Engine Heat
 

I have the GT package which, as you know, gives leather seats. I've noticed that by butt sweats more with this car than with any of my previous leather-seated cars, including a 2001 BMW 330Ci, a Honda S2000 and a '93 RX7. I've also noticed that the front cup holder well gets very warm to the touch, especially after the car sits after being driven.

I'm guessing that the mid-mounted, heat producing engine is heating up the area directly under the seating area. Does anyone else has this problem or noticed the heat?

There have been several threads addressing the heat issue. You can do a search and probably come up with a few.:)

I should add that the cup holder only really feels hot after it has been closed while driving for a while. Never would have noticed it before but I put my metallic cell phone in there and when I opened the lid and picked up the phone it was roasting hot.

notice the trunk gets pretty hot also :P

yeah, my neighbor who is a mechanic and has worked on quite a few rx7's, did mention that "those cars produce a lot of heat". Didn't ask y.

just got home ~10 minutes ago, ass and back still wet :P

I must be a glutton for punishment (or part lizard), but I haven't turned off the seat heaters since I got the car. I love the fact that the seats get hot, as it does wonders on my poor back. It's been in the high 90's all this week, so maybe when it gets back into the high 100's I'll turn off the seat heaters. I know, I'm wierd. :D

Tomster must have ordered the heated seats package :) .
For me the vents send in hot air even when the temperature outside is cool.
Makes me use A/C when it isn't necessary.

Also, a couple of days ago, after I parked and switched off the ignition, the fan ran for over 5 minutes.

That IMHO is one of the nice things about a car with automatic climate control; you stop thinking in terms of "A/C on or off."

I haven't driven a car with the A/C off in the past ten years or so (I'm not an "open window" driver, either, and we won't even start on moonroofs. :D)

Those the seat heat up your lower and upper back or just your butt. I am wondering

Seriosly though, he might be accidentaly driving with the heaters on.

No, No, No. The seat heaters are definitely off. There is just some heat coming from underneath which makes sense seeing as the engine is about 3 inches away.

It's the front cup holders that definitely get hot. Good for holding coffee only! Even when closed and my arm rest against the lid, I can feel some heat on my arm.

I recall that on my 1st Gen. RX-7's, you could stand against the passenger door and it felt like a hair dryer (while it was running).

One time, I drove an '80 to Arizona during July (twice). It had no AC... Wow! Was that a warm trip. It was all for a woman. But the RX made it fine. What a fun car that was for road trips...

One thing a test drive won't be able to tell for me is how engine heat will affect me. I basically haven't used the A/C unless the rare occasion that other people request, even through 100 degree heat. I can take a lot of sweatage, and going from leather to cloth like I'd plan on owning the 8 would be a slight improvement, but only time would tell on that one.

Sounds like this will be a great car to drive through out Canadian winters! :p

Warm.....
 

MMMmmmmmm!!

Toasty........

I'll agree with everything here, the car is HOT. In 2 ways of course :D

The cabin gets warm pretty fast. And last night after a drive, I parked her in my garage it was STILL toasty in the garage this morning!

It should be a great car for the winter, I have a feeling you won't even need the heat on full blast :)

The cup holders get warm, this could be good if you drink coffee, bad for juice or water or coke or something.

I'm a little confused why you guys don't think this is a big deal. Seats that warm to the point of making you sweat with the a/c blasting and cup holders/armrests that are useless for their intended use due to excess heat is a pretty obvious design flaw. There is clearly not enough heat insulation between the engine compartment and the cabin. Coming off a BMW, this is pretty pathetic engineering. I just hope we first year buyers aren't intended to be the guinea pigs for the qality control dept of Mazda.

Ordered sheep skins for my GT; should cool down the leather seats.

Yeah, I'm guessing that the folks who say the seats are hot have the leather. So they're hot for the obvious reason that they just don't breathe like cloth. I have the GT package as well, but haven't found it to be a real issue with the AC on.

But I do suppose that they could have fit the center console with more insulation. When I pulled the center cover off to get the MP3 player in, you can see there's about 1/2" of space under there. I'd bet there's that much room as well around the cup holders, so there'd be plenty of space.

I have cloth and the seats are not hot. Just the console, but it's just mildly warm, not HOT.

Same here. Haven't noticed any heat related problems with the seats - A/C on or the windows open.

The cupholder compartment does get warm (not hot) when closed. But that's not a problem, I don't use them for drinks...actually, can't use them for drinks as that's where my arm goes to shift. What an AWFUL location for cupholders!

I experience the same thing... I stopped putting my cell phone in there, and moved it to the ash tray, now the phone touches my hand when I am in first.

I don't like leaving that console slid open, but maybe I am gonna have to.

Yuki, one of the first (just after JSG) forum members to get the car spoke of the very same issue in his car... even drew us a nifty diagram :)

Is this happening on both AT and MT cars? I ask because the stickshift on my car used to get hot after 'spirited' driving. I swapped in some synthetic tranny fluid and problem solved.