Grimace

My old 91 MX-6 had folding rear seats. And it was a coupe. Yes, it is technically possible!

NOTA V6

My '88 626 5 door turbo was a hatchback without folding seats. That works both ways. Imagine that.

My Jeep has folding rear seats and isn't a hatchback or a mini-van.

Honestly, isn't the concept of a four door sports car with suicide doors enough of a mold breaker that a couple of folding seats in the mix wouldn't be all that surprising?

Grimace

Where are you getting your information that the RX-8 absolutely will not come with rear folding seats?

spwolf

Well, if we all recall, there is that big middle separator/enforcement in going through the middle of the car, so folding rear seats will not be as cool as they could be if they are in... nevertheless, it seems pretty dumb if mazda would make a 4 seater and then stop at functionality there... I fail to see how folding seats so more luggage can fit is going to lower sporting image of RX-8

Elara

Hey ZoomZoom, I resent that "girls" bit :P I haven't once acted up here yet and I'm a girl.

And just to stay on topic, I think it would be pretty cool if the RX-8's rear seats folded, but I don't think it's gonna happen. From the pictures so far, it just doesn't look like they're really designed to fold. But what do I know anyway, I'm just a "girl"

NOTA V6

This ought to be good.

NOTA V6

LOL! :D

But who said there will not be a hatchback and/or wagon model offered? Not that I have heard anything at all about any plans for those options, but I have heard no denials from Mazda either...

Grimace

Elara and spwolf -
you may be right, it would be difficult to have fold-down rear seats with the "backbone" running thru the middle of the car. At the very least, I imagine there will be a pass-thru for skis or whatnot.

I have seen some images taken from the Detroit autoshow that suggest the rear seats are split 50-50; that is to say, the rear seats are not made from one piece of cloth. Of course, it could be just a seam I'm seeing.

I still think there will be some kind of access to the trunk from the cabin. Many engineers said the suicide rear doors with no B-pillar would be impossible too...

Grimace

There have been several changes made to the RX-8 as it continues to be developed for production. The starter button got the ax. The coloured instrument hood did too. The six-speed paddle shift tranny has been replaced with a regular 6-speed standard box. And thats just on the latest iteration of the RX-8. The rear foglight may still get the ax too.
The previous version (the red showcar from a year or so ago) underwent a huge amount of changes, exterior, interior and mechanical to get to the version of the RX-8 we know today.

While I agree that the yellow RX-8 showcar should be pretty close to what it will be like when it bows its head in 2003. That doesn't preclude changes being made though. It may have folding rear seats. It may not. Actually, at this point, who cares? As long as it has 250 Hp and a six speed...

Ok, here is a question. How do you know that the current RX-8 pre-production unit doesn't already have folding rear seats? Have you been in it? Have you read an article that definatively states they don't fold? (Most I've read focus on the performance of the vehicle). Some kind of mole deep within the workings of Mazda? Wvhere iz zee microfilm?

All I know is what I have read and seen and I don't pretend to make any definative statements. But from this picture it does look like the rear seats can each fold independently (although not the whole seatback, due to the backbone stiffener): http://images.rotarynews.com/images/.../24rx8-int.jpg

Many times with pre-production vehicles the trunk interior is not finished (bare metal) and sometimes even sealed, which is perhaps why we haven't read anything about the trunk or folding seats (or lack thereof).

So, with that, can we all try our hardest to maintain a civilized forum where we can have intelligent conversations? I'm excited about the RX-8, as are many people. Don't sour the lead-up.

spwolf

Mazda didnt say anything about many parts of RX-8 yet... in fact, only worthy article about RX-8 was in R&T and they actually said in their latest issue that pictures shown were of the old show car, not pre-production model that they tested (obviously mazda didnt let them take pics of it, prolly wasnt ready for the pics).

You go on to insult half of the people around here, based on the thought that if RX-8 had folding rear seats, then Mazda would say something about it.... wtf?

NOTA V6

Dr T is no more. Banned IP.

I would delete all the posts referring to this incident, however, it is not my area to moderate, and I do not have the power to delete or edit posts here.

I'm personally all for the zero tolerance thing though, and pending admin approval, will be working to keep it that way.

Right now there are only 5 mods and 2 admins running this site which is still very low traffic. If the mods don't monitor their area daily, this kind of thing can get carried away very quickly indeed. Dr T's first post was only 3 days ago after all.

I can tell you that I personally will try to keep things clean around here. That you have my personal guarantee. Feel free to use the "Report this post to a moderator" link if you feel things are getting out of hand. Help us to help you.

Thanks,

Jim

Grimace

Thanks Jim -
You're doing a great job, along with the other moderators. Keep up the good work!

Funny you mention its been only 3 days since all this stuff started. It seems like weeks...

Toadman

Ok, all cleaned up.

Grimace

Thanks Toadman. Appreciated!

Sidenote - this thread shrunk from 5 pages to 3 after deleting all the insulting posts... lets try to do better than only having 60% of our posts somewhat usefull everyone...

Toadman

Ok listen up please, speculation on whether the RX-8 has fold-down seats(original topic) has yet to be seen and I'm sure more info will be forthcoming. Personal attacks won't cut it here, so let's all take a step back and think before posting comments that may incite a flame-war, especially about a car that hasn't even reached production job-1 yet! No one's out to "get" anybody so let's play by the forum rules you agreed to when you registered. Everyone is welcome to stay/post as they please within the those forum guidelines. Don't make our mods/admins become forum *****. This is/will be THE MAZDA RX-8 Premiere Forum once released, come hell or high water. We're all better than other forum thread-crappers, agreed? :D

FYI.. this is my 'overly-nice-guy' disclaimer warning to ALL.....

Rotor on..

MazdaMan182

There probably won't be folding "seats" but there is a possibily that there is a folding seat for skis (like someone said) Considering that the trunk is not that big, even with the folding seat, there probably won't be enough room for skis to pass by.

MazdaMan182

The rear lights are shaped exactly the same, but the Mazda has clear ones. That's all. I'm not saying that Mazda "copied" Honda, I'm just saying that both cars LOOK the same (except the 4 seats, and top.)

Here's a comparison: The S2000 has a big grill in the middle under the emblem, and two small hole on the side. The RX-8 is EXACTLY the same. The rear lights look the same and the styling is almost identical.

I wouldn't say that the RX-8 is "uglier" than the S2000, but they look damn alike... and I wouldn't say that the RX-8 is "slower" either, because the production model has not even come out yet.

Rich

Am I the only one that thinks the RX-8 and S2k look NOTHING alike? The RX-8 looks like it's made up of bubbles, the S2k looks like a bathtub. They're not even remotely similar IMHO.

MazdaMan182

rich, look at the *** of the RX-8 and then the *** of the S2000... they look the same!

Rich

Perhaps from the back they do look similar, but from every other angle they could hardly look any more different! And any comparisons between a Miata and an S2k are just as bad. The Miata is sensual and the S2k looks like a bathtub on wheels. Not that I wouldn't love to own one...

Elara

Rich, I'm with you- I can't say that I see any similarity in the s2000 and the RX-8 in the appearance category- and with apologies to any Honda enthusiasts here, I find the s2000 to be a really ugly car- and it just seems to get worse in person. However, I will concede that I am not exactly the world's car design expert, so fel free to disagree with me.

Wouldn't it be great if the RX-8 DOES have fold down seats, or some such to make packing lots of stuff in it easier? I am still not sure, from the limited pictures and not having seen it in person, but I hope my original guess that it wouldn't is wrong.

Rich

I'm not really all that excited about fold down rear seats. It seems to me that there would have to be a compromise in price and structural rigidity, and the RX8 already makes way too many compromises for my taste. I've said this too many times already, but I'm not really an RX-8 customer, I'm an RX-7 customer that is considering an RX-8 because it's as close as I can get.
Part of the definition of a sports car is that there must be compromises made (practicality, comfort, price, fuel efficiency, etc.) in order to attain higher performance. That's why the Lotus Elise is high on my list of alternative cars to the RX-8. That may go too far in the other direction, but right now it's tied with the RX-8 for my money. In another year or two, both should be out, well written about in the press, and hopefully I'll still be able to afford them. I'm just glad we've got such great choices!

SpreeGuy

*Cough*post count means nothing*Cough*

So yeah, I really hope the seats fold down. My current car has fold down seats, and I find that they are a very nice feature.

Who know's maybe Mazda will make it an option.

Styjan

Rich, you should be patient. I think that by the time the RX-8 is released there should be some information about the next RX-7. Here is the latest rumor pic.

Strider

Just wondering, and I probably passed over this while looking over galleries, but where did you pick up that rumor pick at Styjan?