So the year was 1985 and I went shopping for an RX-7. I liked the FB a lot but for Washington DC city driving the FB was just too small(and the SUV craze hadn't even kicked in good yet). The dealers swore up and down that there were no major changes for 1986 and of course that I should buy one right then and there. Wisdom prevailed(yeah I guess I'm a geezer) and I waited.
A couple of months later, my job sends me to Ohio to cover a sporting event(Buckeyes) and I stopped at a mall near Ohio State for some toiletries. Inside the mall there was the typical shopping mall car show going on with various cars scattered around the halls. I was casually looking around when something caught my eye. WHAT THE HELL IS THAT? Imagine the reaction. No magazine articles, no commercials, no spy phoos, no nothing. And then WHAM!!!! What a beautiful machine! Of course it was love at first site-and I had a job! Of course the dealers had lied. The FC went public and I bought the GXL.
Cut now to the 21st century, my FC had been mothballed for almost ten years due to personal BS, and now she's back on the road. Less than 70k on the odo, and almost cherry. In all these years the simple, clean elegance of this machine is still holding up quite well to the new "developments" over the years.
Oh the pain that Honda Ricer must have felt when I crushed his a** with a 17 year old bone stock 7.

 

Wow, it seems that even back in the 1980's, the Mazda dealerships didn't know what they were talking about.

 

back in march of this year the sales guy told me that the new RX8 would have a brand new kind of motor that no one had ever seen before. at that very moment my TII was sittin in the Taco Bell parking lot next door. i chuckled and walked out.
Story 2--- i was at mazda 2 weeks ago looking at the new RX8 and the sales girl walked out. i was with a friend and we decided to play dumb. we asked her if this car had that rotary engine in it..?? there was a long silence, and she then told me that it had a 6 speed transmition and seating for 4.

 

i went and test drove one...im 20 with a banged up 88 TII they said they would do a trade in for 5 grand and i would have payments of approx. 500-600/month. I told them i only make $1000/ month and they shut their mouthAnyways it was midnight madness at the ford/mazda dealership the salesaman took me and my best friend and my girlfriend for a ride ..he hit 120mph but it seemed sluggish and he was revving it HIGH like 7500-8000 i think my bone stock 7 could keep up with it until 120mph. nice looking car though and comfy...it was the manual version so it was 247hp....i think ive got it though the renesis was voted the INTERNATIONAL MOTOR OF THE YEAR in 2003....sounds like they have their head properly mounted on their shoulders!

 

Uh, I believe the CORRECT terminology would be test RODE in one.

Not that I am splitting hairs, mind you.

 

yeah thanx for the correction...what would i ever do without you people correcting me. i just wouldnt know what to do. j/k yeah i only test rode in one but the salesman did exactly what i wouldve done, up to 120mph and when we turned around he sort of spun out in a 180 degrees until we were going the opposite direction...it was quick but not that quick

 

I remember getting tailed by a NEW TII in '87 whilst driving the FB to college. WOW! That car was menacing in my rearview.

 

College? in 87? You've just dated yourself sir. And damn, you are old!


(And I am right behind you, just don't tell anyone. D'oh!)