tjbourgoyne

CD Sept 2005 5.9, 40K mi. The braking improved also 153 to 145 from 70mph, but they switched to summer tires for the follow up.

playdoh43

just incase you didnt know the new engine is much stronger across the entire powerband, the 5.2 for the 07 Z is not a good time considering the 07 G35 sedan got a 5.2 weight much more with the same engine.

tajabaho1

so basically I'm stumped

swoope

iTrader: (5)

you are not stumped. you are the first to try it.. mags dont test autos on sports cars..

if you did a low seven run with a 6at you are doing well...

beers

jeffe19007

The G35 Sedan ran a 5.2 0 to 60?

Now I know someone is imagining things!

Car and Driver also says the lows on the 350Z is "Cheap interior and engine sounds like a coffee grinder inside the car."

I see no stats that are best in group for the 8. Sorry.

C&D also says the Z is "Fastest on the track"!

Oh noess! Lost in the twisties too!

The 8 is not best in anything...and "guzzles gas like a private jet".

And thes guys like the 8!

RotaryP7

I get about 6 seconds on 0-60.

donack456

Current Car and Driver says RX-8 0 to 60 is 6.5 secs. 350z is 5.2, Shelby GT is 5.1, and Audi TT is 6.0.

But they liked the 8 bestest!


On average this is the 0-60 time that I'm seeing for the RX-8, I've seen closer to 7.0 0-60mph on some and 7-5-8.0 on the automatic. In the Fast and Furiest in Tokyo the Turbo charged sharp looking Custom RX-8 only pulled 6.5 0-60 time. Now they admit that the setup wasn't the optimal, I'd say thats almost non Turbo time.

That must be the 4 cyclinder Audi TT the new V6 Audi TT beats the Boxster Coupes 0-60 time. I see it beating out the others but the larger Audi, I don't know??? Thats one slick sports car.

playdoh43

http://www.caranddriver.com/roadtest...ecs-page4.html
5.2 is not that great considering the 335i did 4.9 and the is350 did 5.1 ....
that g35 tested was loaded with premium stuff, i think the lighter Z has potential to record a sub 5 sec run, well see.

CarAndDriver

6.5....slowish compared to a lot of other cars nowadays.

I wonder how many miles were on the car. If it was relatively low, the acceleration most likely would get better with additional miles.

playdoh43

i think thats a myth, it wont get better with additional miles. a good driver and some luck will get superior times regardless of miles.

just because a car ran a better time at a later test doesn't mean miles make it faster, logically speaking chances are the environmental conditions was better and with a bit of luck the driver got a better time. especially with a car that requires a high rpm clutch drop, the difficulty in execution is more likely the cause of the 5.8s

CarAndDriver

I also think that the Renesis motor might have great variability from one engine to the other more than piston engines. Some 8 owners get 24MPH at 75MPH on the freeway while some get 16MPH doing the same speed.

That may also explain the wide variation in 0-60 times that different magazines and reviews have had.

I suppose one could average them and it'd be somewhere around 6.3 to 6.4 seconds.

9291150

I actually did; 11 tests in all from the the 3 major mags since launch, and it averages 6.1 sec. (I added in the 6.5 from June's C&D). Not a fast time in this day.

...too much time on my hands.

DailyDriver2k5

Not a fast time but a quick time ...The Rx-8 is a quick car , not a fast car so a 5.9-6.4 sec 0-60 is rather good. Cars like a Altima 3.5, Maxima 3.5, Acura TL,G35 Subaru Legacy GT all run those times . And all those cars have more torque than we even have HP, despite there weight disadvantage. So i think that is a great feat .....

Its like the RX8 isn't the fastest car out there but its not the slowest one out there either, it has a nice niche in the middle.

½mv²

While the 0-60 may not be braggable, how does the RX-8's 60-100 stack up against the usual suspects? I've dicked around with a few S2000's & Evos on the highway (not exactly "raced"), and it seems like they all start to lose their "juice" before they can get one carlength away.
I've also made mockeries of MANY a sports car in the 65-90mph range (V6 'stangs, turbo eclipses, preludes, GSRs, etc.). Once again, I've never really raced, but I've caught a few people eyeing my car from one of these vehicles, we'll both downshift, slow to 50-55 or so and have a quick "lets-see-who-starts-to-pull-away-first" contest, and my 8 just toys with them. I dunno if it's our gearing, our skyhigh redline, or my ability to only find shitty drivers, but it's been my experience that the RX8 is a highway bullet.

DailyDriver2k5

Yup.... i totally agree and have experienced the same.
A friend of mine who is a rotary junkie told me to always to be a gear down or in the proper gear in a rotary, i say that to say this..... for example if you know you will be starting out at 55 mph,the other guy will most likely be starting out in 3rd gear, especailly if he is driving a piston engine, us rotary guys need to be in 2nd gear for a healthy pull or jump on them. By the time they shift into 4th were in 3rd and still pulling strong as most cars in the rx-8 class are losing there punch.

I tried this many times and have stayed with or even walked away from cars that on paper should have left me from the get go. Just did it to a Neon SRT, the 215HP ones the other day.

I am learning with my first rotary the RX-8 is a good car out of the box, driven properly makes the RX-8 even a better experience to drive fast.

playdoh43

taking the average dosnt mean much, the fastest time should be the one qouted when "mag racing" because it shows car x is capable of doing time y.

averaging them hardly gives you a good estimate of real world performance by a good driver in everyday conditions without doing a high rpm launch, that time is more in the high 6 seconds range. same concept goes for most other cars.

sosonic

That's about right. Actually, that's pretty decent for the Auto. The Auto has the torque converter issue, so you are not going to launch past 2,500 rpm from a brake launch. You could do a neutral slam, for a higher rpm launch, but you are bound to decrease the life span of your auto tranny pretty quickly. I have rev/speed limit cut and an ATF cooler and get high 7s (and float back up to 8s sometimes if I don't focus). I could neutral slam to see if there is something else there, but I like my RX-8.

The MT, with above 5,000 rpm launches are only getting around 6.5 secs on average. Now, if you could launch an Auto at higher than 5,000 rpm (combined with its torque advantage over the MT) than that time would be interesting. But, I have a feeling (even with a neutral slam), it would be low 7s or high 6s.

The issue is that the RX-8 makes its max power above 7,000 rpm (it is a rotary engine, so it can take it). The only problem is can your clutch and/or tranny take it? You have to launch it from above that and keep it there. The best launch technique and setup for the RX-8 is going to be a bit different from other cars.

After that the only chance is ECU flash (to find 20HP or more), pulley, flywheel, replace parts for weight, supercharger, or properly tuned turbo.

I did also notice too, that the RX-8 does well on the move and that many other cars seem to "die" a bit after 0-60. Plus, another point is to mod the RX-8's already strong points to be even stronger. Such as struts and sway bars, so that it can take turns even harder and have even more of an advantage there.

CarAndDriver

Thanks! 6.1 is still quick, but there seems to be a 0-60 and HP race going on in the past 5 years in all segments and the 8 has been left behind. A consistent under 5.X 0-60 seems to be where "fast" is now.

eviltwinkie

Haa..I just posted some vids of a HPDE where I was chasing around cars with MUCH higher HP than the RX has...its all aboot the twisties!!!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...60604622&hl=en
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...67829043&hl=en

Plaz

I've always been taught in HPDE that shuffle-steering is a big no-no...

eviltwinkie

It IS a big no-no...that was my first session of the day and I was trying to get past some very nasty habits...but I was totally not prepared for the handling and capability of the car. I was pretty fidgetty at first but in the later sessions after I got into the groove my driving got better. You can also tell that I was in the green group as I was doing a pretty crappy job holding my lines and being consistent. heh...all that said I was still pWnin the other noobs like quadrapeligic kittens...

At the end of the day I got a whole lot of..."man your annoying back there"...hee hee

Plaz

eviltwinkie

Sliver RX-8 in my rear view and nothing but twisties ahead!! Oh noes!!

Heh...It's ALL aboot the twisties...

9291150

You're kinda contradicting yourself. Using only the best time as you suggest DEFINETLY won't "give you a good estimate of real world performance by a good driver in everyday conditions." It may only suggest the best time that a car is capable of in optimal conditions using the best driver and a top running car.

Using a simple average, in this case using 11 tests on the same car from the three most respected sources with similar procedure and standards, that's the best way you can say with confidence that the 8 is a 6.1/14.6/95mph car...not a 5.8/14.4/97mph car or a 6.6/15.1/92 mph car.

6.1/14.6/95mph (corrected, as all mag tests are) is what it is normally able to do in capable hands. Not fast by today's standards, but quick enough to be fun.

eviltwinkie

RX-8 beats out 350Z, Audi TT, and Mustang Shelby in the June 2007 Car and Driver.

Quote: "That's not to say some extra power isn't sorely needed here - it is- but even at the ripe old age of five, the RX-8 pleases us the most."



I also agree that it could use an extra 100HP...too many times I would wind em in the twisties only to watch them pull away in the straights...eventually I would catch em and just pitch a tent on thier trunk until they found me annoying enough to let me pass...but having some extra punch would definately go a long way for this car...