I though you could care less about automatics?

 

Are you sure that's Metropolitan Gray??? I thought MG was much darker. The one in the picture looks more like good ole Galaxy Gray. I would be genuinely interested if Metropolitan Gray were to be a standard color in 2009.

 

youre right....but i do care about info of the 2009 rx8..... if the auto 8 had changes then so did the mt.....but i just want to know because i dont like the idea of having the "old rx8" and would hate people saying "the old and slower rx8".....i honestly hope that the power stayed the same so i dont have the slow rx8.....

 

It had been raining for several days here in southern california that week, and the person from our group that actually took the picture commented on how dirty the car was when he saw it on the freeway for the pic.....so, this means, it was driven during the rains, and is actually on the freeway/roads much more than just this one sighting. Those in Irvine, and those who drive the 57fwy, keep your eyes and cameras ready.....

..I think what this is, is a dirty Metropolitan.

 

I'm sorry, but I will have to agree with Apostle here. I don't see any difference in the area you are highlighting, other than shadows that are making you think that a portion of the bumper you are seeing on the Blue, is not there on the grey. I can see where you are seeing what you think you are....but to me, same bumper (minus the fogs, front plates and bumper strakes (or whatever they are calling them))....both pics, to me, look like our existing RX8's prior to having the appearance lip added....the bottom of the bumper ends just like our current base models...with that unfashionable exposed undertray.

 

Actually they're not

If you look close you can see the lower lip on the blue

and on the grey, you can see where it cuts in under the oil coiler opening and then comes back out towards the middle. sort of like the humps on an m.

think if both pictures were in same light, same angle, they would look identical. lighting and angle are the key here

 

am i the only one seeing the difference between the R3 and the gray rx-8?? need help here..

photos are from mazda press release and the other one is a spy shot c/o EatSomeRice.
(those are not from the deleted "controversial" pics in this thread)

 

maybe Easy_E1 can re-post some pics of the external front bumper if he have them.. now that wouldn't be incriminating enough, or would it?

from the way things went around here, the bumper is just a tip of the iceberg

 

The bumbers are the same , the grey one doesn't have the fog lights or the black air splitter that the blue one has. What are you guys seeing that you think is so diffrent in these pics?

 

The blue one has the lower air dam feature. I don't know why some people can't see that. It is a different bumper.

 

The blue bumper, from the side veiw....is more "pointy" in the section highlighted...I can definately see the difference there. Looks like the blue also has 19 or 20 inch wheels, where as the smaller version of the same wheel on the spyshot really looks crappy.

 

The difference is clear between the two bumpers. The blue one looks much better. The other looks weird.. too many curves on the lower lip or something. I don't like it.

 

so all 09 rx8's come with a stock trunk lip spoiler??

 

I want to know too! I want one of those so bad !

 

yeah looks sick.

 

bumper... looking at the seats it's not the Recaro's

 

recaro's are on the r3, this is the standard package

 

I test drove a 2007 RX-8 last year and was not entirely impressed. The chassis seemed lacking in some rigidity. Whatever people might think of the new interior and exterior styling, I am really looking forward to sampling what the 2009's structural/suspension improvements might do for the handling. To me, that's the real story here. (although I agree that the new front end looks like a plastic cartoon shark's overbite).

 

zznalg what car are you comparing the RX-8 with..?! Most people will disagree with you on your statment..

 

Well, I'm a few minutes from mazda HQ and this thread is strongly convincing me to drive down there tomorrow and snap some shots. I remember before the hardtop miata came out there were a couple parked in the lot, I'll see if its the same story with the 8

 

I realize that the 8 must have some fantastic handling attributes as I've read the reviews. After reading the reviews, I was expecting something different (then again, I was disappointed in the Boxter-S -for different reasons). The cars I was cross-shopping with at the time were the BMW 3 series, Audi A4, A3, VW GTI. The rigidity of all these cars seemed very strong. Please don't flame me about how the 8 will out-handle all of the above. It may very well be true. Certainly some of my impressions of the 8 on test drive were very subjective and may have been influenced by other properties of the 8 that have nothing to do with rigidity (limited torque, non-bank vault sound when closing the doors, for example). But it is interesting that Mazda felt the need to tighten things up in terms of rigidity. It's what I was hoping for and I'm looking forward to driving a 2009 for this reason.

 

Its interesting how many things can affect somebody's perception of a car's "handling".

The anniversary edition also has poly-whatever filled crossmembers, you may want to try test-driving that car to see if it makes any difference to you.

 

Your statement reminded me of a friend of mine when we were at an auto show. He paid particular attention to the sounds of the car door closing (much more than I cared) and jokingly said a good bank vault-like seal is good. Yeah, the 8 won't have as solid of a feel as a 3 series, or other cars, but it's a lot lighter. Have you ever closed the door on a Lotus Elise? Feels like it was made by Fisher Price, but weight savings for no insulation was more important for them.

 

hey zznalg, just to let you know that the suspension changes are not major as far as we know, but theycan easily be duplicated (or made even more 'better') for the most part if not completely with a couple aftermarket parts.

For example the Shinka edition always has had the foam filled cross members, and the 4pt front brace is available (in even more robust form) from MazdaSpeed and Autoexe, to name two. I and others have done even more "tightening up" as you call it, with good result. But speaking for myself it's been so long I can't remember exactly what the car was like stock any more.

 

Really? I was unaware that there were aftermarket and MazdaSpeed solutions to these issues. Thanks, that's good to know.