Suprised by the RX8....Automatic!

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?

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. :x

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

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.