Considering coming back to the 8.... 2 years later
 

I sold my 8 in February of 2008. Since then, I've had a Mazdaspeed 3, and I'm now driving a 2001 Vette Z06 as my daily driver. I've had the Z for about 4 months now, and its a beast. So much torque, gets a lot of attention, and it's been my dream car since I was 12 years old.

A couple of the things I don't like.. First and foremost being so low and scraping against EVERYTHING gets old quick. The transmission doesn't have the feel I loved so much in the Mazdas. And honestly, the daily commute just isn't as pleasant. I got a killer deal on the Vette, and seeing these 2004 MT 8's going for $11K or so is really tempting me.

Over the next few months, I'm going to keep an eye on my cash flow. I doubt I will keep the Z06 as a DD. I am thinking either....

1) Dump the Z, and buy the RX-8 with the equity and have no car payment.

2) Save up a few months, and add the RX-8 to the garage to keep the Z company.

3) Keep the Z, and buy a beater for daily driving and bad weather driving.

Decisions, decisions....

(My real problem here is I have always been morally against "garage queens". Making car payments on something that is depreciating anyway never seemed smart to me)

I would go option number 3, if you can.

Get a beater, and put a few bucks into the Z06 to make it fast. The insurance on the Z06 will also drop quite a bit, since you have the beater. Investigate that. It makes a lot of sense.

3 sounds good, butt you really like the Rx8!

pick option 1 and buy the car from the for sale section here.

Keep the Z, then in a few months, buy the 8. None of your cars have to be a "garage queen". If I had owned the most expensive car in the world, it would be a daily driver. To me, any car that I invest my money deserves to be daily driven or at least driven to some extent.

^ from one who does not own multple vehicles.

Save up and buy an 8 as a DD and share some time with the Z.
(I dream of having both some day)

:confused:, WTF??
I own 2006 350z that has a blown motor..

This means I currently own two cars (RX-8/350Z). I've owned a eg6 hatch that was pretty fast, nothing fancy.. Those are the only cars I own/owned.....

I'm curious how you like the Mazda3Speed? How does the drive compare to the RX8 you had?

I just bought a 2010 RX8 & love it, what a drive!! My wife wanted a sports car so we traded in our 2008 Mazda 3 i-Touring on the RX8, though I was half torn between the RX8 & 3Speed. Since the 3Speed didn't meet the wife's visual expectation of a Sportscar, the RX8 was our pick. I told her that we're doing the 3Speed as the next car once we pay off the RX8. I already have visions of going out to the driveway & having to pick, will it be the RX8 or Mazda3Speed today???

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm still torn, but I take comfort in the fact that there is no real rush. I got the Z for a steal, and the 8 isn't going up in value any time soon. If anything I might add a beater to the fleet for a few months and then switch it to an RX-8 in about a year or so. The thought of having the Z and the 8 sitting next to eachother in the garage is puts a big ass smile on my face.

To GarfCamen:

The Speed 3 was a great car. The torque was unbelievable for the price, and the handling was surprisingly precise for a FWD hatchback. (If Mazda would have made this car AWD, I would still own it.) The convenience of having the Speed 3 as a daily driver is unrivaled. The only thing that counts against it IMO is the hatchback look. (Not a huge fan) On the other hand, the 2010s are pretty mean looking so even that isn't really a con anymore. The hatchback practicality is fantastic. I'd say you made the right decision though, the handling and the interior of the RX-8 put it a notch ahead IMO.

# 3 is that easy .

#3 get a good little beater and download some money into the z and make it really the car of your dreams