Happened to me last fall...

"Looks like you have a choice of two different kinds, L and T"
"I'll take two of each."
"What?"
"Heh, yeah... It takes two Leading and two Trailing."
"Oh, I see. Never heard of that. Let me ring those up for you..."
"$80?!?! That's not right, let me get my manager."
"Nah, that's right. They're different than most plugs."
"This whole thing is different."
"Heh, yeah."

I told him it was a rotary, and he seemed genuinely interested in how they worked. I didn't have time to explain, so I just told him that there were some good videos on YouTube about them. Really nice guy, and I kind of regretted not being able to talk to him about it.

A couple weeks after i bought her i was outside of my work at the liquor store and an older caravan pulls up and parks a couple spaces away from my car. They must have been talking about it once theyve seen it because as the guy, his wife, and daughter all hop out i hear him say 'that just looks like nothing but a rough riding, gas guzzling burden and i dont know why anyone would buy it' i just smiled and wanted to tell him it rides better than his van and probably gets the same gas mileage on the highway lol.. but i kept it to myself and just enjoyed his ignorance, whether or not he knew what kind of car it was i dont know. But the little things like that just make me smile :)

A Mazda 3 once, but mostly people just have no idea what it is.

A lot of people I know just say "oh yeah, he has a really nice car" and when queried for details come up blank and I have to step in to explain, which in turn draws another blank. I've resorted to 'Mazda' at this point, or 'little red sports car'. Now that it's discontinued it's only gonna get better ;)

A fast car.
The misses and I stopped at a rest stop off the turnpike for a smoke and a cool drink.
A van pulled up and out popped a half dozen kids or so, spent a few seconds eyeing the 8.
As they walked by the older and wiser one said " oh ya I've read about those cars and they can do over 200mph"

I want one. LOL

How did he find out my secret...
:rollingla:rollingla:rollingla

A few times when I have gone and bought some premix at Checkers they have asked what I am going to be putting it in. The look on their face when I tell them "my cars gas tank" is priceless. I keep thinking someday someone will say "Oh you have an RX-#?" but nobody ever has a clue.

Had some huge tattooed guy on a motorcycle pull up next to me the other day at a light and compliment my car. Asked me some questions about it like how fast it was, which is a question I hate lol. It always sounds like I'm making excuses for it when I have to explain that.

Never had it mistaken for anything it wasn't yet, but I'm sure its coming.

THIS! Whenever I tell people it's really not fast in a straight line, they are always like yeah ok. LOL I have just started telling people if they want to run we can do it on a road course or on some back roads :lol:

Like I said before. whenever someone asks that just respond with "9000 RPM" Its not a lie, just kinda beating around the bush but it makes it sound crazy fast.

A few years back I got pulled over by the police while driving in bumper to bumper traffic, because he ran my tags and it came up as a green four door sedan. So I had to show him that it is a four door. The puzzled look he gave me was priceless and then he told me to slow down and not go so fast. I'm thinking, I was only going about 10mph in traffic in a 45. Guess he had to save face somehow since I got pulled for DWB.

When I had my Turbo II I had a picture of it on my computer at work and this dude came up to my desk and said:
Him- Nice MKIII Supra.
Me- It's not a Supra, it's a second gen RX7.
Him- No I'm telling you its a MKIII Supra!
Me- It's parked outside and trust me it's a Mazda RX7.
Him- Bro you don't know crap about cars.

So apparently all along I had a MKIII Supra and I didn't even know it lol.

my boss thought my 8 was a lexus lol

I was asked today if it was the new miata.

I was at a Shell gas station and the guy working at the cash register seen me pull up. He came out with his buddy and asked me if i can show him my rear "suicide doors" lol i kinda smirked and showed him. the looks on their face=priceless lol. I get the "oh your car is really fast huh" comment alot. I just go along with it lol. And ppl always ask me what size engine is it. When i reply with 1.3L they say "wow it must really be a gas saver" and in my head i say "wow are you wrong" but again i just go along with it at times. Some ppl are worth explaining and others it is best to just keep doing your thing.

I haven't had my car mistaken for anything, per se. Most people don't know what it is. I have, however, had someone say it looked like a Cobalt. A f*ing Cobalt! :cussing:

I thought I was going to be sick.

It sure does. I was outside at lunch one day at work and thought I saw a dark gray rx8 in the parking lot. I walked over to check it out to find out it was a Maserati grand turismo. Made me like my car even more :)

I always say the no pistons thing when people ask how many cylinders I have. There is this one time some kid in a honda pulled next to me and said that my car was really fast. He was all I had one and did 11 sec quarter mile. I just smiled and drove away.

Guy at gas pump next to me....

"Ahhhh Rx-8, brother had one. Mazda sure does know how to get everything out of a V6 eh?"

"yeah.. but its not a V6, their actually rotary powered"

"Bastards keep changing the names of their motors on me"

Fairly new owner here, but I did take the 8 down to the gym on tuesday. As I come walking out, some 20-something kid was just gushing over the car. "Oh man, you car is sooo sweet. It is just beautiful!" He kept repeating it over and over again, haha. I just kinda chuckled and said thank you. He then asks, "Do you mind if I take a picture?" No problem, brother.

No idea if he knew what it was or not, the topic never came up. But you would have thought he was looking at a Lamborghini for he first time.

the best i got was i dropped my daughter off at pre-school. kids came running out to get on the bus, one stopped and stared at the car then looked at me then back to the car and then exclaimed, "That guy drives the Batmobile!", followed by a litany of, "Cool!" from the other kids.

too fun.

So far I havent really had the car mistaken for anything. However people say all the time that the front of the car looks like an alien face. And when they are inside and see the illuminated shifter and lit up displays, they think its the inside of a space ship too!

...a Porsche.

When I first got it in 2007, I picked up my daughter in front of school after returning from a band trip. As I pulled up, one of her friends yelled out "MUSTANG!"

Most of the boys around him started laughing uproariously, myself included.

was washing my car the other day ... mail man comes to hand me a package and goes "wow...james bond called and wants his car back"

The elementary school kids at my children's school think it's a Ferarri LOL

Sitting in my car in my school parking lot, just had some kid, prolly 18 or 19, drive up infront of me and say 'man ive been lookin at this car for weeks and im glad i finally caught you. I wanted to ask if it is foreign or not?' I grind slightly and said 'yea it's a Mazda.' He still didnt seem to understand lol gave me some nice compliments though :P

Lol yea that almost makes me take mine gettin called a pontiac as a compliment haha :D

Mistaken for an rx7, at least I assume so. A Viper pulled up next to me one day at the gas station. We struck up a conversation which went something like this...

"Nice car. A Viper has been my dream car since the first one I ever saw. Must be amazing to drive that car around."

"Yes it is...but that's no slouch either (as he points to my car). I had one of those whip me on the interstate one day, there was nothing I could do to keep up."

I think it's obvious it was not an rx8 he was talking about...

I think that really depends on how he drives his viper... :fruit:

ive had people at the gas station think its a porsche...

i was sitting in a coworkers work truck at a job site eating lunch( had to drive the 8 there cause i had a doctors opp. later that day) and some kid that worked at this place walked by my car, stopped, looked inside and said " Nice, 6 spd." the then kept walking. my coworker and i were rolling. it was hillarious.

drove the 8 to work today. a guy that works here says, i see you drove the batmobile today. i loled

I live in a mid size oil field city that has lots of millionaires with nice cars like BMW, Mercedes, etc., and I only drive it around maybe once a week in town to charge the battery.

Last week I take the Mrs. out to shop while I fiddle with my red 8.

First middle aged women walks by and says : "Nice toy!". "Huh?" ( Is that good or bad? )

I didn't have time to show her the rear doors that can actually go shopping.

Next at the grocery store, same age women walks by as she gets into her Lexus suv, and says: "Is that a Corvette?" "No, ma'am, but look at the rear doors."

The 8 has almost the exact dimensions as the Vette, but is actually a practical car with sportiness.

it is amazing a car almost 8 years old and so rare on the road people still have no idea what it is.

Mine did.:ylsuper:


I took mine through a hand wash once, being lazy, and the guys had never seen a Lotus up close.

So I do not own an RX-8, but I did talk to my colleague about the RX-8 the other day. It was quite an entertaining conversation, because I did not expect him to not know what an RX-8 is - he claims to know what an RX-7 is. This is how the conversation went:

Me: I want the RX-8!
Him: OH MY! RX-8! That is a nice car!
Me: Yes it is!! I loveee the transmission in that car! It just feels sooo good!
Him: haha! that thing's got a V6 right? no V8!
Me: errr...it's got no pistons
Him: hah...
Me: it's got a rotary engine.
Him: ohh!! rotary engine!!

But to be honest, in the end, I am not convinced he knows what a rotary engine is...hahaha!! It was funny!!

At the gas station some older women in a new M3 was going gaga over the 8, im like wanna trade lady? lol

over the past week its been called a Mazda 8... and a bunch of douche bags in a chevy caviller with chrome tail lights were like "sexy car bro! i love R8's!"... yea i love R8's as well retard lol

I like(ed) pontiac =[

haha. I've gotten batmobile, despite my car being white, and "Cute car." frequently from ladies, but most people don't know what an rx8 is when they ask what I drive.

Then there's the typical "V6 right?" 1.3L. "At least you get good mpg." Not the way I drive it.

When asked if it's fast, I have a few stock replies like: It's fun. Fast enough. Faster than a 350z given the situation. Not in a straight line, but when was the last time you saw a roller coaster w/o turns?

"It's balanced." is my favorite response because they usually want an explanation, which is: "A 9 sec. car says 'I have a big penis.' It may be a novelty, but that doesn't mean your good in bed. A balanced car says 'I work w/ what I got, and you'll enjoy the ride.'"

Sorry for the long post.

at a gas station friday was doing the usual. premix, gas, check oil. while under the hood a guy ~25ish goes to leave and suddenly slams on the brakes of his pos explorer and jumps out. runs over to my car and he looks cracked out. he starts out with wow thats a nice car is it a new mustang? great i can see where this is going. says hes never seen a car like this. i tell him its an rx8.

him-is it a toyota
me-no a mazda
him-v8? (hes looking in the engine bay)
me-no its a rotary, it doesnt have pistons
him-so its a v6? ect 4cyl?

he asks if he can take a pic of my engine bay after asking me what my purge solinod was. i say go ahead but do you have any idea what you are looking at?

im getting bored at this point and tell him i have to leave. he asks again what car it is and what motor so he can look it up online

lmao, its either "its a rotary engine" no shit! those are awesome! and a long bonding convo or

so its a v6?? try to explain... dumb look on face. lol

Totally missed my opportunity! Got asked today at the gas station "how fast is that thing?" And i defaulted and just said i've had it up to 136 before

There will be a next time and i won't forget to say "about 9000rpm's worth!" Lol

Hey don't hate on tha cobalts I have one of those also. Only case of mistaken identity I've had was a coworker thought the shinka was a porche when I showed him a sideview picture.
Also when I put it on fb a bunch of fb friends asked to borrow money because they thought I had struck it rich.

Makes me Smile every time when people ask what type of engine it has.

I respond with "rotary"

Their response "Is that like a v6 or v8?"

I respond "It doesn't have any pistons"

It almost never fails, after that point they just stare in aww having no idea what just happened to their brain.

The look is priceless!!!

The other day I exited to a service road and noticed two chicks in a black Merc SLK with the top dropped following me off the exit. They got quite close and road my ass a bit, then passed me on the right looking at me. They slowed down, looked with smiles on their faces, floored it again, and repeated that two more times. At that point, I found it quite hilarious, so I dropped it into 3rd, then 2nd, and did the same pass and slow down maneuver, thus breaking their necks :rofl: ...

I finally pull up to a light, and so did they. My windows dropped and the conversation went like this:

Cute driver chick- "Nice car! That was fun".
I chuckled and agreed.
Driver chick- "So what car is that?"
Me- "Oh, it's an RX-8"
Driver chick- "Oh nice! So is it a Ferrari or something?"
Me- "hahaha, no. It's just a humble little Mazda. Not even a Benz like yours."
Driver chick- "It's still nice! Why is your car louder than mine?"
Me- "Thanks. No idea, it's totally stock from factory"

Light turned green. I said my good byes and made my turn into our weekly Mazda meet spot. Kicked myself for not asking for those digits since they were seemingly young and in college like I am :( .

A contractor at work recently off the boat from India asked me if it was a Mustang. I took him aside and explained that I'd normally interpret that as fighting words but would cut him a break on account of his nacirema noobness.

LOL same thing happened to me except they were driving a reg Mustang (not even at least a GT lol .......weak.....). lol when light turned green they tried to race me. They got the jump off the start but i took off and passed them @ 8K rpm in second never to see them again. LOL ahhh good times.

I also had a guy at a stop light pull up next to me and proceed to tel me how nice my car was but he knew what he was talking about and had a fond appreciation for what the RX-8 is. Its nice to know that there are some people out there that know how unique the RX-8 is.

Was at a party last night and had my 8 parked outside. One of my friends was outside having a smoke and said "Nice corvette."

He didn't want to believe it was a Mazda.

got a call yesterday from one of my two insurance companies wanting me to switch my three cars to them with the rest of my insurance. when the lady was asking for details on my vehicles the 8 was last. the engine question had her all messed up.

1.3liter rotary

her-4cly

me-no 1.3 liter rotary, it has no pistons

her-v6?

ect...

I had that problem in RI's DMV. Their computer system has an entry field for "pistons", and it's required and won't let them complete the registration until a positive value has been entered. :lol:

I stumped the clerk for a good 20 minutes on that one. She finally put 1 after numerous supervisor calls, and having zero luck explaining that it was a car without any...

Lol.

When I called Progressive to add my Eight they knew everything as far as engine size, doors etc.

...but the only reason they knew that was because it was in their system prefilled.

yhea i told her there probably wasnt a spot in the menu for it and it has happened before.

Some girl at my school thought it was a camaro and I've had a lot of people think it was a viper. Some guy at my school asked what year it was and i told him 2005 and then he asked if it was an rx7 or rx8 :yelrotflm