Nostromo

Hi folks,

please can anyone tell me how much costs the auto dimming mirror if I buy it as a spare part. I'm thinking to buy it when I visit the US in september. Unfortunately it is not available here in Germany.

Thanks!

Greetz from Germany, Andy.

rboerio

I was told you could not buy it-it is not sold as an accesory. It has to be in the car from factory-bummer huh?

red_rx8_red_int

I think it has to come from the factory. When I had my windshield replaced, they had two models one for the autodim and one without. Personally I would rather not have one. With my other cars, I can set the mirror to nighttime use and see my kids in the back seat and cars behind me at the same time. Not so with auto dim. But the auto dim does do its job.

RotaMotion

Gentex is OEM for some manufacturers. I've been thinking of picking up one. Ever since I drove a car with one of these things, it's been hard not having one in my other cars.

http://www.gentex.com/auto_plo_interior.html

Nostromo

Yeah you're right. Since I got used to it, I can't live without it. I used to drive a Lexus LS400 a few years ago and the auto dimming mirrors worked perfectly!

I contacted Rosenthal Mazda yesterday. They told me that it is not possible to use the mirror if the car wasn't equipped with it in the first place. But the spare mirror would be $329. That's quite a price! Anyway I will look under the overhead console to see if maybe the wiring for the mirror is there. I think it is unlikely that Mazda builds different wiring harnesses for the different markets.

The only advantage of the Mazda mirror over a aftermarket mirror like Gentex would be that the Mazda mirror gets light if you shift in reverse.

Maybe I find some dealer with a more reasonable pricing (very unlikely) otherwise I will look for a aftermarket Gentex mirror when I'm in the US.

Greetings from Germany, Andreas.

RotaMotion

Hmmm...8s have been out long enough that somebody has to have fatally crunched one and had the rearview mirror survive. Now to try to figure out where to look... I guess I'll start with salvage yards specializing in rotaries and see if they ever get 8s. That's a great point about the reverse. Didn't know that. So how's your 8 like the autobahn :D That sounds like way too much fun.

Nostromo

That's a good idea. I didn't think about that. I'm pretty shure that somebody has wrecked his Rex by now...

:D

I only say: yesterday on a downhill autobahn stretch I reached 256 km/h (159 mph) and this was not the end of the line. Unfortunately there was another car changing lane and I had to stop this test.

Greetz, Andy.

RotaMotion

I'll let you know if I find anything. The goal: Dead 8 with driver and rear view mirror in one piece

Holy Crap Batman! Wow, I guess there isn't a speed limiter on the 8s. Do you have the 238 HP version over there, and the PCM flash mess we are going through in the states? It's seems hard to believe that only 238HP can do almost 160. That's awesome.

I hear there are people who get up early Sunday morning so they can drive flat out with less of a chance of: So how’s the MPG situation for you?

When I was over there years ago I got to drive my sister's 4-cylinder Toyota Rav4 (sigh). I was diving faster in California on interstate 5 with my 92 SE-R.

Nostromo

@RotaMotion:

There shure isn't a speed limiter on the 8 in Germany. The car is stated to have 231 PS or 170 kW in Germany.
Remember that my testdrive was downhill. This helps a lot!

Fuel is very expensive over here (almost $4 the gallon).
Mileage is between 21 mpg and 14 mpg depending on how much fun you have.
But I'm still learning the car because it is only five weeks old (2000 mls).

Greetings, Andreas.