fatcory app. package or aftermarket
 

I'm getting an 8 in a month or so and was wondering what you guys think of the factory appearance package. Is it worth the money ro should I put that money toward an aftermarket kit.

Thanks

Assuming you've seen several of the aftermarket kits, it all depends on what you want really.

The factory appearance enchancements are quite subtle and look very natural on the car in my opinion.

The aftermarkets are usually much more dramatic, and as such they are prone to much stronger opinions. The more dramatic a kit is, the more someone will love it or hate it rather than just like it.

Either way, if you're looking at aftermarket and only want to buy once, I'd look around alot before making a decision. Just browsed through a Japanese mag the other night (Sunnyvale CA RX-8 gathering :)) and saw way more kits and appearance enhancements than I'd seen on the boards or searching around.

Agreed... and another factory to take into account is plastic versus fiberglass. Just about everyone will tell you that FRP (Fiber Reenforced Plastic... fiberglass) sucks. Basically it's not impact resistant... so those little love taps, etc. in the parking lots could crack your $1,200 bumper! I've never owned a FRP kit, so I can't say from experience... only what I've seen and what others have said...

If FRP is out for you then the field gets real narrow... Mazdaspeed kit, Appearance package, or the INGS+1 kit in Hybrid Aero.

What I might suggest is get your car with nothing on it and wait... in time more kits will come out and maybe one that you have to have comes out. If not... you still have the option of dropping on one of the old kits.

Re: fatcory app. package or aftermarket
 

Consider the fact that car is already gorgeous without any additions..

Granted I do like the mazda speed kits alot, I don't think it's worth it.

BTW, I don't mean to dispute the cost of any particular part, such as the MazdaSpeed kits (I'm sure you get what you pay for).. What I mean was I don't think it is worth spending the extra thousands to get your car only a little bit better, imo.

For instance a full MazdaSpeed setup will set you back approximately $6000 (From what I've read on here). That's roughly 20% the cost of the car.

Here's another way to look at it... Ask yourself this question: If you were at the time of purchase and they had offered you this MazdaSpeed setup, and had a 20% markup on the purchase price, would you go for it?

There's your answer...

Anyway, there will be disagreement here...

I'm just stating a "practical" opinion.

I have the aero package, I love it. It all depends on what you want to spend and your taste.

Actually the Mazdaspeed kit isn't $6,000 if you buy from Trussville or Rosenthal. If memory serves me it's under $3,000. You can pay less by deleting things like the spolier and the rear diffuser (my idea... and add a lip spoiler to the trunk).

I do agree that the MS kit is expensive though. But you get what you pay for...

As far as the regular lines go... to be honest... it has taken time for the front to grow on me. It's fine now, but at first... oh boy. I sometimes consider going totally stealth now by having no appearance mods except maybe rims (for weight) and just pour all the cash under the hood. Certain angle pics of the car like that are just sharp. And other angle pics... make me want to put a kit on it. It's a constant battle... good thing I'm not buying yet, eh?