SO! I'm going to explain why the RX8 hasn't been really selling since it's introduction (and never will), from a tuners perspective (which is the type of person Mazda should be making this car for, NOT older, 'mature' drivers, or 'cool' moms). It's actually quite simple...

Although the RX8's driving characteristics are purely sporty Mazda, and thus wonderful...it's just simply not fast enough.

Now this would be fine if the car could be kanoodled with like the rest of the Japanese sports cars...but it can't! The easiest way to inject a car with needed spunk is through forced induction, but the Renesis hates forced induction, and will show you how much when it blows it's apex seals when force-fed. I'm sure this could be solved with drilling some extra exhaust ports, but for the most part, extreme modification of critical engine parts is an undertaking that 99% of people are uncomfortable with. Especially seeing as there are big twin turbo kits for the VQ (350Z/G35/FX35/etc. motor), good for up to 700 ponies, that practically bolt right on for under seven large. Now that may be a bit overkill, but the fact is that it's there. It's an option. The RX8 has no such option. If you know you can't do anything to your car to make it faster it better be fast as hell already or adequately fast and good on gas. The RX8 is neither. 

For the most part, the only people who buy this car are level-headed individuals who don't enjoy 'spirited driving' and are simply looking to purchase something that differentiates them from the rest of the herd. Face it, 90% of all Mercs sold in the world are black, so what does that say about people caring that they look like everyone else? Mercedes owners see things as, "As long as those, 'everyoneelses' are all looked at like they might have a good deal of money, who cares?"

In the case of people who purchase sports cars, sad to say, but most people don't know a damn thing about clipping an apex, thus all the normal members of the herd care about when looking at sports cars is horsepower. And they need to feel this horsepower...they need TORQUE! And the RX8 barely has more torque than my D15 powered gas sipping '94 Civic hatch...and weighs almost twice as much. That's pathetically saddening.   

Now if you're still looking into feeling 'different' then you would have to also not care too much about gas mileage (in addition to enjoying being slow)...But what? Oh, the Mazda engineers are mumbling about how the Renesis was developed with fuel economy in mind (which is why it isn't too powerful), but once again, the simple fact is that it doesn't really accomplish this at all. Comparable sports cars have more usable power and get the same, if not better, mileage. So yeah, go back into your cubicals for a time out.

The saddest fact is that people that fit the, 'potential RX8 owner' description are few and far between, especially now. If you happen to be out looking for a sports car that's under 40K, that you aren't planning to tune, and don't exactly like looking fully the part of a boy racer, then you'd get something like a G35...and most people do. Who cares that you pass 25 G35/37s in the space of an hour on the highway? It's a good looking and performing car, and that's a unanimous agreement. The RX8 is...interesting. Pretty and/or handsome don't really come quickly to mind though...neither does, 'manly'. Much more often than not I hear it being referred to as, 'cute'...from little girls. Sadly, Mazda seems to be unable to shake this curse, and the infection that started with the Miata has crept upstream to the RX8. The revision has done nothing to make it look more masculine, but it has made it less cute...it's also made it border on ugly.

If you're doubtful of my opinion's accuracy, just compare the FD (RX7) to the RX8...yeah, incomparable. How do you replace something like the FD3S, with some-thing like the RX8? Yeah, I know...bloody bad idea right? Until Mazda throws a proper, performance oriented rotary, preferably accompanied by twins (two turbos), or at least a supercharger of some sort into the RX8, they aren't going to make any real profit, nor will they gain the much needed respect/cult following of the young boys and 20 to 30 somethings that they used to have firmly within their grasp when they still made the RX7. Mazda made the RX8 with a completely wrong mindset by trying to appeal to too many theoretical markets, when they should have stuck to making a flagship sports car. I guess in the end it was because of the pursuit of more potential customers, as it is for all manufacturers who lose sight of the simple joy of making a good sports car (*cough*cough*Subaru*cough*Mitsu*cough*bishi).

Biggie said it best, "More money, more problems"...

~TheDarkWind

• Tue, 10/21/2008 - 15:54
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I prefer the RX-8 over the 7 and I'm as much a man as anyone here--a whole nine inches (it's winter).  Just ask my mom...even though she seems to be visiting her close friend, Betty Ford.

I didn't read VII's long op-ed because I lost interest after the first paragraph.  Most of my concentration was devoted to my scan of the Craigslist classifieds for a new Brazilian masseur.  My old one was deported.

The Mazda RX-8 has three easy problems: price, power, and reliability.  The RX-8 has suffered from a terrible rep in reliability studies.  The RX-8's price, in the upper-twenties, puts it out of the range on most younger buyers.  For $25K (now even cheaper), you can purchase a Ford Mustang with a 300 hp 4.6 L V-8.  That leads into the issue of power--there isn't enough.

The RX-8's superb handling, unusual suicide doors, and fluid styling (very Japanese) caught my eye since it debuted.  It's a shame I couldn't find a new one with the equipment I wanted for under $30K.  I would go more into it, but the drugged-out gal near me (and her mean-looking Arab friend) are beginning to wig out. 

• Tue, 10/21/2008 - 19:51
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