I'm heavily thinking about getting an 8. And am aware that it is a GREAT handling car which i can't wait to test. And ive heard it isnt that great for maybe a few straight line races? My friends mainly have RSX's type s and Civic Si's. Will i be able to take em out (everything stock) fooling around at a red light? any help is appreciated. i tried the search button but failed.

 

Nope.

Not a drag racer, anymore than a Miata is.

The term 'Torque' is a bit misleading, in that you have to take rpm into account - the RX-8 has 150/160 torque, but maintains it too amazing rev levels.

A diesel engine may have 600 'torque', but it peaks at 1900 rpm, for a total of over a million foot-pounds off the line. An RX-8, with it's 150 measly twists, can keep putting them out to 8000 revs, for roughly the same foot-pound-per-second.....

A terrible way to explain it, I know, but once you get rolling you'll know what I mean.

 

It's not bad. But it's not a drag car.

If you want a sporty rear drive car with tons of striaght line potential, go find a car with a V8 in it. F-Body, Mustang, etc......or something with some pistons and a turbo on it. If you want something that will rule the light-to-light wars, go find a Turbo/AWD combination. In particular the Syclones/Typhoons from the early '90's were brutal in a straight line. Can't turn for dammit though.

You'll walk away from those guys on a freeway entrance ramp in the Mazda, but you're not going to "take 'em out" in a stoplight battle.

 

to be fair, RSX's and Civics aren't exactly torque monsters either (not that peak flywheel torque numbers matter much). the RX-8 gets off the line a lot better than the RSX-S I used to own.

and anyway, you shouldn't be "fooling around at red lights" anyway.

 

Yeah, once you are at a certain RPM it will start accelerating pretty quick... But in first gear starting from idle the acceleration isn't really fast enough to beat a lot of other "sports cars".

 

why are we wasting time for somebody that mentioned "fooling around at a red light?"

 

^this

 

Having previously owned and tracked an RSX-S and now owned and tracked a 2007 RX8 I can say that the two are very comparable in straight line speed. I dropped my lap times at Sebring by 6 seconds with the RX8 due to better handling and braking. I was only marginally faster at the end of the straights probably due to higher entry speeds.

Keep your racing at the track, you'll learn more and won't endanger the rest of us.

 

The RX-8 is not a stop light kind of a car. FANTASTIC on the track and can be wicked with just a few suspension and tire tweaks. Also it is not easy to find hp like a piston motor car.