I'm almost a new owner (hope to take possession tomorrow afternoon or Wednesday morning), and have been reading through a lot of this forum with great interest (and a little hesitation!)

Given that I'm a 6'4" guy and fit relatively comfortably in the non-moonroof model, I did actually order one with the moonroof and never thought of the loss of headroom. DOH! But I also used to drive in a Pontiac Sunfire back in the day, and was plenty happy "driving reclined", so I'm not too concerned.

I learned to drive a stick shift only the weekend before last (well, I knew the concept, just never tried until then). I decided to go with the automatic because a) I'm still not feeling confident about driving a stick and b) I mostly drive a 10-mile commute over a twisty road, so my main focus was on the handling and acceleration rather than any kind of top-end zoom-zoom. I'm feeling pretty happy with that.

Reading about the horror stories of bad gas mileage, guzzling oil, CEL's, engine flooding, and reflashes, one thing I couldn't get a good read on was:

Does there seem to be a pattern of problems along the lines of manual vs. automatic? Is the engine flooding problem primarily limited to just the manual transmissions or is it applicable to both? I'm guessing most of the enthusiasts around here are stick drivers, so I'm curious if the "bad experiences" are similarly skewed only towards the manual transmission... Or if, in general, the type of transmission is immaterial to the problems?

...Paul

PS> When I get it, it'll be a Nordic Green one with the Touring Package (not Grand)...

 

Paul:
I'm driving an AT and would have gone with the MT if I were doing it over again, but it was a close call. The AT is more versatile if you need to allow other people to drive it, which may explain why ATs flood more. According to this thread, over half AT owners have flooded, but only about 1/8 MT owners have.

 

Yeah, but only 23 AT drivers responded, while 87 MT drivers responded. Admittedly, the numbers do seemed skewed towards the problem being more prevalent in automatics, but then I also wonder if there're a lot more AT people out in the world who aren't "enthusiast" enough to be on these forums to cast a vote.

Oh well, I guess I just need to really make sure I read through the user's manual when I get it. I really hope the car doesn't give me too much grief, cuz I loved driving the demo at the dealership.

...Paul

 

MT is not an option of choice where I live. All the 8's supplied in my country is AT.
No flooding problem at all. My AT 8 was built in Feb, 2004. Don't know if any flashes are required or not.
No problem to the car itself except the CD changer problem. Dealer took care of it as it was the stupid North America and Asia setting differences.

 

Ummm, the best time to have a MT is on a twisty road or track and when you want acceleration, don't even think for a second that it's just a top speed thing.

 

Ditto to Ike - a) not feeling confident about driving a stick will disappear in a week or two - how long are you going to own the car? b) people occasionally choose the auto trans because they have horrible bumper to bumper rush hour traffic for their commute. A 10 mile twisty road commute is exactly where a manual transmission would be ideal!

The horror stories are overblown - a few people get bad gas mileage, the rest of us get reasonable gas mileage (I suppose it's all relative), and it has supposedly improved with the latest ECU flash

there is no oil guzzling problem - the rotary is supposed to use some oil, but it's minimal. I'm now about 2500 miles from my last oil change, and that 2500 miles included a 1900 mile weekend road trip, commuting, and some very high speed corner carving (100 - 136 mph range for an hour or two). My oil level is right now about half way between 'full' and 'add' - in another couple of hundred miles, I might add a quart.

engine flooding was pretty rare to begin with (it could only happen if you shut down within a minute or two of a cold start, and certainly was not guaranteed even then), but with the latest ECU flash the revised cold start settings have eliminated flooding. No more issue or problem!

ECU flash - how could that possibly be a BAD thing? Only a few years ago, manufacturers did not have the option or ability to revise the ECU code without installing a whole new computer. The ability to modify and improve the car with a 5 minute procedure during routine servicing is fabulous!

So - if the reasons you stated for not getting a manual are the only ones - do yourself a HUGE favour and reconsider!

Regards,
Gordon

 

I hate to disagree with Gordon, but I'm not ready to believe the problem is fixed yet... for example, Irish_in_a_RX8 reported a post-M-flash flood on 04-25-2004 12:10 PM in this thread.