lack of torque
 

i've been taking a good hard look at my car and am not sure that it's what i want.. i mean there is physically no effect of torque in the car, right now turbos are so expensive

what do you guys think?

Low torque doesn't bother me, personally—if it's something you really love, perhaps you should consider another car.

take a harder look at the car.......nope, still no torque :) Not much we can do without FI to really get our torque #s up.

If you want neck snapping torque, you will want mass moving under the hood (FI aside). Unfortunately, unless you pay high $$ you will not get this power delivered as smoothly.

I got torque. Sears sold me a wrench that they called a "torque wrench". Every time I work on my car, I use that there Torque wrench. I can feel the engine getting more powerful because of it.

I test drove my car before I purchased it, if you didn't, that's your fault.

Really?

Look elsewhere if your gig is torque. Buy the car for the over-all greatness of the 8.

The 8 has far better things to offer its driver than seat pinning torque. If thats what your looking for, your looking in the wrong direction.

Try this.

Hang on to a lower gear 'till the tach hits about 5K
Test out the throttle response the engine has as it screams up toward the redline. Try it with a few corners or donuts thrown in. If you still yearn for torque then sell the '8 and buy something else.

That's a good start. Fortunately, the Renesis loves to rev. Keep on going past 5k up to redline. Do rev-matched downshifts to keep the rpm's up. It's a lot of fun and this car is definitely lively up above 5k. This car is best when you are actively trying to milk as much as torque out of it as you can. However, I can certainly understand that this is not everyone's cup of tea.

Cheers

If you want Torque get an F450.

In answer to this thread, I quote myself from an earlier thread:

Torque, in itself is irrelevant. It's the wheel torque that's important. Ie, you have to consider the gearing for the torque to make sense. Now, through aggressive gearing, Mazda has been able to generate terrific wheel torque for the Rx8.

What do I think? Well, it seems obvious that you need to move on to something with, uh, more torque. Wish I could be more helpful.

1.3L

again? really? if you need convincing, then this likely isnt the car for you. try a Z or used 3series 330 coupe for that.

Do what the other 8 owners who wanted tq did and sell your 8 for an 05+ GTO

quite simple...the 8 is an NA rotary, which translates out naturally to low torque...it's just one of the defining charactoristics of the car. Comes down to 3 simple choices...

Accept it
Turbo it
Sell it

Your choice.

Low torque is the result of having only 1.3L of engine displacement.

I agree about the idea of wheel torque.

My first "sports car" if you will, was a 99 Civic Si. 1.6L, 111 ft-lb of torque (flywheel). It was referred to as the Torqueless Wonder in some magazines. But, the curve was flat. The B16A2 motor produced >100 ft-lb from 3500rpm all the way to the 8200 rpm fuel cut. First gear lasted until 42 mph, second gear to 62 mph, and it did pretty well 0-60.

When I added a Jackson Racing S/C (roots type blower), it ended up with a torque curve that was remarkably similar to that of the NA renesis. (Peak wheel TQ 136 @ 3500-5500, peak wheel HP 193 @ 8200) The gearing, which had worked so well for the stock motor, suddently sucked. There wasn't enough traction to put it down because it was a FWD open-diff drivetrain.

So, my point is, there is a maximum amount of wheel torque that you can allow the transmission to multiply to before you end up with a useless amount of power. That number varies depending on a lof of factors (i.e AWD > RWD > FWD, open diff versus limited slip diff, tires, road surface, etc). The RX8 is geared very well for the characteristics of the motor, and the torque is there if you keep the revs in the right range.

For me, the JRSC changed the character of the Civic too much. I then had an STi for a year, and while the torque was fun at times, I didn't like the way the engine ran out of steam long before redline. The RX8 is perfect for my driving style, but maybe not yours.

I dropped a B16A2 into my old civic (93 coupe) as well. fun project, fun car.

-Steakboy

+1 to Maine. It's more about driving style for me - and the 8 does exactly what I was looking for and looks f8ckin hawt in the process. If you are really starting to long for the neck snapping torque you'll need a new ride.

i do not know what is worse, buying the 8 knowing it has no torque then complain about toruqe or buying the 8 with out researching and test driving the car before you bought it. but yah it sounds like you need a new car. good luck on what ever you do.

My turboed 2.4L has more torque at 2000 rpm than the 8 has at 5000, but whatever, every car has it's strong points. The key is satisfaction is to exploit what you got, love the one your with. If you can't take the advice of a wordmaster:

Just slip out the back, Jack
Make a new plan, Stan
You don't need to be coy, Roy
Just listen to me.

Hop on the bus, Gus
You don't need to discuss much
Just drop off the key, Fenderlover
And get yourself free.

Toyota Priuses have lots of torque, why not one of those?

Low torque or high RPM power?

Let me use the example of my bikes. One is a flat twin BMW touring bike that makes most of it's torque off idle, and revs to 7000rpm. The other is an inline four Honda sportbike that makes peak torque at 9000rpm, and revs to over 12000rpm. For track days or a fun blast around the countryside, give me high rpm shrieks and redline shifts of the sportbike. For mindless highway passing and touring, give me the shiftless power of the twin.

Point? Why did you buy a RX8 when you were obviously looking for a 300C?