MRocks

Before anyone starts flaming me just hear me out. I love the RX8 and it's one of the top 3 cars that I'm considering of getting next year when my lease is up. But the thing that might turn me away from getting it is if this car just turns into another one of those dime a dozen Japanese sports coupes that you see everywhere. The RX8 pricing I believe runs from $25K close to the mid 30s depending on the model and options. That puts the base model in the same league as the cars mentioned in the subject. I want to see this car succeed but I don't want it to reach Civic like proportions. The good thing about what I drive now is that you don't see many around, but the bad thing of course is well, it's now discontinued. What do you guys think about this?

rotarypower

yeah that's true. but what can you do? if it's too expensive... not enough people are going to buy it. and if it's pricing is great, like you mentioned, everyone's going to get it.

though i do care about having a car that most other people don't have, i don't really care about that for this car. i just love it too much, and i'm guessing that most "ricers" are going to be turned off by its styling and torque. hopefully. :D and i'm also hoping that the people who don't appreciate the car for what it's for and are thinking about buying it will somehow remember the unreliability of the turbo'd rx-7's. :D

tribal azn2

exactly my thoughts. they shoulda made it manual only, no auto. that woulda drastically cut down on the # of potential buyers. like the s2000 and evo, u dont see those everyday which is good.

look at the 350z and g35, there everywhere now

exzeltus

I totally AGREE. This is an enthusiasts' car. Let enthusiasts drive it. Lose the auto tranny and you get rid of those posers. Nothing irks me more than ppl who want a performance car but then
choose the auto tranny.

BRx8

Here are the numbers

Acura RSX
$18,215 - $23270
200 HP SAE @ 7400 rpm; 142 ft lb
curb weight (lbs) 2767

Mitsubishi Eclipse
$16,940 - $25,537
210 HP SAE @ 5500 rpm; 205 ft lb
curb weight (lbs) 3307

Toyota Celica
$15,691 - $22,705
180 HP SAE @ 7,600 rpm; 130 ft lb
curb weight (lbs) 2,500

Mazda RX-8
$25,700 - $27,200
250 HP SAE @ 8500 rpm; 159 ft lb
curb weight (lbs) 3,029

BRx8

that's impossible, Mazda would lose a lot of potential buyers that way...in turn, they'd lose a lot of money...they'd lose so much money selling fewer cars compared to the money spent researching and developing the Renesis...besides that, Mazda isn't doing that great in sales compared to the other big names like Honda and Toyota...i'm sure they want to get back in the game and sell more than a few cars

EDIT: not to say i don't absolutely agree with you guys, i do...but if Mazda doesn't make any money on this, then i'm sure there won't be another rotary, let alone the next RX-7...that would be sad

rotarypower

but then again. mazda like every other car company is out there to sell as many of their cars as possible...

SGC

Better yet, why don't not make them at all? Imagine how exclusive they would be if nobody owned one!!!!

Seriously, you can't expect any sane company to slit its own throat by intentionally making the car less attractive to buyers? Maybe they should up the price another $10k? Then only serious enthusiasts would buy it.

I don't think having RX-8s as common as dirt would be viewed as a "bad thing" by Mazda. Do you think anyone at Mazda is shedding tears that the Miata wasn't a niche-market enthusiast car?

I agree that ordering or buying an RX-8 with an automatic is foolish, but I have nothing against taking money from fools.

In the meantime, I'm looking forward to driving my (manual) RX-8. If someone else can enjoy driving an automatic, good for them. And if the road is full of them in a few years, I'll consider myself fortunate to have enjoyed it longer than (most) anyone else.

SGC

BRx8

agree...don't know about you guys, but the more RX's there are, the more aftermarket parts they'll make...more competition = lower prices...just look at the Honda Civic, you can buy bolt on parts at Wal-Mart...my friend suped up his Honda Civic purely from parts he got from Cracker Jack boxes

billdo

I understand where some of you guys are coming from, not liking the autos, but they are kind of a necessary evil. Mazda needs to move as many of the 8's as possible, and excluding a whole group of people that would help ensure the rotary and 8 stays around for awhile would be a bad idea.

tribal azn2

that cant be a good thing...

and look at pepboy's APC line, All Plastic Crap

Efini 8

simple guys. in economic terms its just supply and demand. spending 500 million to develop an enthusiast only car is not a wise marketing strategy

nk_Rx8

I'd rather they sell a ton of RX8's and then bring back the RX7 with some exclusivity.

Boozehound

I dont see how it can positively effect anyone in here to have fewer RX-8s on the road. Do you guys really envy the two guys in your town with Subie SVXs? We all bemoaned the dissappearance of the rotary in 95 when the FDs got too "exclusive." This car is testing the waters for Mazda in our market - the more sold, the bigger the investment in our collective rotary future... If you want exclusivity, buy an 85 Yugo or save up for something expensive (I hear Germany offers quite a few options ). I really hope this car follows the WRX model - sales grossly exceed expectations, and the next thing you know there's an Evo and STi on the market. Maybe some kick-*** sales might even get some other automaker to throw some greenbacks at a little rotary R&D someday.

MaRX8

According to these #'s the RX-8 is at the top of the Price Range, So a fully loaded Eclipse is just at the beginning of the RX-8 level. I really don't think you'll see AS many RX-8 on the Road as the Eclipse, or others. The reason being is that Younger people can afford a 16K to 17K car which is at the lower end. Once you tack on another 10K it's starts to climb out of the reach of that younger market.

That younger market is why you see so many of these on the road. Especially the Eclipse, it's a nice looking car that a younger market can afford. Also Mitsu makes it really easy for the younger market to get into them, especially when they run Ad's with no payments for a year, and $1000 bucks cash. For that younger market that's hard to pass up. Hmm a Cool looking Car, that most of my friends have, No payments for a year, and $1000 bucks cash? Oh and you'll pay off my load on my other car? Who would want to pass that up? (Of course, we will just tack your previous loan on to your new loan payments, and screw ya. You won't have to worry about it for a whole year. Then you'll see how much we screwed ya!) But honestly that is the truth, I can't tell you how many times I've heard the Maxwell Mitsubish commercial on the air. They know their market, and how to get young people into their cars..

73JPS

Excellent words Boozehound. I see from your signature you own or have owned a first generation RX-7: lets not forget that Mazda sold over 500,000 of those cars. To me, it never lost its desireability just because there were "so many" of them. It was still a rotary, it was still a beautiful design, and it was still a hell of alot of fun to drive! Just like the 8 will be, regardless of how popular they end up being. For my part, I hope Mazda sells a ton of them.

Sputnik

I can honestly say that I don't care if a car is popular or not, I enjoy the car for what it is. I care in the fact that I want it to be successful enough that they continue producing it, but that's about the extent of it.

If the car is very popular, yes, there should be a big aftermarket for it. But normally, that means alot of baubles and stuff that I'm just not interested in anyway. There is enough aftermarket for the RX7 and MR2 for me to get what I want, so I don't need the car to be popular to suit my needs.

---jps

joofntool

w0rd


amen

joofntool

p.s.

i resent the celica being mentioned in the same breathe as a civic clone


[IMG]MikeyRocks01: you suck at the intarweb
=\

Wing

I agree with the comment that it's price will keep it out of a lot of hands.

1) Enthusiasts are smart enough to research the average buyer will see the car and assume it's $50K +

2) The younger crowd usually buy the lower end civic/rsx/celica/ecl. Thats why there are so many of them.

So I think there will be a few, but not one on every corner, and the fact that it is kind of exclusive in the engine technology and such, some might be pushed away, "What no V6? BAH!"

I hope it doesn't get into TOO many hands as then insurance rates will start to climb, especially if the younger crowd get a hold of them.

No offence to the younger crowd (heck I'm in it at 24) but the statistics make you pay!

wakeech

the stats don't lie either: we are worse/riskier drivers than our older comerades, on the average...

P00Man

100% true. Kids do due a lot of stupid things, anyways, the thing is, mazda needs to see as many of these babies as possible, in order to keep the rotary alive, and to bring back the rx-7, which will probably be quite exclusive. That aside, a 30k car isnt exactly cheap, not to mention not THAT many people want, or let alone know, what a rotary exactly is. These should provide enough exclusivity as well as enough sales to give everyone what they want.

AND A HUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGEEEEEEEEEEEEE BAH to other companies using the rotary


MAZDA = ROTARY = SOUL

the rotary is the soul of mazda, if anyone else tries to develop it, they will either give up, or just make a "cheap imitation".
________
Bmw V7 History

Kurt Bob

Dear MROCKS,

I don't see how the RX-8 could be compared to the cars you mentioned: RSX, Celica, and Eclipse. The Celica and Eclipse are ugly, and the RSX is too small to fit 4 people comfortably. To me, these are completely different markets.

You say that you are now leasing a car, so I assume you are in business for yourself. I don't consider the RX-8 a business car. The Honda Accord or Ford Taurus is better suited to that purpose.

I really think that the RX-8 is in a new niche market, plus it has a rotary engine (nothing is a close comparison).

MPester

Personally, I hope Mazda sell tons of RX-8. I want Mazda to be successful so that we may see the return of RX-7 in a few years.

B-Nez

Yep, they often buy the base models, then paint trim and apply stickers and badges to make them look like the topoline models (or in some cases they look like models that don't even exist - ever seen an Eclipse Spyder coupe?).