I was out cruising tonight and met up with a RX-8. We were just messing around and flexin our stuff and having some fun, A few things I noticed was that the RX-8 took a sec or two to "Spool Up" In the End he backed and left me be. How is this matchup? any experiences?

 

You could have taken it. Their specs are almost a second slower in 0-60 and quarter mile. Plus, the hp is overated, they are actually a lot less hp than they originally advertised, I heard they even had to offer to buy some back, but that could have been rumor. They also don't have a lot of torque, only around 160, but they have 4.44 gears to make up for it in the manual, and 4.30 in the auto.

Not a bad looking car, I like the suicide doors, but not a contender with the Mustang.

 

If you read any of the mag articles about the RX8 they are only slighty slower than the 350Z or our 05 Mustangs. I did quite a bit of research before I bought my Mustang and would be driving an RX8 now if they had not redesigned the Mustang for 05. But you should have no trouble beating them in a race given equal driving skills of course. The RX8 puts out like 240Hp but that is at like 5000 - 8000 rpm for peak hp and its light on torque like 160pds.But this is in car which weights like 3100lbs with a perfect 50/50 weight distribution and with an engine that revs like an electric motor to 9000rpm. Which is where is where of course we get the saying " Theres no replacement for displacement" where our stang shines with ample torque from 2000 rpm and up all through the rpm.And torque is what wins a race. The RX8 is a superior quality Sports car and has won contest after contest over the 2350Z and Honda S2000. Its definitly an awsome sports car , and looks great I think, but doesnt get the attension my Musatng gets , nor dose it sounds as cool as my Mustang. The RX8 is really quiet but sounds like a turbine when it winds up, but Im deffinitely addicted to the awsome exhuast of 300ponies.

 

One advantage of the RX-8 over the Mustang is that you can get them for thousands less than MSRP with no problem.

RX-8 gets really bad gas mileage for such a small engine and only has 159 lb.-ft. of torque at 5500 rpm.

Autoweek did a longterm test drive and only got 13mpg http://autoweek.com/article.cms?articleId=101557

 

Yeah, I looked at the RX8 about a year ago, but I wasn't too impressed. I had a 85 RX7 and it was a lot of fun. It was one of those cars that looking back on it years later I wish I'd have keep it. The RX8 haowever I wasn't too impressed with. It had real blind spots on the sides due to the back seats. I think they should have have left the back seats out of the new RX8, that would have made it more of a sports car IMO.

If Mazda had made the RX8 more like the first generation RX7, then I'd have one instead of my Mustang.

But, I've heard rumors that Mazda is coming out with the RX7 in a couple of years. If that's true then I might be trading in my pony....

 

That new RX-7 is supposedly going to be a $90,000 car to compete with the new Supra, NSX, Z06, etc. At least the rumor I heard. I hope it simply takes the place of the RX-8 and has some real power. The old RX's were cool.

 

I haven't heard about the new RX-7 being $90,000. I don't think they would sell many of them at that price.......

They would do better keeping it a 2 seat light weight sports car for around $25,000 or less!

Here's something I found from a Sept 2003 issue of Road and Track....

2006 Mazda RX-7

Don't think of the next RX-7 as a 2-door version of the RX-8 because we hear that the car will be more powerful and slightly smaller than its 4-door sibling. The next-generation RX-7 will be a 2-seat coupe riding on a shortened-wheelbase version of the RX-8 platform. There will likely be two renditions of the car: a base model powered by the RX-8's Renesis rotary producing 250 bhp; and a Mazdaspeed edition powered by a turbocharged rotary producing up to 300 bhp.

Plans for a revived RX-7 existed when the RX-8 was being developed. When asked if there was room in Mazda's lineup for both an RX-8 and RX-7, top Mazda brass said yes. Therefore, much of the car's basic foundation, including its RX-8-derived suspension, has already been determined.

Like the previous RX-7 (and unlike the RX-8), the next car will be a pure sports car, with a low, wide stance, flowing profile and a lightweight body. However, the next RX-7 will be priced aggressively — we are hearing estimates of $30,000 to $35,000. Depending on the success of the RX-8, the RX-7 may bow as early as fall 2005.