Bigpower

Test drove the new (ish) mazda rx8 yesterday going to put a deposit down on one me thinks ,

any one have any views , thoughts or experiances with these cars

i love the looks the way they drive and they are quite nippy to .

thanks

aRRON

and use petrol like you wouldn't believe, you can't just start them up, move them, then turn it off .. or it will flood.

Other than that - I love em !!

No much torque on the NA rotary either - boot it and they sound like they're doing stuff, the rev counter moves but not as much actually happens as you'd expect...

They get through more oil than a topless wrestling match! :lol:

Keep plenty of oil spare as I recall they'll get through a litre in 1000 miles. IIRC Mazda put a little bottle in the toolkit to keep you topped up.

Careful you lot, Gareth will be on in a minute to tell you off for slagging off rotaries

Ha ha ha Nik lol.

Did you try the brand new one just come out ?
Like this:


Ben is correct you cannot just move it and then shut it off otherwise it will flood. With my RX7 you have to leave it for about 5 mins to warm up before shutting it off. The new RX8 has updates to its software so it wont let you rev it fully until it is warmed but I dont know if there is protection about preventing the flooding. My mate who had one of the old ones flooded it and called out Mazda who started it with no probs.

Yes it does use oil but nowhere near as much as a litre quoted. It has been reported that since the RX8 first came out there have been improvements to the engine and the oil usage is significantly improved. Even so a liter of oil isnt a huge amount.

In terms of performance it is good on the track and not far behind a 350z on both Top Gear and Fifth Gear tests. See vid:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ZngleHM3LJM

They do rev up more than most cars and as long as you keep the revs up it will be quick, low torque as Alex says isnt great.

The new revisions to the bumper etc do improve the looks. Be aware though that there isnt a big tuning scene for RX8s though, all the main tuners still focus on the RX7.

Overall they are superb cars and well specced if you go for the higher BHP version. I am rotary biased on cars but I dont know whether I would go for an RX8 over a 350z or the new Civic Type R (there is a limited edition white one coming out with an LSD that looks superb !!). I certainly would try out the competition shelling out 20k for a car is a lot of money these days. Plus the RX8 classes as a 2.6 these days whereas my 7 is a 1.3 but has a version of the same engine.

It does depend on what you need the car for, if you are looking for one you can tune I wouldnt bother but if you are looking for something fairly quick and enjoyable to drive then go for it.

If you want a rotary I would go for a 7 all day long. If you want a modern coupe kind of car with a distinctive interior and liner power delivery, then I guess it may well fit the bill. But then so would so many others also.

If I had 20k to spend on one car it would need to be one very, very special RX8 to coax the wallet out.

Is the BM sold then or is this just window shopping at the moment?

You can buy a 2005 for around 7k at the moment - alot of car for the money - my mum is getting one - so I can borrow it !! ...

my mate has the 08 240bhp model and cant beat 14mpg but as said with the revs kept up and its fun!

I hated mine! I had an '04 Mazda RX8, winning blue, same as the one above. It was nice looking but that was about it. If you like spending a lot of money on oil/petrol, go for it!