416to212

To be honest, I bought the RX8 without test driving it either.... I watched the Top Gear episode where Jeremy Clarkson test drives the RX-8 and knew I had to have it.

Detrich

i was deciding between the RX-8 and bmw Z4...

after i test drove the 8, it was pretty much a no brainer. the 8 seats four and was $8K cheaper- plus it handles great and is way more unique... (z4's are a dime a dozen.) before buying the 8, i was already a bmw owner and consider myself pretty picky...

i test drove my co-workers 2008 z4 last summer, and although the z4's improved a lot over the years, i still have no regrets about the 8

u won't be disappointed...

midlife crisis

I just wanted a test drive for the hell of it. I bought it the next day. I really didn't need another car!

HockeyRX-8

iTrader: (1)

It was between the 350z and the 8 for me.

350z- loved the exterior, but when I finally sat in it, I cpompletely hated it....just didn't feel right. Never test drove it either.

RX8- loved everything about it. Sexy as hell, interior was gorgeous and it was soo much fun to drive. I knew I had to have it....so I bought it within the next couple of days and never regreted my decision.

PSTNLSS

iTrader: (3)

My story is rather plain and simple.

I was ending sophomore year of high school. Time to start looking for a car (June 2007), I would get my license beginning of September my junior year of high school. I had no imput from friends from school since summer just began and I go to a catholic school so kids are all over the place. It was my opinion and mine only.

I was so set on getting an IS300, but started looking at like STIs(well WRXs). I had a limited budget ($20,000) i know i was lucky (grandparents and me). I went to a car dealer and sat in a few cars and was like eh i dont know what i want.

I don't like to go with the flow(at the time mustangs, civics, rsxs). I went to a dealership near me that had a lot of kid cars(rsx, civic, mazdas, acuras, etc etc). I sat in the IS300 the car I wanted for over a year. I sat in it and went this feels like a box. Sat in the Subaru WRX and was like this is the sedan, boxy feel. I looked and saw a black car and had no clue what it was. I asked the guy for the keys to see it. I sat in the car and fell in love. Just the feeling of the "cockpit" i call it was what sold me on the car. I was 16 at the time, didn't know a lot about cars and what not. I didn't care about power or engines. I wanted a hot ride.

I went home and began researching the rx-8. I saw a red and black interior private sale and my parents were like we prefer a dealer certified. I was like i love the red and black. I found a 2004 Velocity Red GT w/ Red/black interior. Appearance Package, navi. With 30k miles and for only 21995(the dealer had a coupon for 1000 dollars off).

I saw the car, and it was purchased on the spot.

I've had Valerie for almost two years now (purchased June 7, 2007 brought her home June 13, 2007)

Funniest part, I never drove the car before buying it. I was 16 and didn't know how to drive a stick. And yes I learned stick on my 8.

TopGear8

iTrader: (3)

Amish..

Gr8Bullet

iTrader: (5)

i was also looking at a 04' m3 smg hardtop. My friend has one and its a beast! stage 3 turbo pushing 850whp! insane!!

rotarykillz

iTrader: (1)

great stories on here....rx8/7 owners are some of the best vehicle owners out there. I had a tegra for a while and just didn't feel right on those community boards.

8 owners just know what we have...regardless of what others say...we know.

nikkdizzle

iTrader: (2)

you said, on some of the other forums, everything is damn competition, or all about 1 upping the person above you.

defintely not my kind of thing. the rotary community is defintely something else though!

Krazed_Rx8

iTrader: (5)

Sadly no... I work saturdays

Krazed_Rx8

iTrader: (5)

+1 Bought mine w/o test driving it either

1.3L

I was looking for a Toyota Tacoma.

-1.3L

NoOdLe BoY

iTrader: (1)

i was choosing between an Rsx Type-S, and the 8.

fell in love with the 8 aswell. once i drove it i had that stupid grin on that if i would have seen on another person id be like "WTF?" lol.
'
The 8 is just a car that you can really love. its a car that you can connect with. its not your "automobile" or your "mode of transportation" its your 8.

Its like "Herbie".

Hidef1080

My car at the time was an '05 Mazda 6 Sport manual which was actually pretty sporty for a front drive family car but the time had come for me to part ways with my first Mazda.


I looked at the Mazda 3 but I too found it to be less than what I was use to. Very nice car but it seemed sparse.
I thought about a Mazda Speed 6 but never got around to really looking into it since I had the normal 6.
I was ready to sign the papers on a Genesis Coupe Turbo but the Hyundai dealers are either stupid or they thought I was stupid. I must say that the car itself is really nice and I think Hyundai will shock a number of people with these Genesis cars.
Anyway.
I've always liked the RX-7's and RX-8's so after I walked away from my last Hyundai sub-par car salesmen I jumped on the internet [I bought my Mazda 6 over the internet] and found a good deal on my current RX-8.


Me likey.

05TouringRX8

Interesting how similar a lot of the cars that were considered along with the 8 are.

I bought my '8 for my daughter to drive when she turns 16 (in December of this year). We bought my wife's Jeep Liberty 5 years ago with the intention of passing it down to our daughter when it was paid for and she was old enough to drive. We even let her pick out the color at 11 years old. But, my wife decided she likes her Liberty and my daughter decided it wasn't going to be her.

I had been buying and browsing AutoTrader magazine every other week or two for months. Kind of felt like Joe Dirt looking through it with no real idea of what I was even looking for. My daughter, like her mother, had no trouble telling me what she didn't like but would never really say what she did like, until recently. I noticed a pattern of cars that seemed like really nice "bang for the buck" over and over. Those included the '8, the 350Z, and the G35 coupe. Every now and then, I'd spot a nice deal on a Mitsubishi Eclipse. One night, everyone ended up gathered around me as I was browsing autotrader online and my daughter finally declared that the '8 was the car she wanted. Finally, I could narrow down my search to a specific car and price range. We found many to choose from but a lot of those had really bad history when I ran the VINs through the vincheck program, especially the ones we found on used car lots. Questionable titles, frame damage, rolled back odometers, you name it. Then, sticking out like a sore thumb amidst the Red, Black, Yellow, and Blue 8's and the manual transmission models, which were a just can't do it for my daughter, there popped up a beautiful Whitewater Pearl with low mileage at a very fair price. We contacted the seller and drove 3 hours to go look at it. Took a test drive and we were hooked. I left a deposit and returned a week later to drive her home. The car looks and drives like it just came out of the showroom. Everyone that has seen it is stunned when we tell them the car is used. I had the oil changed and replaced the front brake pads to cure a squeal and the car is awesome.

WHO69

my cousin blew my motor in my 95 civic so I tryed to get a 02 honda civic si the one with the rally throw shifter honda would not finance me for it so I looked at used car dealers and it was between a celica gt or a accord 2 door checked on the accord it was sold thats when I saw my 8 love at first sight I find it funny honda didn't finance me for a civic with 101K but the dealer I went to gave me the 8

Flashwing

Hey BigMike, my experience might help you out.

As much as it might shock people, I had no idea what I bought when I decided to get the RX8. I was new to cars but I was very eager to get into the automotive community and mod my car. All my friends at the time were Evo and Subie guys so I was looking for something AWD and turbo charged but they were all out of my price range.

I did look at the 350z but I didn't like how the car fit me as I felt cramped and the gearbox was hard to work for me being new to manuals.

The RX8 was something I drove just to get rid of my tunnel vision. An old highschool friend of mine was always raving about the RX8 coming out and how cool the rotary was. Ironically, I bought the car and he told me later how slower it was!

All I knew was it made a cool sound, was very easy to drive and redlined at 10,000 RPMs. What other car does that?!?

The more I learned about the car the more interested I became in the motor and the car's capability. I was discouraged cause all my AWD friends were much faster than I was straight line.

Then, I took a drive through one of our local twisty roads with the Arizona Mazda Club. I came out on the other side of that drive a changed man. I had this stupid grin on my face for the rest of the day as I couldn't believe how much fun that car was to drive. I'll never be the same that's for sure.

Another thing to consider is the amazing people you'll encounter with the same love of the RX8 and the rotary. Someone once said "Nobody ever told me that they sell a life changing event with this car" and it's completly true. Without my RX8, I would never have met the awesome people whom I call my friends.

There's a real genuine following with the rotary that is unlike any other car out there. We all share the same passion and love of cars!

So, follow your gut on this one. I think you'll be surprised how fun this car can be even when simply driving to work. The best part of my work day is driving to and from work.

Kafka

Everything I wanted to say about The Rx8 and I.

Rx8 : You either get it or you dont.

TheKDog

I initially wanted a Mustang GT. Retro looks, V8 engine, improved handling and refinement over the previous generations. But the interior was horrid and the one I test drove had a very loud dash rattle that the salesman tried in vain to stop.

Next was the G35. Great looks but no substance. It reminded me way too much of my Spec V- notchy shifter, stiff ride, an engine that doesn't like to rev and overrated handling.

Then came the RX8. When I first sat in it, I just knew I was going to buy one. The interior was so unique that first time. I was surprised at the power because everything I read was that it was so slow. The handling and shifter felt perfect.

I'm still not tired of it. I'll trade it in when the wheels fall off.

SLWASFK

You've never owned a rotary before, have you?


My process was about 2 years long in picking up the 8. It all started in early 2007 with my FD and a 94 Saturn as a DD. I decided that I was sick of the Saturn and wanted to get something newer. I started by looking at AP1 S2ks. I don't have any use for practicality, no kids, my bum friends can drive themselves, so the S2k would have been a great compliment to the FD as a DD. I dragged my feet on it for a couple months, kicking some tires and looking around.

I then thought maybe I'd start looking at 8s, so I looked at 8s for a little bit and they didn't really tickle my fancy at the time, so I kept moving along.

I then checked out S60Rs, which is still the car I want to get to this day. They are very nice cars, very fast, they put most of the modern sports cars to shame, and they have tons of room to expand if I should start a family. Plus the legendary Volvo safety.

Then I jumped back to the S2k, cheap, honda reliability, can't really go wrong. But I didn't take them as seriously this time around (this was about a year after I had started looking around).

I quickly shifted gears towards the Speed3, then I kind of forgot how much I hated my Saturn for a couple months when I got laid off.

After all that, it was the end of summer 08, still driving the Saturn, and just looking for work. In December, the Saturn died so I started looking at cheap piece beaters. Geo Storms, Shitsubishi Eclipses, etc. I was very forlorn.

Then early this year, I started working again and had to use the FD as a commuter. That really torqued me off, so I started looking at cars quite a bit more seriously than last time. I checked out WRXs, Evos, Spec-Vs, and then one day I saw an 04 RX-8 at a price I couldn't refuse, so I said **** it. A 7 in the garage deserves an 8 on the street.

that was 3 weeks ago, and the 8s been a great car. It handles like a champ, even if it is large, the back seats are nice because you can actually fit people in them. I'm rather enjoying the car, still trying to get used to it though.


ETA: Forgive me if my post seems disjointed or rambling, I just woke up and am coasting off of less than 4 hours sleep.

bassy

My previous car was a '97 Eclipse GS-T, which was my daily driver for nine years with no problems. Unfortunately, I ran into all kinds of problems with cops (speeding, loud exhaust, window tint, etc.) in a three-month period, during which I got pulled over 5--yes, five--times. I decided then that I had to get rid of the car. The cops were probably on the lookout for my fast and furious ride.

I then tried to find a used (but in excellent condition) G35, 350Z, or RX-8. The choices didn't seem like they were gonna help my situation, but I couldn't see myself driving anything else. I just made a promise to myself that I wouldn't get pulled over again. I was able to get my RX-8 just within two weeks of looking. It was a quick deal: come to the dealership, test drive for 15 min, sign the paperwork, drive home happy. All of that took just a couple hours in the morning.

It's been a little over two years now and I haven't gotten pulled over or a speeding ticket since.

Mine was an '04 TiG GT with just a 8,250 miles on the clock. It was in mint condition. I paid $19,995 OTD. It's now got 29,8XX miles.

Spicewood Rotary

Lost my company car and needed something to drive thirty miles of winding roads to and fro to work. Remembered my early love affair with ROTARIES (1-RX-2, 2-RX-3s, 1-RX-4, 2-RX-7s) but it had been years since owning any. I found the last new 2008 RX-8 with the red/black leather on a dealer's lot three hours away. Bought it over the phone without test drive. I feel like a kid again, so much so that I bought a second 8 six months later.....roter-on...

shazy

You are one Crazy ****.

jamesc

My Daewoo Lanos (not as bad of a car as you think, especially when I bought brand new for $6,000) was starting to need parts. GM had bought and bankrupted Daewoo automotive (US) so parts were getting hard to find. I found my 8 online, 200 miles away. I test drove an 04 8 when they first came out and really loved it, so . . .

I love being back to rear wheel drive. I still love my 8. It does everything I want it to do(except have a hatch back).

ZumnRx8

Hatch back+1