Know any local car forums

[Tanzy]

I did test drive the RX8 and it is an amazing car. The rotary engine revs readily to 10000rpm and the torque curve is quite linear. The car will pull and accelerate well even in 6th gear at highway speeds. The sound of the engine is unique to the rotary; quite similar to the spin cycle of a washing machine. Exhaust and road noise is not intrusive in the cabin but not comparable to a family sedan. Ride was harder than expected for a coupe and the car does not like potholes. The flywheel is light and matched with a tight and short sports clutch.

According to www.rx8club.com and the sales person at Mazda Motors, the fuel comsumption will be around 7 km/L if you are lucky! I'm not surprise considering that I was happily driving the car at 120 km at 4th gear because it was so smooth.

The realistic bhp of the car is around 215 and there are no engine differences between parallel imported JDM spec cars and dealer, except for paper figures. JDM cars are suppose to be 250 bhp but when dynoed, it was identical to the US/UK spec cars. My friend who use to drive RX7 went to test drive it with me and was in love with the RX8 but he is rotary biased anyway.

Road tax is about $700/year and insurance is cheap cause its a 4 door car.

Other cars test driven:

350Z

Civic VTI-S

325Ci Convertible

Z4 2.5

Cars that I hope to test:

S2000

STI WRX

[shiraz]

Let the car run in and it should improve.

You should not use Sunny to compare with Camry on FC.

Juz my 2 cts.

yea i know i should not be comparing a 2.0l to a 1.6l but really according to roidan, camry has much better fuel efficiency than the sunny! around 12km/l for the camry.. and considering it's a 2.0l car (assuming roidan does not floor the pedal ) but really the sunny 1.6 is very heavy thus the high fuel consumption.. heavy but does not double up in size..

[weileong]

Have you look at other more fuel efficient 1.6l class cars?

Like the Toyota and Honda?

The Civic VTI can easily have one of the best fuel efficiency in that class

[shiraz]

was driving a 02 corona 1.6l GLI before trading in that for a new sunny.. had to pay an extra of only $5k! but then the fuel consumption ah..

hmmm the civic ure talking is which year's model? if im not wrong, it's a 5 speed gearbox isn't it? but the thing is that civics usually have a small interior... accords are better.. but the new accord is 2.4l...

[Chris]

Please don't give VW a miss. My Fav. Golf GTI.

0-100km - 8.5

Top - 216

HP - 150

Fuel consumption - urban - 12.5L/100k

- sub-urban - 6.5L/100K

Best thing is can upgrade ECU to 235hp!

But now this model no more. The new GTI (MK5) is 2 litre car with 200hp.

However, the look not so classic.

It is pure driving pleasure.....manual.

[Chris]

The side view.

A very simple car with little frill, just fun to drive.

[weileong]

hmmm the civic ure talking is which year's model? if im not wrong, it's a 5 speed gearbox isn't it? but the thing is that civics usually have a small interior... accords are better.. but the new accord is 2.4l...

I am talking abt the current ES series.

All the model starting from late 2000 to the current ones. All same chasis. Are you sure it has small interior. That's the old mindset and maybe a visit to the Kah Motor showroom will change your mind I now find it hard to get a car with bigger interior

Civic don't come in 5 speed auto (do take into account the reverse gear too? lol). The ES8 series are 2nd generation CVT while the ES5 are using normal torque convertor.

[Tanzy]

Chris,

Unfortunately the new Golf is not quite the looker the older one is.

Shiraz,

Test drive the Civic, it's quite airy but I must warn you of the horrible suspension on the rear. When going over the road humps at normal slow speed, I was lifted off the chair and nearly bumped my head on the roof. I think Honda is getting worse by the day. The face lifted Civic handles a lot better by sacrificing passenger comfort.

[Achilles Tang]

Tanzy, the Volkswagon SUV is very chio!! Did you check it out yet?

[Chris]

Agree with you, Tanzy.

Was deciding whether to get the MK4 or wait a few months for the MK5. Upon looking at the MK5 in Mag, decided to get the MK4 before it goes out of production. Hate the new version's front lights. If you keen, go for the same platform Audi A3.

Also agree that the Civics are getting worse. The old EG STI was a stylist zoomer. The present VTI-S pales in looks and performance.

[Tanzy]

Tanzy, the Volkswagon SUV is very chio!! Did you check it out yet?

The Toureg is one heck of a big car! I don't have kids and not married. It's not what I need. 3.2L V6 engine means nearly $4000 road tax a year. Nice car but I don't have nesting instincts yet. I did not check it out but I did take a look at the XC90 out of curiosity.

Chris,

Is the handling hampered by the FWD drive train? Can you apply power through a turn without spinning and understeering the front wheels? Is there a 3 door GTI in Singapore? It's manual right? You have a 2.0L GTI and not the Turbo?

I don't think it's possible to get 235 bhp just by tuning the ECU.

Anyway, I just decided and bought my car. I won't reveal what model it is so don't ask.

[shiraz]

the new accord has a 5 speed auto gearbox isn't it? the 2.4l version... hmm actually yea the civic's interior IS small... im 187cm and weigh 75kg and my dad is 185cm and weighs 110kg my mom is around 170++ though not so heavy and my 2 younger sisters are also huge...

hmm u got a new car aei Chris? didn't remember u driving this "back then" but ermm i saw this car in a crash once with a Kia... the Golf rammed straight into the rear of the Kia and the latter was like in scrapyard condition.. but then kia had a deep dent and a broken rear screen thats all... scary?

[Tanzy]

Shiraz,

You mean the Golf was totalled?

[shiraz]

in a sense... the front was gone, it was missing a left front tyre, windshield was non-existant...

but the Kia was like... dented?

[yus75]

car lovers dun 4get to show face at spore expo 3 tis weekend for ur "Dream Cars"......

www.dreamcarsasia.com

[Tanzy]

Perhaps the Golf has crumple zones.

[shiraz]

errrrm.. front was gone..

as in the engine was most probably messed up pretty bad.. the engine is not supposed to be crumpled as well right? but it was really in a bad condition..

[Tanzy]

The engine will be dumped to prevent it from intruding into the cabin and breaking the legs of the driver and passenger.

[Chris]

Tanzy,

The Golf GTI (MK4) is 1.8 turbo...not 2.0l. It is a five door hatch. The Audi A3 1.8T is 3 door. Only the new MK5 version has 2.0l.

The upgrade on ECU has two step. With just ECU upgrade it goes to 195hp. For 235hp, need ECU, exhast, air-intake, supercharger upgrade. Done by Oettinger or ABT.

Don't worry about oversteer or drift. With orginal 16" rims, upgradable to 18", you can turn corners in style and ease.

It is not called the king of Hot-hatch for no reason.

Shiraz,

There is no way a Kia could wreak a Golf. The Golf has side impact beam so strong it needs arm strength to even open the door. I drove it to 200 km and it absolutely sticks to the ground.

Maybe the mistook the Golf 1.6 and the Golf GTI. They are very different in many ways.

[roidan]

Anyway, I just decided and bought my car. I won't reveal what model it is so don't ask.

hope you bought the rx8,

so that maybe some of us here have the chance to sit in it for a while to hear the purr of the rotary engine

[Chris]

I hope Tanzy bought the Evo. Always wanted one but couldn't resist VW.

Can talk car over coffee.

The RX8 and its rotary is very high fuel consumption. Wonder why the papers wrote 15km/l. Maybe it was a mistake, should be 15l/100Km. I hope you do know about this.

[roidan]

which was why i quite shocked with the fuel consumption by the papers also...

here are a few sites with info on its fuel consumption..also got differences in the numbers published....hehe

http://www.science2life.org/wertingen/moto...glisch/rx8.html

http://www.edmunds.com/new/2004/mazda/rx8/...&mktid=ik246311

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http://home.earthlink.net/~rotaryeng/Increadable-rotary2.txt

FUEL CONSUMPTION

There is a mis-perception in the world that the rotary engine is thirsty.

This was very true in the early days. Particularly in automobiles primarily

used in the city. Critics pointed at the surface to volume ratio of the

combustion chamber as the main culprit. The shape of the combustion chamber

has advantages and disadvantages. Since the combustion chamber actually

rotates the heat is dissipated over a very large surface area. This allows

extremely high HP per cubic inch of engine displacement with out melting

the rotor housings. The fuel consumption of a rotary expressed in Brake

Specific Fuels Consumption or BSFC for short is now very close to a typical

air cooled air craft engine particularly at the high power levels needed in

air craft engines. The engine is steadily being improved in this regard.

First and foremost the Mazda rotary will happily run on auto fuel which is

half the cost of aviation fuel. Aircraft owners flying rotary engines plan

their cross country trips around airports that sell auto fuel. Lycoming does

not recommend auto fuel in their engines. What about fuel consumption and

range? The Mazda will happily run 200 degrees lean of peak with no worry

about burning an exhaust valve. There are none of course!

Tracy Crook believes the reason it runs so well when leaned out is because

the wankel is naturally stratified charge. What that means is the fuel

droplets or fuel vapor is separated from the main air charge and is thrown

outwards toward the spark plugs by centrifugal force due to the rotating

combustion chamber. The intake charge rotates around the center of the

engine just inside the rotor housing. This concentration of rich mixture

makes it much easier for the spark plugs to ignite the overall lean mixture.

At this very lean setting the EGT has dropped down into the piston engine

range and the engine is only slightly less economical than an air cooled

piston engine. Tracy Crook estimates the pounds of fuel burned per hour for

each HP generated is 0.47 while an air cooled piston engine is about 0.45.

If you run the engine at peak power full rich it will burn 0.65 BSFC just

like an air cooled piston aircraft engine under the same conditions. The new

Mazda RX8 side exhaust port engine is reported to be much more economical.

Any residual un-burned fuel is re-circulated to the next combustion cycle.

The exhaust port timing is also modified in the RX8 engine to allow a longer

expansion cycle recovering more energy from the fuel. The RX8 engine has

much lower exhaust temperature confirming the lower fuel consumption.

Another advantage of the Mazda wankel is it is ideally suited to turbo

compounding which can result in a further drop of fuel consumption of 20%.

this would result in an automatic 20% increase in range with the same fuel

load. HP is also increased by 20% with no increase in the cooling system

requirements. The reason the Mazda wankel is ideal for turbo compounding is

it has no failure prone exhaust valves to break up and destroy the exhaust

blow down turbine on their way out the exhaust pipe. This was a common

problem with turbo compounded piston engines used in the 50's.

[Tanzy]

Mazda claims 23 MPG for the RX8 but owners in the US got back only 18 MPG which is about 7.8 km/L. Mazda claims 231 bhp but only 215 bhp in reality. It doesn't help that the ECU burns the engine rich to lower exhaust temperature and prevent premature catalytic converter damage. Nevertheless, the RENESIS is one heck of a fun engine. Go try the RX8 to believe!

Mazda Motor RX8 comes with 3 years warranty, sunroof (Tilt and slide), leather seats, electric driver seats, HID and side airbags for $138988 whereas parallel importer quoted $136K minus the above mentioned accessories. I think it's worth the extra $3K to get the car from main dealer.

[roidan]

u are right tanzy...

get from the dealer better...

nowadays the parallel importers dun really offer significant money savings..hehe

anyway, no matter what car you chose...

having a car offers more convenience than none...

have fun with your new ride

[Chris]

Yep. It makes no sense that a 1.3l car with 180hp (I think) is the most fuel efficient car. It this is true, everyone should be driving this car.