Automatic Transmission for '8?
 

Anybody know of any links or articles discussing possible automatic transmissions?

For 20 years I've been driving 5 spds and am burned out on them in stop and go traffic. I'm impressed by some of the advancements in automatics on other cars these days and was curious what if anything Mazda may have lined up for the car. If it's just some plain ol' 4 speed slushbox that won't do it for me though.

THanks for any info
-T

I believe that all that is planned initially is for a standard issue 4 or 5 speed slushbox. And some reports indicate that it will be a significantly detuned engine at that.

If you are thinking about something like the SMT on the MR2 Sypder, or SMG on the BMW (did I get those right?), it doesn't look like we'll get that on the initial offering (just like it wasn't offered originally on the MR2 Spyder).

I would spend several K to get such a tranny myself, but we'll have to see....

---jps

Yep, you know the stuff I'm talking about. Oh well. Then again I don' t usually buy the 1st year of a car anyway.

Thanks for the info,
-T

Hey guys! I'm new here and glad to find this forum. Currently I own a '01 MPV, and help moderate on the MPVClub.com forum. There's always a lot of interest in the '8 over there and I've been looking forward with great interest to it's release. Unfortunately, my d/w refuses to even learn how to drive a stick and since she needs to drive my car on rare occassions, I'd have to have an auto in the '8. Hopefully Mazda will find a way to put some zoom-zoom into a nice slushbox package!

Seems to me that perhaps the beauty of driving the RX-8 would be lost in an automatic, but that's just me. I tried the Lexus IS-300 with the "manumatic", and that was not quite what I wanted. I really like the idea of a six speed manual. Burn outs can be overcome . . . hopefully.

why sould you be the one to compromise. get the car the way you want. if she needs to drive it once in a while, then she should be the one to compromise and learn how to shift herself.
either that or she doesn't drive it at all:D

...ducking so as not to be hit by the object just thrown at me by my wife.... luckily it was just a pillow this time. :cool:

edit: you should post a link to your other forum. i like to read what others are saying about the rx8 besides the folks here. when i tried to get to it by just typing into my browser it could not find the site:(

Hmm, well the last time I tried to teach her to drive a manual was in a company-owned Festiva, which was several years ago. It's hopeless! I agree the '8 may feel a little neutered with an auto and it prolly doesn't make much sense to get one if that's the case, but I'd be willing to wait if something good were coming down the pike. I'll be looking at the 6 too.

Btw, here's that link zoom44. I thought we had more to say about the '8, but seems like most of the discussion was on the 6. I must've been thinking about Edmund's.

http://www.mpvclub.com/forum/index.p...id=929;start=0