rx8daniel

A guy I think named Steve, not sure about that, came by my local dealer yesterday, 7/17, coincidentally the same day mine arrived (mine was the only one unfortunately for Mike), a Yellow Sport pkg 6sp - he is training the dealership folks on the car's features.
The dealer invited me to listen in, but I had a meeting - Mike came down and got to stay. He headed to Glen Burnie (Baltimore area) to do a south Baltimore area dealer today (Friday, 7/18).

If anyone is in that area you may be able to contact the dealer in that area to hear the training, maybe get a ride in the car, at least see it. The yellow is as stunning as I thought it could be - but I have no regrets over getting red.

Fedarcyks

Saw my Yellow 6sp at the Annapolis dealer. They trained with this guy the day before. Based on the dealer's walk-thru, there was little info to mention here (5-20 oil, non-synthretic, premium gas, which i really don't think is necessary other that loosing some hp). anyhow, here is an excerpt of an e-mail to a friend about my impression:

CAR. nOW i UNDERSTAND MY ORIGINAL apprehension. First impression of exterior was negative. The pictures were better (as opposed to what all others on the chat board said) that the real thing. Although, now i do believe that all yellow cars show little paint depth and gloss, and do not accentuate the curve suchly. They are getting three more not pre-sold cars next week. I may consider a switch-a-roony, although most cars will come with the $3k upgrade package that i don't want.
That said, the interior more than makes up for it. the instrument lighting is phenominal, the cloth seats are indeed better than leather (like a jet black short napped terri-cloth - real sharp for a thin seat in cross section). plenty of leg room, a smooth as silk clutch, and a true short throw tranny. comes with std SRS side bags, front & BACK. back seating has nice legroom, and my hair barelt touched the roof - it does seem a bit closterphobic with the small side window and the depp glove seating. exterior lights are hot, and more importantly traditional (not like radical 350Z). chrome appointment are there, but i'm sure not as well done as TT. The radio area is surrounded in black plastic, which looks amazingly hot. roof is a light grey - eh.

rotary_it_up

I was present for most of the salesman training in Frederick. The trainer was pretty knowledgeable about the car, though it seemed he was just doing his job and wasn't a true rotary enthusiast. He said a couple things that weren't accurate("auto has less power because the tranny can't handle the horsepower and torque of the hi-power engine....."). I wanted to tell him that the auto has more torque and that it is the torque converter that can't handle the 9,000 RPM redline......but oh well. He also stated that the Touring package came with the ground effects kit. He had given a "quick flip guide to the RX-8" to the salesman and the RX-8 picture that accompanied the touring package description had the appearance package on it. Could be misleading I suppose.

All in all it was a very informative session, though anyone who has spent a lot of time on this board already knows everything that was said.

Just like Fedarcyks wrote in his post, the trainer stated,
"Absolutely no synthetic oil.....PERIOD!"

A couple more points:
-He had put about 1900 miles on the RX-8 and has already added 3/4 of a quart of oil.
-Getting around 18 mpg....that included the admittedly harsh thrashing that salesman had been giving it as well as the highway driving from dealership to dealership.
-Must use 5w-20 oil only
-Premium gas only...no less than 91 octane
-Low oil warning light when 1.5 quarts low(7.1 quart capacity)


Oh yeah...MY CAR ARRIVED TODAY!!!!!!!!


Laterz

Mike