MyRxBad

iTrader: (1)

Convertible?!? No way... I would hate to loose the "double bubble" roof. Plus once you make a covertible you'd have to re-enforce the underbody and the roof as it is part of the structural integrity weather it's a lot or a little. Personally if they made a vert it would weigh a ton. Then everyone would really b*tch about the performance

sunlightred8

well thats true

then you'd just have to step up the hp in that case...have the vert w/ like 300 stock hp?

that photo w/ the blue 8 up there, not too bad, I like it....id buy one, hell, its a 8, Id pay upwards of 38 or more for one!!!

Psylence

I'm not willing to sacrifice ANY strucutural stability for a chopped top. Even my Porsche Boxster which was desgined as a convertible had cowl shake and other undesireable symptoms...

Ugly, ugly ugly... Kills the shape of the car. Just like the 2nd gen RX7 convertible, which also looked like ***. Far better as a coupe!

GeorgeH

iTrader: (2)

I think it looks interesting as a convertible, lots of potential - thanks for the photo hack. Unfortunately, you'd have to find a place for the soft top when it's stowed - so you'd either loose the back seat or part of the trunk. I vote for the back seat. Then, you could replace the back doors with a continuous body panel, perhaps adding a bit of stiffness. I did this in an image editor, but now it really does start to look like a Sebring, so forget it.

As for the comments about the '8 replacing the '7 - that is simply not true. Mazda had a different product vision for the '8 than the '7, and there is plainly still room in the lineup for a '7. I’ll take a history-based guess and say that it would have no back seat, it would be lighter, it would have more respsonive suspension tuning (read, it would ride stiffer but repsond faster) and it would deliver the head-snapping acceleration the current RX-7 owners are used to.

And it would probably look much better as a convertible:

[edit] I want one.

sunlightred8

ya "GeorgeH" thats why I had the ? after the statement...Im not toooo familar w/ mazda and there car history, MY jist of it was, the 8 is pretty much takin' over the 7, just like rx 3's goes to rx 4's and so on?

idk? like I said, Im not a total mazda nut??? but......Im a toootal nut for this 8, in love w/ it actually, its ...its somethin' else!!!

GeorgeH

iTrader: (2)

No problem - I didn't mean to flame or sound condesending. But I have read a little about what the '8 designers were thinking, and they made it very plain that they were not looking to make the next generation RX-7, but rather a new kind of sports car. I think they did exactly that. I personally hope they do make a new RX-7. With 300 HP or so, and say 2700 lbs it would be awsome.

sunlightred8

ya it would be....


so, they stopped makin' the 7's for a few years right??? if they did, I can't see them comin' back out w/ a 7. but who here would be disapointed?

ah forget that talk, on to the 'vert talk right....haha

chop the top and make it hot! hahah


its hot either way, hard top/'vert....either way its still a 8!!!!

BOOSTD 7

Has it even been a months since this exact same thread? I would bet 5:1 that they DO make a convertible. They talk about it in the Yamaguchi book, the vast majority of rigidity comes from the backbone, below the roofline.

And when it DOES come out, I'm trading in the M3 on one. I've owned a convertible since I was 16 with an MGB ... I'll die someday still driving a convertible. For me, nothing beats having the top down smoking a cigar.

ptiemann

I'd trade mine in if they would come out with a T-top version. The panels have to be of glass. Even with the "roof on", you'll see the stars.

My Firebird had glass T-tops, I liked that a lot better than my ex's Boxster (convertible).. of course the Boxster was a better car than the Firebird in other aspects.

I think T-tops are a great compromise in functionality and safety.

-Peter

beachdog

The backbone might provide the majority of the structural rigidity, but have any of you looked at the engineering cutaways of the roof? The roof has serious cross bracing between the phantom B pillars to the C pillars.

sunlightred8

lets get this car in production NOW!!! hah

Nubo

I wonder if plans for an RX-7 encore are caught in a catch-22. If the RX-8 does not do as well as hoped it could end the plans for a true rotary sportscar. On the other hand, if RX-8 does well it will be partly because it successfully blurred the line between sedan and sports car. In which case I think it will have seriously diluted the remaining market for a full-on RX-7 (or more appropriately RX-9). The only way to sufficiently distinguish it from RX-8 would to be well upscale. $60K U.S.?

The possible upside is that the presence of RX-8 would relieve the new car from needing any pretense of being other than a pure sports car -- world-beater performance.

Section 8

I was at my Mazda dealer yesterday looking over the 8's and the salesman told me 'They're talking about putting out a convertible'

I've talked to this guy in the past, and he seemed somewhat knowledgable, hell he bought an FC when the RX8 came out so he could learn more about the rotary engine.


Just food for thought

GeorgeH

iTrader: (2)

Those are some very good points. Could the RX-7 target the NSX, but be $20-30K cheaper? It's a tantalizing thought, but as I recall one of the downfalls of the FD, along with the TT300ZX, Supra Turbo, etc. is that the automakers overestimated the U.S. market's ability to absorb expensive Japanese sports cars. I do think the US market has changed, however, and the idea that Japan can make world-class automobiles, sports cars in particular, may be more tenable now. I wonder what Mazda thinks...

sunlightred8

just what I wanted to hear!!! I sure hope it comes into production!

Im glad this thread lasted this long, seems like alot of knowledgable 8'ers here!!!

anyone else for the convert?

sunlightred8

its....its dieeeeein'