Best states to own an RX8
 

What's the best state to be driving and living with an RX8? Areas for consideration:

1. Available network of highways for redlining & speed limits. ex.) 85 mph versus 45 mph. Also, how strict or loose the posted limits are followed and enforced in practice... is the limit driven more as a ceiling, or more as a minimum?

2. Idle time spent in traffic congestion.

3. Distance to scenic drives.

4. Auto crime: vandalism, theft, and respect of property.

5. Gas rates.

6. Average rainfall.

7. Amount of snowfall.

8. Average temperature -- ex.) cool+warm versus scorching

9. Available city life, and parks and recreation, and other attractions to drive to.


You might think all we need to do is check one of the "best places to live" or "best places to retire" lists in order to account for these factors. However, generally the magazines use factors such as crime, education, etc. and end up with mostly a bunch of snowy states with rough winters. Pretty unacceptable for rx8 driving if your state sees 4 months of snow per year.

You might also think, "Let's just compare auto insurance rates by state". Well, the highest auto insurance premiums nationally are found in New Jersey followed by New York, while the lowest premiums are found in Iowa, followed by Wisconsin. Certainly there's more to it than that.

Or, you might be tempted to name some far-off place with a population of 10. I'll ask you this: If you were the only one alive on earth, what would be the use of driving a Ferarri?

States I've lived in: Oregon, Illinois, Virginia, Florida, California. Visited: New York, Washington, Hawaii, Nevada. Personally I think southern California isn't too shabby--lots of freeways, not much rain, speedy highways on off-peak hours, but congested otherwise. The best scenic drives are around an hour or two away though. Florida and Hawaii see more rain than I'd like; Hawaii is a bit slow and just 3 freeways. Washington and Oregon probably have a few top rated scenic drives, although the driving isn't as fast and loose with the #s. Virginia is pretty humid and scorching in the summer, and Illinois sees the worst of both temperature extremes. No state seems to have it all.... unless you know of one?

What do you think? Where would you like to be driving off into the sunset?

around or nearby Monterey, CA, close access to PCH, nice cool weather yearround, probably expensive to live in, but the conditions are ideal imo.

oh, and *very* close to Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca, major bonus points for track addicts :D:

You should go with the deviations in temperature as well. You can have really hot and really cold weather but it averages to moderate climate...

I like driving the 8 in snow. You get a different experience than just driving it in nice sunny weather all the time.

NC is nice highways are for the most part 70mph but u can go 80 without fear of a ticket, we also have the dragon if u dont know what that is its over 300 turns in 11 miles, highways are almost never congested, gas is around the same as the rest of the country 3.20$ for 93 octane, rainfall maybe once a week which is fun to drive in but 5 minutes after it stops raining the roads are already dry, almost no snow, theres cities all over but with lots of open driving in between them. bad part is that it gets hot

I prefer mild climates. No need to switch to winter tires. Not too hot either to avoid overheating issues as in the poor folks in the desert cities.
Also the area should not be a flat piece of land like Kansas or Ontario. Preferably roads have good twisties and around mountains.
Beautiful British Columbia for me! :D

so basically the whole pacific coastline north of LA lol

I have 2 areas that I like. eastern Tennessee and western N. Carolina. They have some very nice roads to have fun with. Also, Montana & Wyoming have the mountain roads (for the twisties) that head into the plains (for hi-speed runs). The low population in that area means there is hardly any other cars on the road.

It has to be California. The cities themselves are too congested, but once you're out of the major ones everything is perfect. Monterey was a great suggestion. Further south like Santa Barbara or Malibu are also spectacular. I took a trip on the 1 north of SF up by the Russian River, and that was an amazing drive up on the cliffs right above the ocean. There are plenty of straight flat areas and plenty of curvy mountain roads, it just depends what you want to drive to any given day.

I must sound like a homer, but I grew up on the east coast and spent some time living in the midwest as well, and CA is the best place to take advantage of a nice car.

ive been from san diego, LA, fresno, SF, monterey and 90% of the time no matter where it was i was stuck in traffic unless it was 1am-4am thats the only times u can really take advantage of anything cali has to offer

Woot woot for my birthplace and Highway 1 ..................

I'd have to Say Texas....the hill country has some of the best turns and roads you'll ever see....plus our I-10 has a speedlimit of 85 mph =).......so If your going 100 cops usually don't bother to pull you over :) ..........also traffic really isn't a problem in Texas....at all...unless your from Austin....but then again they aren't a part of "Texas"....damn hippies

My state We have the only modded phantom blue in the state, the rest are failed red and blacks and all the others, minimal options. They blow.

God how bout some love for Tennessee and North Carolina? the obvious US129, but also, hasnt ANYONE drove all over the blue ridge parkway and surrounding highways, and that whole area - southern appalachians.... its like the auto god made it just for us!:bowdown:

Metro Detriot area for the abundance of highways. moreover I-696, it's a raceway all it's own.

the best area to drive would be north of wayne county, into oakland, lot's of twisty's and straights to really open her up.

But then again it's michigan, so we don't get to drive in perfect weather or traffic all the time, unless you have a night shift job like myself. ride home is great and I know all the cops in my city.

California, hands down; you really can't beat it. I live in Camarillo, about 10 minutes away from the best stretch of PCH to cruise on and maybe 15 minutes away from some of the best canyons in the country. Since the 101 runs directly through my town, I can jump on from anywhere in the city and get home in minutes. But seriously, you really can't appreciate how fun the canyons and the straightaways leading to them are until you drive them. Besides, I always see exotic cars that I try to get to play with me, but 95% they just ignore my poor RX-8 (well, rightfully so).

My buddies and I took a drive Saturday into Malibu and took the canyons home, and on the way I saw a Murcielago in front of the base right before the PCH on-ramp filming a commercial of some sort, it looked like. I saw probably 3-4 Vipers, and I actually got a Gallardo to "race" me. It was some young guy, barely older than me, maybe 25 at the MOST, driving and revving his engine at stoplights to hot chicks. I pulled out of the Starbucks parking lot and started to go up the hill to try and find some nice cars, when I heard a loud roar coming from behind me. I recognized the taillights and immediately made a U-turn and followed the guy. It was pretty surreal.

I'm going to have to argue with my California brothers and say that Arizona is by far the best state to own an RX8 in.

Phoenix alone offers a lot of exciting elements. We have over 250 miles of highway with speed limits of 65 MPH but most of the time drivers can get away with 75+ with limits around 85 to 90 depending on traffic and time of day. We have no snow and little to no rain so cars stay generally clean with the exception of dust and dirt that must be removed from the car every couple of days.

Mountain areas to the north and south give great driving while local scenes such as the Scottsdale Pavilions on Saturday evenings give a great area to show your car. With the Firebird, Speedway and PIR tracks there are plenty of racing opportunities as well.

We do experience 3 to 4 months of exteme temps...but the rest of the year is great!

I'm guessing Florida isn't?

Climate vs. Weather
 

Here's the difference:

Climate is what you expect.

Weather is what you get.

Hard to beat Utah for scenic drives, more highways than you can drive in a lifetime, of all types- long straightaways, canyon twisties. Get away from SLC and there isn't much traffic to contend with. Low trooper density away from the population centers. I haven't had a ticket in 30 years.

Only a few days each winter are undrivable due to snowstorms, and in the valleys the past few years, snow has been getting more and more infrequent (an incovenient truth). But fantastic skiing is usually less than a 30-minute drive in the nearby mountains.

One bad winter aspect is the salt they use on the roads here- you MUST keep the car washed frequently to keep rust at bay, including (and especially) the underside. I won't drive my 8 Nov. - Feb. for that reason alone, and drive my Explorer exclusively then, unless there's a long dry spell and the roads are relatively free of sand and salt.

If you can't live your life without a cosmopolitan urban scene then this isn't the place for you, but if you have gotten the 'bright lights, big city' urge out of your system then it scores much higher. And most of the mormon stories are just that- stories. I've lived here almost half a century and have never personally met anyone with more than one wife! :)

Lastly, there just are not a lot of RX-8's around here. I can go a week without seeing another one. Having a unique car is a nice feeling.

Having lived in PA, SC and OR and driven cross country a few times here is my answer.

PA has a lot of good curvey back roads actually. Too bad most of them have the surface of a teenage boys acne ridden face.

SC has a nice coast, great for cruising and if you know where to look, has good roads.

For me, OR wins. When I lived in Oregon with my RX-7, I would love going out and just running up and down the mountains. Awsome, awsome roads.

Utah, while a creepy state, also has a lot of good roads as does South Dakota.

"Creepy"? They're mormons, not zombies. Oh, wait...nevermind.

California definitely. As long as you dont drive around in like east LA and Oakland its pretty safe. Like in the bay area you see like 350z's freaken everywhere. But I see more lambos than rx8's here.:yesnod:

glad to hear NC mentioned so much, since I'm looking to move down there! twisties FTW!

oh, and the answer is NOT RI. not enough twisties & generally too densely populated in the areas that do have them. Several months of cold w/a few snow storms each winter & the requisite salt/sand on the roads. lots of state troopers everywhere, and even more tards that don't know how to drive.

um, huh? as long as I could make it from gas station to gas station w/o running out it would be heaven.

I would say Calif. however, where are the owner from the other ggod states like Tennesee.

I know most of you wouldn't like the climate, but I love living in southern Maine.

I live 10 minutes from work, 15 minutes from the ocean, 15 minutes from Maine's 3rd largest lake, and there are twisty non-congested roads to each of those. I am also within 5 minutes of two freeways, but rarely use them.

I have about 5 different "routes" that I use when I am in the mood for a drive, ranging from 30 minutes to 2 hours, depending on how much time (and gas) I have. They are all rural/suburban roads, well maintained, twisty, and I rarely get stuck behind slowpokes.

For a longer drive I can head east up the coast, or northwest to the Mountains. I had NO PROBLEMS with my base '05 (no TCS/DSC) with good snowtires last year, and actually could still enjoy long country drives all winter when the roads were clear.

here is why NC is 1 of the best areas to own an 8

The Tail of the Dragon at Deals Gap, with 318 curves in 11 miles, is America ’s number one motorcycle and sports car road. The nearby Cherohala Skyway is quickly becoming number two with its remote 60 miles of scenic mountain highway. The area also has other roads less traveled, but just as exciting.
Come and discover them all.

http://img55.imageshack.us/img55/7183/poster2005nt0.jpg

no other place in america has anything close to this.

http://www.tailofthedragon.com/

oh and if u wanna see lambos or porsche or any other high end car find the date they are meeting they come from all over the country so u could see a trail of 300 going down the dragon.

http://www.tailofthedragon.com/pics2007/0707/cars.jpg
http://www.tailofthedragon.com/pics2...ri/line-up.jpg

the 8's are metting up there in September i believe