RX8 handles better than a $302k car
 

According to car reviewer John Lieberman:

It never fails. Whenever my girlfriend introduces me to guys at parties, I hear the same nine words: “Dude, you have the best job in the world.” And it’s true. I’ve driven some of this planet’s finest, fastest and most deeply addictive automobiles. But for every Audi RS4 there’s a Suzuki XL7. And a MINI Cooper Clubman S (trust me, it’s wretched). True, sometimes I’m surprised by how much I like a car; the Pontiac G8 GT springs to mind. And sometimes my socks are completely blown off my feet, like they were last week by a special edition Mazda RX-8, the R3.
...

And here’s the cincher: $32k. For the same price as the aforementioned awful MINI Cooper Clubman S, you can have one of the world’s finest-handling sports cars. Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying that the RX-8 R3 handles well for a $32k car. I’m saying it handles better than a $320k car. Or, more importantly, whatever you’re driving.

To read the full review:
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2009-mazda-rx-r3/

Some people at the bottom of the review comment and either concur or are in disbelief. :)

Sorry if this is a repost.

So true. Even when I'm beating up BMW's on round abouts i never think of this, odd yea? Guess it just pays to know

rx8s rock.

i've never owned such a good handling car. i love my 8 through and through. most exciting car i've owned.

The editor of Sports Car International agrees, calling it one of the 5 best-handling cars in the world—at any price.

It's always been a great handling car, very neutral.

I love it and I've driven and ridden in some sweet cars. Mazda has some great engineers ^_^

yeah i love my car

It's not how fast the 8 is around the track, it's how it feels in the turns. So easy, so controllable, so precise. It's just plain fun.

One day the world will realize that balance and handling are two things you need in the formula for a fun car, and you don't need loads of hp or torque to have great time behind the wheel.

That's high praise indeed, coming from someone with 5 RX-7s in his sig! Did you ever drive an FD? How about a properly set up Miata?

I'm loving my 8 so far. I'd agree about how it handles.
Although I dont really find it that hard to get it to break traction, even into a full on drift through corners.... It stays extremely well manered when sideways :) which I love about it. More fun than any car Ive owned.

"To clear up one misconception: the RPMs on the Wankel refers to the shaft, but the rotor is actually rotating at only one fourth the rpms of the shaft. So 10,000 RPM woiuld actually be 2,500." :banghead: :banghead: :spank:

^ LOL, I'm glad he cleared that up.

Does anybody else want to just stab people in the face when they say that "burning a quart of oil between oil changes is the mark of an imperfect design"? It's a Wankel engine and it's supposed to do that for fucks sake. Name one other engine in the world that can generate the hp that a Wankel can at 1.3 liters of displacement. People are so endlessly retarded about rotaries it makes me grind my teeth to read them post online.

"Is it true that rotaries only last like 20 miles and then they blow up and you have to replace the apple seals?"

"Is it true that they burn like a bazillion quarts of oil and get 3 mph and have to be lubricated with defenseless baby kittens?!"

:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :rant:

the general public is so mis informed

well its true about the kittens- i mean you are all using kittens, right? it cant just be me, can it?

oh come on!? well then.....

Well I mean, I'm using kittens too, but the public needs to know that the kitten consumption isn't that bad. I hardly go through one kitten per oil change, not even a full kitten really. That isn't that many more kittens than most cars, and as long as I maintain the kitten upkeep the car runs fine. ...Now if I forget to supply my RX8 overlord with kittens it becomes angry.. and beats me. The public just doesn't understand rotaries and their needs.

shinkateen has a baby dragon! look at his sig, i swear, i bullshit you not

man this really makes me want to test drive the hell out of a R3......even tho my 04 handles awesome.


i seriously hate all the comments on that article tho...people are such haters

Now I know why this mini cooper was acting to wierd on the freeway... I slowed down to let him pass because I thought he was going to flip over on the shoulder....

It's too bad there is NO way the Rotary will gain a lot of popularity. I blame the first batch of 3rd gen RX-7's that had cooling issues and people screwing with the boost blowing the engine.

I've never had an issue with a rotary unless some kid got a hold of it for some Fast and the Furious business.

The R3 isn't that different over any other 6MT RX-8. Handling-wise, the R3 only adds bilsteins and grippier rubber.

I think the R3 is really just for people with too much money. Sure, it's better looking with the rims, and the extra little bits *shocks, seats etc...* are a plus...but I'd rather get the Sport. Lots cheaper, and not much worse off.

If he though the R3 handled nice, he should drive my setup. We would need to scrap his jaw off the pavement.

Zeal FunctionX slammed and corner balanced nemesis I am.

muhahaha

These are the best two quotes EVAR!

EVAR!!!!

Don't laugh, I'm gonna go fill up on baby kittens right now!

I prefer to have my FMIC suck them up off the road as I drive.
Kinda "cheese-grater" effect. Raises the lubricity.

That's pretty koll...
He loves my Pontiac G8 GT..

and of course the RX8. If he thinks that handles he should try mine.

Correct, YOU don't need a reasonable power/weight ratio to have a great time behind the wheel.

However, there are a lot of people who would like the RX-8 to have more horsepower and torque in order to have a great time with it.

Who is right and who is wrong? Both. Neither.

In this country (USA), the fat part of the market expects a $30k sports car to have at least as much power as, say, the Mazdaspeed 3, not less.

If Mazda had a version of this car running 1/2 bar of boost from the factory then maybe they wouldn't need to offer $3.5k incentives to clear them off the lot every year.

Since Mazda is in the car-selling business, wouldn't it be smart for them to be able to sell these cars without deep discounts so they and their dealers can defend their margins?

If Mazda had thought they could profit by offering a turbo 8 from the factory, I'm sure they would have. It sounds like they are having to replace too many engines as it is.

Besides, turbos would add a lot to the cost of the 8, and possibly price it out of the market. Why buy a Mazda when you can afford a BMW or Porsche? Look what happened to the FD.

i dont get it , do other rx-8's not have mythical beasts in their engine ???...


isnt that how a rotary works??

I've got squirrels in mine, it's an 09 thing

https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3259...fc135d.jpg?v=0
That kind of squirrels, with the antlers ^

Don't you guys know about premixing? Add a little blood from a cheetah kitten when you fill up, it works wonders. Supplies are running low, though.

Don't get me wrong, I want a factory turbocharged rotary made sometime this decade as much as the next rotorhead, but I also understand why Mazda went NA with the RX-8. I think there are a lot of reasons they did, but the main ones:

1) Cost. It would have raised the cost of the vehicle significantly. After the high price of the RX-7, they wanted to offer a competitively priced sports car at a lower market. All sorts of customers get interested when you aren't competing for dollars at the BMW, Porsche, etc level.

2) Reliability. Mazda got burned badly by the reliability of the turboed RX-7s. A lot of this was because of the poorly thought out heat control, sequential turbos, and 30+ rubber tubes in the engine bay. Regardless though, they weren't likely to be eager to jump into another situation of eating the cost of blown engines and burnt out turbos. Considering the issues with the NA Renesis I don't think anybody at Mazda is saying, "Gee, we really should have crammed a fvckton more air and heat into that motor!"

3) Output. Sure a stock turbo setup could have generated more power, probably enough to shut up most complaints, but Mazda was comparing the RX-8 output to the previous generation of RX-7s. The stock RX-7 generated similar HP numbers to the NA motor in the 8 with a lot more issues. If Mazda could get around the same output as their older car with more reliability, lower price, and more features they probably figured it was for the best.

4) Design. The RX-8 has a totally different design philosophy from the RX-7 and many of the cars that it is eroneously compared to. Sure there are 2-seater piston cars that are in the same ballpark of price and have higher numbers (0-60 times, peak HP) but consider the fact that the RX-8 is neither a souped up econo-box sedan with a huge turbo slapped on, nor a purpose built hands down sports car. The 2+2 doors and seats opened up a lot of options for drivers with families (or friends) at the cost of some weight. The RX-8 is most frequently compared to cars like the 350Z and S2000 which are explicitly designed as a 2-seater sports car. The RX8 is a car "with all the practicality of a sedan and none of the tedium."

5) Truth. The numbers that people compare online don't tell the full story about the car. Despite relatively weak peak HP numbers and not awe inspiring 0-60 times the car makes up for many of it's weaknesses by being fast as hell in the bends and although low on torque the torque curve is very flat making it faster than it gets credit for. Then there is the real issue with the car. When you have actually driven it, there is one thing you take away from it. The car is FUN. Everything from the Jetson's car sound to the tight steering/handling to the ability to throw 3 friends in and go for a trip if you need to. The car does it's best to be everything a sports car for the street should be. Would more power be a bad thing? Of course not, which is why I'm turbocharging mine (lol) but I don't have any illusions as to why Mazda didn't do so in the first place. My hope for Mazda is that they do decide in the future the time is right to make a more purpose built 2-seater, 2-door turbocharged rotary car. I will buy it, but it doesn't take away from what a great car the RX-8 is.

People with too much money? Seriously? The car is 32,600 which is nearly exactly the same price as the GT. Now, if you think the GT is too much, fine. The R3 sounds kinda like a bargain to me though. Those Recaros, Bilsteins and 19s (plus tire) aftermaket would be quite a pretty penny if installed to a sport. Plus the Bose, bluetooth, keyless, spoiler, under spoiler and suddenly you think, bargain?

Hmm, last time I've seen the prices for them, they were upwards to the 35k mark. I guess they are already starting to lower the price :(

kittens arent that defenseless. try stuffing one in the kitten reservoir under the hood without gloves on and see what happens to ya. :lol: :lol: :lol:

okay, baby kittens aside, people aren't really missinformed as much as they are just stupid. they only remember the bad things they hear about rotaries, and the people that tell them the bad things are ignorant owners. so i guess that sounds dumb...yes people are missinformed, but they never see that the problem is between the seat and the steering wheel like it often is. When i was looking to buy my rx8, my dad wanted me to do my research before i traded in my mild mannered mitsubishi for a sports car (which i already did but they weren't satisfied with hours and hours of reading and talking to the mechs at the mazda dealer i work at) and said i should call one of our neighbours who used to own one. this guy swore up and down that they are junk and undriveable in the winter. he said "I HAD to get winter tires for it or it wouldnt even go anywhere in the snow". i actually laughed out loud when he said that. then he said the stupid thing flooded at least twice a winter. I though i would give him the benefit of the doubt before i assumed it was his fault (this was an 04 he had in 2005 so they weren't quite what they are today). then he goes on to tell me all he did was move it out of the driveway and then it wouldnt start. THEY EXPLAIN TO YOU AFTER YOUR FIRST FLOODING INCIDENT WHAT NOT TO DO! the service advisors at our place even have a hand out from mazda that they give all RX8 owners for winter driving tips. anyways, its fools like that that give teh car a bad name. because he wouldnt listen and the cars reputation paid for it. he goes around telling people it burns oil and it floods all the time because hes too lazy or foolish to read the 1/2 page of "to the point" owners information. as for the handling, i love my 8s handling...cant wait to see how much better after the winter when i do shocks and springs on it.

Greg

Ugh, someone is brain damaged enough to flood the car multiple times? When I first bought the car it had a DVD in the glovebox that explained the oil consumption, the way to avoid ever flooding the car etc. The DVD took like 15 min to watch and even though I had already read up on all the rotary FAQs I watched it anyway just for kicks. Anybody that floods a rotary or has engine problems due to insufficient oil needs to give up their keys. It isn't rocket surgery. You just need to not be a douchebag. What is depressing about your story is that people like that owner probably go around telling everyone"RX-8s are crap" when they should be saying "I'm a horrible person and I should die in a fire." It's a good thing your Dad didn't take that guy's word at face value or he could have been put off on you having an 8 at all.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

those are the two funniest lines ive ever read. haha.

ya, see i sort of need my dads blessing when buying a car. If i dont have his approval, if anything goes wrong at all, i get in an accident, the engine dies, anything, he wont help me at all. also, my dad has been in the car business for years. he may not know everything about maintaning a rotary engine, but he has bought and sold hundreds of cars over his lifetime (including a few rx7s for a project that hasnt been completed) so he knows when a car has been taken care of, or when its been beaten and covered up. when i told him what my neighbor said, he said "sounds like he wasnt taking care of his car". too bad most people didnt think like my dad. the 8s would sell like hotcakes if people didnt focus on the few bad things about the car and realized all the positives.

Greg

The 8 will never get the general understanding and appreciating that it should from non-owners until they begin to see that a car is more than an appliance.

I get tons of crap at work, nearly every day, because all my co-workers see is "young guy + sports car + new england = retarded." Not a single one of them sees a car as anything other than a "point a to point b" appliance. Literally. The only opinion from one car to the next is warranty, safety, and how comfortable the couch is to sit on.

Part of me wants them to wake up one day and see that driving can be fun, driving can have legitimate passion to it, and if you spend 1/5th of your life in a car, why not let yourself spend that time enjoyably?

But then they might buy an 8, and I enjoy being the only 8 in sight for months on end.

So instead, I just nurture an unhealthy elitist superiority attitude, and look down on the cattle being led around by the nose by such poor influences as hyped media and gossip.

And I laugh.

Hehe Worms... how's the 8 handling in the snow up there? Did you ever get that 4'th wheel fixed?

Take those bloodless gits for a ride in a turbocharged RX-8 and make sure the traction control is turned off.

It may not awaken their passions but will accomplish the worthy goals of (a) scaring the beejeezus outta them and (b) convincing them you're a total nutter and not amenable to reasoned arguments about 'automobile as appliance'.

We live for only a little time and are dead forever. Therefore, the wise live with maximal intensity.

its the truth!

Wow. The truth, indeed. How refreshing.

hahaha...i concur!

No, still looking for a "cost effective" replacement. Still, just snow tires on the rear it moves around in the snow fine, I just keep speed way down to keep the front end under control. In the blizzard Wednesday up here, >25mph and I could feel the front tires skating across the snow. Only trouble I had though was when 4 state snow plows left a 2ft wall of snow across the road in front of me. Another plow hit that ~30 seconds later so I didn't pop my air-bags trying to power through it :)

Actually, I have already accomplished A and B, with a rented mobile couch :)
Nice quote though.

What Are Kittens?! My Rx-8 Keeps Turning Off When Im Slowing Down Sometimes! Does Anybody Else Have This Problem??!! I Need Help!!

Quote? That came from my own twisted, warped little mind, mate!

Speaking of rented mobile couches... when is the next time you are coming down Worms? We also need to plan a Spring visit that you can drive your 8 down so we can go corner carving during nice weather. We haven't had a chance to go driving at the same time since the wedding. You can come hang out and make fun of my carbon fiber strakes and carbon fiber shift knob cap. :P