Cars, Man

[LuxLuthor]

The most fun car I ever had was the RX-7 Turbo II that a place in Long Island added a new HKS turbo boost air scoop exhaust system, additional suspension struts, Ricaro seat, air dam, better tires. It got the 0-60 down under 4 sec. Man, that Wankel wailed for not that much additional cost.

[UnderTheWeepingMoon]

Early-model RX-8s have a well-known problem in which the oil metering pump doesn't supply enough oil to properly lubricate the engine seals. I've read that this issue is fairly widespread in the US, which means there are a lot of RX-8s limping around in need of an engine rebuild (if they haven't been rebuilt already ). Monocrom - this explains your stories of unreliability, as poor cold-start performance is a sign of low engine compression. Mazda resolved the issue in later models and I think an ECU reflash is available for cars affected by the problem.

I think a problem with the RX-8 is that rotary engines need a little bit more care than regular piston engines and the majority of people who buy them have no understanding of how they work. I can imagine many RX-8 drivers simply get in their car and drive away, revving the guts out it, before the oil pressure has risen to operating level. For this reason, I don't think an RX-8 would make a good second-hand buy in future.

One thing I can't understand is why Mazda didn't release a turbo version of the RX-8. Like what Lux said above, rotaries respond really well to turbocharging and it helps to make up for their lack of low-end torque. As it is, the Renesis is an impressive engine but it makes a thirsty job of powering the RX-8.

It's a bit sad that Mazda has stopped building rotary-engined cars but there's a bit of hope in this, from Mazda Motor Corporation's Facebook page:

It's great to hear so many passionate opinions about the rotary engine! We can assure you that the rotary engine will always be very close to Mazda's heart and development of the next-generation rotary as well as the hydrogen rotary is ongoing.
So please keep the faith!

[kwak]

To me Mazda used to excel at fairly light weight cars with excellent handling, this it what they do best IMO.
The MX5/Miata/Roadster and RX family are great examples of this, they all handle or handled great for their time.

For Mazda to produce a muscle car just really misses their entire history and design values IMO.

[Monocrom]

The SHO is quicker than the RX-7 (it's quicker than the current 300+ hp Mustang V6!), so Mazda would have to come up with some totally new kind of car..

New car? Yes.

But they already have the engine.

[StarHalo]

But they already have the engine.

The line about an AWD layout matching a Legacy GT assumes a supercharged 3.7 V6 from a current 6; the current 6 manages 60 in 6.1 seconds, the Legacy does it in 5.5, which would require a significant leap in horsepower for the Mazda to match it.

[LuxLuthor]

On the other hand that sub 4.0sec 0-60 got me in a lot of trouble. LOL!

[vali]

Speeding problems or reliability problems? (or both)

[StarHalo]

Should also mention: the old Mazdaspeed 6 matched the Legacy GT's performance numbers exactly; both are turbo four cylinders..

[Changchung]

From 1986

[LuxLuthor]

Speeding problems or reliability problems? (or both)

A couple speeding stops I somehow talked myself out of. I deserved the lane weaving charge. Several fast starts when red light changed got some attention. Most the time I was in no traffic just wanting to see how it handled. I did find that its top speed was 138 mph on a nice, straight stretch of I-95 coming down from Mass just before coming into Rhode Island, where you can see several miles ahead and no traffic.

Never had a single performance/reliability problem, and I drove the living snot out of that turbo boosted Wankel. Traded it in with 35,000 miles on it....that were really more like 100K wear and tear. Got tired of having to put back the catalytic converter to pass emissions testing. That was back in the day where CT passed a law making radar detectors illegal, which opened up a market for people to just move them under the hood. Those were the days.

[StarHalo]

Not April Fools: Porsche is preparing a flat-8 engine for their next supercar. And the new seven speed manual has this shift pattern:

[Monocrom]

From 1986

And every following year afterwards . . .

[Acid87]

Not April Fools: Porsche is preparing a flat-8 engine for their next supercar. And the new seven speed manual has this shift pattern:

That's just getting greedy.

[orbital]

From 1986

+

When I was in High School '86ish, I saw an Ad for the Dave Kimble 959 cutaway in the back of AutoWeek,..ordered it immediately!
Have it framed, but it still pains me to this day I didn't pay the extra $20 to have it signed at the time.

[Changchung]

And every following year afterwards . . .

Exactly, I remember dream driving this space shipp... For those years this Porshe was from the future...

[StarHalo]

My favorite part of any car owner's manual: "When passing, select the lowest available gear and depress the accelerator pedal fully."

[TyJo]

If I win the lottery this is the first thing I will buy (after many, many lights of course).

Nissan GTR (Matte black)

[Chicago X]

On the other hand that sub 4.0sec 0-60 got me in a lot of trouble. LOL!

That must have been a stout upgrade over the stock Turbo II's 200 hp. A sub-4 second 0-60 in a ~3000lb RWD car requires around 500 hp on DOT tires, a bit less with dedicated slicks and drag suspension.

This translates to ~high-elevens at just over 120 mph.

Here's a heavily modded RX7II with larger turbo and M/T slicks: dragtimes.com/Mazda-RX-7-Timeslip

It runs 13.34 at ~104MPH. This equates to about a 4.6-4.7 second 0-60.

Could it have been a sub-5 second 0-60?

[LuxLuthor]

Yeah, I'm sure now that you point that out...and it being so many years ago that it was sub-5 sec, sorry. I know when we took it to Limerock it was not as fast as the Viper or Vette ZR-1, but it was the fastest and best handling RX-7 Turbo II they had seen. It had wide, soft tires that were quite expensive. It was useless trying to drive it in the winter if any snow, which is part of why I sold it.

[StarHalo]

This traffic sucks, and there's no parking..

[Jep]

some i like, you may or may not..







big bimmr fan. 2nd job at 17 was a porter at a bmw/merc dealer in ann arbor, mi. would love to own e39 M5 one day.

[Jep]

also into a somewhat unpopular type of custom, on the internet at least..

(older cars/bigger wheels)

[BIGLOU]

From 1986

I remember in '86 seeing this car at the LA Auto Show. They had a real one that was cut in half even the engine like that poster. You have to be a big baller to have one like this. Here in Cali. you even have to mod it to be street legal. I know Bill Gates and Ralph Lauren have one of these.

[StarHalo]

also into a somewhat unpopular type of custom, on the internet at least..

(older cars/bigger wheels)

Top is a restomod, bottom is just big rims (unless it has hydraulics, then it's a donk); two completely different things..

You have to be a big baller to have one like this.

They sell for about half a million now, which is cheaper than they originally sold, and cheaper still than quite a few current supercars (bearing in mind that a current Corvette has similar performance numbers..)

[Jep]

actually hydraulics would make it a lowrider. a donk is a 71-76 impala or caprice. technically its a 2dr box with bonspeed billet 24's.

[Jep]

some actual "donks" i know alot of people dont like em but some do. i would assume members here have enough integrity to keep the overly negative comments to themselves as i dont care for every custom genre, i still have respect for the work/time/cost involved and dont bash people for their different tastes.

[Monocrom]

Hey, anyone willing to put in the time, money, and effort to keep one of those old classics from ending up in the junkyard to be slowly gutted for parts . . . . Let them customize them if they want to.

[lightknot]

Donks, Boxes, and Bubbles are not everyone's cup of tea, but it's about the passion..

[Launch Mini]

Last week, 13 "young drivers, 21 and under" were sighted speeding around here. Here is one of the news stories, as it looks like 5 of the exotic cars may be confiscated under our new & improved driving laws.
http://www.theprovince.com/cars/Stre...542/story.html

Read some of the related stories to picks of these teenagers rides. Lambos , Ferrari, GTR, Benz, Audi, Aston Martin.

Not the type of kids or wealth I hung around with when I was growing up.

[Monocrom]

Worst thing a parent can do when they're rich is give their kid a Lambo or similar brand as a gift. Not only will the kid not appreciate it in the slightest, other than as a symbol to impress the girls. But when you give an inexperienced driver what is little more than a street-legal race car with headlights, he's not just going to put dents in it like the average inexperienced driver in his first car, but he'll likely total it. Possibly total himself in the process.