Never had a problem taking off with the 8, I still continue after a year of ownership jerking it into second, i hate that gear. But once you really start working through the revs on this car the shifting is amazing.

 

I have the same problem. What the heck is up with reverse

 

i hate reverse.. i feel like im riding that clutch. i'll get the car in motion but as soon as i release the clutch... jerk jerk jerk jerk... ahhhhh!!


but what i have found about the RX is that it is impossible to completely stall the car on purpose.. i have come to the point where you'll see the battery light, light up and all you do is step back on the clutch and the car will start up again no problem. This entails lightning fast reflexes but about 20 times now where i can feel the car begin to stall and just hold in the clutch will get it out of trouble again.

I've owned the 8 since october of last year and probably stalled... 6 times total now. 4 of it was within the first week of owning the car lol

 

I've noticed that too -- like it has some kinda last ditch efford emergency system to help get you out of a stall. The battery light will come on and if you time it right the car will save itself from a stall

 

he he he, yeah. I have had nothing but manuals in all for my cars but my Durnago and one of my BMW's. I went from my 2001 BMW 330i to my RX-8, very similar feel. I didn't have to much trouble adapting. The torque factor dose take a little time to get used to. Not normal driving, but taking off quickly at a stop light or a stop sign.

 

http://www.thenewsherald.com/images/.../10865_512.jpg

This is my old wrangler's interior, check out that shifter, it was a short throw.

I learned on this one, really forgiving. It would shudder terribly if you got close to killing it, and by it I mean the entire car.

Actually it would shudder terribly if you got it past 50 mph....

 

I came from a miata, and the clutch/shifter are remarkably similar feeling. Only real difference is the push down for reverse thing. I've also noticed that when driving around town at <40mph, the 8 makes a lot more noise through the transmission tunnel than the miata did. Still, there's a cure for that - drown it out with the gas pedal

 

Actually if you turn off your car, and then switch it back on (for when you forgot to roll up your windows) before the engine stops spinning over, the car sometimes starts back up.

 

I have driven quite a few manual transmissions and had a couple of stalls. My most frequent issue is being inattentive and hitting the wrong gear, i.e., starting from 3rd (clutch back in go to 2nd), 2nd to 5th (let it bog till speed catches up), 5th to 4th (clutch, then over to 6th). I have only had mine for a few weeks so assume I will get better or not.

 

When I took it into the shop to get my rock dent fixed I took the relatively "back routes" to avoid the beginnings of rush hour. This meant tons of residential driving and stop signs, so at least I got to work on my take-offs. Anyways, I was doing pretty good at getting it going without peeling out although I'm a little slow still with a little bit of occasional jerking. Anyways I took off on a slight incline (no rolling, yay!) and the car was extra jerky and I couldn't figure out why. Duh. I was in third gear!!

At least I know it can be done.

 

I did that once on accident. Was parking on my friends driveway which is way steap. I stalled 3 times and was like WTF. Then i noticed it was in 3rd gear

 

I thought maybe I was the only one with the problem between first and second. It doesn't grind, it is just not smooth. I have to actually work at making that a smooth shift, especially at high end revs.

I have also noticed that it is a a b--ch in stop and go traffic. One of the hardest cars to start and hover in first and second gear going between 5 to 15mph. I found that hanging out in 3rd gear actually got rid of the car wanting to jerk.

 

You don't need to turn the car back on for that. Just make sure you haven't opened a door first, then hit the window up button. Your windows will still work with the car off until you open a door.

 

Nice find! Tried that last night and it worked!