I hope the Mod's can keep a better control on all the useless flaming that is going on in almost every thread these days. All new thread seems to contain 80% trash and like 20% of useful information.

asparapani, here's what the RotorHeads recommend everyone to do: you can shift around any RPM range, yes even at low RPMs AS LONG AS YOU ARE NOT LUGGING the engine along. Also, everytime you drive the car, after the engine has reached normal operating temperature, it is recommended for you to rev it all the way to the Red line at least once. This is to ensure that you will not have carbon build up and clog up the ports.

So just following these rules and drive it the way you wanted to drive it. Enjoy your 8 !

Thanks Smoker! Enjoyed smoking any 350 Z's?:(

I think it's a market size "compact the options" thing.

We get a "leather pack" that includes power drivers seat, leather (of course), fog lights, 300w bose, xenon headlights and headlight washers. Maybe other bits I'm not aware of too.

We only get one oil cooler and no tyre pressure sensor though.

www.mazda.com.au will take you to our local specs.

Our cars come with climate control A/C and the "?hi spec?" engine.

cheers

I believe it is the same for canadian models. Must be a package available and marketed for commonwealth nations.

A smaller market seems to dictate more things standard, true or not - I read on a thread that cars come virtually full house as standard in spain...including NAV, but for a high ticket

Hard to believe though.

I've not gotten my car just yet. And the 8 has not been officially launch in Singapore. Mazda Singapore ain't gonna launch the car til sometime early next years. Luckily with Parallel Importers here (gray as what the UK calls it), there are already couple of 8s on the road here. They are all JDM's spec, the PI'a don't really fix you down with a certain package except fix factory options. Thus if one were to get the 6 speed, which is the highest spec, one can almost customize it to their likeings.

Just to re-itterate.. I read this thread and I gotta say... If Elara had not beaten me to it, I would have said exactly the same thing... Kev, SURE the engine needs to be revved high to get the best out of it, but hey.... we somtimes want to drive in a more relaxed manner... and perhaps save a bit of fuel when we're not in a hurry...

asparapani, I imagine that on a high power engine, under 6000 is probably the range to stay in for this (before the high power port opens)... this is broadly equivalent numericly to keeping under 4000 on a car that redlines at 6000... YMMV... I have no idea how this will affect fuel economy... but it's worth a go... HOWEVER, it is well known that engines (Particularly rotary) tend to need to be run hard from time to time otherwise you can get carbon buildup which will be detrimental to the running of the engine.

I believe the 8 has stepped fuel injectors. At 4K (i think) a second set of fuel injectors is on. There maybe another level as well.
The manual says you can use 6th at 46 MPH, and sometimes I do when I am on surface streets. There will be a trade off point where shifting too early can hurt gas mileage as much as redlining it - the engine just has to strain too much.

Most of my shifts are around 4-5K in traffic, but when I am cutting thru some twisties I keep it in 3rd or 4th and play.

I've been playing around with MPG figures and octane levels and revs. I was shifting really low (below 3500) to observe the effect on gas mileage. At first I thought that this helped but after the last 2 weeks it seems that the engine does just as well shifting around 5000 RPM. It seems to like to cruise around 4000 or so. Listen to the engine around that speed and it seems to sound effortless. That range -around 3500 to 4000 cruising seems to be the sweet spot for less aggressive driving. THe shift point seems to go on up there with no strain. Isn't the rotary great?

yes i have heard that sweet spot you are talking about. awesome.