL meet for the spring.

Hmmm, now that's a thought. Not sure I personally would want to do the track thing, but maybe.

I kind of like the idea of this... think of it, a bunch of georgeous RX-8s all lined up. :D

Great to see you here MuzzleFlash! I've got your info and will keep you in the loop from here on out. But please try to check in to this forum periodically too, as most details will be kicked around here first.

December 26th through the 1st (I think) is free track days up at second creek (if you are a club member...). I don't know if you all just want to meet up there some time and just watch and hang out or not. You probably don't want to track any of those days though as there will be a lot of cars there (like 100), so it will be a bit crowded. Any way, a couple of my friends will be going up there, i'll post again when they know when they are going and maybe some of us can meet up.

Talk to you later!
serff

P.S. Just got back from LOTR: Return of the Kings. It rocked. go see it!!!!

I'm sorry, but where is this track again, exactly? Thanks...

It is out by the airport. it is basically 80th and Tower road i think. If you take Pena Blvd to Tower and then take a left, heading north, you drive up there a few miles and then on your left you will be able to see the track. I think it is the next light you come to after you get off pena onto tower. I live like 5 minutes from it...so it isn't too far for me...;)

Nice... that's not too far from me, either... thanks to E470. :D