ArvinC

...the car has only continued to grow on me since a purchased it this past March. I have not had one issue with it...no floods, no odd noises or bits that have broken. I work downtown and drive on rough, pot-marked roads during the week. The ride is more than adequate as a daily driver and the build quality is very, very good. I love that I have room for four, have a real trunk for my golf clubs AND luggage and have the styling and performance of a proper sports car.

The one big thing that stands out for me about the car is this: It is so easy to drive. You don't get any bad surprises or nasty tendencies. The steering points you exactly where you want to go, the gearbox is a joy to work, the engine feels like it can rev forever, the exahust makes a wonderful noise and the brakes are so good that in traffic, you begin to wonder if the guy behind you can stop fast enough not hit you. The car is very direct, very quick and very communicative. But it won't beat you up or throw you into a ditch...nor will herk or jerk just because you want to take it easy.

About the best thing I can say is that I, like other owners here, still wake up at nights wanting to go out for a drive in our 8s! :D

Hope to have helped...

Arvin

Vortex

My reasons for getting the 8.

I was in bad need of a new car (had a 92 geo metro that only had 2 working pistons, and part of the key was broke off in the ignition) but I car shopped for months. That little bubble lasted me longer that what it should have.

I test drove the crappy nissan Z...a TT...a Mustang, a T-Brid, and the Honda 2000 in the spring/summer of 2003 and the only car I really lusted after was the TT. For its looks and quattro aspect. But then again something didn't feel quite right about it so I held off buying anything. Only heard bits and pieces about the 8 over the months and then a old co-worker was re-designing a mazda show room on the west end of town and she said I should check it out. But I really didn't want another mazda. My 1st car was an old, beat to hell 626 and nothing worked right, and my mom had an protege that was jinxed and attracted trouble since day 1. But then one fateful day in Dec. I went christmas shopping and when I got into the car it wouldn't shift into 2nd and the engine was making funny sounds so I limped it to the mazda dealership just to see and check it out...also the mazda shop was the chevy dealer and if the metro died it was at the shop At this point the TT was looking really good, until I looked at the 8 and took it for a test drive. Sold. The feel, comfort and balance was great, and at 6'-2" I felt I had plenty of room which was more than I could say for other cars. Fun to drive, responded well, and fit for me. After the test drive the TT wasn't even in my head. I bought the 8 right there.

Haven't regretted it for one moment. No car is perfect and its like moving into a new home, you get so used to how an old car handled or what options it had that when you get something new or differnt you complain a bit until you get use to the new items and how it works. People belly ache about torque, speed, gas milage...but I'm sure they had beefs with their old cars too, if not they wouldn't have gone for the 8.

But the 8 isn't something I'm going to part with for a long time. I love driving that thing and here in MN there aren't too many on the roads so I still turn heads at stop lights and on the highway. Its nice to have a unique car and something rarely seen.

Feras

iTrader: (1)

this car gives a very good ride in comparison to other sports cars, and has the same amount of rear leg room as a 2001 AUdi A4 although not the same headroom. Think about this car as a really unique looking BMW 3 series from Japan, the luxury inside is akin to BMW but performance comes first. after 3500 miles im still ecstatic

Deslock

After 3 months (3700 miles), this car still rocks. As I've become more used to its handling limits, I've been able to push it a little more. The shifter is so much fun to work that I seldom brake and I instead control speed almost entirely by downshifting and rev-matching.

I traded in my 02 WRX after just 2 years and I don't regret it at all... while its boost rush was a lot of fun, it never felt connected to the road like the RX8.

Phlash

I owned a IS300. I felt it was the best all around car I had ever owned. As fate would have it, the second child came along and the little tiny back seats and barely accessible truck just didn't cut it. So we sold it and got a Sequoia. We had a old 4runner that I took over and and my wife got the Sequoia. The 4runner was long in the tooth and ready to be retired. I wanted something different, so I sold the 4runner and thought I'd give the domestic market a shot. I got a Dodge Ram 1500 Hemi just for the sake of something different.....after living with it a month, all I could think about was the IS300 I gave up and how much catching up the domestics (at least Dodge) still had to do.......so, I lived with it for 15 months.........On a pure no plans to do anything about it whim, I was killing time and stopped by the new mazda dealer in town. It was a Wednesday night, nobody there but me and three sales guys. I saw the 8 and for the first time relized this thing had four doors. I had seen them on the road, but missed the back doors. I asked to have it unlocked just to see the back and how livable it could be. The lack of the pillar shocked the hell out of me......"damn, this could work" I thought...salesman asked me if I wanted to go for a ride....."nah, I really am just killing time." "Come on" he said, I'm bored." In the first five minutes, I forgot about all the things that I missed on the IS300. This topped them all! We stayed out for an hour....When we got back, I told him thanks but there was no way I could get out of the HEMI with any *** left...He shook my hand and said, "You never know." I couldn't sleep for two weeks........I could only think about what color I wanted......out of the blue, I got the call. They had a buyer looking for the truck I had......AND they had MANY 8's on the lot. I got a pretty fair deal that left me only a little in the hole with the HEMI payoff.....The gas mileage difference over the HEMI, despite the okay milage on the 8, would pay for that difference.......I have had the 8 only one month now, and have never looked back in regret. I have put over 2000 miles on it in less than 30 days........sometimes I purposely forget stuff at the store my wife asks me to pick up, just to get back in it and make the round about way to the store again. Practical? You bet. Trunk and back seat are much more usable that the IS300's. Comfortable? Damn close to the IS300! Still in love with it? Zoom-Zoom......the only way I'll give this one up is to pry the stearing wheel out of my cold dead hands...........:D

SP767

Awesome!

I can't stand it!! I'm going to get one!!!!!!!

I've returned the 8 demo and drove around in my A4 in depression all day, reading you all's posts.

You guys are EVIL!!!!

Steve

MTLbroker

Welcome to the cult....... hehehe!

8_is_enuf

I came to the RX8 from an Acura 3.5 RL. I had the RL for 3 years and was just starting to get tired of it. While I still appreciate the RX8 after one month of ownership. I feel like I need something with a bit more luxury, space, and torque to keep me happy for the long term. With that said I bet I will be in the same place by 1 year that I was with the Acura at 3 years.

Hope that helps..

AQA101

Well, never ever test drive the 8 ... we're all addicted.

Phlash

......check in any time you like, but you can never leave.....

welcome to our world......

rocketrich

I agree, I haven't bought the 8 yet. Unfortunately I've taken a few test drives. I keep coming back to this site. I keep going to the dealer to look at the cars they have on the lot. Luckily, I'm planning to make a job change so I need to hold off on a new car purchase until I get the new job, move, and make a new house purchase. I....MUST.....REMAIN.....STRONG.....I guess I'll go lust after the brochure some more.

Jeffjett

Anybody smell "toast" LOL

But seriously folks . . .

The 8 is much more than transportation. It is a love affair with metal. My wife really did not like the 8 when I got it almost three weeks ago. She gets motion sick, and I had to have the MT. Last night, we were going to look for her a VW bug (my penalty for getting the 8), even though I bought her a 2004 Honda Odyssey van (fully loaded, DVD, leather, etc.). I got into the van to drive her to the VW dealer, but she said "let's take the sports car". So I agreed, and we drove over to the dealer. When we came home, she commented how she was really starting to like the 8. She was asking questions about the automatic version. Hmmmm. I don't think it will work, cause she always wanted the VW bug, but it is progress

MTLbroker

Just dropped off my kid at his weekend track meet. It's 8:30 am here, a gorgeous day. The sports center is about 10 min from my house. Climb into the 8, after a couple of min of easy driving to warm up the rotary, hit the highway. Start shifting at 8000 rpm, I'm laughing to myself. I woke up 20 min ago. Barely had time to get dressed and here I am driving like I'm trying to qualify for the French GP. Drop off the kid. Driving back, get to a right hand sweeper to get back onto the highway. My eyes don't leave the road (looking for cops in the distance and just generally like seeing the road blurring beside me so I don't know what my speed was), but I figured I was hitting this curve at least 50% faster than I ever would have in my old car (Mustang GT convert.) - at least it felt 50% faster. If not who cares anyways. I feel the DSC kicking in (saved my butt again). Come to my turn off. It's a 90 degree right hander. Slow the car, downshift twice. Take the turn in third gear. A bit slow on the turn in, the car will swing wide into the oncoming lane (noone on the roads at this time in suburbia). Lift off the throttle and the car instanly goes into a neutral turn. A split second later, power on in second gear, feel the back end grab some asphalt just at the limit of adhesion. No DSC this time, just a smooth oversteer. Opposite steer at exit to straighten the car's line. Smooth as butter.
So I get back to the house grinning ear to ear. No coffee yet, but I'm wide awake! Still happy about my 8? You bet.

AQA101

MTLbroker, you're reponsible that I'm going add another share to the greenhouse effect, because after reading your post I suddenly feel a strong urge to drive somewhere for absolute no reason.

I'm off for a quick 20 km run ...

fredraction

Sold my 2.5 year old BWM 3-series to buy the RX-8. Loved the BMW, love the Mazda more. No regrets. 'nuff said?

Hope that helps.

Mazdaspeedgirl

Let us know when you get one!! :D

and my story, I have been a rotorhead/Mazda fanatic since y2k.
I have driven/worked on many different types of cars from old Novas, to Trans Ams to mustangs. The car that sold me on Mazda was the fd3s (3rd gen RX-7) and my first miata. We bought an 82 RX-7 early this year that we are doing a TII swap on as well, so the 8 was a natural choice for us when we went to trade in our 02 Protege5.

it's funny, I have been following this next generation rotary ever since the RX-Evolve came to concept.

We chased the hand built prototype RX-8s that were traveling to car shows in the states all over Texas.

We saw this one in Houston (2003):


We saw this one in Ft. Worth (2003):


And this is just an evolutionary pic I put together of the RX-Evolve, RX-8 concept, and the production RX-8:


Who would have thought just a year later I'd own one?! D:D

SP767

Ha!

Anyhow, my car is listed on ebay. As soon as it sells, i'm pulling the trigger on a new 8. I want black, T pkg, Nav, Appearance pkg, Rotary Accent pkg.

Thanks for all of your feedback!!

Can't wait to join you all and display my new sig!!

Steve

Jeffjett

A most excellent color choice (IMO) :-)

AQA101

I agree.

bowman

I guess I'm lucky that the local dealer won't let me have a test drive. A test drive would just make the wait unbearable.

khoney

I never even test-drove my pre-order RX-8. Having owned an RX-7, I already knew... My only concern was how I would fit in it. As it turns out, I didn't fit very well in the GT package. Bought it anyway, reclined the seat a little further, and have been loving it every day for almost a year now. I get all pouty when my wife wants to take her Trooper somewhere instead of going in the 8...

Genom

Here's the complete newbie side of it :D

I never had a badass sporstcar. Never had the money for it, always had economy 4 cylinder cars. After moving to the US and saving up a efw years, it was time to buy me a new car. I ended up waiting for the 8 to come out after test driving everything else in the price range. The first test drive had with the car was amazing. I felt so much more comfortable in that car than any other one I tested. I didnt even bother to check the other cars. None had made such an impression on me and bought the car.

Learned everything about it on this forum before I bought it, and I think I've managed to contribute something back to it.

It'll be 11 months in 3 days, and just hit 20,000 miles. I cant imagine driving any other car out there right now. I enjoy this car so much, I wish I could drive it even more than the usuall 120 miles a day.

RenoIV

Once you drive a rotary you won't go back. The engine demands you rev it ... the car demands you drive it as much as you can get away with each day.
After you get your 8 one day the light goes on and you will be one with the car... odd weird you will know what I mean ... sortof like skiing the edges in fresh powder in Col.
You will look forward to the drive home from work no matter how entertaining the your day has been.

Pictures when you get it.
Welcome

TRZ750

My favorite part of the day is my drive to work in the morning because of the 8! Have had the 8 since 12-31-03 and now have 7500 miles and still love the 8. My wife has found that if she needs something she forgot at the market all she has to do is drop a hint and I am out the door.

HeelnToe

LOL, same here... it's become the "joke" for my wife... I always HATED shopping and running errands, but now she makes fun of me because I jump at every opportunity and excuse to take the 8 out.

We just had an argument in fact this morning, as she wants to take a friend to pick up his new car (Solara) before I get home tonight, and I'm, "no! no! wait for me! I'll drive! I'll DRIVE!!!" lol...