RX22

I have a question:

How many times do people go from sitting still to 60mph? Much less a full 1/4 mile.

There are very few places around where I live that I could actually do this and feel safe. Road & Track said they dropped the clutch at 7500 RPM to get their best 0-60 time. I don't know about anyone else, but I don't plan on ever doing this. No matter how much the twit in the Mustang is trying to taunt me.

I know this has been said before, but if people are so concerned with 0-60 & 1/4 mile times, they really should be looking at other cars, not the RX8, or the 350Z (great car) for that matter. There's so much more to a performance car than numbers like that. From what I've heard (I don't fit in them) a Miata is great fun to drive, yet would get killed in a straight line contest by a bunch of cars.

If the dyno thing is true then Mazda should probably do something about it, but I'm not getting all juiced up about it. I'm still waiting for mine to come in, but my 3 test drives have been great. I really wish my life was so simple that one of my biggest concerns is the fact that my new $33,000 car dyno'd 20hp short. I know they should sell what they advertise, but truthfully they could be asking $5,000 more for the RX8, and probably sell just as many. Mazda has given us a great car at a great price, and to show our appreciation for such a great deal, all anyone does is gripe about it. I think it's a great idea for us all to make Mazda's life so stinkin' miserable that every other car company will look at it and ditch their plans for introducing any new performance cars. That way we could all go buy Civics and Hyundais and spend another $20k trying to make it into something enjoyable to drive, yet embarrasing to be seen in. Great plan guys, keep up the good work. I would love to go back 6 years when there were no RX8's, 350Z's, S2000's or G35's to buy.

Sorry for the ranting, I'll get off my soapbox, but I for one am really getting sick of all this BS.

BRx8

that was a troll?? i thought that was an ogre...now i'm confused between a troll, an ogre, a goblin, and an orc...

Blue 350z

A tenth or 2?? Not even close.. And not able to notice? You ever hear or torque? Maybe not since the RX seems to be dynoing around 125 tq at the wheels.. And by the way, you are magizine racing where you quote numbers never seen in the real world, you say a few tenths? But the fastest rx on this board ran a 1/4' was what, 14.9? Whoopy! That includes a tranny wrecking tire burning 8k rpm drop.. I have run under 14.0 at 101mph at the track on average with a 2500 launch, and as far as not noticible, try hitting the gas in a Z around 2k rpms vs in a rx, if you know anything about cars you would know torque MAKES A HUGE DIFFRENCE

Better assembly, made better? Thats an opinion, anything that Ford has a hand in cannot be good, and Nissan's VQ engines have been the bst made V6 made for 10+ years, the Rotary has bad gas mileage, no Tq and weird quirks.

More comfortable? First of all the Z is a 100% sports car 2 seater, you are comparing comfort and space with a 4 seater touring car, the RX is not really a sports car.

Costs less? Ya for a whimpy Automatic which a RSX can outrun, and also will outrun most MTs with the numbers I been seeing..

Maybe you have Z envy :D

dragula53

the troll in LOTR is a cave troll, not to be confused with the grubby critters that hide under bridges.

orcs are what they are meeting throughout the entire series.

I think they meet a bunch of goblins just before the balrog arrives..

and there aren't any ogres about. but.. err, I can't think of any famous ogres, but they are between humans and giants in size, and stupid and strong.

blah blah. something like that.

zoom44

ogres are the ones that turned to stone during the hobbit. you can see them in the backround in the first movie when they stop for the night after fleeing from Weathertop.

RX8-TX

or maybe the problem here is drawing the line between a semi "hardcore" performer like a Z and a touring car like the RX-8. Instead of measuring our d..ks (maybe I used too many characters...sorry I will understand if it gets censored) to see which one is faster, we should be looking at the 'real' strenghts of an 8 vs other cars:

In my humble opinion:

1. 350Z - slightly lighter than a G35, lots of torque, and lots of HP. Excellent on a straight line. Good handling on the road (a real road, not a straightline highway.)

2. G35 - 4 seat, upscale version of a 350Z. We could say, a touring version of the Z (could we?) Similar characteristics, however, it is a little heavier. Nonetheless handles very similarly.

3. RX-8 - 4 seater sport touring vehicle. Not lots of torque, not lots of HP. Handles a lot better that any of the 2 previously mentioned cars. According to TQ & HP numbers, slightly slower than the first 2 (I am sure there are some 'real' track numbers to back this up.)

I accept that a either a Z or a G will outrun an RX8 (straight line), however, don't start bragging about how much of a car any of these are...so much performance, etc...

If I had been looking for performance, I could have bought a darn WRX or an STi, even an Evo. Less creature comfort, and what the heck 4 SEATS as well. Any of the 3 other cars with top trim and engine (maybe not top trim, we have to cut down the weight) would be embarassed by a Subi or Mitsu....yeah, they are cheaper, they perform better and they come stock from factory as well.

A G is fast, a Z might be faster, the RX8 is fast (enough.)

:p

Ahhhhhhh, feels much better now. I had to say it.

graphicguy

350Z boy did come here to troll.

So much for the statement...."i'm not here to put down the RX8...."

Uh, huh!

I can't think of any other reason for him to be here, execpt to drool over the rides he sees here. What other reason could he have?

Genom

More importantly this is a RX-8 discussion forum where pople are tlaking about their cars. If you have a 350Z, fine. Congratulations. I dont care to talk about how great your car is in getting down a narrow stretch of highway in really little time. Hell, I dont care to talk about that about MY car, and it's at least related to the forums we are on.

Or did the rx8club.com part throw you?

You sir, are a troll and added to my ignore list. Sad how this list seems to be growing all of the sudden.

RX8-TX

Amen.

graphicguy

No "Z" envy here. Did extensive drives of the 350Z, G35 and the RX8.

Mazda got my money and it wasn't even a contest.

Just to irritate you a bit more, C&D even chose the RX8 over the 350Z (and Mustang Cobra) in their shootout.

Post your time slips 350Z blue. Nissan=Renault, BTW. Notice Renault got chased out of the U.S. market some years ago.

RX8-TX

Excellent memory (or research)

ProtoConVert

i love it when pretenses to objectivity are made on a bulletin board... i mean who are we trying to kid. Especially after writing a subject heading like that.

Anyway. the way I see a comparison is by price points. Similarly optioned to the 8 I'd like to get, the Z and the G35 come out at least $2.5-5k higher BEFORE taxes. Sure, you might contend that you cant fully make a "similarly optioned" comparison b/c of things like HP or MPG, but then you have to admit the position that if you're buying a Z or G over an 8, you're buying basically an engine w/ that much of a premium over the 8.

But put the value of that premium into track suspension mods and or engine mods of the 8 just so cars can be compared at equal prices, and I would be willing to bet all the performance numbers that the 8 has been just lacking in get reversed, alot. My Bulletin-Board-Anecdotal-Evidence for this is the Aug. Best Motoring, if someone would be kind enough to rip and host (please?

BTW the same comparison goes for sTi and EVO. Not so much for the WRX... that actually might be an equal or better value depending on consumer preferences. But for the other cars, one has to give up certain features( I dunno, say like HID's, LSD's, CD player even) to reach the RX8 in price. I could be wrong as I haven't snuck in the time to play around with ALL these cars' Build-and-Order sites, so I invite contrary arguments.

Tweety-nator

Blue 350z, I totally understand your position of defending the Z, which was a result of some not so favorable attacks on your car.

However, your statement of "anything that Ford has a hand in cannot be good" is ridiculous... to say the least. That is like saying "Renault had a hand in the development of the VQ". I mean think about what you said.

Much like the VQ is Nissan's baby, so is the Rotary for Mazda. Good grief, the RX-8 is made entirely in Japan, much like the 350Z. I guess some UAW workers got to work in Japan now eh? LOL. The only thing I see Ford having contributed to the RX-8 project was funds.

Hmmm if I go by your logic, I guess the Mazda Miata must be bad too (oh my look out, Ford had a hand on this one too!), despite the fact that this wonderful roadster is also made entirely in Japan and is pretty reliable. LOL.

The Nissan 350z And Mazda RX-8 are both nice, quality, Japanese Engineered and made vehicles.

Unless you meant the Renault 350z and Ford RX-8, then I have no comment on that.
:D

graphicguy

Unfortunately, I remember when Renault was here. They were linked with American Motors (remember the Pacer?). Obviously, both American Motors (out of business) and Renault are no longer selling cars here. Renault's cars were pretty pitiful at the time and I'm old enough to remember them...Le Car, Fuego were marketed here about 20 years ago. Poor quality. Poor reliability. Bad designs. You name it, Renault did it wrong.

When Nissan got into trouble, Renault took over controling interest of them. Renault, in turn, is owned primarily by the French Government.

In Europe, Renault is known for its economy cars. I think the best car they make (called a Laguna) is equal to a Taurus here in the states. They also make trucks in Europe.

I've been to Brazil and seen a couple of their cars there. A tiny one called the Clio (about the size of a Mini) and the above mentioned Laguna. Obvioulsly, they are all over France.

Back to the RX8, Ford had nothing to do with the development, design, assembly, nor the concept of the RX8. It's totally Mazda. Besides, Ford is also the parent of such companies as Aston Martin, Jaguar as well as many other well respected marques.

The 350Z, in turn, uses many of the design ques and parts from Renault (as does the Maxima and Altima), which is probably why the interior looks/feels like it does. Since Renualt took over, Nissan interiors have been widely criticized for their cheap interiors. They save the good stuff for Infiniti, although I've seen a few Renault parts there, too.

pelucidor

Reading this thread I thought everybody was being much too hard on Blue350Z - until his last post which really did sound trolllike.

I can well believe someone got a 15.4 for the 1/4 on a particular strip and on a particular day. I don't know much about dragstrips except what I have read, but I see big variation in numbers for the same type of car with different drivers on different days or at different locations. I have seen timeslips posted for S2000s that range from 13.8 up to 15.5 secs - which is correct (do we quote the best or worst time). I also notice that record times only get better - six months from now I expect many people will achieve a 14.4 or better if they really want to ruin their clutch and tires.

I like the new Nissans and Infinitis (almost bought a G35 6MT) and I agree the RX-8 is NOTICABLY slower under acceleration - not just a tenth of a second or two slower but easily noticable by the seat of your pants when you drive both cars in a non-brutal fashion to redline. In the same way the new Nissans and Infinitis are noticably slower than the EVO8 I test-drove. Personally speaking the RX-8 is already fast enough for my needs but I will not object if Mazda fixes the HP issue and makes it even quicker.

Elara

Nope, they were stone trolls- Bert, William, and Tom.

Haris

Well if you look at real defenition of a sports car, it wouldn't be either RX8 or 350z. Real sports car would be miata since it has all features of a sports car defenition.

Mazda RX8 could be used as family car, for long trips, etc.
Nissan 350z IMHO is like a muscle car. Big engine, lots of torque, made to run very fast in a straight line. Track model of 350z is .3 seconds faster in 0-60 than RX8 and .2 seconds faster in 1/4 mile.

Mazda RX8 (R&T) Results:
0-60 = 5.9 sec.
1/4 mile = 14.5 sec.
Skidpad = 0.88g
Slalom = 65.4 mph
Brake rating = excellent
Handling balance = mild oversteer
Braking 60-0 mph = 114 ft.

Nissan 350z Track (R&T) Results:
0-60 = 5.6 sec.
1/4 mile = 14.3 sec.
Skidpad = 0.89g
Slalom = 65.6 mph
Brake rating = very good
Handling balance = mild understeer
Braking 60-0 mph = 119 ft.

Now both of these cars have advantages and disadvantages. So in some things RX8 is alot better than 350z and in other's 350z is alot better. So it depends what you need and want. RX8 is totally different from 350z though. G35c and RX8 are good competition.

commentator

Well I guess since I really do not want to go to the 350Z forums and intrude, I will say it here. In my opinion the 350z is a nissan piece of overpriced crappe and the cheap interior and sorry ride quality has been sited many times so I wish some of these people would find another way of puking out thier nonsense. The fact is the 350z will never have the class and refinement of the RX8, that is not an opinion that is a fact. And if this sounds like I am flaming someone too bad....:D

zoom44

Thanks elara i knew you'd chime in and clear that up. so whats an ogre? besides Piers Anthony i mean.

neit_jnf

Isn't Shrek an ogre?

Elak

Indeed Shrek is an ogre. And remember they are layered like onions, and not one bit like parfait.

/Elak

billdo

Yea, I think so. That movie was funny as hell. By the way, when are the trailers for Return of The King coming out, or are they already out? Oh..and I guess I will get back on topic....Both cars are nice, I mean it would depend on what kinda mood I was in that day to decide between them. (Unless the new GTR comes out any time soon, then its game, set, match.:D if its around 40k. )

ElementalsIn

so... i'm deciding between the 350z and the rx8 at the moment... if i were to buy a 350z, and still enjoy posting here (yes i don't post much, but i do enjoy browsing and responding to certain threads, but also because i like both cars equaly as of this moment), u would consider me a troll? is that the point ur trying to get across here? because if thats the case, YOU are VERY narrow minded my friend

Blue 350z

LOL.. I got a good chuckle from this pointless rant that featured 4th grade spelling... Made me realize how silly this all is.

OK I just want to say, as a LONG time car freak of all kinds (Domestic and Foriegn but I only buy Foreign) I hate to bash any car since most are awesome in there own way and appeal to certain people. I have only made some harsh comments on here out of anger from the nonsense and pointless bashing I am reading about the Z. I like many different cars; I think the old rx-7 (newest model shape) was one of the sweetest rides ever created. I have been a Car and Driver reader for going on 8 years (1st subscribed when I was 17) and I have followed any and all cars/trucks ever since. And I know since I am on a RX8 site I will never win any argument so I don't know why I bother, I visited this site from a link on my350z.com forums to read about the power shortage issue and registered after I seen ridicules comments about the 350z.

I like the RX8, nice clean looking interior and the outside is very unique, after you get used to odd proportions its a nice looking car. I actually went into a Mazda dealership to check it out first hand last weekend, when I left the show room there were 2 sales guys looking over my car (not your average looking Z) in the parking lot and we had a nice chat. But when I come here to just read up on a few things I hear dumb ignorant comments and I react. And BTW for you magazine racers on here, Mag racing is a guide at best, comparing magazine speeds is not reality and should never be used since real life numbers are always different, as in 14.5 for the rx8 when I seen a 15.4 with my own eyes and another guy on this board claims seeing an RX run 14.9 but is not 100% true unless I see a timeslip. Most good driving 350z owners are running under 14 seconds in the 1/4 bone stock, and I have read mags stating the Z runs anywhere from 14.1-14.4 from 99-101Mph. Thats why Mag racing is dumb.

So All I want to say is please stop the pointless bashing, both are very very nice cars in different ways, it just so happens I have taken a liking to the Z and the people on thise board the RX8. Everything is opinions, the only think that is not an opinion is dyno numbers and time slips, hell I even see mag stats as opinions!

PS. For you doubters I have scanned 3 of my most recent time slips, not my best ones just a few from my last outing.. See the link below (and if you get an error its probably because I exceeded my bandwidth, that’s what you get for free web hosting). My car at this time only had like 3k miles and a CAI which claims a huge gain of 3-5HP :p

http://www.geocities.com/azwhoopin22/TimeSlips.html

XUrotaryrocket

i can't resist getting in on the mindless BS here......

I test drove a 350Z. I was impressed with the engine, but not the car. Mazda has my money for many reasons that I won't get into.

We cannot compare the Z and the 8. They are two different types of cars. Now, when (cross your fingers) the new RX-7 comes out, then we can draw comparisons. And I'm sure they will be favorable for the Mazda community just like before (FD vs 300ZX).


And, for any 350Z owners who happen to be reading here........ it must be nice to know that a 10 year old RX-7 is just as fast, if not faster than your Z. Keep that in mind when you start hammering our beloved rotary.