TLuuV

hello, just found the board, it's pretty cool.

had a question for you ppl, has anyone heard if there was going to be a limited production on the car? wouldn't want to pay over msrp, ya know :p thanx

Grimace

No way it will be limited production. Mazda has too much $$ invested in the RX-8 to not sell as many as they can produce.
As with any highly-anticipated car, demand will outstrip supply for the first few months, so I'll bet many dealers will charge more than MSRP. (Except here in Canada, where that's illegal. )

ZoomZoom

I also tend to believe that Mazda will be trying to sell a $hit load of RX-8’s. But when I put my deposit on my preorder on April 8th, I was told that the dealership is only expecting somewhere between three to six cars for the entire year.

The dealership mentioned that Mazda Canada has set quotas for all of their dealerships and their quota is limited to three cars, they also mentioned that they typically receive double their original quotas. This does not sound like Mazda Canada is planning to sell “as many as they can produce”.

I will be dropping in on the dealer sometime over the next couple of days to see if there is any additional news/rumors. I will post anything new.

Grimace

Keep us informed ZoomZoom!

By the way, Honda played the same game when they released the S2000. They said the dealers had extremely limited quotas, plus the car was only going to be produced for 1 year, so buy quickly before its too late!!!

spwolf

Never heard of s2k produced only for one year, but I can tell you that those dealers played stupid game.... I went in the Honda dealership in Seattle with one of my friends who was buyin Si, so I was looking around and they had one s2k when it just came out, so I went over there to look at it, and one of the sales guys just laughed at me and told me to forget about it, he didnt even want to open it for me... look at them now ;-)

suckers

Grimace

The "story" with the S2000 was since it was made to commemorate Honda's 50th anniversary, they were only going to make it for the anniversary year.

Of course, the real story is they have made it for 3 years with no major changes in sight. The most credible story I've heard is Honda will continue to make it until there is no more demand (hmmm, like right about now....)

On the plus side, its easy to get a S2K for under MSRP, even during the spring now (where convertible sales are highest).

Sorry to get off topic! I guess the moral of the story is dealerships tell a lot of story to move their product. Take everything you hear with a grain of salt (which ZoomZoom is doing, anyway).

NOTA V6

Was it a large Mazda (only) dealer in your area, or a small Mazda (only) dealer? If it was a "multi dealer" (i.e Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, kia, Mazda), they will be lucky to get ANY RX-8s. The very large Mazda dealer I am friendly with says they will get a bunch, and that the smaller dealers won't. They will also be providing full rotary service, which the smaller dealers won't.

Of course until MNAO releases an official announcement, this, like just about everything else on this Forum, is all hearsay.

spwolf

tru true :D

Jerome81

Only large Mazda dealers being able to service the rotary? Now that sounds like a load of garbage.

Something tells me the RX-8 allocation will come down to who sells the most Mazdas, large or small. We have a small, only Mazda dealer here in town, and they are the #1 Mazda dealership in about a 250mile radius. They are quite certain they will receive a number of RX-8's.

If I must only go to a larger dealership to get a rotary serviced, that would seriously limit my desire to get one. I can't imagine what someone who isn't a diehard rotary fan would feel if they knew their small local Mazda dealer couldn't service their car.

I think once again, that salesman is throwing out a load of garbage there. Thats never happened before

NOTA V6

Actually, it was the dealers GM that gave me the info. The dealer in question is Morrie's Mazda, which I believe (relying on faulty memory) is the 16th largest Mazda dealer nation wide by volume, and 10th in service, and also a Northstar Club sponsor. :D

And last time I went to the dealer by my house (Walser Lincoln, Mercury, Mazda) to get some advice from my trusted rotary mech, he wasn't there. And they didn't even have a mech that did rotaries any more. So I think it's backed up by some real life experience in the present day.

I know we rotary guys like to talk our trash about Mazda, but I think they are really trying to get out of the multi-dealer and low volume dealer thing. Seems to me that a few of the smaller and multi dealers nation wide have already been closed down. Maybe they figured out that concentrating their efforts on what works, and getting out of the system that killed their customer service reputation on the FD is a good thing. :D Selling the car through dealers that will not be servicing rotaries would be stupid, unless they want to scare the RX-8 owners away from Mazda, like they did with many a FD owner...

Like I said, we can all sling opinions around, but until there is an official MNAO announcement even half way solid info is still no more than speculaton.

ZoomZoom

I was back at the dealership earlier last week to see if there was anything new that they could tell me, basically very little has changed since early April.

They told me that have now pre-sold their quota of three rx8’s, pre-sold them all back in April. I asked them about this rather low quota and they are still claiming that the dealerships will be limited to very low numbers on this car, regardless of the size of the dealership. He also mentioned that the small dealerships would be very lucky to get any. I find this difficult to accept that Mazda does not want to sell as many rx8’s as they can manufacture. This is good for the people who get one but it does not make sense for Mazda.

Nothing new on the release date (February in Canada), confirmed that the start button will not make production, confirmed that the body coloured dash highlight will not make it into production (apparently too much reflective glare), confirmed that the rear fog light is expected to make it into production, confirmed that yellow will available (my favorite).

One thing that he did tell me was that he expects to call me in November to select my colour and options, but nothing new as far as what options will be offered.

One bit of news to report is that the dealer has a binder with sections devoted to all the models that they sell, including a section on the rx8. The rx8 section is 14 pages with about half of them being pictures (no new ones). I had them photocopy the pages and took them home for a read. Almost all of information here is either marketing hype or its content is readily available (i.e. 50:50 weight distribution, one-piece propeller shaft made of carbon fiber, 4W-ABS, dynamic stability control system). The one thing that I did pick-up on was that “the lightweight aluminum rear doors are hinged at the rear. This is the first time that I noticed that the rear doors are made of aluminum.

The other thing that is not new, but I still have a problem with is the “large, 17-inch ventilated disks on all wheels”. How are they measuring these disks? The wheels on the prototype were only 18 inches. If you look at the pictures you can tell that the rotors are large, but 17 inches? Can someone please explain that one to me?

Grimace

I am still hoping the rear foglight will not making into production. A man can hope, can't he?

Must be a misprint regarding the brake discs. I haven't heard of any production car that has discs anywhere near that size!

ZoomZoom

I agree that a misprint makes the most sense, but it is on two different pages. I also thought that I read it somewhere else, maybe somewhere else here or on the s2k forum.

And what’s wrong with the rear fog light? Did you see the rx8 in Toronto when it was at the car show (I believe the rx8 was there only for the first 3 or 4 days)? I thought that the fog light was awesome and you must admit that it would be very unique. I like it, hope it stays!

Grimace

ZoomZoom -
No, didn't see the car at the autoshow (it was only there for the first day and a half )
From the pictures on the 'net, I don't care for the foglight, but maybe seeing it in person will change my mind.

ZoomZoom

Seeing the car at the show sold me. I have seen pictures of the 8 before the show and I liked it, but when I saw it at the show – SOLD. Up to then I was ready to buy a Miata.

Trust me you will like the rear fog light.

Styjan

I find it very hard to believe that the RX-8 will be produced in a limited number.

First: Why would Mazda try so hard to keep the price below 30K if it was going to be limited production? They are trying to keep the price down so they can move more cars.

Second: Why would Mazda make a 4 door/seat sports car? They want the car to appeal to a wider market so they can move more cars.

Third: Mazda engineers love their rotary engine. In the Road & Track article the author described how upsetting it was to them when Ford shut down the RX-01 project because they didn't think the engine was a viable platform. The Mazda engineers worked on there own time to develop and improve the engine. Do you think that Mazda is stupid enough not to understand that they need to sell a bunch of RX-8's to prove to Ford that the Rotary can work? I think the RX-8 is Mazda's way of proving to Ford that the Rotary will sell so they can develop what they really want, a new sports car (RX-7).

Fourth: I don't trust dealers. I don't know what the situation is in Canada. (P.S. Americans love Canada!) Maybe it just a population numbers thing. I think dealers want to create a sense of urgency in the market so they can get customers to slap some money into this year’s fiscal budget and have a guarantied sale.

I for one am crazy sick to get an RX-8! I love it! I have been waiting for 10 years for this car and I miss my 87 GXL (RIP) very much. One thing I wont do is put a deposit down and get the first one I see. I'm going to wait until the price is what it should be and it is the color and has every option that I want.

I know two things for certain:

1. Everyone that wants one and has the money will get one. (Power to the consumer!)

2. Mazda wants to sell every one they produce and as many as they can.

Styjan

According to this article the RX-8 will be a "high volume production car for Europe".


www.rotarynews.com article

dunny

Japanese manufacturers often refer to brake size as the minimum size wheel the brake system will fit under. In this case 17" disks means a 17" wheel or larger is required for the rotor and caliper to clear. The actual diameter of the rotor itself is probably 13" or so. It's actually a fairly logical system. Most people have no clue what a 12" rotor means, but tell them they need a 17" wheel and the picture immediately makes sense, plus you know exactly what wheels are kosher and which aren't.

Jerome81

Wow!

So because I couldn't put 15" tires on my RSX for snow tires, and 16" were the minimum to fit, then by that system my RSX has 16" front brake rotors??!!??

What a dumb system. Give it to us in rotor diameter. It isn't that hard to comprehend

asherwood

So what do you think, I can wait until I see it at the dealership and then order it? Or will this result in 'sorry but you'll have to wait until next year!'

Styjan

I think that there will be a high volume production and I won't have to wait. According to an article I read off of rotaynews.com,

"The RX-8 will be on sale early 2003, and will be a high volume production car for Europe. "

I don't know the source of that information, but if it is high volume in Europe it will be high volume here. I wouldn't consider the Miata a high volume car, but I always see plenty of them in the dealerships.

What I'm trying to say is that I want this car bad and when it comes time to buy one it's going to be exactly the one I want.

asherwood

I hope that you're right, I want to order one just the way I want it!

I'm used to buying new GM vehicles, where I could exactly what options and color combinations that I wanted. I have never purchased a new import, and by the sounds of it I'll have to order the top sport model to ensure that I get the best performance options.

I just hope that I can get a color that I like! I really like the yellow concept car, but would really like to see the other available colors before I decide.

My '91 is Brave Blue Mica, a very dark blue pearl, it wasn't taken care of very well for it's first 10 years of life, but from new I think that with care it could be a good choice too.

Styjan

My 87 GXL was metalic sand stone (silver/beige) with maroon leaher seats. Great color, never looked dirty, but kind of out dated today. I want silver or the yellow. I own a black car now and I will never get a dark colored car again (what a nightmare!)