The RX Owners Group of Las Vegas were invited to the "RX-8 primere in Las Vegas" along with the Miata club, and customers of the dealer.

The car was from the assembly line, but was still a "pre-production run" -- meaning it could not be sold, but it was the 99.999999% the production version that will be sold.
It was the base-base lower power automatic model. I don't think there was an option on the thing. The color was Arrest-me-Yellow, with the cloth seats.

After the cround died down (2 hrs after the unveil) I was able to park my FD next to the 8. Here is a shot with the two cars next to each other for comparison.



More pics are at our club website

 

True rotorheads were doing this all night long...

... and answering questions the sales guys coundn't.

 

The RX-8 is larger than the FD3s. But weight is in the ballpark of the FD... There is MUCH more room in the 8.

 

We had a small turn-out of rotary owners... maybe 10 cars total (20 or so people).

After the Dealer event, we caravaned down to the Palm's Hotel/Casino/Cinemas to watch Xmen2. A new member of our club had never been in a rotary caravan, and had a huge smile on his face when we parked at the Palms. He'd never seen rotaries spit fire-*****, sparks or anything out of the tail pipes before... which 4 of the 6 cars did

 

Thanks for the post -- looks like the RX-8 stands taller as well as being longer.

With all the other rotarys present, does the RENESIS sound or act any different?

 

Is the FD the RX-8 pre-order gift?

I didn't think the 8 was that much bigger than the FD. Thanks for the pics.

D-san

 

So I guess those 18" wheels come standard? HA HA HA!!! Anyways, I was hoping to see how the 16" wheels accually looked.

 

you're right it seems so much bigger than the 7. i guess the 7 is a pretty small car to start with...

and thanx, the pix were fantastic. i love the yellow

 

I saw an RX-7 (silver or titanium equivalent) last week and as I'd never seen one before I was thinking: 'hey, that's a good looking car...'. I only realised what it was as it passed me and the Mazda badge was revealed. I don't think the RX-8 is as pretty which is unfortunate.

 

the rx-7 seems more of a seductress than the rx-8, the 7 is prettier, the 8 is "cooler", if you ask me.
________
Weed Vaporizer

 

Was the cloth interior the same as the pictures EAST MOON posted? Just wondering if the US spec cars get the same cloth as the Japanese cars. I'd guess that they would, but who knows.

 

Yep. They were the blackish seats with the ribbed bolstering.

(The seats look almost purple when photographed, but they look black to the eye)

 

man....... that FD makes the RX-8 looks so "family sedan-ish".....