Suprised by the RX8....Automatic!

[Mathews2004]

I have been a little slow to jump on the RX-8 band wagon. At the rev it up the RX8 auto had a short line, so I took a couple spins in it. I was prepared for it to be really lame. I really like the paddle shift on the wheel and found it to be responsive. I know it is down on power compared to the 6spd, but it was fun playing F1, if only from 1-2 and 2-1. Also, I was able to work in an excessive amount of shifts on the slower test track.

Handling wise, well, I'm not skilled enough to drive over a quarter and tell you if its heads or tails up, like the rest of you guys! I guess it felt more Miata, where I was expecting Camaro. I liked it.

Note to self, don't buy any demo RX-8s! Where do the rev it up cars go?

[channelmaniac]

Dunno where they go, they sure are abused though

I had that thing in 2nd all the way through the course with rpms > 3500 the whole time...

The manual one's clutch didn't go down far enough & I ground it into second w/9000 on the tach... so I drove it all around HARD in 2nd too... turned out that the floormat was pushed all up under the pedal.

I agree it's really a LOT more Miata like than I expected it to be as well!

And did you see the CEL on the Mazdaspeed Miata? hehehehe It's been VERY abused in its short life.

RJ

[altiain]

If you liked the auto RX-8, you'll really love the manual one. I got to drive a student's manual RX-8 at an autocross a few months ago, and really enjoyed it.