Stock, this 4 door 4 seater handles better than most cars available, and probably better than all cars at it's price range. In fact it handles better, with less roll, than my stock series VII RX8.

My MX5 handles far better than the RX8 though, probably because I have totally reworked the suspension ( more than just once to search for what suits my driving style)

The car is designed to appeal to a broad market, most of whom will not be pushing their cars to the edge, so in fact mazda has doen a fantastic job. Having said all that I can't see the rear end as being weak in the stock 8.

Of all the porsche owners that I know, the ones that do frequent track days and competitive targas have largely changed their suspension as well to achieve the edge they are after.

 

Maybe your spirited driving could use a school to learn how to do it right.

Soft rears beat stiff ones in performance driving.

I'll go as far as remove rear sway bar links on some cars when im trying to find out why the owner is having so many problems with them.

I just installed Ksports this last weekend, and im considering maaaaayyyybe a front bar upgrade, and removing the rear bar.

And..I dont know crap about spirited driving, I just RACE cars.

Im pretty sure I pass a lot of spirited drivers tho.

 

i'm just gonna come out and say it, this thread is over 2 years old,...... there I feel better.

 

it's also stupid ....

 

holy carp...this is some seriously stale toast...

only time my rear was twitchy was when I forgot to adjust my tire pressure and had it way too high...

pimpin the RB sways for now...progress tech needs to get to the sway making already and sell it direct again...

 

Find a tight turn just over the top of a hill and you'll see how bad the stock back end is when it scares the crap out of you.

 

I have one of those right by my house...the rear floats and you have to counter steer slightly...that turn taught me a lot about the car...controlling that feeling of weightlessness the rear end gets.

 

I went with coilovers and sways and there is none of that anymore and no more wheel hop under hard acceleration and no more lean and squat on turns. I just go around the corner with no drama, if I loose grip I end up in a 4 wheel slide just like it should.

 

coilovers scare me...I live in Los Angeles and we have horrible roads...been there and hated it...one day I'll have a track only car

 

Mine isn't a daily driver so I just avoid those roads around here when I drive the 8.

 

Lucky man!

 

You know they put fish oil in the rear shocks from the factory.

Japan has a shortage of natural resources do hence shock failure at 15K miles.

Since you guys push it too far with RB springs I went with the KW Variant 3 system.