RX-8 in Road & Track
 

'Bout time we see a rotary on the cover of a mag. :)
Glad it's R&T and not C&D. Hot damn.. :D

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Gotta get that issue
 

Kewl. I check the R&T web site, but no hint on the new cover. When does it hit the US newsstands? And how did you get a scan first?

The April issue is out for R&T subscribers already. Those of us "newstanders" will have to wait about a week. :(

Great way to kick-start this forum, imho. ;)

Somebody beat me to the punch, and I do believe that RT is owned by the same people as CD. Such as SCC and Turbo are owned by the same people

Man my local post office is horrible.

At home, I used to receive my new magazines by about the 5th of the month. Here at school, I'm lucky if I get it before the 15th. The post office has been audited/cited/whatever by the government 2-3 times in the past 2 years for unreliable and incredibly slow service. At one point I received a piece of mail that was postmarked 2.5 weeks before it arrived. :rolleyes:

Isn't part of the draw of subscribing so that you can get it before it reaches the newsstands? That sure doesn't happen with me. I have to keep myself from reading them at the grocery store so I can get my subscription money's worth.

This same thread is in the Rx7forum.com with about 30 replies and no one still scanned the article, and there's 11,000 members there, we only have like 180 members so don't expect someone to scan the article anytime soon.

Is it that hard to go to your local book store? Surely the Chapters on Crowchild has it by now.

You're right, of course. But damn it's too cold to go out!
It'll probably be on the other board later tonite anyway.

Just picked up the mag... WOW! :eek: The best photography of the RX-8 to date, it truely looks stunning in these pictures. Another plus of the article is the price that Mazda hinted at... 26K USD to start!

Sign me up. I'll likely wait until year 2 of production due to all of the issues with the FD3S that were corrected for 94. Now all I have to decide is what vehical to ditch in favor of the 8. Do I sell the Protege and use the RX-8 as my daily, or do I sell the MR2 and use the RX-8 as my weekend/fun car. hummm.....

I just got the magazine too. The pictures are great and all, but one of our great members was mentioned in the magazine, the great Bob Hall AKA Father of the Miata AKA BWOB. :-) did you think I didnt see you :-D

Well, I haven't gotten my issue in the mail yet, but now I'm eagerly awaiting it. I wondered why the RX-8 had gotten much press lately, looks like I'll be satisfied again. :)

No Road&Track in Germany... info's please!!!
 

Hi,
can't get the Road&Track mag where I live.
Are there any news about the release date?
What about pictures of the trunk, the backseat?
Do they think it's a real fourseater?

Many thanks for your informations...

Stefan Janssen
Germany

didnt know BWOB learned most of his japanese reading manga! or was that watching anime? anyway, this article also changed my whole perspective, I am getting an RX8 as soon as they hit the dealers.

elise, the tester said that he could sit comfortably in the RX8's rear seats with a 6 foot tall person in the front seat, with room to spare.

The lack of tq doesn't seam to be a problem because he said he could squeal tires the tires and that the car really pics up after 3500 RPM all the way up to 9000 RPM.

The car ran 0-60 in six flat, and it ran the 1/4 mile in 14.5. thats pretty damn good. And the car now weighs, 2970, it gained some weight.

2970lb, ouch! 14.5, an WRX can beat that. If thats the case looks like I won't be getting an RX8. But that car was probably a test car and those number are all wrong. The car still won't be out for another year so I do expect Mazda to have a 27xxlb car that is capable of running 14.0-13.x stock.

Whats up with the redline? I had seen photos with 8K, 9K, and 10K redlines.

I know the only thing limiting a rotary's redline is balance. So, why is it that they are only going 9000 RPM??? Is something else preventing a higher redline, such as the alternator or some other belts or fans or something?

I really wanted to see 10K redline. In my eye that would have just been a truly amazing feat.

Anyone know what is limiting the redline? Perhaps it will change?

Rexate,
I understand that perhaps the WRX can outrun the RX. However, if you are concerned only about accleration numbers, then perhaps you should be looking at a Mustang or F Body, they both accelerate faster and cost less than the RX-8 is likely to cost.

However, if you look at the cars as a whole being, including acceleration, handling, and FEEL, I would venture to guess that there will be few cars out there that will be able to compete.

It is easy to make cars have big numbers, such as GM's Corvette, but making a car have a feel that it is alive in your hands is a magic art. Mazda knows how to do this, and if you look at the Miata, its numbers are not mind boggling, but the FEEL of the Miata is quite possibly the most lively and fun vehicle you can buy anywhere in the world.

Hopefully they can work that magic on the RX-8. :)

I'm more concerned about handling, if the car will be 29xxlb then I don't see that Mazda is really concerned too much about handling. And a 14.5 is pretty unimpressive. I could go out now and get a good handling car (RSX-S) that can run mid 14s and pay around 23k. BTW I would never buy a F body or mustang, come on now. Those cars are whales. Oh and I do expect a 250hp RX8 that weights 2700lb to beat a 260hp Mustang GT that weights 3400+lb in the 1320.

Lots of Porsche's and Ferrari's weigh 2900+ pounds. Are they not concerned about handling? What does that prove?

That's really a silly thing to say. How many 4 door cars are there that weigh under 3000 pounds? I would guess pretty much zero, if you leave out the compact 4 doors like Saturns and such.

BOOSTD7 is right. in the Road And Track Article, they stated that the car was very light on its feet and its also rigid and quick. As for beatin the WRX maybe not, the WRX is weak kneed below 3500 rpm and is 100 pounds heavier then the Curb Wieght Listed in Road and Track. It also has 23 less HP then the RX8. So the WRX and the RX8 might go head to head against one another quite well.

True I agree with some of the things you guys say, I just don't want to see the weight to rise and rise. If mazda decided to save some money here and there and car could easily weight past 3000lb. I rather see the car at 2700lb.

I dont think its fair to compare an RX8 to a Ferrari or Porsche, simply because the Ferrari's and Porsche's cost 3-5+ times more then an RX8 and usually have more then 350+hp. I seen Ferrari 360 racing at Indy during the Formula 1 race event there, and let me let you those things are worth every penny. Ferrari's suspension probably cost as much as the entire RX8. And a stock RX8 wouldn't have a change to even stay up with those cars unless you have a base boxter.

Well there isn't a great deal of fast sports cars with 4 doors that weight less then 3000lb and in the same price range. But I feel the Lancer EVO and WRX sti will be strong enough to run with the RX8 on the track. Though they will weigh slightly over 3000lb and be in the same price range, (though the sti may be over 30k.)

The suspension on the RX8 is exactly like that of a Porsches in the Rear and is unique to the RX8 in the front, so a Porsche isnt that bad of a comparison

Ok then lets not compare them to ferrari, porsche and other exotic cars, lets compare the Rx-8's weight to the FD Rx-7 (1992 and up) they weigh 2700lbs and the FD is one of the best handling cars ever built, the Rx-8 weighs 2950lbs and R&T says it handles extremely well. Don't call the Rx-8 a "sports car" because its not, its a 4 door sport sedan and from all the information i have about the 8 in my opinion it will out-perform most of the cars in its class (WRX, 350Z, S2000), we'll have to wait and see, but 30k or less for a fully loaded Rx-8 is a bang for the buck, considering how much the WRX and S2000 cost with some options.

I'm not sure what version of the WRX you guys get over here, but the 160kW (215hp) version we have here battles to run a 14.6, and thats with brutal 6000+rpm launches otherwise it bogs down and falls into a laggy hole!

The car suffers from bag lag below 3500rpm, and from everybody I know who has driven one they are definitely not the be all and end all as far as overall handling goes, with understeer being the main trait.

There is more to a car than it's 1/4 mile time IMHO, and chassis balance, cornering ability and overall enjoyment are higher on my list anyway.

In all honesty, and I feel for you guys over there for not having this on your market, but one of the biggest competitors the RX-8 will face here in some ways could be the MX-5 SP turbo that we have here. Mazda Australia have developed a turbo version of the MX-5 with approx 150kW that runs 14.4 at about 100mph. It retails here for about $55,500, which is cheaper than what the RX-8 will be.

What you guys have to remember too is that the RX-8 is only the beginning as far as getting rotary engined cars back on the scene. It is a compromise of building a sporty type of car with some practicality, and I think they have done a pretty good job. And if all goes well, we should see a rotary engined MX-5 varient which will be lighter and have performance greater then the RX-8.

And remember we are all hanging out for it to come out, to return the rotary engine to the showroom floors, so lets not start bagging it out before it even arrives, because any negative sentiment could jeopardise any future projects. Think about it.