IamFodi

iTrader: (1)

For me, an excellent RWD chassis with back seats was the main draw to the RX-8. There were other things (NA, MT sensation of speed, etc.), but the chassis was the alpha and omega.

Anyone else feel similarly? Somehow, I get the impression that most owners like the car for its engine and its looks. Would love to be proven wrong about that!

ZiG

I bought mine primarily for the chassis because I remembered hearing they did great in street classes autox years ago. The fact that I wanted to try the rotary thing was the icing on the cake. IDGAF about the back seats though, only time they have been used has been when we go for lunch between heats and the s2000/miata guys can't fit everyone.

Loki

iTrader: (1)

*raises hand*

I wanted RWD and good handling out of the box. A few cars fit that on paper, but once I drove an 8, it was over. The whole rotary thing is just candy, I've always had quirky cars.

Steve Dallas

[Raises hand]

I read the RX-8 was in the top 3 best handling cars under $100K, and that was enough to seal it for me.

lOOkatme

I own an FD rx7 and its it is my really nice street car. I wanted a track car.


1) inexpensive.
2) handles well
3) fits a 6'2" 215lbs person




Rx-8 fits all the categories the best of any of the cars I looked at, rotaries are also easy to work on. I am mechanically inclined and have all the tools to work on them so it was easy since the car was $1500. I also noticed that modifying the rx8 is also cheap as rx-8 owners seem to not have as much money as other cars out there.

NotAPreppie

I don't remember why I picked my '8 but I know I'm keeping it for the chassis (sure as hell isn't for the engine).

New Yorker

I picked it for the combination of its tiny, lightweight engine and the fact that it's placed so low and far back on the chassis.

Put another way: I wouldn't have chosen a rotary engine car IF the car didn't take full advantage of its tiny dimensions and light weight. That's why I find the suggestion of a reciprocal engine powered 8 silly; it violates the essential concept of the car.

comebackqid

iTrader: (13)

After learning about the engine and realizing it's junk, I said well it fits the car well and is part of the reason the car feels so amazing. (summation, assumption)

I've been in a JZ swap it is nose heavy and feels like a truck a fast truck but a truck none teh less. can't speak for LSx swaps no experience with them.

Any who the chassis is the main appeal and reason for owning one (two actually) I can get near porsche boxter and lotus elise sc handling for 5k or less can't beat that.

Plus when properly built looks amazing!

bajsingh08

looks and engine definitely but overall how car feels when driving was the main reason

IamFodi

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, that article was a major factor for me as well. Largely because I realized that there was nothing with equal-or-bigger back seats at ANY price that could plausibly do a better job in that company. That seems to imply that, stock-for-stock, the RX-8 (R3) is the best handling car with equal-or-bigger back seats, at any price, ever...


Completely agree.

Steve Dallas

Obviously, I drove it to confirm this, and compared it to the Toybaru twins, which I test drove twice each. RX-8's chassis won easily.

Loki

iTrader: (1)

The answer is always Miata. In this case, a larger, 4 seat Miata with a weird engine.

wannawankel

Did I as well...just phenomenal even for fun city curves.

IamFodi

iTrader: (1)

Steve Dallas

If you're gonna do it, at least do it right:

Miata
Is
Always
The
Answer

NotAPreppie

I thought about this some more and realized that, yes, I did buy it for the chassis. Also, since it had a better power-to-weight ratio than the cars I'd own before, I also bought it for the engine.

My buddy bought one and let me take a joy-ride in it through a commercial park with a curvy road (after hours to avoid endangering more than just the two of us).

I stupidly (smartly?) sold it when I went back to college to finish my undergrad. After graduating, my present to myself was a NA Miata. My old '8 showed up at an autocross event and I started talking to its caretaker. A few months later, it was mine again. That was a really stupid emotional decision but I remember feeling like I was home again the first time I autocrossed it afterwards.

Correction:
MX-5
Is
Always
The
Answer

acroy

Same here. I have that article saved somewhere. The RX8 was 7yrs old iirc when that article came out, and beat up some much newer faster vehicles.

Actually I chose a $4500 FC as my first 'real' sports car, back in 2002. RWD, LSD, good handling, excellent aftermarket support. I became of fan of Mazda's slightly offbeat but meticulously, lovingly engineered cars. every Mazda I've driven, you can tell was engineered by Car People.

I still love the rotary. I look out at the parking lot. mine is the only one with something other than a piston engine, the only other ICE that has ever been (semi) successfully commercialized. Very cool. well, there's a couple Teslas out there now.

Miata is always the answer unless you don't fit. I don't fit. I might be able to sit on the floor.

comebackqid

iTrader: (13)

here that article that keeps coming up.

The Best-Handling Car in America for Less Than $100K - Feature - Car and Driver

New Yorker

And lest we forget, there was this from the late Sports Car International some years ago:

Letter from the editor (Eric Gustafson) of SCI:

"Mazda hasn't updated its RX-8 model since its debut five years ago, so until a few weeks back, it had been roughly that long since I'd driven one. While its distinctively smooth and ultra-high revving rotary engine left a lasting impression, I'd forgotten what a great-handling car it is. The RX-8 has all the classic traits: It is exceedingly well-balanced, with virtually no understeer; the steering is responsive, quick and feelsome; it's light on its feet, instilling this Mazda with an eagerness that makes me want to keep driving and wish the road never unwinds. The RX-8 is, by my estimation, one of the best-handling sports cars currently available."

Gustafson then goes on to talk about his top five best-handling cars (in no particular order) regardless of price:
• Mazda RX-8
• Porsche Cayman
• Nissan Nismo 350Z
• Lotus Elise
• Audi R8

UnknownJinX

Well, I just searched for a sporty/sports car that needs to be practical, affordable, and easy to find in MT.

I liked my Accord Coupe, but finding one around me with V6 and MT made me give up.

Most of the other sports cars simply aren't practical. I sometimes need to carry stuff/people in the back seats.

Then I found the RX-8. It fits all the requirements, and I wanted to try some rotary, and here I am.

OtherSyde

I always loved offbeat cars and had a 5-speed Ford Contour SVT (aka the Baby-SHO) for almost 10 years until I found myself in the midst of a divorce in late 2013 and suddenly decided it was time to upgrade.


I was just browsing Craigslist with nothing specific in mind when I stumbled across the local sale of a black 2007 RX8 with neon green wheels (see my albums for pre-new-wheels-and-paint-job pics, it was pretty outlandish), on a salvage title with 34k original miles. It just looked so sporty and unusual, plus I'd read about the Rotary engine before and was intrigued by it - and when I saw the car all opened up with those clam-shell suicide-doors my heart was set on it.


I snagged it for $9,500, which isn't bad for a 6-year old RX8 with 34k original miles and a documented history of regular maintenance. It wasn't even "totaled" per se - the original owner (an Army guy living in the Schoffield barracks at Pearl Harbor) basically just bumped it into a light pole and decide to claim it for salvage so he could cash in on the insurance money and buy himself the V6 Mustang of his dreams, while a local family-owned Mazda-only auto shop bought the RX8 on auction, quickly repaired it, and sold it to me. I know this because he recognized his rather distinctive green-wheeled former ride in a parking lot one day while I was finishing up some shopping, and we chatted for a few minutes. He said the 'Stang was definitely faster, but it felt like trying to steer a shopping cart through one of those big inflatable bouncy-rooms after having driven the RX8 for a couple of years.


So yeah; price, opportunity, slick appearance, clamshell doors, and intrigue for the rotary engine is what led me to buy my RX8. Still loving it 4 years later. Definitely never buying a Mustang.

eyeguy

I wanted a 4 seat miata that could handle a good amount of track use. I was also looking at e36 m3 and is300. Finding a 10 year newer car with over 100k less miles for the same money as I sold my nb miata for made up my mind. Unfortunately I don't think I'll be able to run the rx8 as hard as I did the miata but so far my s2 is absolutely amazing as a street car compared to my track prepped miata. Since this one will be seeing occasional kid transport duty the stock interior and airbags will be staying. I'll probably miss the warm fuzzies from the rollbar/harness/hans on track but driver changes will be a breeze.

VFX001

I'm on my third RX-8. My first was a 2005 GT (6-speed) in whitewater pearl. I had no previous rotary experience, but lots of reading (much of it done on this forum) prepared me for what to expect. The first test drive sealed the deal, and the white GT served me well until I traded it in at 80,000 miles on a black 2009 R3.

Between its suspension and the Recaros, the R3 wasn't quite as comfortable as the S1 GT on long trips, but the improvement in driving feel was worth it. A year later, my front wheels lost traction on a curve on a dusty canyon road, and my R3 and I had a rather rude introduction to a concrete drainage culvert. The damage wasn't horrific, but the combination of the front end damage and the airbag deployment led the insurance company to total it.

My next car was a 2010 BMW 535i M Sport, which had gobs of power and comfort but lacked the light, nimble feel of the R3. It was also a money pit, requiring expensive maintenance and repairs. As a highway cruising dreadnought, the BMW was great, but its size and weight made it a much scarier proposition for canyon carving. After owning it for only a year, a teenage girl in a white 3-series did a U-turn right in front of me, and the 535i was totaled. During the year that I drove the BMW, I really missed the RX-8, and I vowed to get another one.

Last March I was lucky enough to find a blue 2010 R3 with only 13,500 miles, and thats what I'm driving today. I never quite got used to the BMW. I told people that it felt like I was driving someone else's car. Now that I'm back in an R3, it feels like coming home. It's not the quickest/fastest car out there by a long shot, but there's nothing I can afford that has four usable seats and handles better or would make me smile more. If I decided to consider two seats, I'd look at an ND MX-5 or a Boxster, but I'm not really a fan of ragtops, and the fastback MX-5 is slower/heavier and still too expensive. If I had a bigger budget, I'd look at a Cayman or an Elise. With a much, much bigger budget, I think an Evora 400 would make me pretty happy. In terms of automotive philosophy, I really think that Mazda is the Japanese Lotus.

It's worth noting that with all three RX-8s I have owned, I haven't had engine problems with any of them. Regular maintenance and proper driving (a healthy redline regimen) have probably helped, but it may just be the luck of the draw. In my experience, the BMW was far worse in terms of reliability and cost of ownership than any of the RX-8s I've owned.

blackmount

I was just a kid (late elementary school, early middleschool) when the RX-8 came out - I learned about it from Gran Turismo 3 which had the RX-8 Concept car in it, Thought it looked really cool. so about Mid 2004, mom was looking for a new car - I convinced her to take a trip to the Local Mazda dealership where she absolutely fell in love with the brand. She ended up ordering a Winning Blue Mazda 3 (pre-Mazdaspeed 3) fully loaded the same day we went there and she was given test drives in a 3, and 6.

So I definitely bought it out of Nostalgia and a Child Hood Poster type situation.

a close friend from highschool has been into Rotary's as long as I have known him, and had a RX-8 in highschool. He educated me on the ups and downs on the Rotary, I taught him how to work on cars. Spent alot of time with that beautiful Nordic Green 04.

To be honest it didn't bother me - I love wrenching, and have always liked older cars so I was kinda used to reliability concerns.

I did not learn about how insanely good the car was out of the box until I was finally ready to buy one....

I can't believe these cars are as cheap as they are. My 1 Owner, Meticulously maintained and documented, fully loaded, 80K mile car Never seen snow, that had a new engine at 59K, almost all recalls performed, and came with a recent Multipoint inspection and Passed with fling colors Compression test from Mazda of Dixon IL set me back a mere $4500. All it needed was a fresh set of tires, and the wheels refinished (bad curb rash and brake dust stains)

Everytime I drive it, I am just blown away by how good it is, how well it drives. Everyone says it is slow and torqueless, and while it is not as fast as the rest of my car by any-means, I'd hardly say its slow, and its torque is adequate for normal driving.

I've driven 911's that don't feel this good - This makes the NSX feel heavily dated (especially the brakes) and about the same time a friend of mine picked up a C5 Corvette with a decent amount of suspension and brake modifications and invited me to attack some backroads with him...

By the end of the day, He was a little bit irritated that I would always barrel down on him like nothing in the corners, especially the really tight, low speed corners. In my little Mazda with some cheap 225 summer tires, and 90,000 mile stock suspension VS his "C6 z06" suspension swapped, 335 Rear tire Wide body Corvette.

I can't wait send mine around Road America, and Blackhawk Farms next spring - I've been told by 2 instructors that they have bore witness to multiple royally pissed off Ferrari and Porsche Owners at the hands of the RX-8 at the Track.

/Book

reddozen

iTrader: (1)

My RX7 didn't have a back seat, and I had a kid... RX8 it was! Either way it's a great chassis, and a fun car. Will be even better with the 20b... lol.