R.I.P. to 14 cars and trucks for 2012

I want Elise and RX8 back... AFAIK, the next Elise will be heavier, more Rooney-ish.
Eclipse was a nice car too - a good sporter coupe for a little moneyz.
 
I don't understand why everyone cares about the RX-8, it had a completely gutless engine, didn't look anywhere near as good as the FD before it and was about as fast as a family sedan these days.... Not to mention all the issues that the rotary brings to the table as far as reliability goes.... The only thing it had going for it was being a wankel.
 
prizrak said:
I don't understand why everyone cares about the RX-8, it had a completely gutless engine, didn't look anywhere near as good as the FD before it and was about as fast as a family sedan these days.... Not to mention all the issues that the rotary brings to the table as far as reliability goes.... The only thing it had going for it was being a wankel.
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QFT.

Oh, and that running and hiding thing? We should probably both do some of that right about now.
 
Pedrocas said:
Good ridance - except for the Elise, you will be missed, little fellow.
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Spectre said:
That said, they should have brought over a Falcon or something as a Crown Vic. I think Ford's blowing their opportunity.
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Yes. America would love an Ecoboost Ford Falcon; no need for a V8, just use the 3.5 TTV6. And the name Falcon carries no stigmas, nothing that would imply that it is a car for the elderly, cabbies or cops.
 
prizrak said:
I don't understand why everyone cares about the RX-8, it had a completely gutless engine, didn't look anywhere near as good as the FD before it and was about as fast as a family sedan these days.... Not to mention all the issues that the rotary brings to the table as far as reliability goes.... The only thing it had going for it was being a wankel.
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I liked the original non-facelifted RX-8, it was an interesting looking and aawesome handling car however the engine completely took that car off my list. The militant rotards. Will now probably argue with me on how wrong I am but the market agrees with me.
 
jasonof2000 said:
I liked the original non-facelifted RX-8, it was an interesting looking and aawesome handling car however the engine completely took that car off my list. The militant rotards. Will now probably argue with me on how wrong I am but the market agrees with me.
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I would have accepted the RX-8 on its own but the problem with it was that it would inevitably be compared to the RX-7 no matter what Mazda says and RX-7 was a great car in just about every way (except reliability sadly).
 
However what is almost always over looked is that the RX-7 was just about twice the price of the RX-8.
 
jasonof2000 said:
However what is almost always over looked is that the RX-7 was just about twice the price of the RX-8.
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Sure but it was in the same price range as it's competition?

The RX-8 is roughly $27,000 MSRP, V6 Mustang is around $20,000 same with the Genesis Coupe. The 370Z is a bit more expensive at $32,000 for the cheapest trim level. In the current market the RX-8 just doesn't make any sense when you can have more powerful/faster sports cars for less money. This is not even factoring in the fact that the others won't have any of the inherent issues that a rotary does.

Mind you this is just for new cars you go into the used car market and things look even worse for 8 simply because the rest of the cars in the same niche sold in much greater numbers and therefore can be had for less money.
 
I say that it was a legislation/regulation kill because the laws have effectively killed the rotary. By design, it is not as efficient as the piston engine and it is held to the same standards. When the '8 debuted (back when the V6 mustang had a paltry 190hp and the Hyundai Genesis wasn't even thought possible), it was fairly competitive, but with the inability to continue development of the renesis engine (the JDM models had 250hp all along) it became less and less relevant. The MSP engine was designed entirely around emission regulations and that is probably the 8's biggest downfall. They just run too hot for turbochargers, which is why we never saw a production version with one.
 
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prizrak said:
Mind you this is just for new cars you go into the used car market and things look even worse for 8 simply because the rest of the cars in the same niche sold in much greater numbers and therefore can be had for less money.
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Did the RX-8 not depreciate that badly in the US market? Around here its easily the cheapest sporty car in that class, heck I can easily get a cheaper RX-8 than I can MX-5(used MX-5 prices here are ludicrous). The lowest I've seen the RX-8 go for are highish mileage ones at about $5000 but fairly low mileage ones at $7000+(some even from the dealers). I couldn't even think of getting a old Honda S2000 unless I shell out at least 10K, same with the 350Z and the Mustangs for RX-8 prices are V6 autos which is undesirable for that car. They're the only reasons I was even contemplating of getting one, I could find one with low mileage(some scarily low) at a low price and can still have it under Mazda's extended powertrain warranty should the engine go kaput.
 
GM_IV said:
Did the RX-8 not depreciate that badly in the US market? Around here its easily the cheapest sporty car in that class, heck I can easily get a cheaper RX-8 than I can MX-5(used MX-5 prices here are ludicrous). The lowest I've seen the RX-8 go for are highish mileage ones at about $5000 but fairly low mileage ones at $7000+(some even from the dealers). I couldn't even think of getting a old Honda S2000 unless I shell out at least 10K, same with the 350Z and the Mustangs for RX-8 prices are V6 autos which is undesirable for that car. They're the only reasons I was even contemplating of getting one, I could find one with low mileage(some scarily low) at a low price and can still have it under Mazda's extended powertrain warranty should the engine go kaput.
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$10k is the rough price floor for all but the highest-mileage 2004 RX-8s, so there seems to be quite a different used market for them here. S2Ks go for even more than RX-8s.
 
Labcoatguy said:
$10k is the rough price floor for all but the highest-mileage 2004 RX-8s, so there seems to be quite a different used market for them here. S2Ks go for even more than RX-8s.
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Yep a quick scan confirms, so roughly same price as the 350Z of the same years/mileage, which does not bode well for the 8. S2K is a bit more expensive but the best choice for a high revving sports car and still well within that 10-15K range.
 
Labcoatguy said:
$10k is the rough price floor for all but the highest-mileage 2004 RX-8s, so there seems to be quite a different used market for them here. S2Ks go for even more than RX-8s.
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The price floor here seems to be about $7K for all but the 100K+ 2004s.
 
prizrak said:
Yep a quick scan confirms, so roughly same price as the 350Z of the same years/mileage, which does not bode well for the 8. S2K is a bit more expensive but the best choice for a high revving sports car and still well within that 10-15K range.
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Spectre said:
The price floor here seems to be about $7K for all but the 100K+ 2004s.
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Huh, looks like there's a ~$3k price premium for being located on the east coast then.
 
Well, I've been looking at Craigslist postings up and down the eastern seaboard (going as far south as North Carolina) and all of the sub-100k mileage cars start around $11k. It's not just a cold-weather thing.
 
This thread has prompted me to see what RX-8s are still kicking around in dealers. 600 is a pretty exclusive number....

No, bad Victor, there is absolutely nothing wrong with your current car...

In regard to the current conversation, the RX-8 has better back seats than the competition and suicide doors. Makes a lot of sense if you want more than a 2-seater.
 
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thevictor390 said:
This thread has prompted me to see what RX-8s are still kicking around in dealers. 600 is a pretty exclusive number....

No, bad Victor, there is absolutely nothing wrong with your current car...

In regard to the current conversation, the RX-8 has better back seats than the competition and suicide doors. Makes a lot of sense if you want more than a 2-seater.
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This is a very valid point.

However there is just not much of a market for such a car stateside. Multiple cars per family are pretty common and if you need to move 4 people in something sports a WRX makes more power and has much more interior room than an '8 and starts at about a 1K lower (new).

At 230hp its just about the same as most mid-level sedans these days.
 
prizrak said:
This is a very valid point.

However there is just not much of a market for such a car stateside. Multiple cars per family are pretty common and if you need to move 4 people in something sports a WRX makes more power and has much more interior room than an '8 and starts at about a 1K lower (new).

At 230hp its just about the same as most mid-level sedans these days.
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Maybe, but I think I just got a quote from a dealer on a 2011 RX-8 R3 (MSRP $33k) that amounts to well under $20k (depends on how much he valued my trade-in). Still trying to work that out :blink:
 
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