The good - It's a sexy car. Loved the metallic green they had with the two tone black and beige leather. Comfy seats and optically soothing interior. Reved pretty quickly. Hmm, the engine felt nice.

The bad - I took it around some corners at decent speeds. The car didn't feel connected to the road. Sorta felt like i was floating, took the corners pretty well though. Wasn't anywhere near as fast as i thought it would be.

The indifferent - the clutch was really light. When i got back into my car to drive after testing the rx8, my stock clutch felt heavy as hell.

Well, im gonna be giving up my car soon. It was the first time i ever drove a rotary and i liked it, alot. I didn't expect it to rev so smooth. I guess im a lil spoiled by my car in the handling department with koni yellows, eibach sportlines, and itr rear sway. Im looking into getting a 1st gen rx7 to replace it for a while. I def want my next car to be able to handle as well as my teg, even if it isn't fast. Anyone have any advice for me bout the rx7 or anyother car to look into.

 

oh, my car right now is a 00 integra gsr

 

are you kidding, i drove the new 8, i have never driven a car that feels more connected the road or more in control.

I pushed that thing HARD, off camber turns, hilltop turns.

the handelling is second to NONE

 

it really does. i mean, its no fd. but considering the fact that its more comfortable, hauls twice as many people,and all that electronic goodies, its not a bad handling car. ive driven a 350z and i think the 8 is more "tosseable"(did i spell that right?) if that's not enough for you, wait til 06 when the real 2 door comes out.

 

i didn't push it to its limits, the salesman was with me. Im just comparing it to how my car handles and how the road feels. Prob with stiffer springs and shocks i'd feel different.

 

any inputs on the handling of a 1st gen rx7? Im looking into getting one as my next proj car

 

first gens are great!!! hehehe, i just got one. stock though, dont expect superior performance ala fd. but the feel and the joy of driving is awesome. ask any first gen owner.

i still want an fd though

 

If you go 1st gen, get an 84-85 GSL-SE. Fuel injection, 13B engine, stiffer suspension, etc.

I think the RX-8 needs a thicker front swaybar for spirited driving, but other than that it's great

 

fuel injected 13b? I was thinking carbed cause it'd be easier to tune.

 

I'd go with the carb (which just so happens to be in my '82). It's always easier and cheaper to make tuning changes with a carb that F.I.

As for handling, I can only tell you what I know from mine, which is basically stock with some new struts and Toyo tires. It handles like a dream. I've taken it through many mountain passes over 80mph in turns suggesting 40mph, and it acts like the turn doesn't exist. This 1st gen is the best handling car I've had.

 

I wish I could test drive on of these things, but when I went to the dealership, they made it seem like even THEY had to have special permission to take them out for a spin.

 

Huh!! Fb's can be made to handle pretty seriously. I have ridden in a widebody with full race suspension and it was insane!!

As far as the Rx8 goes, I only sat in one. They are Ok I guess, but worth no ways near the cost they are asking. I supose people buy them because they are new, don't want to work on cars, and like rotarys. There is NO way I would buy one even if I had the money. Not worth it at all. Apart from being new, its a car that does the same if not less as an FD for 2-3 times the money. Or I could spend 1/3 of the Rx8 money on my FB and the result would be no comparison in performance

 

repeat after me: THE RX-8 IS NOT A SPORTS CAR.

What 'less' is it accomplishing? Carrying capacity? nope. Reliability? definately not. Straight line acceleration? Maybe, but a used sportbike, by that logic, accomplishes the same, if not more than, an FD for 2-3 times less.

Comparing the RX-8 to an RX-7, irrespective of generation, is silly. It's a 4 door sports sedan. The only thing it has in common with the RX-7 is a rotary engine. Period. If it had a V-6 no one would talk about 'compared to an FD...'

In addition, any new car is going to cost more than a used car. An FD in North America is at least a few years old, and the FD has a reputation (partly deserved) for being unreliable, so of course it's going to sell for far below a brand new, warrantied vehicle.

The FD new cost more than the RX-8, so if comparing sticker prices be fair. The FD, FC, FB, and SA are all small sports cars that aren't even in the same market segment as the RX-8.

Compare the RX-8 against, say, the new BMW 3 series (a more direct comparison) and bang-for-the-buck becomes apparent.

 

precisely! and its all ford's fault! if ford didnt tell mazda they could only build a four seat car, we probably would be blessed with a proper successor to the RX-7. stupid blue oval...

 

Nice comment Manntis. . . I never really looked at it that way. . . so WHAT is the successor to the RX7 ? Will there ever be another ?

 

The FD was a four seater.... I'm just gonna wait to see what new seven is gonna look like. (if they even come out with one).

 

None of the RX-7's was ever a true 4 seater. You ever spent any time in the rear of an RX-7?

They're a 2+2, only because Japanese law required it when the SA first came out.

[qoute]precisely! and its all ford's fault! if ford didnt tell mazda they could only build a four seat car, we probably would be blessed with a proper successor to the RX-7. stupid blue oval...[/quote]

Really? If it wern't for Ford, Mazda would likely have folded. Then where would we be?
It's not Fords fault that the FD was a horrible failure and seriously hurt Mazda in North America.
Ford has the deep pockets that kept Mazda going until they could build us a new rotary.
Mazda needs to prove that the Rotary can power a sporty, yet reliable, practical car.
That's what the RX-8 is. Mazda has NEVER claimed it's a replacement for the RX-7. Assuming the RX-8 does well, we MIGHT get a new RX-7.

 

actually, ford did dictate that the only way mazda could bring another rotary in NA was if it was practical enough for family use(with small kids). that is why they had to design the 8 with 4 seats and 4 doors. im not saying that ford is bad, i work for one of their dealerships, but remember the rx01 concept? it had 2 seats and performed just as good, if not better, than the fd. that could have been the rx8 we were supposed to have. well, now we could just hope that 8 sales is good enough for ford to ok a 2 door pure sports car.

 

The dealers around me are like that too. But I got a test drive yesterday I just started talking to one of the salesmen about the rotary, and told him I had a Turbo FB. I'm going to bring it over there in a couple days to let him check it out. Then I asked him if there was any chance of me getting to drive a RX-8(I'm only 17). He said hold on a minute, and went a grabbed a key and license plate. We went outside and he got in the drivers seat, yellow 6speed. After we got out of the dealership lot, he pulled over and let me drive. We were out for a little over 30mins. The engine pulls nice and strong all the way to 9 , but there is a little flat spot around 6.5k. I took it up to 90mph on some twisty roads, it handled very nice. The we headed back, once we were a minute away from the dealership, he got back into the drivers seat. This wasn't a normal 8 that we were beating up, it was one Mazda let them have just for test drives, they give it back once they're done giving test drives with it.

I can't say what dealer it was, or who there gave me the test drive, since he would get into trouble if his boss found out, and he doesn't want everyone coming and asking him to drive one.

 

yea, mazda dealerships have what they call "test vehicles"(i think all dealerships do) and when it gets to a certain amount of miles(around 30k) it gets auctioned off to dealerships and sold as used cars, even if its still the same year.

 

I think its funny how you guys talk about ford as if they are responsible for taking away the rx-7 in North America.

The truth is, it is Mazda's fault. They gave americans a car they couldnt handle, and didnt want. Because of that, sales dropped, and the car needed to be removed from america.

Ford simply made the same decision mazda would have made if they were still in charge.

Face it, our car evolved into disaster. And Mazda is responsible for its failure.

Now we all still love our car, and our engine, and personally i would love to own a fd some day, but why should we make a scapegoat out of ford? They did what any of us would have done, if we were buisness men trying to run a company in a highly competitive market.

Also, as mentioned before, ford prevented mazda from folding. So we all should still be thankful we can still get parts and help from dealerships(malloy mazda being the #1 example).

So thats my opinion on the "lets blame ford because no-one likes their cars anyway" topic.

 

okay, first of all i work for ford. and if they didnt make such shitty cars, id be out of work. next, mazda builds great cars. just because the general american public cant take the "sports car spirit" doesnt mean its otherwise. look everyswhere else in the world where they enjoy great, fun-to-drive cars we all lust for. if the RX-7 stayed in the US for another couple of years, we would have seen great improvements that would have made it a success story. and maybe we could see spirit 7s running around the streets. anyway, ford isnt all the blame, just partially. as the parent company, they are only doing what they think is best for mazda. instead of leaping into the sports car wagon with another rotary, they wanted to test the waters first with the RX-8.

 

I drove one a few months ago, I really like the way it drove and I got to go by MYSELF lol

The real fun begins when it gets up to the triple digits on the speedo...

I thought it handled very very well..

 

I agree.

 

I think you all miss the point. By reading this thread, you guys think that the RX-8 is the replacement for the 7. It is in no way a replacement. It wasn't ment to be better than the FD. If you ask me, I think Mazda is using it as a test platform to see if Rotaries will sell in North America. Once they decide on that, only THEN will the RX-7 replacement come.