elisemk1

Comparison RX-8 vs. 350Z (once again)

ACRX8

How about some ENGLISH Please!:D

Hercules

There's no winner or loser from the Babelfish translation... it just gives a summary of both cars and some tech data.

Nothin special.

jonalan

We're also talking about a production car (350Z) vs. a pre-production car (RX-8).

Y&Y

If you look at the two cars in the last picture, both cars looks like they are going down hill. And if you look at the front of the car, the 8 looks like its smiling while the Z looks scared S*@t.

Strider

Never really seen it like that before. It does rather look as if if is grinning. Maybe it's just happy to be a rotary :p

cueball

Lucky germans you get potenza's and we get crap for tires. I'll have to just take consolation in my extra HP.:D

RXhusker

Is it just me or does the 350Z look huge next to the RX-8 in this picture? Is it camera angle or reality?

cueball

I agree. The 350Z looks oafish compared to the nimble looking 8.

Elara

The 350z looks much chunkier next to the 8- is it really that much wider? I thought the 8 was a tad longer than the z, but it looks almost tiny and delicate next to it in that picture. This is the whole reason I don't like the Z- nothing against Z lovers, but it looks portly, and not very streamlined to me.

j-apex rx

The calipers don't said mazda like the 2 and 3 gen rx7.

RXhusker

Size comparison looks much different in this picture:

CraziFuzzy

I just like that in all the pictures, the RX-8 is shown ahead of the 350Z.... just an innocent observation... :D

BryanH

Good eye, your note caused me to look more closely at that picture and I can see that it's a fake. The RX-8 has been inserted into that photo. Take a look at the top pic of the Mazda and note its position and shadows. Now look at the bottom picture again. See the resemblance?

P00Man

god that car is hott, and it looks fast as hell even when standing still, in motion, looks like its standing still lol......what a beautiful design. Not to mention smacking the Z all over the place lol
________
MEDICAL MARIJUANA

gregz

I think you are right. They are awfully close together, AND it looks like the -8 is turned in (towards the Z) as well. If it didn't happen in photoshop, it would have been a close call...

chenpin

From article - "Where the Mazda with spielerischer ease shines, the Nissan substantial works and wuchtig." Translation with Worldlingo.com



what?

Puppy1

New Coupes from Mazda and Nissan - The return of the Samurai

In the 70's the two Japanese lost the battle against the European sports cars. Now Mazda and Nissan celebrate a comeback. The RX-8 and 350 Z shine with modern forms and many promising talents. Return of the 70's-sports car icons that lock man to machine: The Mazda RX-8 prescription: balance and low-price. Nissan sets the Boxster in its sights. Technical data with the overall sporty stiffness of 350 Z. From humble beginings they have come so far.

The fact that the seventies have come again into fashion, we first noticed with "impact trousers," terrible green nylon shirts and the ABBA party at the neighbors. But now even the sport coupes of the seventies are returning from Japan. The Mazda RX-8 is again with a body that is as slim cut as the first RX-7 of 1978, and Nissan openly plays the new 350 Z as its public favorite from the early _________ after: 240 Z _______ or ______?

The two Japanese companies decided at the same time to take out their loudest drums after a heavy crisis. Their sports car icons are back from the seventies again. One would like to shout: "Dim the lights, and flip on the Spot light!"

First a little about the Mazda RX-8. The driving of which, rebuts the statement: "Japan makes only mass-produced goods." This sports car is exotic and extravagant. Where it will tell you otherwise: its a coupe with a rotary engine, four doors, four seats and genuine trunk for only 26,300 euros? It has taken some the courage to bring us this car. What part should we most admire?

From a technical viewpoint, Mazda holds steadfastly to the rotary, the invention of the German born Felix Wankel, which silky-softly spins once again in the RX-8 where it revs up very fast. Even the largest car manufactures, DaimlerChrysler and Toyota, rejected this exotic work principle long ago, because the rotary, simply said, "drinks and stinks" (which the last RX-7 could hardly disprove). But a small, 30 men crew of engineers steadfastly developed it even further. Even with Ford, their new owners in their laboratory, they marched onward. The first thing Ford asked was: "How much money does each engineer make?" So goes the story from Noboru Katabuchi, the project manager of the new coupes. Obviously the numbers were correct. The Mazda boss at that time, Martin Leach, approved the RX-8. Today he is responsible for the entire Ford European business.


Surely, the RX-8 is an image product, giving a desired sport touch to the mark and lures customers into the empty showrooms. But waiting for them there is now a coupe, which represents more than those closed running coffins from former times, and which wants to meet the desires of modern customers: it is environmentally friendly, roomier and more comfortable. First, the newly arranged inlet channels detoxify the exhaust reaching Euro-4 levels and making everyday real life fuel consumption around 11 km/l (well, we're still skeptical). In the back, freestyle doors, the newest fashion from the auto designers. Open up the view of a back seat, which now offers real space. My 1.87 meters didn't get constricted going around on a short trip.

And finally Mazda's engineers revived another ideal from the seventies. At that time, before the large fat craze began, sports cars were still agile and quick. Today the RX-8, which was designed to weigh less than 1330 Kilos, was on a consistent weight diet. The result: It fits in the hand like a feather spring (PUPPY1: another "Wet T-Shirt" comparison).

Is everything that easy? So easy, one said in the _____________. _____________ converts the perfectly balanced Mazda with each guiding impulse, and with an easy flip of the wrist, switches the short stick on the center console. The rotor spins easily into the redline which starts at 8500 rpm. Only sometimes the Mazda seems to exaggerate the ease: On the (admittedly wet) racing course of Laguna Seca, which Mazda had selected for the presentation, it lost the small flea of grip (PUPPY1: I had to keep that one) amazingly fast, on what standard stability control (DSP) caught the tail again? But not without quickly allowing another adrenaline-promoting drift.

Mazda wants to make it particularly easy for the customer, because the RX-8 prices start from 26,300 euros in the 192-PS version, and with even more torque (220 instead of 211 Newton meters) promises than 240 HP high power version (starting from 31,600 euros). One question remains: Does it give enough to the buyer who, after years of "Roadster Mania," slips again enthusiastically under the closed coupe roof? The RX-8 is attractive, low-priced, individual and sporty, a coupe with a trace of the infamous roadsters. Simply said: a MX 5 1/2 (????).

Will coupes come in fashion again in the wake of the current sports car wave? The Nissan 350 Z will surely have its share if it can stand up, starting in September 2003 with the German dealers. A burly, strong two-seater, that depending upon your point of view, reminds one of the Carerra 911 or of some other show car. In the USA, where new Z is already sold, its effect on the pedestrians on the street is simply upsetting: Heads are turning. The Nissan is still six months from sale. "The customer wants the car because of its looks," explains product planner John Yukawa, "then he only begins to like it because of its achievements." What it has in the 3.5-Liter V6, it has in spades, because its 287HP can shoot the sports car from 0-100km/h in less than six seconds. Electronics must break-in to limit this force artificially at 250km/h.

Where the Mazda shines with ease, the Nissan works harder to achieve. From the front end the 6-cylinder roars and roars (that is the loud bass, which will always be missing to the RX-8), the steering wheel requires a firm grasp. The suspension stresses gladly with the sporty stiffness, which the Brembo brakes plant like a wall.

The brakes belong to the TRACK version just mentioned (together with the 18" tires and sport seats), which is to come to Europe and which underlines the serious requirement of Nissan. In achievement and price (presumably over 32,000 euros) 350 Z is a half league higher in price over the Mazda ranks and focuses on being a direct opponent of the Boxster. If the black interior holds up to the last version and the same class of the outward appearance is reached, then the coupe will have successfully arrived the Porsche's territory.

And not only there? Where have all the sporty coupes been? They disappeared, except for the stale AUDI TT. With the Nissan and the Mazda suddenly here, the beat of the seventies roars again by way of the abandoned sport coupe segment. The beat also comes in for a test in a fresh air version: In April 2003 Nissan wants to present a 350-Z convertible version. This is amazing, because in the long history of the Z coupe, there was never was an open factory version. In contrast to the only RX-7 convertible, which was available from 1989 to 1992. When asked about an open RX-8, the project manager, calling himself itself Katabuchi, responded: "the entire construction of this model does not permit that. A convertible is not really planned." Not really?

Technical data Mazda Rx-8
2 Rotor, front engine (PUPPY1: Mid-engine damn it!), lengthwise
Capacity: 1308cc
Power: 177 KW (240 HP) with 8200/min
Maximum Torque: 211 Nm @ 5500/min
Rear-wheel drive
Six-speed transmission
4 wheel independent suspension
4 wheel ventilated disc brakes
Tires: 225/45 R 18
Length/width/height:4435/1770/1340mm
Wheelbase: 2700mm
Un-laden Weight: 1330kg
Trunk volume: 290 liters
Fuel tank capacity: 61 liters
Acceleration: 0-100 km/h in 6.5 seconds
Maximum speed: 240km/h
Fuel Consumption: 11.4km/liter of premium gas
Price: 31,600 euros

Technical data Nissan 350 Z
V6, front engine lengthwise
4 valves/cylinder
Capacity: 3498cc
Power: 211KW (287HP) with 6200/min
Maximum Torque: 371nm with 4800/min
Rear-wheel drive
Six-speed transmission
4 wheel independent suspension
4 wheel disc brakes
Tires: 225/45 ZR 18 front, 245/45 ZR 18 rear
Length/width/height:4308/1816/1318 mm
Wheelbase: 2649mm
Un-laden Weight: 1447kg
Trunk volume: 235 liters
Fuel Capacity: 76 liters
Towing Capacity: 268kg
Acceleration: 0-100 km/h in 5.8 seconds
Maximum speed: 250 km/h
Fuel consumption: 12.7km/liter of premium gas
Price (approx.) 32,000 euros

zoom44

damn good eye, but i think it's the same photo with the road blurred toget rid of the yellow lines and the Z pasted in. i thought they were way to close together! also the shadows of the cars in the bottom pic seem to be the extremely similar, like maybe it's the same shadow shopped in under both cars :D

P00Man

that is good to hear. "A new power is rising"
________
CHEAP AIRSOFT GRENADES

Smoker

Mid-engine ?? no, its a front engine. Engine is infront of the Driver.

zoom44

no it is a mid engine car because the engine is completly inbound of the axle. this is the same difference between rear engined and what is normally thought of as mid engined (engine behind the driver). to save on these kinds of arguements mazda has taken to calling it "front-midship layout" so the traditional mid engine should now be referred to as "rear-midship layout" :D

Smoker

I just thought I'll take this topic to new thread, as it seems like a worthy discussion. Thanks

New Thread Here