My wife's been looking at the WRX for awhile now, and we've just about decided on one until she saw the RX-8. I have to admit, it's a beautiful car. I'd even go as far as to call it a work of art...but it's engine leaves a lot to be desired. Just curious if any automatic WRX's have come up on any yet. I know a stick should dust the Mazda.

only just saw my first RX-8 today

The car looks great, but I read on another site that the hp numbers don't seem right. I don't remember exactly what was said, but for sure it didn't put down as much power as Mazda said it did.

They look nice except if you live in a state that requires a license plate in the front and back, cause you'll have the Bugs Bunny look goin on in the front of the RX8. As for me, too much money for too little torque.

Hi people I'm new here.... My friend says it has a rotary engine or something... Just wondering. What is a rotary engine? I'm not familiar with cars, although the Subaru Impreza is my fav car, I've decided to learn more about cars. Been floating around the forum for a couple days now.

i've seen a couple i like the way they look in person, i still haven't got a chance to run one though because the driver is always an older person. i will see what that car has if i get a chance though on the street at a stop light or at the track. but from what i hear they are slow and have laughable torque

I saw an RX8 run at the track and it ran a 14.40 at 95mph. Not too bad at all in my opinion. The RX7 will be returning next year and have the same motor as the RX8 but weight some 200lbs less. Then about 6 months later the MazdaSpeed division will be releasing a turbocharged version of the RX7 putting out 300 horsepower. I cant wait to see what that car will do. Supposedly it will come in around 2700lbs and with 300 horses it would be a monster. Lets all keep our fingers crossed that it happens.

This should explain the rotary to ya!

http://travel.howstuffworks.com/rotary-engine.htm

Originally posted by THE ONE
The car looks great, but I read on another site that the hp numbers don't seem right. I don't remember exactly what was said, but for sure it didn't put down as much power as Mazda said it did.

Yeah, I think we're back to looking at the WRX again. There's a 2003 auto for sale out here, and it's less expensive, has more horsepower/torque and modability, and gets better gas milage than the RX-8. Looks can only go so far when looking at a purchase. The 8 is a beautiful car, but everything else needs work.

Was at the track last night, RX-8 ran a 15.0 bone stock

Salina

For the price of a used WRX, it be hard to compare to a new RX8 which are selling at about 27k-30k. Once you understand how the new rotary engine works, you really admire what mazda was able to do. However, Mazda goofed with the horsepower rating. Not the first time. Advertised, is 250hp. However, after several independant companies began dynoing, it was found to be less. I believe the final official ratings are 238hp for the manual.
Mazda is trying to "resolve" the problem by offering people a $500 debit card and free maintenance for entire warranty period. If you argue enough, they will buy it back from you... I know.
It's a great car. Doesn't have the everyday, features and benefits that a wrx has though.

I dont know, its pretty quick and handles damn well, and the interior is definatly better than the WRX... I'd take one as a 2nd car any day.

Oh and latest word on the RX-7 is that its a no-go.

my freind sells them, here is the low down from him, stop light to stop light my rs will take an rx8, on the highway, moving along at 50 60 he will eat you up, it is a great highway speed machine, if you were to autocross one it will most likely kill a wrx. it needs those rpms. i think this engine should have been put into the body style of the previous one. also look for the coupe one, it has 2 doors and is supposedly convertable. ooh yeah the dealership were going to buy back the rx8 like stated before because of the hp descrepance.
but **** it is still a nice whip even if it is not 250 and it is like 240 big deal.
another thing supposedly they raced a rx8 and a cobra, the .25 mile the cobra killed it, and on the road course the rx8 smoked the cobra so ooh well how much will you spend to go how fast. i do not know how much just .25 mile driiving you all do.

yeah. i herd that mazda did some testing or whatever and found that the numbers were off. lucky for them rx-8 owners tho...herd they got a fatty cash return just for that. owell...who cares...its a mean machine.




i just looked on the site and the reason why this car is so slow...238hp(on the mazda page) pushing a 3k car. hmm, cant be that fast...until it gets moving of corse. not to mention its 159tq! pssh...i think my lil 200sx se-r could handle this. and my dad would kill it. haha...

I raced an RX8 three times last week in my STi. I gave him the jump each time. By the middle of 2nd gear, I walked past him pretty hard. I got about 3 cars ahead of him by 70-80mph. We repeated this 2 more times. Me giving him the jump off the line and then passing him in 2nd gear on my way to a 3-4 car lead at 70-80mph.

So if your looking for something that is going to hang with an EVO or STi its not your car. I made him look pretty slow.
So I would rather spend a little more money and get an EVO or a STi.

SGOSWRX is totaly right. I just raced an RX8 tonight off a light. My mods are uppipe, turboback, unichip, ic hoses, K&N air filter, MBC, snorkle removed, bov, and a subwoofer box(lol). I raced him till 70 and by then i had him by a car. Not worth it.


p.s.-It was about 15 degrees out tonight and I had my heat craking and my boost hit fuel cut in 2nd. lol

If you guys raced an RX-8 that was bone stock with an STi ofcourse you guys are going to beat it.... the RX-8 is rated at 247 hp and Mazda ****** up and its really 237hp... so thats not even 200 whp... the high red line and near perfect 50/50 weight distribution makes this car a monster on the track. I have an 86 RX7 project car and the rotaries are a ***** to work on but who can beat 200hp coming out of a 1.3 liter engine.

There was one at a small meet we had and it wasn't as quick as my XT. It could handle though. I thought it would be a lot quicker.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid83/p5e8493bce28d2fbfaff0f61860bd5347/fad80b78.jpg

Very cool looking though.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid83/p07fdc0bd9acf7b7e3d18fe40f9485c1c/fad80bd1.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid83/pd0cfde9ebfabd8027aaf69b2b77df0ac/fad80b87.jpg

Funky doors:

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid83/pb82fd04f61b70ecddf8a37b4c8f5b6ad/fad80be1.jpg

Cool inside too:

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid83/p2536834d2f34516620892a2259ef7b72/fad80bd7.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid83/p803ef68d3851eef4d482c14a087cccda/fad80bee.jpg

Originally posted by Peaty
and it wasn't as quick as my XT.

Right on.:)

Has anyone run there Forester turbo at the drag strip yet??? If so, what kind of quarter mile times and speeds did you get?

There is a local guy here with a stock XT (minus silencer) and his best time is 13.840 @ 96.27 Previous he got a 13.9? His scanned in slips are here:

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=461743

I know Steve and he's a hell of a driver in the Auto-X

RX7 is still the best Mazda to make high horsepower numbers.... plus it looks beautiful in stock form and I cant say RX8 is that nice

I think I just saw it in the top 3 overall on Car & Driver TV. The STI didn't make it. :rolleyes:

I MUST be mistaken. If not C&D doesn't sound like they are as good a resource as I thought.

legroom in the RX8 is spacious enough where I could easily sit in the backseat behind myself...only for short trips, though

im not sure if this is true, but my brother told me of this rx-8 turbo that someone had put together that put like 380 to the wheels...sounds crazy to me from 247... anyway i need more power from my rs...any suggestions?

Funny story. There is a family that lives down the stret from me, wife, husband and teenage son. The wife drives a Porsche Boxster, th hubbie drives a yellow RX8 and the teenage son drives an EVO8. So I was getting on the highway the other day and the hubbie was behind me in his RX8. He was on my ass so I decided to have some fun with him, luckily the roads were wet. I pulled on him pretty hard, I could see his back end keep sliding out. I was pretty happy, go AWD!
The next day I passed his house on the way to work and he pulled out right behind me. He followed me to the highway and as we were getting on was on my ass again. This time, roads were dry and I was ready. We got on the highway and I punched it from second. By the time I shifted into third he was at my door. By the time I shifted to fourth he was about 4 car lengths in front of me. Damn.

Oh yeah, apparently hefelt his manhood in jeopardy from the day before, so the second day he borrowed his son's Evo. I never had a chance.

BTW, his wife parks the Porsche on the street.

I had 2002 wrx sedan that I traded in for a rx8. I took mazda up on the
offer to buy back the car. I live in CA, at the time registration was going
to triple I wanted to buy a wrx wagon before that happend. So for several
weeks I had both cars.

Handling - no contest - the rx8 is on another planet. The turn is amazing.

gearbox - rx8 - shifting is much nicer - the ratios are perfect on the rx8.
at least to me I think the gear ratios are to for about on the wrx.
maybe not for you dragracers, but for road racing coming out
of turning bogging in third, screaming 2nd sucks.

looks - I know this just subjective - many - many people (kids and adults)
loved the rx8. People where always staring at my car when I drove by. I don't care what people think though. I actualy think wrx wagon looks cool.

drive ability: I think the wrx is much easier/better car to drive in the real world with everday traffic. The windows my not look cool, but there at the perfect angle that there is no blind spots. The rear doors on the rx8 look
cool unless your the poor sap stuck in the back seat. Your at the mercey
of the front seat passengers to let you out.

My friend and I took out both my cars for roll on test:
(using head sets with our cell phones for the count down)

from a roll (50mph ish to 130 mph ish)
if we started at the same time the no turbo rx8 would get a lead and
never looked back.

If let the wrx go first, just enough so the turbo was spooled, the cars
where even more or less until the rx8 shifts into the close ratio 4th gear.
then it gets several car lengths. the wrx eventually gets in the right
power band in 4th gear and the cars stay about the same distance.
it never catches up to the rx8 but it does not loose any more ground
either. We did this at least 5 times with the same results.

as a car critic :D i give the WRX an A+ and the RX-8 an A-

WRX, better performance, AWD turbo.

RX-8 no turbo, kinda pricey.

Originally posted by jerry 1 a b
This should explain the rotary to ya!

http://travel.howstuffworks.com/rotary-engine.htm

I was just going to post thats same link before i saw that post, and im in a grapic designs class right now and then a kid told another kid to look at how stuff works .com
thats fricking wierd that i was thinking of that then i saw you post it then another kid in class just said that link.
:banana:
anyways

Yeah I Beat My Homgrl Rx8 All The Time Haha Im Stock Wit Only Ssqv Bov She Has Ground Hires And Hks Exhaust No Cat Makes Her Spit Out Fire And K&n Intake Yup Yup

WRX > RX8 . . . RX7 > RX8 HAHAHAHAHA im not a fan of the RX8, but the RX7 is BADASS !