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...

 

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

 

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!

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