canadian_8

but there will ALWAYS be 16 year olds with very nice cars. Personally i dont think that is one of the worst things about the rx8. There was a kid i went to school with who drove a Maserati M/W/F and an aston martin T/Th ..... rich kids will often be spoiled with very nice cars.

RX-GR8

i agree.

Sigma

I'll take that bet. How much you wanna put down?

Teenagers get into far and away more accidents when their driving old Civics than adults; I can't even imagine how much their chances of having an accident skyrocket in a relatively light RWD sports car.

It's not bitterness; hell I'm only 23. It's just a matter of fact.

canadian_8

im half awake and posting nonsense at the moment... long day at the office... but althought my post makes no sense i was actually trying make reference to insurance rates.... I agree with your RWD comment... give inexperianced drivers too much power is very dangerous.

NAVILESRX8

iTrader: (1)

I've had sporty RWD cars since I got my license when I was 17. I never wrecked any of them. Shoot, I had a 13 sec 1st gen RX7 when I was 18. It was 200hp+ with the stock 13 year-old suspension.

People on this board act all high and mighty at times.....

The RX8 stock is a docile machine that anybody can drive fast.....don't act like you are Ayrton Senna all of a sudden because you own it....
People whining because the RX8 is popular....so what...if you are that fickle sell the God damn thing and move on to the next "cool" car.

I can go on and on.......

124Spider

This is a bit off topic.

But, as long as we're here, I haven't read such nonsense since the last time I read one of Doc's posts in the Lounge. RWD/FWD/AWD whatever, giving a kid a powerful car is a prescription for disaster. The mere fact that many of them don't kill themselves, or even wreck the car, does nothing to negate the statisitical fact that 16-20 year olds, especially males, have a hugely worse driving record than older folks, and the more powerful the car, the greater the danger. I know that everyone likes to complain about the RX-8's lack of torque and power, but, in reality, it's a very powerful car, which is easy to wrap around a tree. As more kids get them, the insurance rate for the car will rise, as it does with all such cars.

Sigma

Good for you. A sample of 1 doesn't mean anything. Fact of the matter is that most people your age, even my age for that matter, don't have the driving experience to handle it.

Mikelikes2drive

u might be right... but i wasnt talking about civics... i was talking about rx-8s... i would think that there there are WAY more adults crashing the 8s then there are kids.

Low Fly'n 8

1. Interior gets hot as hell in the summer if parked for a short time.
2. Pretty sorry air conditioner when compared to most.
3. Lack of extra headroom with moonroof.
4. Useless cupholders in front with rock hard plastic console lid.
5. No one-touch closing on moonroof.
6. No highs, no lows - must be Bose. But why?
7. Freakin huge rearview mirror blocks view out of windshield.
8. Extra low armrest on doors.
9. Major front brake dust.
10. Makes you spend money on racing beat exhaust, springs, etc.

I hope this doesn't come across as bitter, because I truly love this car.

A couple of ZOOM ZOOM beeps and you forget all about any of these so called problems!

HD

Sigma

Of course, because more adults own them. But you said as a ratio of the owners. And if you think that a 30-year old has a greater chance of crashing an RX-8 than a 17-year old you're severely deluded.

Lock & Load

1. Low powered Automatics with lousy 4 speed tranny .

2. Owners who dont kmow anything about rotaries who dont read the manuals and are not prepared to educate themselves on rotary engines etc.

3. Owners who dont know how to drive manual cars properly .

4.Mazda badly trained service so called mechanics .

5. Mazdas continuos lies regarding power outputs .

6. Some of the ******* / soft ***** who buy this car

7.People who try and drive the rotary like little old ladies and never get past 6000 rpm .

8.Lack of readily available warrantied aftermarket parts at a reasonable price .

9.People who cannot drive and dont deserve to own a car , such as the RX8 .

10. Hard to make out in the back seat . :D

cheers
michael

Mikelikes2drive

i'm just trying to defend the 16-18 year old age group
And i did say in ratio, and I'm saying with my experience on this board, i have seen more adults crash their 8s and total it then the teenagers.

With this car being in the low 30s, that would put most teenagers who own this car in the middle class... seeing that if u were high class your parents would buy you an m3 or something more expensive, thus a middle class teen would be more appreciative of a brand new 8 and would not try drifting in corners and crashing their cars... but adults are in traffic more and commute their cars everyday, putting them more at risk of gettin in accidents, their fault or not.

just seeing what has been posted on this forum... i see alot more adults gettin into accidents then the teens.

NAVILESRX8

iTrader: (1)

You guys are right...younger drivers are the high-risk accident prone demographic....but it doesn't matter what car they drive....

Thetitanium8

I had a Turbo Supra for my first car. Let me tell you I am/was a very careful driver and there were a few times were my inexperience almost got me killed. That kind of power with rwd is not something to mess with.

I was making a turn on day and a guy ran the light I moved to miss him and started fish tailing like there was no tomorrow. I honestly thought I was going to flip it. Luckly I didn't.

Another time It was a bit icey out (this is when I live in Pittsburgh) and the back end kicked out on me and I ended up having the back end of my car hanging over a cliff (not a big cliff but it was a cliff) I had to have my buddy bring his truck to pull me out.

So no matter how careful a young driver is, their inexperience can lead to danger in a car like this.

So as you can tell I agree with abbid

Ellar

I really think it's at least 50/50. Actually, I'm sure I've read more stories where they had it on. It's everybody's first question, and they all get real quiet when the answer is that yes, the DSC was on.

fredw1

Pretty much my sentiments. I think they could have done a better job with the little things like cupholders, but I have had far worse in other vehicles.

Regarding #3, I find myself making excuses to go into the garage just so I can see it.

Mikelikes2drive

one way to solve this cupholder issue is just to put ur drinks in the back cupholders... its not hard to reach and it's out of your way.

Sigma

You must have a different idea of "middle-class" than most people. Methinks you've been spoiled already.

Anyone that can afford to give their teenager a brand new car is not widely considered "middle class". "Middle Class" can barely afford to send their kids to school, let alone buy themselves new cars, let alone purchase their kid a $30,000 one. I make a 6-figure income and you can be damn sure my kid ain't getting a car that costs half what an RX-8 does. Hell they probably ain't gonna get one at all.

And you give a kid a car they're going to push it. It's what they do. We've all been there and done it. Teenagers (no one really for that matter) don't baby their car simply because it's an RX-8 over a Civic. What's the point of owning one if you're going to drive it even more Grandma-ish than the Civic? We've all pushed our cars to the limits, particularly when young and we did far stupider things than we do now. It's just that lightweight RWD sportscars aren't too terribly forgiving when you do.

"More at Risk"... Yes. But they don't have more.

A 16 year old has a 20 times greater chance of getting into an accident than a 30-year old, despite driving far less time per day. A 17-year old has 6 times the chance. An 18-year old 4 times the chance, and a 19-year old 3 times the chance. That's overall including all types of cars. Are you seriously claiming that simply by virtue of owning an RX-8 a teen somehow goes from having an exponential chance of an accident to less chance?

You admit that a teen has a greater chance of crashing a Civic than an adult but somehow think they have less chance of crashing an RX-8? It doesn't even make sense. No teenager (no anyone) is going to baby one particular car over another. It's their car and they're going to treat it like they'd treat their car, no matter what it is.

Ther's 18,000 members on this Forum. The number below the age of 20 is probably just in the hundreds, certainly no more than a thousand. Of course you're going to see more. A lot more. It's simple math. Even with a 4 time greater chance of getting into an accident, when you make up probably 5% of the forum population, you're still going to have a minority of the posts about accidents.

Obviously certain cars have a greater penchant for getting one into trouble than another. It's why insurance rates for fast cars are, generally, more expensive than slower cars. And that's across the board, no matter the age. For those experienced there's still a greater chance of an accident in an RX-8 than a Civic but for those inexperienced the difference is magnified by inexperience. When you have no driving experience the difference between that 80-hp FWD Civic you drove on your DMV test and that 230hp lightweight RWD RX-8 is incredible.

Rupes

I think that is more of an excuse as to why they crashed the car. No one turns off the DSC to drive lazily around town. You do it because you feel like a race car driver that day for some reason (and in doing so increase your risk of accident dramatically), and when you can't hang a hairpin turn at 90 MPH you say, jee too bad I didn't have the DSC on.

People crash with the DSC off cause they are going way too fast, DSC can save your *** from some tire screeching but not from your own stupidity.

Mikelikes2drive

well i feel like we've hijacked this thread far too much and i'll leave the arguing to another thread (that has been repeated far too many times)

and you may be right in what you say, but i my beliefs are my beliefs
but i do baby my 8 far more then when i drive a P.O.S car... and maybe it is because i come from an upper class family... and i probably do have a different view of middle class then you because middle class just depends on where you live... in Los Angeles/OC suburbs area, having a benz or a bimmer still puts u at middle class in my book.

No More Oldsmobiles

For all those who say the trunk or trunk open are too small, side slots too small, etc.
I came to this car from an Oldsmobile. Lots of room, no zoom.

It was the smaller, more nimble size of the 8 that attracted me.

Perhaps the perception of smallness is related to the fact that the car has four doors, four seats and can be used as a daily driver. So people almost expect it to have the amenities of a sporty sedan. But there is only so much you can do with a package this size. Yeah, I hate the cupholders being under my elbow, and I could fix that by going back to the Oldsmobile. But the Olds is sitting in my driveway while I have fun.

cLLcLe

Hey. I'm 18. I'm getting base cuz I don't want a stupid sun-roof and leather seats. I don't need the powered/heated seats to weigh my car down. I don't want DSC. I want this car to be tail-slide happy.

I'm more likely to crash this car more than the average older adult. And yeah, younger ages like me do tend to be more wild with a sports car. So where is this topic going?

The bottom-of-the-line is that younger adults tend to definetly get into more accidents than older adults. Why? Because we don't know limits.

There are more 30 year olds crashing 8's cuz more 30 year olds own them. I don't really know where this topic is going... but it seems like you guys stated your facts and are defending nothing.

Hey, if you wanna point fingers at the 16-18 year old crowd... look for kids like me that don't know how to drive RWD. Besides, the RX-8 is probably one of the easiest cars to control a drift with. (Wait... I'm not saying I don't know how to drive RWD ^^)

Outlaws eXtreme

Maybe because more adults own the Rx-8 than kids... considering the fact that most kids only get Civics/Scions as their first cars.

There's a reason why teenage drivers have a higher rate for insurance than a 25 year old would. Driving experience, and the maturity to handle it. Not both exclusive, but it doesn't hurt to have both... and most likely the older driver will have the skills to handle the car.

Though I have no problem with younger people owning the car as long as they acknowledge that they got it as a gift and leave it at that. I hate to read that a kid "deserved" the Rx-8, and brag about how they fixed up their cars when they don't even pay for it.

Mikelikes2drive

ehhh so i was wrong... sry. i wont let my pride get in my way, but that was just my opinion. i guess i just dont like it when ppl look down upon me cuz of my age? maybe.

Outlaws eXtreme

Admitting you were wrong is a sign of maturity... kids tend to think they are invulnerable and omnipotent.