RX-8 Auto Tranny
 

Hey Folks,

I am new here, and I am going to ask the question that most diehard sports car drivers cringe when they hear it. I know most people are going with the 6MT option on their new RX's but living in a highly congested area where traffic is stop and go anywhere between 6:30am and like 9:30pm at night, the 6MT would make going anywhere during the week a hassle always doing stop and go, so I have chosen the 4AT.

I can't find any technical information on the automatic version, yes I know it is 210hp and has a paddle shifter and also allows up down shifting via the shift gate. Which will be good for the weekends when I get out of the area and travel to the Pocono's, and good for the weekday traffic nightmare. I wonder why Mazda only chose only a 4AT and why not a stronger 5AT or a 6AT which could handle the extra hp?

My burning question is what is the preformance specs on the 210hp 4AT RX-8? Everywhere you look you could get all the stats on the 6MT but nothing on the 4AT, I saw consumers' they said 0-60 in low 8's but then again I believe they stated low 7's for the 6MT. Anyone know?

Thanks,
Mike

They stated low 6s for the 6MT... if you read the auto's estimates likely that they will be in that range.

However if I were you I'd get the sports package so you get the limited slp and nicer tires. The auto should still be a blast to drive.

I am going for my RX-8 with 4AT and the Grand Touring Package w/ the Nav. I was originally looking at both the Nissan 350Z until I saw how absolutely bland the interior looks which would probably require a few more thousand just to make it look somewhat lux inside (using aftermarket venders) but that still doesn't fix the ziltch cargo room. I also looked at the Audi TT, which had generous cargo space, a really nice interior..... and only has a stick or a auto which has only 180hp, front wheel drive and it's heavy as all hell - not particularly the version I love to drive on the twisty roads in the poconos. So the Mazda was the best compromise, good body, awesome interior w/ lots of great options, rear wheel drive, light weight, good cargo space since it'll only be me and girlfriend bags could use the vast unused rear seats and the tiny trunk.

When I get home (in about 8 hrs) I'll post results from CarTest2000 on the AT. I grabbed the available data from Mazda and winged it on stuff I didn't know. The performance on the AT isn't that far behind that of the MT, and if I remember right it's comparable to a 2001 BMW 3 series AT.

Re: RX-8 Auto Tranny
 

i remeber reading somewhere that the mazda people said because there wasn't one available for them that would fit the way they wanted. i think i also read that they were continuing to work on it.

I am guessing that it'll be probably compariable to the Lexus IS 300 preformance which is 215hp and AT, the preformance times for the Lexus IS 300 are 0-60 in 7.0 seconds, 1/4 mile in 15.4 @ 90.5

That's probably what I am guessing the RX-8 AT to be around

I am thinkin a tad slower, but not by much... the IS300 has a few ponies more than the RX-8 in base form.

The following info comes from CarTest2000, an interesting program available at cartest2000.com that calculates and predicts car performance. I plugged in the info that I could find & from MazdaUSA.com and ran the performance tests for the MT, then reconfigured the info for an AT test, as well as a fully loaded (4 occupants) MT, with 540 lbs of family and friends (the weight of your family and friends may vary). In my configurations I feel confident, even proud of my AT torque curve, but not so fond of my MT curve; I just got tired of tweaking it. All speed measures are mph. I also included a 310hp MazdaSpeed version...yeah baby!

Test.....RX8-MT.....RX8-AT.....RX8-w/4.....MSP-RX8
0-30.....2.14.........2.45.........2.45...........1. 73 sec
0-40.....2.91.........3.49.........3.34...........2. 35 sec
0-60.....6.11.........7.42.........6.78...........4. 89 sec
0-70.....7.35.........9.56.........8.41...........5. 99 sec
0-100..14.44........20.41.......16.65.........11.63 sec

¼ mile..14.4.........15.5..........15.1..........13. 4 sec
.......@100mph....@90mph...@96mph.......@105mph

Top
Speed...156mph...134mph.....155mph......167mph

Fuel Economy
City......20.4mpg....28.2mpg.....19.3mpg....18.5mp g
Hiway...28.6mpg....36.4mpg!....28.6mpg....27.1mpg

These figures come with no guarantee, and I recommend that they be used comparitively, ie, how much slower is the AT or a loaded MT. Of course y'all can compare the MT to published car mag figures to get an idea of how good or bad the program is.

short gearing
 

The lexus is300 has extremely short gearing, and a 5 speed automatic transmission. The Rx-8 will not hold a candle to the altezza (is300)

4th gear is good for only 112 mph!