I'll chime in here. I had an '04 GT and now I have my R3. The R3 handles MUCH better. I hated the rear suspension of GT, it was way too soft. The R3 corrects that and it's much better coming out of turns. The R3 is definitely more than just cosmetic. I would not have bought another RX8 if they hadn't introduced the R3, it's a fantastic handling car.

 

I've owned both a GT and a R3, only problem is my GT was an auto lol.

The R3 does corner better and seems to brake harder?? Not sure why on the brakes...

0-60 I'm comparing apples to oranges so can't help you there.

Suspension - R3 is much stiffer

Compliments - get a lot more in the R3

 

the rims are 3500. the recaros are also expensive as well. and having a stock body kit from mazda you can also guesstimate that that doesn't run cheap either

 

Comparing the handling of a 7 year old used car to a new R3 is just crazy. Track times are track times and that is the only way to prove it.

 

i dont know about that....shijin and i both took off first gear one day going off to a meet and it seemed to me like mine was faster than his.

 

That's gearing, series I will catch up on the top end. Been there, done that

 

I wonder if its due to the new engine fuel injection mapping to have better emission?

 

Its because all of us here love the series I and are bitter than the Series II should of been the Series I... Happy Jason? lol

 

im not exactly sure where the 165 Lbs comes from. These are just claimed weights so they are probably not completley accurate but I do know the base s1 models didnt have traction control or nav and they used very light weight cloth seats.

 

Yes, I agree with the Sport comments as the better comparison. I love my 2008 Sport (pure stock), so damn happy with it. I LOVE the weight thing. The car is just a hair under 3000 pounds, and since I'm 210, I'm glad about that. You just can not go against weight, period. As we move forward with ALL vehicles across the board, you watch, you will see the industry going after weight, in cars, vans, and trucks, it must be done. Regarding the ride of the Sport compared to the R3, yeah, it is softer, which I find perfect for my tastes, the performance is still outstanding. For those who want things tightened up a tad, go with the bilsteins, cheers.

 

I realize this is a massive bump to this, but I read a car magazine got 0.92g on the skippad with the Sport model and only 0.87 with the R3.
https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews...ake-road-test/

 

Air temperature, pavement temperature/type/condition, tire make/model, driver skill/weight, amount of fuel in the tank, phase of the moon, whether Mars is in retrograde...

All stuff that can affect skidpad results. Get enough of them lined up in the same direction and I wouldn't be surprised if it could account for the difference.

 

Considering its largely the same car, I wouldn't pay too much attention to magazine differences. I found the R3 setup a bit more tail happy. Better for my purposes, potentially worse for magazine tests?

 

More tail happy with DSC off or on? I am thinking that maybe their skidpad figures were worse because they left the DSC on.

 

Off. I should hope they would turn DSC off for a SKIDpad test. But don't sweat the results unless you too plan to go around in circles at speed. It's not a very meaningful test.