I was reading an interview in the Road & Track Special Edition issue on the RX-8 that came to subscribers. The interview was with one of the project leads at Mazda. His comments when asked about the "under powered" nature of the RX-8 was to reply that they didn't want "neck-snapping" power from the factory, but a smoother and more "linear" feel. It appears that Mazda's intention all along was to to build a really good car getting the hard things right and leaving the easy stuff like Turbos, Super Chargers, Exhaust, etc to the owners. I think that makes the most sense of anything I have heard so far. If you think about how hard and expensive it is to the some of the stuff Mazda has done so well and then put with that how easy and cheap it will be to get another 100 hp out of this car, then I think they have done a great job! It also avoids all the turbo vs. supercharger debates, etc. I was surprised to see Mazda admit that the 250hp and lack of torque was done on purpose to make a smoother more enjoyable car for the masses.

Ironically, this is the same tact that Porsche took with my 2002 911 Turbo. I had to change out the Exhaust, Shifter and Filter before the car really sounded and acted like it should. Mazda got the shifter right and I'll bet the sound is pretty good too, but I think we all are going to have to expect a little "tuning" to get the RX-8 "personalized" to where we all want it.

As it is, the whole seems to be better than the sum of its parts and afterall, we don't drive the spec sheet!

 

Well said G-man. That does make sense on Mazda's part. If you want the car to sell you want the car to appeal to "everyone" not just an "exclusive" crowd. That is great marketing.

 

I believe it's a great sales pitch, not great marketing.
I define Sales as the Push needed to get momentum
and Marketing to be meeting the prescribed set of needs for a differentiated market better and more profitably than anyone else, the Pull.
Frankly if the RENESIS had given flat six torque or diesel torque, they'd be pushing that.

We don't drive spec. sheets, and we don't drive image,
and, I suspect most of us don't buy to "tune" or "Personalize".
But it is a product-led campaign, and most certainly
has been optimized by the engineers for the business case
that won approval. This is not a car "for the masses", but I
expect sales will be higher than business plan.

 

For the rx8 to succeed the sales figures have to be around 6o,ooo units worldwide,otherwisethere may not be a rx7 FORD is cost cutting all their other joint venture partners . the golden rule will apply to all future decisions ,.HE who holds the gold rules ,and in this case unfortunately it happens to be FORD (FOUND ON RUBBISH DUMP)AS SOME OF US SAY HERE IN AUSTRALIA.

 

That's funny cause we call it "Fix Or Repair Daily". :D

 

... or Found On Roadside Dumped...

or the Dagenham Dustbin (after the location of the main UK factory)...


-andy-

 

I've always heard: Found On The Roadside DEAD.

 

I would rather have reliability than an Indy car! Buy a corvette or mustang if you want torque. I'm glade Mazda took this approach.
When you start adding Turbos or Super Chargers = TROUBLE.
This car is affordable, great looking, can hold up to 4 adults, and fast enough for most drivers.


Great job Mazda!
:D

 

Yes! What was this Mazda engineer supposed to publicly say; we wanted more torque but were not able to get it? The representatives of a car company are never going to say something not totally positive going forward. If Mazda figures out how to get more torque five years from now then you will hear them sing the praises of this new found torque.

Does anyone remember Nissan engineers claiming that their new G35 with 52:48 weight distribution was the optimum because the car will be 50:50 when under acceleration? They just were not willing to say; we tried for 50:50 but just could not get there. Or how about BMW claiming their new 7's styling was a hit despite all the reviews. They backed up their claim by saying sales were higher than the previous generation while not mentioning they were comparing the start of the sales cylce for the new with the end of the cycle for the old. Guess what, the new 7 is having a restyle rushed along and will appear in a year.

The Rx-8 is not a perfect car. It has many strong points and inevitably some weak points. Low torque is a weak point. For me I think the great handling potential for a four seater outweighs the low torque. Of course, if the torque were higher I would want the car even more.

 

i like the way the 7 looks, its strange, but cool
________
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I suspect tuners are going to have a ball "altering" the RX-8's spec sheet as are some of use owners (but not in a bad way)....

I think Mazda/Ford is looking at their whole "affordable" sports car profit/strategy plan over the next five years by offering different "spec sheets". I suspect the release of the next sports cars for Mazda/Ford will be in this order:

2004 RX-8 of course (great handling sports car that can do a lot of things well)
2005 New Mustang (high torque, "traditional" American Muscle Car)
2006 New Miata (nimble, fun-to-drive, sharp looking roadster)
2007 New RX-7 (the most powerful, no holds barred, general consumer production rotary sports car ever, limited production numbers)

Somewhere in the middle of all those, the Mazdaspeed RX-8 may show up, likely along with the Miata after a good couple of years of solid RX-8 sales. This is all speculation (although somewhat educated from what I've read about Mazda and Ford), but would make sense since the company as a whole would have a new sports car hitting the market every year to keep consumer interest and demand as high as possible, while raking in some nice profits on those first year models. Then tapering to more stable sales just as a new model comes around the corner to insite more interest during what could be called a "sports car renaissance" over the next few years.

Remember folks....you heard it here first... :D

Oh, and since Mazda is part of Ford, Ford could ONLY stand for First On Race Day! :D

 

DTECH you forgot a few

the new Ford 500 a true euro spec Sedan
SVT Focus with the Mazda 2.3 L 4 with a Turbo and AWD possable
2005/6 F150 Lightning.
And more possabilities with the Rotary than even Mazda could of imagine like a 3 rotor Luxary Sedan in the works. or the Miata a lot on here would like to see and then the convertabile RX8:D

 

Those will also add to the Mazda/Ford bottom line and product diversity, but notice I mentioned "sports car strategy".......

 

So will the GT-40 ever come to life. Supposed to be around 50k or so.