Newspaper Article - Mazda RX 8 GT vs 370Z
 

Just spotted this in the local Saturday papers from SMH 2 weeks ago.... It piqued my interest - as an old rotor-head, the RX 8 was high on my buy list when I was choosing the Z.

having test driven both, along with others like audi TT quattro 3.2, Porsche Cayman S, ... I can say I prefer the Z over the RX 8 GT. The Z motor is nowhere near as smooth as the rotisserie (in fact its quite a buzz box > 4000rpm) but I chose the right car!

First I was like "wow $68,000?!?!" Then I wikipedia'ed "Central Coast NSW" and I went "oh." :D

Looks to me like it's Sports car VS Performance car...

Use to drive a 2004 RX8; do miss the rotary engine for the high revs and smooth acceleration. But with the Z, I have more torque, as much if not more grip and handling plus it does look alot better.

yes Molaman, this is the aussie model. retail is around $68000 for 6MT and $71000 for 7AT. The only choice here is colour and 6MT or 7AT. Comes default with sports + touring package plus 18" wheels. Ithink the 19" Rays will be on the aussie 2010/11 model. And no roadster here yet, again 2010/11.

$68 large sounds a lot but remember the aussie $ is not worth as much as $USD. I think $68000 aussie dollars is about $545.25 USD :-)

Gee

Stupid article from a moron reviewer.

I love the rotaries but the RX8 was weak as piss without a turbo. Bring back the Series 8 RX7 Mazda!!!

I have heard this too last week from a reliable source. Late Feb/Early March they will all have 19" in Oz. I am really pissed off about this and have alredy spoken to the Nissan managers at my dealer about it.

hey guys, i had a 2009 rx8 gt and sold it to buy my new Z, still miss the rx8 in some ways, but the z is still a great car and a car i can see myself owning for alot longer, hence the trade.:tup: also i have added some pics of the old to the new below..

Yeah, here's some pics of my 1990 RX7 Turbo II. I bought it in 1995 from Alexander's Rotary at Parramatta rd. Croydon Sydney. I traded it and my Ford Shopping Trolley (I am sure 'Fiesta' means Shopping Trolley in Swahili) for the Z about 6 weeks ago.

2 years ago I almost died when the brake booster in the RX perforated and lost vacuum, the effect of which is to make the brake impossible to depress. Its scary stuff when suddenly and no warning there is a loss of brakes when in the middle of tight sweepers at 80kph on a dual carriageway coming up to a roundabout with traffic.

I'm an average driver, well maybe a little better than the average schmuck out there in their conforma-door, at least I can heel-and-toe, somehow I stayed cool and pulled it up w/handbrake and engine brake within an inch of a terrible crash, and the car in front of me was so oblivious that I don't think they even knew.

Naturally I was furious with the RX and while it was in the workshop I bought the Ford Shopping Trolley (I am sure Fiesta mean Shopping Trolley in Swahili) as my new daily drive. I took the RX off the road for a year with plans to fix her up a bit - new paint job and body work, new wheels and so forth.

Well, then the crap fell out of the economy and had to shelve plans.

Now am making some $ again and having followed the 370Z since it debuted at the 2008 Los Angeles Motor Show, I knew I would get one, just a matter of time...happy days now.

Anyway, I'm just babbling on as usual. ha ha.....

"I have heard this too last week from a reliable source. Late Feb/Early March they will all have 19" in Oz. I am really pissed off about this and have alredy spoken to the Nissan managers at my dealer about it."

Yes GtrFan, I've been following the 370Z since its debut and, as usual for me, I did a lot of research before laying down my hard earned bucks - I can't remember where I read it - have to go and organise all the stuff I have printed out and URLs etc. - but I believe the the 19" Rays are coming on next years model. Along with the roadster a little later in 2010.

I was pretty peeved we did'nt get them this with the 2009 model. It ties in with the lack of iPhone integration. I'm hazarding a guess but it seems like we are getting dumped with the older or prototype equipment in some respects. No wonder my grand dad always had a thing for the japs.

So you are part Japanese Gee??

Ha Ha, no not Japanese.

Look, I have no beef against modern day Japs, most of them would'nt know a thing about WW2 anyway. What I meant by that comment is that my grandad and his generation was there when the Japs attacked Darwin and Sydney and so forth...he could'nt let it go...as well I am sure the many japs saw it from their perspective.

Think about it ... less than 20yrs after the bombing of Hiroshima, we had "The Samurai - Shintaro" as the no. 1 kids tv show in Australia. My parents even took me to see his tour of Oz in the late 60's

He got a bigger turn-out then the Beetles in 1964. Parents and the community were outraged that a TV show that the kids emulated by beating each other over the head with make-shift Katana (swords) and Shuriken (star knives) was bigger than anything else on TV at the time.

Hell, I loved Shintaro and the "Koga Ninja and Tombei The Mist", and that was a source of unrest within the community in the 1960's. Sorry ,Gen Xers' or Y's or Z's or whatever is the word now. Ha ha.

Anyway, just me babbling again...ha ha

Um 370z > RX8 GT
In couple of years though the RX8 might take the z down though once they stop with that rotary crap.

I was actually pulling your leg :)
but nice write up nevertheless :)

All good, keep em coming. Your babbles are no bullsh1t and entertaining. :tup:

Taking a side step back to the 19's issue, I had a mate who went down to speak to a Sydney dealer about the Z and asked about the 19's not appearing on Aus models. He said that Nissan aus decided against it because of cost, and because the wheels are magnesium, they were concerned about them cracking on our roads and recieving too many warranty claims. Would be surprised if they reversed the decision, but just as happy if they did!

All "mags" historically were made partially from magnesium as the name suggests. Nissan and ADR probably just saw the wheels as an expensive and unknown safety item that was easily canned initially. Now that the GFC is over and the Aussie dollar is strong, they may take another look at them for 2010. I’m sure they will realise that Rays Engineering make some of the best wheels in the world, so safety won’t be an issue. I think the lack of wheels was mainly a cost issue at the time.

yeh i think they should experiment with the mazda mps engine into the rx8..

Mate, sorry, my all pervasive, all knowing, all seeing, ********-Detector is making a serious beeping noise at hearing abut 'mags' cracking up in Oz compared to other countries. Have you driven in USA? Whats that? no ? yeah right, why do you think they made them as a magnesium compound in the first place ? The gods that be, please give me strength not to throttle the throat of the unbelievers...

ha ha. just fooling around Boardingnath...its a good line of enquiry . I think it has more to do with marketing than physics.

"There are no stupid Questions, just stupid people who don't ask Questions"


Gee

:gtfo2: Why would Mazda stop putting a Rotary in an RX? They've done a spectacular job over the years bumping the potential of the Wankel. Something about only three moving parts that warms the soul

Ah yes, the beautiful simplicity of the the rotary 13B engine - 3 moving parts - the 2 rotors and the crank shaft, compared to the mighty V6 with 6 pots, 24 valves, chains to synchronise the timing between valves and crank, and other stuff. Ah, the glory of it, the effortlessness and purity of the wankel design... until the we hit the real world...ker thump...

The downside of the smooth power of the wankel design is that it is essentially a two stroke design and at 1.3 litres.. yeah yeah I know of the 20B 3 rotor racing engine and so forth...try getting those emissions past the Governator (damn, am going to go hunting later for a youtube vid of the wankel motor, its truly an enginerring marvel AND a curse...ever wonder why Mazda is the only major m'facturer to persist with it <ignoring patents etc ?>)

Anyway it sucks oil as it needs to lubricate the three apex seals of the rotor while operating (I had mine upgraded from 2mm to 3mm apex racing seals to cope with the extra turbo boost).

But its all good. Diversity in design breeds best of for us all to enjoy.

The Z motor is awesome for producing 245KW out of a 3.7 litre naturally apsirated V6...holy crap ..my old Jensen Interceptor III 440 cu inch Chrysler donk (>7 litres , my friends) could just barely crank out the same power. But thats what science and engineering can do in 30 years....

(pics coming...)

Right on, man. 13B rotary? Try 12A, my friend. Remember, this is coming from an old RX-3 owner :tup:

The apex seals on my RX-3 gave up the ghost at about 45k of spirited driving (no track).

The RX-7 (2nd gen) and RX-8 are great cars with a great engine. In the real world!

As for the Nissan 3.7L V-6..all I can say is I used to think my old Alfa GTV-6 was baddass. That's what decades of technology will do for you.

I agree, they are great cars. The Z is the car for the 2010's though, much better overall, IMHO.
You can't let yourself be tied to an opinion..., its a little like always vouching for a particular religion or political party after all the world has realised its time to move on.

Like the losers, my friends amongst them , who still pine for Johnny H at the helm. As someone else commented, the RX7 Series 6 onwards is the best. I remember drooling over them at Syd. car dealerships along Paramatta rd all those years . Those bee-atches at Bathurst had to change the rules to eliminate the all conquering RX-7 from 1993 onwards. F*&kers...

All said and done though, likie I said at the ouset, I drove all the competitionj and the Z rules!

Ha ha, otherwise I'd have bought an RX 8 GT and be on the RX-7/ RX-8 forum bitching about the buzzy z34 engine and how the Z car , while faster, sharper, cooler, meaner, with cool aluminium bonnet, hatch, carbon fibre tail shaft., oh ****, I guess I would'nt have much to bitch about really......damn the Z really is better...ha ha.

Gee

The Bathurst bogans are weak as piss. They banned the GTR's when they had their asses whooped and then the RX7's, BMW's, Cosworths and any other car that was quicker. The taxi racing the carry on with these days is so ridiculous and boring.

rant rant

hahahaha i totally agree, i only had a 2.5L v6 Alfa 156 before this car, but was looking at getting into a 156/147 GTA or a GTV... then i found some finances, and with help from the govt rebates stepped into my 370 beast...

All my mates and their Evo's and 200sx's with turbo's bigger than my wheels cant believe the power mine has from a naturally aspirated V6.
I keep telling them to picture mine with their turbos on it. hahah *** kicker!!


Just a note... found it funny that on the magazine article it said 10.5L/100km for our fuel efficiency... hahahaha is that with my grandma driving it in neutral at 60km/h on a downward sloping freeway?
Im lucky if i get 420km to a 70L tank! ahahah

It would seem that I'm one of few that prefers the 18's. The 19's do nothing to improve the performance or none that I am aware of. Plus I had low profiles before and was not impressed by the ride and the cost of replacements.

I had an 2005 RX8 and loved it but you just have to understand they are different cars. The one thing not mentioned though is the rotary falls to pieces. I had a collaped cat, ignition coils, O2 sensor, engine mounts and spark plugs all go within 35000 kms. All mazda service could say was, "yeah, we have a lot of problems with these"

You really have to push the RX8 to get anything out of it but when you do it's great fun.

:iagree:

Confirmed!

This is weird quoting myself, but in the latest Wheels magazine there is an article about the new 2010 Roadster ST which has optional 19" wheels!

Nice one Nissan. Way to go pissing all the 2009 buyers off by not offering decent wheels. :icon23:

:iagree:

The extra inch of diameter does nothing significant to improve performance, however the extra 1" in width of rim and tire does improve performance significantly. And yes, replacement tires are much more expensive in the 19" sizes.