red_rx8_red_int

Who all has an 8 in STL?

stormchase13

Don't have mine yet, but it rolled out of production on 09-Oct and was scheduled to leave port on 17-Oct.

Question: At what point in the production/delivery process did you receive your VIN from Mazda?

RedJade

Me Me Me! I have seen one other red, one yellow and one black so far in StL.

jonalan

You might do a search - there's quite a few of us.

91vert

Me too! Titanium with just the rotary accent package (strakes and clear markers on the UPS truck coming this week).

When are we all going to get together and do some spirited driving on some of these fun, winding rural roads around here?

I live in St. Charles and have seen a couple other ones on the road around here.

RedJade

I was positive I was going to buy an Infiniti G35 when it came out. I am so glad I waited for the 8. Jonalan says there are a lot of 8s in St. Louis, but I have now seen 4 total since they were out in July. I see G35s everywhere I look. G35s are great cars, but I would miss the "what kind of car IS that?" I get everywhere I go now.

91vert

I agree......I don't see many either.

I think I have seen about 5-6 total myself on the road since I had mine at the beginning of August.

jonalan

Same here RedJade. I was all set to buy a G35 coupe before they came out. I test drove the sedan, spoke to the sales guy at Plaza at least once a week. Then, all of a sudden I saw the RX-8 at the car show -- and that was it. I KNEW I would have it.

My office overlooks the parking lot at Chesterfield Mall, and I see one or two RX-8s a week driving around or parked at the mall. I've seen red, blue, titanium and black. I have yet to see yellow or silver.

I also drive in from St Charles on 40 about the same time every morning with a blue RX-8 owner.

Sightings are still rare enough to make the car unique. I think it will probably stay that way.

RedJade

<<I was all set to buy a G35 coupe before they came out. I test drove the sedan, spoke to the sales guy at Plaza at least once a week. >>

We probably passed each other at Plaza a few times. I feel bad - I really did like their internet sales guy and he thought he had a deal wrapped up.

Oh well, who could blame me?

I drive from West St. Louis County to the Central West End and back every day and I really look for 8s. Maybe they are all West of 270!

red_rx8_red_int

I drive from O'Fallon (MO) downtown everyday and have only seen one other 8 during my commutes. It was a blue 8 about three weeks ago. Almost missed it, was in the left lane of 70 EB, and jumped in the middle to do a quick pedal stomp to pass the slowbee leading a line of followers in the left lane when I blew by the blue 8 plodding along in the right lane (not being pejoritive, I'm sure that car was still in the break-in period). Saw several (I think 3) other 8s tooling around St. Chuck the next sevaral days, and have not seen one since. I still get many stares (drop jaws) and people that go out of their way to get a good look at my car. Although I hear sales are strong, 8s are still a rarity in St. Louis.

cash_money

Hi,

I'm in St. Louis. Just hit the 1k mark on my car.

I've only seen a Yellow one in St. Louis, which is usually parked at Monsanto where I work also- haven't run into this person yet.

Mine is black with appearance package and deep tint. Looks like a little batmobile.

My usual commute is from North county down to Creve Couer area and back. Although I run around in St. Charles and South County a bit as well.

Maybe I'll see you guys around.

SethMcMichael

Dont forget about me. Mines titanium with appeearance package and spoiler. Im from st. charles but work in st. ann.

I was also wondering if any of you have taken your car to gateway and ran it, or plan to.

ELX13

hey red_rx8:
i'm not the blue one (see the avatar) but i'd been wondering about the red 8 i always saw coming on 70E every morning. i had the opposite commute (downtown to lake st. louis) and i'd see "the red 8" almost everyday!

i'm in san diego now so i won't be seeing u but it's good to know who u r now!

RedJade

I went to meet some friends at the Movies tonight at St. Charles 18. I parked realllllly far away and as I was walking back, there was another car parked out in never-never land. It was a Silver RX-8. If it hadn't turned so cold, I would have walked back to my car and parked my Red nose to nose with the silver. I wonder how much drive-by rubber-necking that would have caused

ObjeX

There are a few 8's at Monsanto that I've seen so far. There is a Blue one that parks in the garage of G-building also. Do you park down by F-dock?

I've got 8,500K on the car and it runs great! I just got back from a trip to North Carolina where I got to test the cars handling on Black Mountain - I think I want to go again. :D The car handles beautifully.

I live in O'Fallon, IL and commute to St. Louis via I-64. I've seen a blue RX8 heading on I-64 East towards downtown each day around 7:00 PM'ish.

cash_money

I'm in B building at the moment and park there. However they are moving all of IT over to G, so starting December 18th I'll be parking in one of the lots over there.

I'll have to find where the other 8's are parking on that side.

Maybe we can start our own area!

stormchase13

Chalk up one for the Metro East! Picked up my blue 8 during lunch and it doesn't matter what number you throw out there for HP, this car hauls @$$........or, at least it will once the break-in period is over :D

jonalan

No, you're right. It does haul @$$!!!

wordchef

Hello, St. Louis (area) RX8 owners. Seriously considering purchase and curious how the car did this weekend with the snow/ice. I've read it does very well with snow tires, but I'm assuming since we get relatively little snow here that most of you are using stock tires.

Also, any strong feelings about who to buy from and who not to?

ObjeX

I took my RX out 'playing' in the snow. We got about 3" or so in Illinois. The snow tires do make a huge difference. I got through the snow with no problems. With stock tires only, the car just doesn't move. Check out the Canadian posts on the topic.

I'd recommend Tirerack.com for tires and rims. I picked up the Bridgestone Blizzak 50's w/ Miglo Migla Evo5 rims for ~$1400. I won't drive without them. To keep the cost down, I went with 225/50/17's. The physical profile is the same as the stock tire, but the tread has a much deeper bite. Since overall width and height are the same, the speedometer is still accurate, and, there is enough clearance in the wheel well to get rid of the snow.

Also, the front brake calipers clear these rims just fine.

wordchef

Thanks for input, ObjeX. I was unclear about the "who to buy from and who not to." I was talking about the car - dealers in the St. Louis area.

Canadian (and other) posts on the snow tire subject are excellent. I've just never owned a car that required two sets and I wasn't sure what the concensus is around our area relative to the amount of snow we get: a winter set ($$), or just "make due" with the all seasons.

91vert

I had my car out in the snow yesterday with the stock tires on it, and it wasn't THAT bad. I got around just fine.

The only time I can see where it might have been a problem was if I would have gotten stopped on hill and had to take off from a dead stop. That might have been a little challenging.

I personally don't feel that the 2....maybe 3 days out of the winter we have here in St. Louis where there is more than a couple of inches of snow on the roads warrants snow tires. If I lived in Canada, I might have a different opinion on it.

wordchef

Thanks, 91vert. Any way one slices it, I guess it's a gamble where we live. Who did you buy from and were you satisfied?

red_rx8_red_int

Wordchef, I bought my car from Bommarito Mazda St. Peters a while ago. I was a pre-order and paid msrp but have (spent) the $500 debit card and free maintenence for the warrenty period. While I'm happy with my dealer, if I were you I would look into the dealers that are advertising selling at invoice (none in our area) and figure the cost to travel to get it at invoice and then force the local dealers to bid against each other. IMHO, right now in STL you should be able to get an 8 about 1500-1800 under MSRP. Also, IMHO, no dealer is better than another.

wordchef

Good points. There are 8's sitting on lots and we're approaching end of month / end of year. Hope to put something "reasonable" together. I still can't wrap my head around spending the money on a winter set of tires/wheels (where we live). But I guess that's not a good reason to get a 9-3 aero 6sp over the 8 (don't throw anything at me!). I pretty much know the answer to that since the 8 was the one car that made me grin like a kid each time I shifted!