Car Choice

[Nik da Greek]

I suppose cheap is comparative. Plenty under nine grand, one for sale for 8250 in a showroom down town here. \'S only the price of a reasonable single tubby FD after all, and a hell of a lot newer.

EDIT: I say plenty, obviously there aren\'t plenty in the way that BMW\'s are plentiful, like dogger on every street corner. Quick look on AutoTrader shows 11 for sale, of which four are on or around 9k. So not a terrible average.

[Will66]

Not being funny, but 330 is a fairly feeble power output in the great scheme of things. Not wishing to disrespect the \'8 community, but you\'re never going to get sensible power out of them as long as they\'re hampered by that stupid sideporting for emissions legislation and ....errrr, actually for no other reason anyone can understand. They look OK, if you lose the silly smiley Pokemon face for an aftermarket bumper, and they handle well, but if you\'ve got power as a criterion look somewhere else. Maybe put an FD engine in an \'8, is that possible? Will the turbo gubbins fit?

330 whp is hardly feeble for a road car and considering the expensive you go to in an RX7 to get more it\'s quite reasonably priced, you get to use the standard fuel system and can remap the stock ECU to cope so you retain all the in-built features.  Plus a 300 whp RX8 is a decent proposition as a daily driver, doesn\'t suffer any of the histrionics of ported RX7s in terms of lumpy idle, serious low rev lethargy or have the firework style power delivery of a car running a big single turbo.  As I\'ve already said the 13B-REW has already been fitted into several RX8s but it\'s no small job especially if you want to retain things in the 8 like the air-con or power steering.

[jetpilot]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder Mr Greek and judging on re sale value of two cars that were released at the same time, the Rx8 is loosing massively compared to the 350z.

Perhaps the Fd is the only option that ticks most boxes. :cheers

[B.Martin]

If you don\'t like FC\'s (of which i can not understand why not, they\'re beautiful and old skool = cool! )  Then it seems you have answered your own question that a twin turbo FD is what your after

Ben

p.s. if you\'ve got the money get a monaro though, they\'re rather nice i\'d love one.

[B.Martin]

Just remembered i was thinking about the last night for some reason. What about the Lexus IS200 (Toyota Altezza) and casually replace the weak powerplant under the bonnet with a 1JZ?

Just an idea. Certainly practical and i belive you can keep all the normal IS features with the swap... Would have no idea on price though, there are a company that specialises in swaps like this but can\'t remember who - There was a IS200 in some jap mag i\'ve got with a toyota V8 in it and they mentioned they do the 1JZ.

Would be amusing at the traffic lights with some unexpecting victims :rollin



Looks kinda mean to :Laugh

[Nik da Greek]

330 whp is hardly feeble for a road car

It\'s harldy amazing either though, is it? :3Confused A 350Z can\'t be far off that with a filter and exhaust

Plus a  300 whp RX8 is a decent proposition as a daily driver, doesn\'t suffer  any of the histrionics of ported RX7s in terms of lumpy idle, serious  low rev lethargy or have the firework style power delivery of a car  running a big single turbo.

I think you must have driven the wrong sort of singles, Will :3Confused My car has none of these things you mention, and makes 100 horsepower more than that. Plus, when it was on stock twins it managed 330 with no fuel system mods at all, no ignition, etc etc, none of the really expensive stuff you mention. If you\'re claiming that the RX-8 is a great road car with minimal tweaking, I\'m with you all the way. If you\'re claiming it\'s a good tuning option, I\'m afraid we might end up with an argument, cos this just simply isn\'t the case. Mazda designed the engine for one thing...emissions legislation, and that\'s all there is to it. Yes, you can overcome the limitations this imposes on tuning it, but you can never overcome the intrinsic limitations of the design.

As to a "reprogrammable" ECU... well, that\'s not quite accurate either, is it? Yes, you can re-flash it but then you could say the same about pretty much any car with the later diagnostic apparatus

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder Mr Greek and judging on re sale value of two cars that were released at the same time, the Rx8 is loosing massively compared to the 350z.

Yes, I suspect that\'s due as much to the thirst of the rotary and it\'s percieved fragility as much as anything else. All the RX-8s I used to see when they first launched were clearly company cars because they all seemed to clutter up station car parks in the commuter towns. Nowadays I hardly see any. There\'s nothing that hits residuals worse than being the archetypal subsidy car, just ask Vauxhall.

As for beauty being in the eye of the beholder, absolutely. This here beholder thinks they both look silly, so in terms of aesthetics alone I don\'t really care which you buy :rollin

Perhaps the Fd is the only option that ticks most boxes. :cheers

You know it

[jetpilot]

If you don\'t like FC\'s (of which i can not understand why not, they\'re beautiful and old skool = cool! )  Then it seems you have answered your own question that a twin turbo FD is what your after

Ben

p.s. if you\'ve got the money get a monaro though, they\'re rather nice i\'d love one.

FC, well, i have been down this conversation road before. Imho after driving and owning the both of them i think the fc\'s are old, archaic, ugly and basic in a direct comparison.

[B.Martin]

Thats harsh. But each to their own!

[jetpilot]

Thats harsh. But each to their own!

Its not meant to be harsh buddy, but in a comparison that how i see it!

If i wanted old skool, i think fc\'s look awesome, especially with the gp kit and some sweet rims. I think they are great, i owned one

[B.Martin]

Ahh, no offence taken and fortunately my FC can\'t read haha. But i know what your saying, they are old and i can see many reasons someone would choose an FD over the FC - I frankly can\'t afford an FD and i have some strange concept that the 13B is more reliable than the 13B-REW lump :p

[jetpilot]

Its funny actually, reading through this thread. I really fancy a change but its very difficult to find a car (same budget) that tops an fd, i know its personal preference and all but goes to show what great cars they are, pound for pound!

Dreams and cash not an issue, i would have a short block triple built and swap it between a 7 & 8

[B.Martin]

You could buy an s14 - but they\'re ugly as f00k and common as heinz beans.

[Will66]

The Rx8 motor was designed for emissions legislation, that\'s the world we live in, but it\'s a highly useable car and 300 whp is within reach without compromising drivability or much in the way of reliability. Given the number of issues with vacuum controls alone on a set of stock twins, it\'s not exactly bullet proof.  As for single turbos, whilst I\'ve only had a brief drive in one with a claimed 400 hp, on boost it certainly felt that sort of level by my "highly scientific" backside dyno, but the power delivery was such that getting on the power early out of a corner was unsettling which slowed it down. Once straight it was very rapid but was frustrating exiting corners slowly.

Additionally, the RX8 isn\'t significantly compromised by it\'s side exhaust despite the fact it\'s there for emissions. In terms of direct comparison it\'s decisively more powerful than the 6 port EGI RX7 which has peripheral exhaust ports.

[Nik da Greek]

Additionally, the RX8 isn\'t significantly compromised by it\'s side exhaust despite the fact it\'s there for emissions. In terms of direct comparison it\'s decisively more powerful than the 6 port EGI RX7 which has peripheral exhaust ports.

Well, I guess there is over a decade of developement between the two. I was under the impression the EGI 6-ports still had peripheral exhaust porting anyway? That actuated barrel valve intake nonsense in the extra runners is hardly ideal for airflow anyway is it? Just like a throttle, at anything less than fully open it\'s only ever a detriment to running

[jetpilot]

So, whats the cost to get an 8 to 300 whp?