Looks like the 2006 ATs are finally making their way over to dealerships now. There are already a bunch at local dealerships according to the inventory list on Mazda's site. I am going to try to test drive one this week to see how much (or little) it improved over the 4 speed automatic I got rid of for my current manual.

 

Hope you get in to test drive the new AT. I checked out the inventory for my area and only found one 06 AT.

I'd like to know your impression between the MT and AT - not stats or dyno test info - just gut reaction.

 

they're still rollin in, my place still barely has any that fit what im lookin for

 

According to the Mazdausa site the 06 AT should be at all local dealers unless you live in the East coast. PA, DE, NJ, NY, and up north have not recieved their shipment of ATs yet. YOu can expect them to show up sometime in the next week or two.

Also the reason for the shortage of 06 ATs is because some dealers have yet to clear out their 05 ATs.

 

ooo Copper Red

 

this should be interesting

 

hurry up with a comparison.

 

I haven't been this excited since Matt Damon made a guest appearance on Friends.

 

This has probably been asked, but what happened to the other banana in your avatar? The one there now looks "lonely" beecause his little buddy is gone.

 

https://www.rx8club.com/lounge-4/its-sad-sad-day-88742/

 

that *****.

 

Your banana split......

 

gah....just checked the inventorys again....alot of autos came in today. but they're all sunlight silver/velocity red/winning or phantom blue/galaxy gray.

i want brilliant black or whitepearl

they have 1 bb, but the sport package. is it possible for them to just add on the gt or touring?

and they actually have no whites at all. did they stop making them or something? wow.

 

Drove one today. The shifter stick has a little polished area on it now in the center of it, and some of the ***** and other small details have been polished as well. Other than that, padel shifters and everything looks completely the same.

Anyway, just as I expected, the pickup is a lot better and has definitely improved over the 4AT. However, the car is still not quite as fast as the manual. I think it might accelerate faster than the manual through the first few thousand RPM, but once again, thanks to the 7500RPM cap, the overall performance suffers and it ends up a little bit slower. 0-60 felt like it was in the low 7s but I didn't really count in my head or anything like that. It just felt like it was a little slower than what a street start would be with the manual.

Basically, for people who have never driven the RX-8 before and are interested in buying one in automatic, they won't be so disappointed with the acceleration this time around. It's somewhat satisfactory, and not a total dog like the old automatic was.

But is the improved acceleration in the 6AT enough to make it worth swapping over from the obsolete 4AT? I can't answer that.

On the other hand, I saw some fully loaded manual 05s on the front of the dealership's lot (one of them was actually a pearl white with red/black interior) with stickers that stated something along the lines of "Was $32500, now $25000" ...and who knows how low you can take it from there. Fully loaded 05 for less than a base 06. Good time to get a deal on left over 05s.

 

Not bad, but........ its still an automatic. 7500rpm killed it. But now seems like I can at least recommend friends to test drive an auto 8. Before I'd just tell them to look for another car if they want an 4AT auto 8.
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GET I INHALE IOLITE VAPORIZER REVIEW

 

did you try the paddles?

 

Yeah, that's one of the main reasons I bought an 05 AT. I didn't want to spend 9000 extra dollars for 2 more gears and 15hp (got mine for 24,200)... I saw where the internet price on the 06s my dealer has in stock now are basically sticker price.

 

it's not "just 2 more gears and 15 hp"

 

Yeah, it's a whole model year newer!

 

Dealers here in Los Angeles have new 2006 AT at $4,000 of sticker, but 2005 are at $7,500 off

 

So what does it have other than 2 more gears and 15 hp that makes it worth the extra money? Not being sarcastic here, I just don't know of anything other than that.

 

it has the 6 port engine and 2 oil coolers vs the 4port engine and 1 oil cooler.

 

I don't see myself trading my A/T for an 06 one--I'd probably just boost mine or get a 6spd. Good to finally get a report on them. I wonder if its still limited on the top end?

 

The extras would be nice, but one of the reasons I was able to get the 8 was because with it being discounted it was in the price range I was looking for for this car (mid 20s).

 

hey JeRKy 8 -- as one of the few who has owned both the AT and MT your comments must be respected. One question though, what was your impression of the 4AT when you bought it? Did you think it was a "total dog" on the test drive (and if so why did you buy it) or did you have the impression like you do now of the 6AT that it was "somewhat satisfactory" only to have that impression change over time when actually owning and driving it?

I just wonder if it's really possible to gauge car performance on a short test drive under usually far from optimal conditions.

If the performance difference between the current 6AT and the MT only really comes into play at >7500 rpm that seems pretty trivial since the amount of time spent at the high rpm's must be less than what 0.1% but the degree of disgust with the 4AT by many people seems to ask the question will the new AT suffer the same fate...