ToRX-8orToZ

I have to say, overall, the design of the car was more atractive in person then in pics.

The interior build quality was NOT superior to the Z. After all the hype, and sitting in the 6s, I was very disapointed with the quality of the interior on the 8. The 6 has a better interior. The z has a better interior (which isnt saying much). Hell, a honda accord has a better interior.

The shifter felt nice though =)

RX7 Guy

ToRX,

What specifically is wrong with the interior…I was at the LA Show last Saturday when only the X-Dork car was on display so I haven’t been able to check out the interior first hand.

Puppy1

I was kind of dissapointed in the plastic everywhere feeling, but then I went and looked at a lot of other new luxury cars including the new Lincoln Aviator which has had rave reviews about the interior, and still saw the same plastic everywhere.

If the luxury feeling is what you are after, I recommend the G35. I just can't get over the fugly front end of that car, especially when you compare it to the RX-8.

Puppy1

PLASTIC EVERYWHERE!

ToRX-8orToZ

Plastic everywhere is an understatement.... Cheap, flimsy plastic everywhere would be more precise. The interior door handles felt as if one could rip them off if they were not very careful. Knocking on the dash of a 6 produces a nice solid "thud", knocking on the dash of the 8 produces the same sound created when I knock on my monitor... it feels hollow (even more so then the Z).

The pasanger side is very cramped, due to a bulge (from I don't know what) that protrudes into the left side of the leg space.

Sitting in the back of the car is not pleasant. At 5'10" my head hit the roof and I was forced to either lean back, or lean forward. Taking 4 full sized adults on a trip longer then half an hour is not going to be comfortable with this car.

Overall, I just came away bitter that Mazda would come out with a car that doesnt really seat 4 comfortably. Why bother? Just make the 7 instead of compromising. They say this car is going to compete with entry level 3 series sport sedans? Are they crazy?

Puppy1

I'm 6'0" and fit fine. Were we in the same car? Mine was the red one next to the X-men car.

ironqqq

The RX-8 is at the L.A. autoshow?

If it is, i will go there tommorrow. The actual RX-8, not the X-men car, right?

ZoomZoom

They are both there, enjoy!

RX-3_13B_Tommo

I think that Nissan can afford to give the 350Z a nicer interior because it's only a 2 seater as opposed to the 4 seater RX-8. However, I find it hard to comprehend why Mazda would give the 6 a nicer interior than it's flagship.

m477

That is really odd, maybe because it's the pre-production model it doesn't have a "real" interior, like maybe it's just a mockup or something?

I'll check out the real car at NAIAS and report back...

HottRodder

I too visited the LA show last night and maybe it was because I had already read some of the threads here about the interior, but I walked away feeling it was definately the weak link in the car. To be fair I checked out the G35 coupe and 350Z as well. The G35 is the class of the bunch and I personally thought the 350Z was even better than the 8. I wish the 8 had Nav to compare as both the G35 and 350Z did and maybe that was subconsiously swaying my decision. I'm sure I'll end up with an 8 as the we've two kids so the 350 is out. I don't care for the styling of the G35 and the 330i is to expensive for me.

My wife and I are both on the small end of the scale, 5'-7" and about 135lbs. We both sat in the back with the other in front in a comfortable position and felt that we had plenty of room for a drive of measure. This was true for both the driver and pass side. The big tranny tunnel doesn't bother me anymore. My C4 vette has the smallest footwell you can imagine.

I didn't care for the red exterior and definately don't need that red interior. I hope the winning blue looks like the blue on the 350Z. One thread in here somewhere said the red looked like candy apple. Way to much metallic in this color to be compared to candy apple. A true candy is obtained using a layer of metallic (gold or silver) topped by a layer of translucent color, topped with clear. You see THROUGH the color to the metallic which produces the highlights. Sorry for the paint rant but I sprayed my '70 RS camaro candy in High School.

droidekaus

No sh*t? The interior looks SO kickass in pics and I did think it would be much cooler than the Z. I guess I'll have to head out to the Dallas Auto Show and see for myself.

rx-8@mazda

Hmm. i don't want to sound biassed but.....

The RX-8 interior is of a higher standard than the Mazda6
The amount, quality and thickness of the "foam" dash give the touch-parts on the dash a far better "quality feel"

- Panel gaps are as close as never before
- soft textures are used in more places than in Mazda6
- Center panel is not spray painted but gloss laquer is used

only top of dash and dials (out of touch-zone) is of a lighter hard-plasic to reduce weight.

Puppy1

People we are actually hearing from the Mazda RX-8 itself! And based on its grammer, its appropriately speaking engrish.

droidekaus

:p

Rx4FUN

[warning: SOAPBOX ON]

This is the same discussion that was had on the G35 forum on Freshalloy.com when the G35 first came out. People seem to expect everything. They want a low price, light car with the highest quality interior possible. That would be nice, but this is reality. You have to make some consessions.

If Mazda decided to put in a higher grade interior, but it would increase the cost of the car by $1000 and would increase the weight of the car by say...100lbs. would you be happy? Maybe some people would but they are not the people that this car is designed for.

Mazda set out to create a light weight four seater sports car that handles great and has good balance and, of course, re-introduces the rotary engine. They also needed to have the car meet a price point that would allow them to sell to the masses instead of just the elite few who can afford it. In order to do this, they had to decide where to spend the money. I think most people here would appreciate the fact that Mazda spent most of the time and money on the engine and handling characteristics of this car. They then prioritized areas within the interior by importance of touch and feel. These are the areas that they put a little extra money and weight into, but other areas (such as the upper out of reach dash area) were designed to reduce the weight and cost. There is a section of the press kit that talks specifically about the prioritization of the areas in the interior if you want to know more.

Although I have not personally sat in the car, I understand that for me to get into a sports car of this caliber for this price I'm not going to get everything. I, for one, think Mazda did a great job of balancing what was important.

Also- Lay off RX-8@Mazda. If in-fact he is from Mazda, why would you want to **** him off and have him believe that we are all just a bunch of prejudiced morons. I think we would all be happy that Mazda is interested enough to listen to what we have to say both good and bad without having to insult people. And no, I don't have any affiliation with Mazda.

My $.02

[SOAPBOX OFF]

~Robert

Puppy1

Please note, I compared the interior favorably to all other new cars. I think Mazda is giving us terrific value for $26k.

I personally would like a more luxurious intererior and I would gladly pay a lot more for it. But I too am making conseesions. The price is not an object for me. I could buy a BMW, Infiniti or a Lexus. I should be buying an Acura TL, but it's boring! I'm cheating on Acrua/Honda. I thought I'd never stray. My current car is my 5th Honda product. Every single one of them was bulletproof. But, that RX-8 is too sexy.

It's now "my precious." I love THAT car, I want THAT car, I ordered THAT car and I thank Mazda for bringing it to us just the way it is. It is an instant classic.:o

DonG35Miata

My dealer said no one has ordered an RX-8 yet. I am kind of surprised. I figured each dealer must have at least one order. They want me to be the first, I guess... after the negative interior comments I want to see one at the auto show. If the interior is that cheap, forget it. I was expecting great things, not sub-350Z quality.

He also said that the car would be delivered in April or May at the latest. I have heard on the board it is more like July-August. I trust the board more than the dealer... but have any of you heard anything about delivery this early?

Hercules, you have stated many times your requirement of a high-grade interior, and your belief the RX-8 would have one of the nicest, highest quality interiors of any Mazda, approaching BMW levels. In particular you have blasted the 350Z and G35's interior quality. If the multiple posts here are to be believed (and they seem credible), the RX-8 interior is of about the same grade... if not lower, which would be approaching Altima class. What will you do if your RX-8 comes in and the interior feels like something between an Altima and a G35, or even just like a G35? Will it still be worth $31,000 to you, or will you get your deposit back and walk?

I hope Mazda is not following Nissan's lead. The Altima has about the cheesiest interior I have ever seen. IMHO the Altima should have an interior like the G35, and the G35 should kick it up a notch or two and charge another $1,500-$2,000. I would gladly pay it. The car would still be a great deal, and the top-rate interior would close the gap between it and other luxury offerings

state island

dude, sports cars should not cary that much wieght! if u want luxury get a bentely or sometthing!

pelucidor

One thing I will say from personal experience - if I sit in a car (at a show or a dealership) that I have no chance of driving immediately then I find I am hyper-critical of the materials. And I mean being really **** about headliner, dash plastics, carpets, stalks, buttons, door handles inside and out, underside of plastic edges to see if rounded off or sharp, visible screw heads, visor heft/quality, damping for grab handles and storage doors etc.

Example: my first visit to an Infiniti dealership I just sat in a G35 Sedan for 20 minutes and whined non-stop to my wife about the crappy center tunnel (thin plastic with titanium finish) the ugly buttons on the steering wheel, the cheap/ugly interior door handles etc. My second visit a week later I got to drive the car (was waiting for a Premium/Sport to come in)- funnily enough I didn't give the center tunnel etc a second thought. They do the job and should last for the life of the car and who cares when there is fun to be had in the driving. Could these things have been better - absolutely! But Infiniti made choices (just as Lexus and Mercedes make choices) that I could accept after a test drive, and the main user controls were very good.

The very first time I sat in a Miata I also got to drive it - what a blast. I never noticed if the leather and plastics were up to Lexus standards because I was having too much fun. Same goes for my test drives in MR2, S2000, Boxster, Z3 etc back in my covertible hunting days. If the car is involving you can ignore these things, but if the car is not involving whilst driving then you dwell on these things a lot more (e.g. I borrowed a new ES300 for a week from my Lexus dealership and after 600 miles my only memory of it is the interior being vastly better than any Audi/Mercedes).

I expect driving the RX-8 to be easily more involving than a G35 or my IS300. If I'm wrong then I will focus on materials etc and if they are flimsy or badly assembled - well that's why my deposit is refundable.

ToRX-8orToZ

I'm more torn then ever, I just don't know which car to get . There were a couple of cues on the exterior of the 8 that really bothered me, none more then the fact that the wheel flairs are lower in the back then in the front; once you notice that, its all you can see (at least it was for me). But from certain angles, the car is just... "oh my god" gorgeous.

The interior on the 8 might of cost more, but I don't think anyone who sits in a fully loaded sports 6 can say the 8 "feels" better. The overall feeling of the 6 is almost BMW like (I'm talking about the leather of course), the overall feeling of the 8 is honda civicish (bleh).

I strongly recomend everyone sit in one before they say anything about the interior.

HottRodder

Here's something else I forgot earlier. It didn't bother me alot except for the A pillars as they are in your line of sight. The headliner, A pillars, sun visors and overhead convenience console are all gray. I first noticed this when looking out and realizing that whatever that was to left of my line of sight was gray intead of black as I thought it should have since it dead ended into the black dash. Upon further inspection I noticed the inscription 'SRS airbag'. I fear that they cannot be removed and made black. The headliner can be replaced and the visors dyed. I wonder if all interiors will have the gray up top?

DonG35Miata

Don't most cars have a gray headliner?

Hercules

There is still time Don, for Mazda to address this fault. Production has yet to begin and slight changes can be made pretty easily. I would be suprised though, since the Mazda6 has a decent interior as well as my Millenia, and it would be a shame to see Mazda step down a grade.

However, it's always in the eye of the beholder. I can say this much, that while Mazda might say they used higher quality materials inside, how do they quantify it? If higher quality = higher priced then it's not necessarily true. The best interiors anyway, are not from BMW but from Audi (imo).

I'll wait to reserve judgement on this car for a bit, I do need to see it in the flesh, and get more ideas of what's happening with it. Maybe your 'cheap' plastic will be my 'acceptable level.' That I yet do not know. But my deposit is down and hopefully if the materials aren't too terrible, I'll be driving around my 8 in Jersey sometime this June

DonG35Miata

You seem pickier on the plastic than me, from all the posts I've seen praising the Millenia's quality interior. If you are happy I will likely be happy. They are early production models that are being sat in and handled by thousands of people... almost a lifetime of wear in a few weeks.

I don't know how you quantify the quality of plastic, other than that Supreme Court justice who was asked something similar... how he determines what is pornography, and what is art...

"I know it when I see it!"

It's too bad they can't at least deliver VW quality at the price, but as Jerome81 said, VW spends their money on a nice interior and the electrical system falls apart.

I'll probably be driving along with you come June, in a base 6-speed model. I;m getting psyched now that I have made the decision. But can you imagine Mazda's plight if, when presented with $30,000 cars with Altima-level plastics, the buyers turned away and got their deposits back? True, the Altima sells at a similar price, but the buyers tend to be less sophisticated than RX-8 buyers. If the plastics are at the cheesiest Altima level, I will be getting my money back for sure.

That said, I know you were counting on that worldbeating interior quality. In fact, your posts are probably much of what got me hyped for it and expecting it, which led to disappointment when reality reared its ugly head. What were your thoughts and reaction when you read the multiple person's posts that said the plastics were flimsy and 350Z level, or less?