The past couple of months I've been looking at new cars. Test drove a G35, too much for what you get plus they seemed to be plagued by quite a few problems. Drove a TL Type-S, great car but not really what I am looking for. I borrow my buddies S2000 all the time and love that (the wife loves it too and wants one) but being only 2 seats it's not gonna work, I have a 3 year old daughter. I hadn't looked at the RX-8's as I had thought they were too expensive, yeah I was wrong. So neither of the Mazda dealers here have any RX-8 in stock and aren't expecting any for the next couple of weeks. So I found a used 05 to test drive today. LOVED IT. I think this is the car for me.

Is the keyless entry/start available on 06's?

Looking over the posts here I'm a little confused. Does it work like the Infiniti version? Is it basically the usual keyfob or a card? When I walk away from the car the doors lock automatically and unlock when I get within x feet? Does the keyfob or card have a key inside in case the battery dies or for a valet?

I loved the clutch but the shifter seems to have a pretty long throw. It also seemed to be a little jerky shifting gears. The car only had 24000 miles.

One review I read said the gauges had blue light the other said red. At night what color are the gauges?

 

Yes.
Card.
There's a button on the door handle you press to lock/unlock.
Yes.

If you do buy the car, your next purchase should be the Axial Flow Engineering short throw shifter.

 

About the light on the RPM gauge, there is a button that you press that switches between the white and the red.

 

There are some LEDs that put a dim blue background on the gages. You see that when you first get in and start the car.

With headlights off, the gages are lit white. With headlights on, they're red. But if headlights are on and you turn the dash brightness all the way up, they become white.

Ken