RX-8

[velocgee]

brianjohns said:

Question:

Does anyone who has driven the RX-8 extensively think it either is or could be modified to be a better handling car (for road driving) than the likes of Porsche's Cayman?

I for one - who have driven the Cayman extensively believe that it is very good but not the best in a lot of ways. TO be honest I can think of several ways which the RX8 is a better handling car than the Cayman.

Edited by brianjohns on Saturday 1st September 22:10

Have never driven a Cayman, but i have driven an RX8 extensively. what i will say it when my car was fully geo. set-up (camber, caster, the lot!) i did query whether a Porsche could be any better - it was that good (almost brought tears of joy to my eyes...yes, sounds silly, but I don't care, it's the truth! amazing)

that the R3 just improves on the original model must suggest it can compete with a Cayman.

brianjohns said:

Thanks for your comment.

In fact I would say that the Cayman if/once it does lose grip can at times be rather out of sorts and harder to get back on course; especially in the wet. Sometimes Its all grip or quick slip.
b

i do remember reading an article on 'polar moments of inertia'...which basically concluded [about mid-engined cars] what you've said.

i believe the RX8 offers the best balance. a proper front-mid-engine layout. very forgiving,progressive handling, but still sharp.

[carinaman]

Would sea foam have got Dale another few laps?

[brianjohns]

velocgee said:

i do remember reading an article on 'polar moments of inertia'...which basically concluded [about mid-engined cars] what you've said.

i believe the RX8 offers the best balance. a proper front-mid-engine layout. very forgiving,progressive handling, but still sharp.

Finally someone who gets it; (good on you velocgee!) that although the RX8 was a troubled mechanical thing, it proved the point that not only Porsche can do handling.

Unfortunately this idea was lost on the majority (press included.. who let it die without complaint or noting its great potential for other makers to aspire to), lost even to the folks over at Lotus, whom could have used it as a template for a more affordable future that might have worked out better than the tragedy that hit them. A small size, lightweight, rear wheel car with great feedback can work. Now we have a car which does not handle as well and has less feedback called the GT-86. b

Edited by brianjohns on Wednesday 5th September 06:48

[RobDickinson]

I doubt if you worked on both the boxter and the rx8 the rx8 would come out on top, it shouldnt given the boxters shorter wheelbase and probably advantage on stiffness and weight.

The rx8 is no slouch on handling though, but the electric assisted steering is a feels a bit detached.

[brianjohns]

RobDickinson said:

I doubt if you worked on both the boxter and the rx8 the rx8 would come out on top, it shouldnt given the boxters shorter wheelbase and probably advantage on stiffness and weight.

The rx8 is no slouch on handling though, but the electric assisted steering is a feels a bit detached.

It does have electric steering, but I would say its the best electric steering that has ever been made.

I'm not a fan so much of Automobile magazine but their editors are pretty good drivers and they gave a fitting goodbye to the RX-8. As you'll read even in 2011 their whole staff believes it stands amongst the very best handling cars currently made...

http://www.automobilemag.com/reviews/editors_noteb...

I maintain that Lotus should have looked to this car for ideas of what to build. The Rx-8 brought so much to the game- small size, light weight, great feedback, precision to all controls, an amazing gear-change, a spacious cabin with at least a little room for 4 in a pinch, and that fabulous completely balanced handling.

Lotus would have done well to have built one of these with a proper engine and alloy construction- without all the pomp and junk they layered on us these last years, b

[RobDickinson]

I know what the steering is like. IMO its the one aspect of the drive thats not as good as it should have been.

Will have a read of that link later thanks!

[brianjohns]

RobDickinson said:

I know what the steering is like. IMO its the one aspect of the drive thats not as good as it should have been.

Will have a read of that link later thanks!

Rob,
I kind of agree with you. But I thought it steering was very good- not Cayman or Evora good I'll grant you, b

[ESOG]

Frimley111R said:

Yep, wife's Boxster 2.7 has RMS and is blowing a bit of smoke (white and blue randomly). Only got 50k on the clock and two female owners. No guarantees on any car tbh.

No guarantees, but certainly degrees of such. However I noticed you said 2 female owners.... Errr, well,

[redgriff500]

brianjohns said:

I maintain that Lotus should have looked to this car for ideas of what to build. The Rx-8 brought so much to the game- small size, light weight, great feedback, precision to all controls, an amazing gear-change, a spacious cabin with at least a little room for 4 in a pinch, and that fabulous completely balanced handling.

Lotus would have done well to have built one of these with a proper engine and alloy construction

I agree BUT as pointed out previously, a large part of the reason that Mazda managed it was because of the tiny rotary engine.

[R26Andy]

RX7 said:

R26Andy said:

Failure is normally more gradual wear/loss of compression due to oil wash out by unburnt fuel from dodgy coil packs.

More internet untruths about rotaries!

I took a guy for a test drive in a Rx7 i was selling, it was as sweet as a nut, we stopped at a cash point and in the time it took him to get a deposit out it blew a water seal!

Failures, just like Dales are usually catastrophic and quick, but as Dale mentioned, i could have an engine rebuild for my Rx7 with 30 months or 30k miles warranty for £3k (inc removal/replacement) with no caveats as to what the car is used for (track, dift, drag or road) or how much hp it runs, id say that is pretty good value for money!

Edited by RX7 on Thursday 30th August 12:55

Er no. 3.5 years of ownership myself and being an avid member of the ownersclub for 5 years. Thats why I said they "normally fail" not "always fail" like this.

As a side note, coil packs seem to degrade slowly rather than totally fail so by the time the owner is aware there is something wrong it is often too late.

[otolith]

R26Andy said:

As a side note, coil packs seem to degrade slowly rather than totally fail so by the time the owner is aware there is something wrong it is often too late.

There have been cases where the first someone has realised that they have a problem is when they've been on an OC run and their 231ps car has been out-accelerated by a 192ps one.

[pstables]

No no no no no. Reading this thread has got me all nostalgic and wanting an RX-8 again. I had a 54 plate in Winning Blue from new and ran it for 4 years without any major problems (I flooded it once, had to be taken to dealers to be re-started).

The R3 in white looks just stunning and can be had for around 9K, bargain. Not sure I can live with the running costs now though, I replaced the RX-8 with a Leon Cupra K1 which did around 28mpg (and 280 - 290bhp). The turbo torque of the Leon felt so much faster than the RX-8 but the RX-8 handling was amazing.

Currently running a petrol Octavia vRS, bit down on power of the Cupra but will see 40mpg on a long run, fit 2 kids and bikes / scooters in the boot. Not sure I can put up with sub 20mpg again.

[Kiwi G]

I've been a pistonheads member for years but have posted fairly infrequently. I have to post on this thread in defense of the RX-8.

Let me start by saying that I've had engine rebuilds for my:

• Alfa 164 Cloverleaf - burnt valves
• MR2 MK2 Rev 5 Turbo - big end twice
• Porsche 996 TT - IMS shaft ring gear bolts became loose - a very rare non fatal failure. The new ones have thread locker on them. This rebuild has cost me several years of nice holidays.

I maintain my cars well and warm them up nicely but then tend to drive them with spirit.

Anyway onto my RX-8 - after the MR2 and a long list of company Civics and immediately before the 996.

The RX-8 was one of the nicest cars I have ever owned. It was red with the two tone leather interior, and the six port engine. Anyway, when I got it I replaced the coil packs and always fed it plenty of Castrol GTX. In fact once I managed to get distracted and absentmindedly overfilled it. I was coming back from work the next day around a long sweeper at 9000 RPM and when the lateral G got high enough there was an almighty cloud of smoke out the back and a minor power drop. Once back on the straight the smoke went and the power returned fine. I assume it was oil hydraulicing past the side seals into the combustion chamber.

The car had a few problems but exploding engines was never one of them. I remember that I always warmed it up gently and then tended to beep it on every gear change

It did however:

1. Eat catalytic converters.
2. Return an average of 17 mpg for my 50 mile per day commute.
3. Really annoyingly had a propensity to gouge spirals on CDs at a combination of high lateral G and high turn rate. I got really good at polishing CDs.
4. Got front disc vibration easily - but after market discs were pretty cheap.

It had really nice handling that was incredibly neutral - you could feel the back start to squirrel about way before anything bad started to happen. However there was something strange with the front suspension geometry that under certain conditions caused the front to leap across the road when it hit a certain type of rut - and there were plenty of those on my commute from MK toward Oxford.

The RX-8 was a really fun car to drive - the EPS was good and it had a superb manual gear box.

Driving the RX-8 fast was fun and I suspect it would bare good comparison to the GT-86.

As my job changed to commuting by rail, had the RX-8 not scratched CDs and had I not gone mad and bought a 996 TT, I would probably still have the RX-8.

One final sobering thought. For the cost of the 996 engine rebuild I could have have at least five 13B rebuilds and spare change.

PS : One final note. If you have an RX-8 and flood it do not call a service van. Simply pull the fuel injector fuse and crank it for a couple of minutes. Replace the fuse and start as usual. Of course this assumes that you maintain your plugs in good condition.

Edited by Kiwi G on Wednesday 10th October 19:00

[Humour]

Dale Lomas said:

I have 1000 - for that I can start on the road to a 328i track car with engines at €250 and parts coming cheap off VLN race cars and M3s.

Back full circle on the track car front then Dale. Mind disclosing why you let the earlier e36 328 go in the first place?

[BrettMRC]

Necromancer.