Well, I don't personally care if it's an accident waiting to happen or not. The way I see it, it's my car and my windows, if I want them to go up automatically, that's my problem and nobody else's. I'm an adult and can take responsibility for my own actions and I don't need the government or others watching out for me. Anyway, that's my opinion and I respect that others have their own about such things.

For those who bought the car for the track, I'm not entirely sure the original poster's comments apply to you. Mazda has you covered - you're able to get the car sans sunroof, etc. No worries. :) Different people have different needs though and he’s just voicing what he likes. For those of us who want a more comfortable daily driver and rarely, if ever, take it to the track, I can understand most of the points from the first post. Now I'm not saying it should be a luxury car – the RX-8 is first and foremost a great sports car – but some things just would make better sense. Better lighting for the sunroof/ homelink would be nice as would a compass. But whatever, these are nitpicks, not priorities, and I love the car.

Things mentioned that I personally would hate to see ('cause I know you all care :rolleyes: ) are the auto-headlights and auto-up windows. My current rental car is a Chevy Classic with daytime running headlights. I know - not quite the same, but it drives me NUTS. They stay on for a minute or two after I turn the car off. Why?!?! :confused: They just shine in the windows of whatever building I park in front of. I want complete control over what my car is doing. If I want the lights on, I'll turn them on. Sorry for the rant, they've been annoying me for weeks now.

As for auto-up windows, I suppose it could be handy but I've had bad experiences. Our Audi A4 has two-stage auto windows from hell on both sides. This may be my only complaint about the car. There's too little travel on the first stage and not enough resistance before activating the auto-down. Same when going up. When I try to crack the window it takes me 5 or 6 tries to get it right every time. Flies down, flies up. :mad: With only an auto-down, if you overshoot you can bring it back where you want it. And I don't think it's necessary on both sides. Perhaps if implemented better it'd be handy. It'd certainly be nice to have an auto-close on the sunroof but that’s another nitpick. I just can’t wait to get back in the driver’s seat…

Scottmhr1, cllcle:

My 1999.5 VW Golf GLS (purchased oh, 6 years ago) had auto open and close on the front windows, AND they had a pressure sensor which detected if something was blocking the window and immediately rolled them back down. Chance of injury = small. I recall at least once getting my hand squeezed (less than a firm handshake) in the driver side window.

Your thinking is a bit out of date. :-)

Car companies DO do stupid things. Dodge caravan had no brake interlock on their caravans (with Automatic Transmissions) for quite a while... not sure if they've even put brake interlocks in. Now for a Minivan with no brake interlock, that's an even higher probability of danger than a window rolling up on a kid. Then there's the whole automatic seatbelt thing... haha I'm sure everyone's seen the comedy gold videos from those in action.

It's the year 2005, we have the technology for cool features. We may not have flying cars yet, but for all the other neato stuff, HI PLEASE USE COOL TECHNOLOGY.

edit:

Socr8tes:

Interesting that you dislike the Audi windows. AFAIK, the VW ones are the same, and I quite like them. Although it did take a lot of time to get used to exactly how far I had to move the switch to get it to respond to what I wanted.

You're complaining about the most trivial things: automatic lights, defroster, windows, compass & sunroof controls? There are hundreds of little nitpicks to be had with any car. Nothing is perect, and no car uses all the "cool technology" available at the time.

So...

Relaaaaxxxx

Uber: My sis has a '99 or '00 Passat and the switches are different - a little firmer. Perhaps our A4 just got a bad batch or maybe they were redesigned for the next model. Who knows? Like I said, for what's expected of that car it's my only complaint. I just shudder when I think of dealing with those windows on a daily basis. I don't know about everyone else, but I really have no problem with holding the button for an extra 1.8 seconds. Won't ruin my day. ;)

15 Month Update
 

It's now 15 months and 26K miles down the road.

The dealership - I'm still pleased with the dealership. I've always gotten a loaner vehicle when I take the 8 in for service and have never had a problem with them. I think I've only actually paid for one oil change also. There is another dealer in the area that is closer to my new home and I called them to drop my 8 off for the recall and they wouldn't even give me a loaner. Nevermind there was a recall but I also work like 20 miles from the dealership.

The car - This is my daily driver so I've become pretty intimate with the car. It's still a smooth riding car. I will say that I've had this car in the repair shop more times than all the cars I've ever owned in the past combined. Just to name a few things, I've had the catalytic converter blow out at under 500 miles on the car, creamy oil dipstick, indicator that the headlights aren't leveling, squealing brakes, rattling windows, replaced metering oil pump, one SEL that was never able to be diagnosed, super loud rattling in a can with extreme loss of power on downshifts with no SEL indicator, random SEL events that go away after a day, A/C turns itself on when the car is started if the defroster was on when the car was turned off, and some other things that I can't remember. The 8 is currently in the shop now for the recall and I'm on the second day still waiting to hear the outcome.

I'll probably either be selling or trading in the 8 next year on something else. I'm sure that for 30k I can find something else that gets crappy gas mileage but doesn't require a quart of oil a week and doesn't freak me out with SEL indicators every other week. Maybe even get a built-in MP3 player that has a USB port and/or 20gb drive.