oh i see

 

I got the Touring for the cloth seats, lol. Grippier on my butt

I used to slide all over the place in the leather seats of my old Eclipse, though I'm guessing that the 8's leather is of a much higher quality.

I couldn't fit in the power (leather) seats anyways. They must sit higher. Kept banging my head into the roof framing above the door. Ouch.

 

If the car you are looking at shows the Grand Touring Package at $3,900 MSRP, then you are looking at a car with a pre-Sept 2003 build date. The GT package went to $4,000 MSRP in September 2003.

You are looking at a car that has been sitting for a long time. Check the build date. The dealer should be ready to give you a great price.

 

Xenon headlights

>Much brighter, cooler look, +

DSC with traction control

>If you drive hard, this will come into play, makes the car more forgiving, +/-

Premium Bose® Sound System

>Better than base, not as good as what you could do on your own, +

Auto day/night mirror with Homelink

>works as advertised, my eyes are sensitive to light, worth it. +

Moonroof

>disappointing compared to what others are doing with moon/sunroofs these days, opening is just way too small, does not add too much road noise compared to others i have had, -

Leather seats

>nice, worth it, +

Faux leather door trim

>that's FAUX?? +/-

Power seat - 6 way driver only

>wish it was 8 or 10 way, needs more adjustment potential, worth compared to the 2 way though, +

Heated seats

>cup holders generate more heat that these do, needs more heat, -

Lumbar support

>best i have seen compared to other vehicles, +

Fog lamps

>nice, do the fog light mod and gain total control over them, +

Heated mirrors

>works as advertised, +

Overall, mostly worth it. I could do without a couple of them.

 

They should really call it the "4 Grand Touring Package"

For me, the best value is the Sport package. Add aftermarket leather and you're still saving bucks. Most agree the Bose is no better than, and perhaps worse than the base audio. The moonroof removes 1 1/2 inches of headroom. So those are 2 things I really didn't want at all. The other foo-foo stuff (heated seats and mirrors, homelink) isn't worth the extra money. Having the seat remember its position would be nice but that's the only piece of "Grand Touring" that I'd care to have, and in itself not worth the extra bucks.

Who said $4000.00 is "only 10 bucks a month"? Someone take out a 20-year loan? :p

 

Trust me, get the GT package. Mine has every option except for the body skirts and fron air dam. 4k sound high but when tacken in context over the life of the car loan you are not talking that much higher payments. Plus it will help with the resale value. The only oprtion that I don't care for is the heated seats but thats probably cause I'm in FL. Also I love the nav system.

 

Most definitely ... at least for me. I got everything I wanted (minus Nav, I wouldn't use) and use it on a daily basis. I love the feeling leather under me and the moonroof open on my way to work (wake me up). The sound system is great and I have a feeling the heated seats and the xeon lights will help out a lot when winter rolls around. Sure, it's a tad bit luxurious so it's certainly not a bargain ... but what luxury items ever are? If you're having doubts now though, don't get it ... you'll just end up with buyer's remorse later.

 

here are pics of my sport package with aftermarket leather--the one drawback is that you don't have the two-tone steering wheel. https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-interior-audio-electronics-24/pics-aftermarket-leather-done-40480/

 

That's exactly how I felt when I got my first 8. Then I saw the Nav and I regretted not getting it. So this time I traded the leather and the heated components for the Nav.

The leather is not that great, after just 2 months with the first car, the leather was already starting to get crease marks...We've had our BMW for three months now, and the leather in that car looks brand new still. Someone else said that the heated seats don't generate much heat, and that was my experience as well. The only other thing you give up by chosing touring instead of GT is the heated mirrors...and that I would like to have on some mornings, but the Nav more than makes up for it!

 

First of all, understand that the $3900 isn't INCREMENTAL OVER the Touring package or the Sports package, but includes the Touring and Sports package stuff. The real delta in price is more like $1400 (I'm sure someone will post the real difference).

The last four cars I've had have had leather, heated seats, xenons, moonroof, homelink, etc. Woudn't buy it without ...

 

You CAN DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have the GT package and love it, Just added xm radio, some tint, and a couple of 10's to the stock bose, its sounds Awsome! The only thing i would have skipped is the Appearance package, I would have taken the money toward a mazdaspeed body kit package, but Im very happy with the car, my leather still looks great, feels great, gotta love the mirror, controls built in and my V1 sits on top of it. The Xenons are awsome, I definitly recommend it, Especially if its your daily driver like mine. the heated seats are defn. nice in the winter

take care

 

Just the Sport Package for me. In Central Florida, leather's too hot and moonroof's a waste of headroom. Heated seats from the sun! Wings, spoilers, aeros add weight and detract from the original lines. So I'm cheaper, lighter and cooler. More money for mods!!

 

Just so you know, the spoiler and aeros are not part of the GT package.

I'm in Tampa, the leather has been great. Maybe because my AC has such cold air, my windows are tinted, and I use a sun shade.

 

I almost bought a GT, but I stuck with a Base model. It has all the basic stuff. I wanted the lightest RX-8 I could find.

 

Its nice to have the GT but the price and then when you throw in the appearance pack and then one gets sticker shock. For me it gave me more room to negotiate the price down. For some reason the dealers can move lower on the price with optioned cars rather than the base model. By the way the base model is a nice car too so not at all saying its of lower value. The options are nice stuff to have although I could do without the moon roof. I like the moonless look as it shows off that curve on the top more so than with the moon roof. I read someone on here bought the cloth seats and had a shop do them in leather. The pics looked just like the stock leather option. Wonder if it was cheaper that way? The DSC is very handy and is one of the best options as well as the fogs and headlights. Oh yes, I play the guitar a ton and so I appreciate a good system so the Bose is a good system. Probably could have did better from somewhere else then you have to worry about the install being done properly.

 

word.

 

I really like the GT option; I live in Tampa and in Winter I will be using the heated seats!
The leather isn't too hot even without tinted windows (it is on my list, but right now GPS is flickering so I may take the car in for a checkup *before* I tint)

 

A draw back for the GT package is the reduced head room from the sun roof. If you are 6'' or taller it might be an issue.
Leather can be intalled aftermarket. Quality kits are just as good (if no t better) than stock leather.

 

I got the Touring package on mine. Ideally wanted just the Sports package, as I'm 5' 9" and my hair does brush into the roof sometimes. I thought I'd never use the moonroof, but as it turns out, I end up using it quite a bit.

I find the autodimming mirror very annoying...I always just turn it off when I start the car at night. It dims even on street lights, and the mirror just gets so dark that I can't see beans behind me. I use that mirror as part of my check before switching lanes, so a big no no for it to be dark.

 

The aftermarket leather route is about$1200-$1400 installed--it is of better quality than factory leather as well.

 

I keep hearing people say aftermarket leather is better, but do you know who makes the OEM leather? It's made by Pasubio. It's Itailian leather.

Not to mention the GT seats have partial plastic backing, which makes them more solid - the rotary accent in the head rest doesn't move around when you push it.

 

Got the GT, love it, totally glad as it will probably help resell if that time ever comes

 

I got aftermarket leather in a Toyota highlander for my wife... cost me $1000, but saved me about 6 grand because I didn't need to get the limited version as a result. Wife had to have leather.

I had a lot of fears about it, but it turned out to be a good idea. Just make sure if you do it through the dealership, that you ask them if they have done it before, and if the customers were happy with it.

I do like the two tone leather, so mine will be the GT.

 

Got the GT pkg. No regrets. The car is the most beautiful vehicle on the road (biased), make her pretty on the inside too. I think cloth seats are too "plain Jane". Red and black pops.

 

I would recommend not going through the dealership. Your dealer doesn't do any of the work, they just hand it over to 3rd party to do the install, and increasing the price tag.

Before you buy, make sure you find out who they hand the work off to. They're a lot more likely to talk before you sign on the dotted line.