BlueSky

I'll have to look into it. I heard the Bel 65-whatever is the best one actually.

Razz1

I use to do that drive all the time back in the old days when Chanhassen was a one stop sign town.

Sweet spot? ah.. the pwer starts at 5 to 5 1/2k.

Sweet spot is 6.5k

for madness keep it at 8 or more and hold on.

BoosTED

iTrader: (2)

Nice!
Shakopee is a fun area to drive with some of the hills and turns.

Only bad thing is with an aftermarket cat the exhaust tells everyone you are on your way from some distance. Seems to quiet down higher than 5000 but that may be because it doesn't have a chance to catch up.

RX8Maine

Daily driving, I usually keep it at 3-3.5K. Its easy since each gear gives you roughly 10mpg/gear at 3k. 3-35 mph. use 3rd; 40-45, use 4th, and so on.

BoosTED

iTrader: (2)

So if a person drives around in first they get 10mph, second 20mpg, third 30mpg...

p_rx-8

I hear you man...
This is such a 'motorcycle' feeling... Touch 'n' go...
VooooooommmmmmmWOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

ZoomZoomH

iTrader: (1)

if you have any one of the aftermarket intakes, the engine sound is even more intoxicating :D

Nopstnz

I would probably feel kind of bad if I did that crazy spirited driving now. Was just watching the Science Channel and their was an hour special on Global Warming: What you Need to Know. What's worse, was about to purchase a midpipe. I wonder what it would smell like being behind an 8 constantly at 6-9k rpms for about 5-7 minutes.

I noticed a difference when I first got the intake but now I don't remember what the stock one sounds like so it seems the same to me. I would love to ride in a totally stock 8 at 6-9k rpms and see what its like then do that my modified 8.

CosmosMpower

I'm guessing the OP has never driven anything with torque. My previous E36 M3 would rape my RX8 from a highway roll or from any speed for that matter. I think the illusion of speed at 5000 rpms is just that the engine is very smooth and the pull is linear. I did a 60 mph highway roll (both in 3rd) with my gf driving the S2000 and me in the 8 and she pulled a bus on me to 100

ZoomZoomH

iTrader: (1)

i think he was more referring to the SOUND of the engine as it goes beyond 5k, which no piston engine can ever emulate. I don't think he has any illusion about whatever power this car makes, it is what it is.

it does sound like a goddamn jet engine i tell ya

captain mercury

overall i agree with you!

i only drive about 5 minutes to and from work, but my drive is pretty sweet. never crowded, lots of sharp turns, and a few gradual turns that i like to pick up a lot of speed in. south coast metro area costa mesa.

yea but otherwise OC is boring for driving. irvine has some nice windy parts.

alfy28

im to lazy to shift, so i just tend to say in first gear the whole time. and i drive hwy 20miles one way to work

DailyDriver2k5

My previous 2K2 Maxima would rape all three cars mentioned above , but i still have the most fun in my RX-8.

Winding it out , is intoxicating! When ever somebody is on the cell phone and they hear the RX-8 winding out, they always ask? What the hell am i driving, a F1 car?..............I like that.

Raptor2k

Where/how did you find your girlfriend?

Crazy Rx-8 Driver

Highway 101 is a fun place to drive too,with a lot of banks/hills/turns sweet stuff. just south of 212 and highway 5.



i agree the sweet spot is definately at 6-7K.

PerformRX-8

It has to be 4th, because thats where my sweet spot is, especially with the AEM intake the ms catback, my friend with the windows down told me that it sounded like a ferrari

BlueSky

But you're from Minnesota.

Clavius

I'm from MA and while driving up to VT I found Interstate 81 to be a killa drive. Alot of decent corners and curves and alot of hills. Just taking a corner doing 90mph knowing another car would be spinning out or drifting outward just made me smile the entire time. I kept my A/T in the triptronic mode the entire drive and it was a blast. I know I know.. "Its not the same as a MT man!" leave that debate outa this lol... but it was fun hearing that engine whine as many have stated like a Jet Engine. Though I did learn that 4th with A/C on sucks my power hardcore.. sad seeing my speed go form 120 then shift into 4th and slowly see the speed going down One Mph ever 2 seconds.. turned the A/C off and it stayed the same. (btw if this is bad please tell me.. I havent had a chance to get my baby back up to this speed since my trip.)

puch96

Escort - Passport 8500 X50. Top of the line in many reviews....

Nopstnz

^^^ I am still debating between the Beltronics and the escort. I read the thread on radar detectors (don't know where it is now) and from the first 3 or so pages a lot more people seemed to have beltronics. Someone said it is the same as escort but with a few more features. But I do like the look of escort more and the blue display. However, I think it is a little ridiculous for the blue display to cost 40 bucks extra..

BunnyGirl

In my manual for my 06 it gives where you should shift into what gears and I nearly always do as close to this as possible with the exception of occasionally continuing accelerating when pulling out from a stop on a road where I need to get my speed up VERY quickly and then I will shift into 3rd and forget about second. In that case I am around 5500 rpms when I hit the speed to shift into third.

2nd: 14 mph
3rd: 22 mph
4th: 29 mph
5th: 36 mph
6th: 46 mph


These shifting point all end up being right at about 2750 rpms. If I shift sooner than that the car feels like it bogs down a little bit. My mileage is nearly always in the 23s unless I get stuck in crappy, stop and go, very slow moving if at all traffic and then I will see it go down depending on how long I am stuck in it. A week ago I had to sit mostly stopped for two hours although occasionally moving at 8 mph. My mileage went down to just barely over 21.

I can't say that I've noticed the driving to be "more fun" if I let the engine rev up a lot higher for straight driving or anything.

BlueSky

BunnyGirl, you shift at 2750rpms? How do you even keep up with traffic? I can understand shifting at 2750 RPMs in the later gears but early on I have to at least shift around 3500rpms in 1-3 in order to keep with traffic.

supergoat

I just bring 1st up to about 6000rpm and 2nd to about 4000rpm. Screw gas mileage in those gears, I'd rather get up to speed than bog the engine down.

Easy_E1

iTrader: (2)

Shift at 4500 to 5000 rpm in all gears. 1st to 2nd to 3rd to 4th

Oh by the way I have an AT.
Nothing like driving down the freeway in traffic in second gear doing about 6000 rpm that is about 6omph It's like 1 to1.

BunnyGirl

I've always managed fine and I can smoothly and consistently accelerate. I've gotten better with this the more I have driven my car. The only exception is that that is a slight issue from Beavercreek Road pulling onto 213. It's basically a four way intersection where the crossroad happens to be a highway. Unless I have a green light I have to yield and merge with the other traffic that is already going straight and they are all going 60. This means that since I am pretty much anywhere between a dead stop and 10 mph (since it's like turning right at a regular intersection instead of any sort of on-ramp or lane that merges) when I pull out I have to really step on it. Hence, my skipping gears because it is nearly impossible to shift all those gears that fast to get up to speed. Of course, by doing this I usually end up accelerating very quickly and have to back off on the gas a lot or I will run down other vehicles that are moving slower. This is especially true if the lane I would turn into is clear and someone pulls out before me. I take my turn and accelerate the way I was describing and end up accellerating far faster than the other vehicle and in some instances have to brake if I can't just change lanes at that point.

Basically I just pull out in first and step on it until around 24 mph and shift into third gear and then just keep going from there accelerating. At that point it is easier to keep going and shifting smoothly (cuts down on all that arm movement) and I haven't been run over or caused the other cars to have to slow down much if at all. One time I did have to keep accelerating pretty fast so I ended up going from third to fifth.

Besides, it's not like the car stops moving just because you have to shift. LOL

I don't have a problem getting going or pulling out and getting up to speed shifting in the right spots. I seem to keep up with the traffic flow just fine.