The boss was nice enough to toss me the keys to Mazda corporations RX-8 before they send it back to headquarters so I enjoyed it on some backroads, took a few pics to share. Its a 09' model, kinda scary running around VA with florida tags and a california liscense but I keeped it safe. All in all a fun weekend, got lost in the country roads of VA, seriously I am new to the area so I just drove it around the outskirts of Richmond. I dont have a great camera at all so I just had some fun and edited a little, hope you guys enjoy.

My Z was a little jealous, she didn't get to play this weekend.

 

Wow, keys to a new RX8 that no one has (in NA) yet! How did you like it? Is that the base model?

 

I was nice of them to lone you the car. It help you guys get a little closer to the engine you are working on.

 

Nice!

I'm still not a fan of the front bumper plastic, the foglights, or the rear reflectors above the exhaust, but hey, they could have done a lot worse. It still looks better than 98% of the cars on the road.

 

^ Where do you see foglights?

 

Yeah it was the base model I believe, 6spd MT, cd changer, I honestly haven't looked into the options though so I dont know. Last weekend my buddy won it as a raffle and I won a tribute for the weekend, someone was moving so I gave them the tribute, so the boss gave me the rx8 before they send it back to headquarters since I was nice I guess. I wont complain I drove it like it should be driven, its a sports car so I took it on a nice weekend drive through some twisty country roads, hell I even washed it for them today.

 

Yes, because there's no foglights. I really like the larger, new style oil cooler openings without the cheesey chrome foglight treatment. Old style wheels.

 

thats sweet!! cool. Im still like the 1st gen much better, but I am kinda biased since I own one

 

I saw in the other thread where you didn't think it would be good as a daily driver. Still think so? Is that because of poor fuel economy, reliability concerns? My daily commute is over back country and mountain roads so I think it's just about perfect as a daily driver, for me anyway. Closest thing you can get to Miata handling with 4 seats and some extra power.

 

Yeah fuel economy mostly, I daily drove a Z for a few years, premium gas and 20mpg adds up with a commute especially nowadays. As for reliability, no comment yet, I am still learning.

 

Nice of you to get to play with it, and share pics!

 

Great pictures. Lucky!!

 

sweet! i like it. lucky guy

you won a tribute and gave it away? such a generous guy

 

I already sat in one about 2 weeks ago

 

Sweet! Are the oil coolers 100% in the opening now since the ports are larger? 1st gens are about 60-70% exposed.

 

Is Mazda referring to the '09 as a 2nd gen RX-8? I tend to agree with those who suggest it is more like a within-generation upgrade, ala, 2nd gen, S4 to S5. As most of you know, RX-7 generational changes were much more pronounced, especially in the design of the bodies, but also in engine design/configuration as in the 2nd gen to 3rd gen changes.

 

interior pics? engine bay?

looks like a cx-7 in the 1st pic...

 

The car was sorta filthy, the higher ups who had there hands on it didn't bother to clean it up that often so I didn't bother with anymore pics, I assume they dont change too much under the hood/interior. I just like to practice photography so when I get a real camera I can not only take a cool shot but also have good results, this was my crappy 3 year old 5mp walmart camera, once the wife is done with med school I will get a decent camera.

 

Wow, the 8 is now past puberty; it has a mustache!

-1.3L

 

with all the heavy post processing, i didn't even realize this is the 09 RX-8.
Upon closer look, the headlights are bit too generic now. Else looks really the same to me.

 

Very, very nice. Glad you had yourself a fun time with the baby!

 

I'd call it a facelift, like the 01 vs. 99 Miata.

I didn't notice that this was the new model either at first, must be the color. Nice car though.

 

Interesting. What's the body piece right in front of the rear wheel... looks like a splash guard on the wrong side of the wheel.

 

sleepy: sounds like you had some fun!

 

Amen, I hate that new front grill. Back looks nice to me. I thought Mazda was going with new wheels on the 09 but based on this picture I guess not.

I like the original body work much better but I would like to get a hold of the new hardware underneath. There seem to be some good evolutionary improvements there.