heat + rotary
 

been reading some threads about how the seats and cupholders and center console get warm with driving. i know this happens in my current protege with prolonged driving (an hour or so at highway speeds).

1. is it normal?
2. is it that big of a deal?
3. how does heat affect a rotary engine?
4. will it affect the lifespan of the renesis?

thanks.

It's normal for a rotary, no need to worry.

The engin, transmission and cat are all stuffed into that area, some heat is expected I guess.

whats with this phantom heat that i never notice? everyone is making it sound like its some boiling hot type deal. the only "heat" i notice is that the shifter boot is warm when u touch it, and warm is a overstatement.

In my review of the RX-8, I mention that the heat coming from the engine is the car's worst attribute that I've found so far. I don't believe many people think it's an engine problem or is detrimental to the car. It's more of an annoyance. It feels like the heater is turned on sometimes when actually it's off.

My other vehicles will do it occasionally but not as bad or as often as the RX-8. I think it could easily be fixed with insulation of some type. I might even try to do it myself.

I'll probably contact Mazda too and ask if there's an easy solution.

Guess if your on 120F+ degree pavement & your sitting still this could be pretty noticable :) Shouldn't be an issue if your moving in the hot summer. I don't notice this in the rx-7s at all.

The heat is not noticable driving at highway speeds and keeping reasonable revs. Idling for long periods, lots of high revs and then slow moving and it will get hot after awhile. I also think this is the biggest weakness of the 8 I have noticed. Got very hot yesterday (It was mid-90's outside) and I was teaching my wife how to drive the stick -- lots of sitting and reving :( -- fortunately NO GEAR MASHING ;) but it got noticeably HOT along the center console and footwells. I then drove for a ride through the countryside and it cooled off -- no problem.

P.S. we have never encountered the A/C issues some have mentioned and it has been very hot here in Nebraska.

The heat is noticable if you do any normal stop and go driving. I guess it's a plus for those that have cold whether. I've noticed that I always have the windows rolled down and I never feel cold. If I close the front cup holder and then open it later it is really hot and toasty in there. The center channel does get "warm/hot" so be for warned.

Yeah, it's not as big of a deal as some seem to be making it.

On the heat issue though, i have noticed short drives are worse and city DEFINTELY worse than highway.

I did a 1.5 hour highway drive and then shut the car off and the fan did not keep running.

But driving around town and then shutting the car off, the fan runs. The car gets MUCH hotter in the city.

I noticed that if you change the mode of AC from cabin air to outside air it greatly reduces the heat in the cupholders.

The heat is certainly pretty bad in stop and go driving and then cools fairly well at highway speeds. Where I notice it most is after I've driven it for a while and then park it in my enclosed garage. After 30 minutes of the heat permeating throughout from underneath you will find that anything in your trunk, glove compartment and cup holders are very, very warm.

Yeah, I can't wait until winter time. Free heat in the garage! I've always froze my butt off in the garage. LOL. :D

But also, yeah stays cool at highway speed, and gets hot when not moving a whole lot. Really, that is kinda obvious. The reason you may not notice it really with other cars, is that they just don't make as much heat as the rotary.

Heat
 

Limited sample, I've only been driving my RX-8 for 2 days but I'm in Texas where it's 98F and I was pretty happy with the cabin temperature. My RX-8 (yellow, black cloth) did much better in the sun today than my previous car (Red A4, grey fake leather) ever did.

We noticed that the aluminum bars on either side of the transmission tunnel got warm but it didn't cause any problems. I think there was a metal somethingorother under the passenger seat that was a little more annoying if you curled up your leg and touched it.