Ah. Well, the grill is only half fake (the top half) but yeah, the lower A/C "scoop" and the oil cooler openings are fully functional.

 

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm,
Judging by everyone's reaction to the original post, I think maybe I should do my RX8 ~ 96 Yukon comparison. Lord knows gas mileage is comparable.

 

Dude, you are freakin crazy. I had a ford focus rental for 3 days this week while on a business trip. Its freakin sucks! It sucks to the point that I don't even think its a safe car to drive. The brakes suck, the handling sucks and it has no power. I was in a parking lot going maybe 15mph and a car backed out unexpectedly, but far enough ahead that stopping for it in the 8 wouldn't even be an issue. I slammed on the brakes and it managed to stop in time, but not without causing me to sweat a few bullets. The car feels very unstable above 75mph, the steering is very twitchy and the body roll is horrendous.

 

Strange, this is EXACTLY what I was thinking about YOU when I read your post. Your credibility plummets when you claim you could barely bring the car to a stop in time from fifteen mph...

 

If the RX8 was a used as a rental car then people would make the same comments about it. Rental cars are no barometer for judging any car as they are usually the cheapest version with the smallest engine and they are beat to hell. I have driven a coworkers SVT Focus on many occassions and have never been disappointed in the brakes, power or suspension.

 

Even the base car is at the very least passable in all these respects. Well, maybe except in the power department... But even the old 2-liter, 110hp car saddled with an automatic was a 10-second 0-60 car, which is at the north end of acceptable for an economy car.

 

Whats a focus??? Im losing focus on this....

 

Dude, I didnt know Andy Dick was the spokesman for the Ford Focus. Anyway, you guys wanna hear something funny? Well my mom bought a brand new 05 RX-8 Shinka AT. She wanted to have a sports car and decided to trade in her RX-300 to get it. This happened about 2 weeks after I gotten my Mazda 3. Well, about a month after buying it she decideds that she doesnt like the car and trades it in for a ******* Explorer. She could have atleast took the 3 instead and gave me the 8 ya know. God Bless Her Soul, atleast she owned a RX-8 before she passed on and didnt get a ***** car like a focus

 

I rented a Nissan Sentra last week that actually wasn't too bad, except for the AT. It rode smooth and took corners reasonably well.