vapourit

I was driving around yesterday evening and just killing my car. It is just such a pleasure to drive quick in this thing. I was thinking it would be nice to have a little more power and then my fuel light came on, being that I've only had the car for 4 fill-ups, I don't really know how far you can go when the low fuel light comes on, so I jumped into the first station. It cost $53 to fill up with 51 litres (13.4 g) and I went 375km (233mi).

As I pulled out of the station it got me thinking. Would a rather have 25% more horsepower (say: 298hp / 200t) or 25% better fuel economy (23mpg/30mpg)?

If mazda is retooling the engine for 2007, I'm sure they are going to have to focus on fuel economy over power. Have you noticed the most of the car commercials now talk about fuel economy. It wasn't like that in the past. I'm sure current gas prices are hurting rx8 sales.

So, what say you? 25% more power or 25% more fuel economy? You can't say both, that is too easy.

StewC625

It's all in the "percentage of what" where it matters.

A 25% increase on a 14 mpg car (my average) is only 3.5 mpg - to 17.5 average. I'll take the power if it didn't come with a cost of a decrease in fuel economy. Even at $4.00/gallon (where it seems to be headed here in the USA), that 25% increase in fuel economy is worth like $200 to me. Whereas 25% of 238 hp is nearly 50 HP! That would be very significant!

What you didn't ask was "how about at 25% increase in TORQUE"? keep the fuel econ the same, the HP the same, but give me a 25% increase in the torque, and this car goes from being merely entertaining to being outrageous in my book.

Of course the guys over in the "RX-8 versus Civic Si" post are likely to start yelling and debating over what "outrageous" truely means, with Ike saying that the only truly outragous car is the EVO, BlueEyes reminding us that the Civic Si, while not outrageous, certainly is "almost outrageous". and PhotoMunkey giving us a 1000 word essay on the meaning of "outrageous".

vapourit

Okay, how about if you drive it occationally very fast and mostly normal, you actually get the posted mpg ratings, which will be 25% higher. The would be around 26 mpg 50/50 mix. The would mean a lot of ca$h savings for you.

StewC625

Well, we're in "what if" land here - if my aunt had *****, she'd be my uncle. What's the point ... and I think I"m wrong on my monetary guess there, so here's the real info:

I drive 12,000 miles a year. My fuel consumption, at an 80/20 mix of city/suburban to highway is 857 gallons a year (at my 14 mpg average). At $2.50/gallon, I burn $2,142 worth of gas. So, that 25% increase is worth a little more than $500 to me. Honestly, 25% more HP and torque WOULD be worth $500/year to me - $2000 over the life of the car.

Whereas, I'm just not sweating over that $500 cost. Gas at $3.50 a gallon makes it a $750.00 proposition. Still not sweating.

saturn

Yeah, but then you'd have Geico insurance...

I'd take the 25% more power. I would love that 25% increase in HP to come with tons of low-end torque though.

Then again if I could add a turbo without voiding the warranty I'd do it myself and take the 25% better mileage.

StewC625

Great news! LOL Good answer!

daisuke

I hate that gecko and would have to cut off my ***** if I were to find myself affiliated to them. just get a quote from them and then take it to your current insurance company, then tell them to match it or you're gone. I'm pretty sure they'll match.

Glyphon

up the power, then change the rear end to a taller gear. more power and better gas mileage. win-win

SSJ 909

If you can avg 19-20 mpg, a 25% increase would make it come out to an extra 5 ish.
24-25 mpg is all good with me.
Personally I think if the rx8 were to be able to get cose to 30 mpg and a bump in 20 hp it would do much better in the states.
I mean that new tank they call a camaro has sick hp and gets around that figure in mpg.

Aseras

Look you all you bought a practical SPORTSCAR Not a microcompact economy car. I drove a Civic HX, highest gas mileage car you could buy, it was replaced with the hybrid Civic. Routinely got 48-50 mpg. Although I miss filling up for $20 and driving for 400+ miles, The rx8 is so much better.. in fact I oprignally bought the RX8 to keep as a garage queen and drive the civc, but after 2 months , i started to drive the RX8 and fell in love and 1 year and 40,000 miles later, I'm not going back. I gave the Honda away to my mom.

Gas is still cheap. If you can't afford the gas, how the hell are you making the car payment for this car? I drive a LOT. 500 miles a week, maybe more. I spend about $250 - 300 a month on gas alone. maybe $35 on other misc stuff for the car.. it's worth every penny.

Also for the HP/Torque buffs, you should check out Scott's thread in Major HP upgrades... https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-major-horsepower-upgrades-93/new-turbo-kit-88323/ we've got 300 HP on 5 psi, 350hp on 9 psi...

More power please.. screw the gas mileage...

9291150

Easy answer...25% improvement in milage any day. This is the 8's biggest shortcoming, and this is without paying two to three times our gas prices as most in the world are paying.

Don't matter what you drive, they'll always be faster cars.

dmc27

Hypothetically, I'd add 25% more storage capacity so I could pick up stuff at the home depot.

But seriously, gimme the HP +/- torque. If I have to I'll [hypothetically] quit smoking to keep my 8 running - FAST!

saturn

And there will always be cars with better mileage. What does that have to do with anything?

9291150

Simple, power is sufficient on the 8, mileage isn't.

KYLiquid

i get 18-20 mpg (19mpg on average) and I go to autox events, drive the car everyday with the a/c, cruise around town for fun, flog the car about on back roads......

I am very happy with my MPG, its not 25mpg I got in my turbo miata, but its still fun to drive and I am happy with the fuel economy...i am also pretty happy with the power, but I would take more power if I could keep THE SAME fuel economy.

saturn

That's sorta subjective -- hence the reason for this thread.

PhotoMunkey

I'm not in the habit of carrying my rants over into other posts. I know that my mileage in my Mustang GT is low enough that I've stopped referring to it as "MPG" any more! LOL I can, however, untune the car at any time I want, remove the Cobra R rear wing, and drive it in a sensible manner, and I might sneak back to the 24 MPG that Ford originally claimed.

One of my editors, in England, borrowed an RX-8 (from the Mazda UK press fleet, I'm thinking) and proceeded to test it last month for mileage (Banzai Magazine, May 2006, "Fuel for Thought"). He determined that, if he didn't flog the **** out of it, kept it below 4000 RPM while cruising 70-80 MPH on freeways, he could get 27.52 MPG! More stunning than that, if he drove 55-60 on a freeway, and kept the motor below 3000 RPM, it rewarded him with 33.45 MPG! His average for the entire week was 27.23 (due to a day "weekend fun" blasting along a backroad at 20.71 MPG). He gives me hope...

I was wondering if English gallons are a heck of a lot bigger than US gallons, or whether we, here in the states, are just "flogging the ****" out of these cars because they're so fun?

PhotoMunkey

Hmmmm, Imperial vs. US gallons are significantly different...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compari...tomary_systems

Darn it! I was really liking those 27 mpg numbers! Let's see 27 mpg minus roughly 20% equals, hmmmmm, just under 22 miles per gallon. Grrrrrrr! Even the damn semi-trucks in CA would run me over if I tried to drive 60 MPH!