Okay, I am buying a new Mazda next week. The problem is, I can't decide whether to buy an RX8 or a Speed6.

Whichever it is will be used as a daily commuter for a short commute plus weekends on country roads.

Anybody have any suggestions? (I have also posted in the Mazda 6 section)

Thanks,

Humper

Well it really depends on what you want, neither of those uses descvribe a sports car at all, but the Rx-8 is a blast to drive and would be faster than a Mazdaspeed6 and you get the exclusicity of a rotary engine, also it's N/A so thei'res no lag, or heat sink from the MS6s's top mounted intercooler. Then you don't get the tourque devide of the wheel either which makes for quicker acceleration. the Mazdaspeed6 would be better if you're oging to be winding through mountains alot or taking sharp turns at speed. The Rx-8 has 50/50 wiehgt distirbution, but the handling is nothing without grip and th espeed6 has plenty of grip to offer. It is aslo more pacritcle with a lerger trunk and a larger back seat as well as rear doors that can be opened without opening the front doors (inlike the Rx-8) so if you have family that will be with you, the speed6 would better suite them and a hypothetical situation, lets say you have to pick osmeone up in the rain, if you were in an 8 and the passenger seat had someone in it, you would have to get out and get wet yourself just to let them in, and even in dry conditions you'd have to get out, so it really depends on the use, the info you gave isn't really much. Also their's personaly styling, I personally would take the Rx-8 because it drves almost exactly like my car but with more torque and I think it looks better than the speed 6. A Shenka Rx-8 would have all the goodies with limited edition perferated leather w/ baseball style stitching, heated seats, heated mirriors, 6 CD in dash CD player w/ XM satelite radio, DVD navigation, special badging, and coloring options. It's the choice I'd gor for an Rx08 Shinka runs about $30-$32 thousand dependnig on where you're Mazda dealership is and how well they are selling Rx-8s, they have no options because they have ALL the options of the standard plus Shenka only features. as for the Speed 6, the turing packag would bring you nice leather, but no the limited edition interrior of a shenka 8.

you pretty much nailed that response , 87TII.

humperdink, you should definitely test drive both of the cars. one con about the rx-8 is that it loves to eat oil. and in the mazdaspeed6, theres virtually no turbo lag...

Thanks for the feedback, guys.

When I said country roads on weekends, I meant driving for fun. Everything is flat around here (Houston), but there are some curvy roads.

I have driven both, and will drive them again next week. My impression was that the Speed 6 might be a bit faster. It certainly seemed to have more low end torque. I need to drive the RX8 and keep the rpms up to see how it compares, I guess.

By the way, an RX8 was the pace car for the Star Mazda series here at the Grand Prix today. I took a pic of it, if anyone is interested.

definitely post that picture of the RX-8

Here you go, along with the Star Mazda sponsored by my dealer:


local://upfiles/4306/34FEABAECF3D41A0AD63A76B72CFD628.jpg

Yeas, you want to shift the Rx-8 in the 7 to 8 thousand rPM range for the best power, most first time rotary drivers shift earlier from instinct and are too scared to puch the car to the limit.

87turbo.... you said so much information that this guy probably has no more questions between the two cars now haha! great write up there sir! personally i would go with the speed6 for more modern driving (room as well as handling and power).

thats just my couple of cents to throw in.

haha thanks, that's why I'm here. You can't have too much information. I hope I didn't babble on too much about any one thing.

ORIGINAL: humperdink
When I said country roads on weekends, I meant driving for fun. Everything is flat around here (Houston), but there are some curvy roads.

I have driven both, and will drive them again next week. My impression was that the Speed 6 might be a bit faster. It certainly seemed to have more low end torque. I need to drive the RX8 and keep the rpms up to see how it compares, I guess.



The RX-8 is 0-60 in 5.9 and the speed6 is 6.2. Also, 87 turbo said almost everything. I can add the fact that you can get the rx8 Mazdaspeed full suspension (shocks, sport lowering springs, stabilizer bars, and strut bars) for $1,585 which gives it amazing cornering, much better than speed6.

Also, the speed6 is a sleeper. Most people do not know the difference between it and the other 2 mazda6. The people who do know the difference can't tell unless they are standing next to it. The speed spoiler just doesn't stand out.

In regards to the above post, a speed is obvious by its large grill to me, and also the embedded exhaust. And then the xenons.

The speed6 is MUCH more practical. It is AWD and if you live in any snow belt it would not be wise to get a car(RX8) that would just peel out in the snow. From that point the speed6 is more practical and its just as fast basically. For how much it weighs compared to the RX8 it has more power. Turbos are also fun. The rotary engine makes the Mazda RX better.

Its your preference since you are really comparing apples to oranges. Perhaps a test drive?

I would go speed 6 all the way. PLus for the money, if you are going to get the rx8 I might as well get a 350z. Its bigger and to me looks muc better. Faster and more horse also.

Good point about snow, but he lives in houston. There isn't a lot of snow there. Also, RX8 is faster than the z on a track and is more balanced since it is a mid engine car. The rx8 also has rear seats which are often needed.

Also, since the rx8 is a rotary engine car, it MIGHT keep its value up like the rx7 did (3rd gen).

If you plan on modding, get an 8. The mazdaspeed6 has little room for mods. For around 7k you can get around 380whp (wheel, the 8 has about 200 wheel stock) which comes with turbo and ecu (and anything else you need to bolt on).

modding an 8's renesis is next to impossible. Mazda has so many fail safes to keep people from modding you'd have to really know what you are doing to tweak anyhting. See Mazda was tired of people putting too many mods on the Rx-7 and blowing the engines then claiming the reliability was bad. the Rx-8's sole perpose was to get trust in rotary strong again before the re-release of the Rx-7, so we can't have RENESIS engines being modded too much, unless you really know what you are doing. It isn't meant to be modded it's meant to be the sports car for a business man, or for someone with a family (the speed6 also shares this genre of buyers), not a track car like the Rx-7 even if it does have it's fair share of 350Z killing and other good performance. I don't know if this guy wanted to tune but if he did then the speed6 would suite him better. Room or not, most upgrades in th eengine bay are replacements not add ons (when you already have a turbo like th espeed6 does). However, the Rx-8 has a killer chassis that can be further upgraded with the mazdaspeed suspension, some not-all-season-tires, the mazdaspeed magnesium wheels (14 pounds a piece!) some brembo brakes and you have the meanest handling car this side of 40k dollars (the car that beats it in handling is the Lotus Elise/Exige). He said he wants to drive winding roads, although the AWD sounds best suited for this, the sheer weight, weight dispalcement, and body roll would make it too sluggish to enjoy like th e8. I think the 8 has more straight speed and is more responsive around turns so it would "feel" faster and be more fun to drive than the other. It may not have as any conveniences but it would be more fun.

Aslo Speed6 has a possibility for heatsinking the top mounted intercooler like my car. What this means is after driving the car hard and parking it for 30 minutes or so, the heat from th eengine rises up into the intercooler and then if you start it with a hot intrercooler you lose about 15 horsepower untill you've let it cool for a few hours.

^^^ thats what computers like the intercepter are for... and why it costs $2000. True that the speed would be cheaper to mod, but the 8 has more potential, but expensive.

Also, I don't think its been mentioned before, but if I remember correctly the 6 trunk is a little bigger than the 8's (mostly by height). The 8 has a good size trunk, but on vacation you can always use more trunk space.

I'd choose the RX-8 over the Mazdaspeed-6, but that's only because I'm partial to rotaries. ;)

The 'Speed-6 is a badass car too though.

I was in the market for both and ended up with the rx8. Coming from a mazda 6 S the speed6 felt pretty much the same as the 6S (faster of course). The things I did not like about the speed6 is the narrow wheel wells limit your choice of after market wheels. The other thing I did not like was the redone interior. I liked the <05 Mazda6 interiors better. The stock wheel is only 7 in. wide. The AWD system is only part time. Mod wise there is much more for the 8. the option of adding a supercharger or turbo to the 8, plus the 8's handling won me over.

When I was in the market about a month ago, I was looking at the speed6, rx8, and 350z. For the z, I could only afford the base model, whcih doesn't even come with a limited slip or traction control, so forget that. The rx8 has no low end torque, you have to ride out the revs to squeeze the power out of it, though 9k revs must sound good. There doesn't seem to be that much usable space in the rear, plus the fact that I will be moving to somewhere it snows and be able to use that awd system. I ended up going with the speed 6, a decision I am still very happy with. I love the car, the looks, the interior, the power is great and comes in pretty low. I have yet to be able to race an rx8 to compare to, but the speed 6 supposedly outruns the 8 to 60 and through the quarter, though the 8 will pull away on the top end and in the corners. A good driver in the 6 will still be able to show up a decent driver in the 8. Both good cars, both in different areas. I love my speed 6 though, its a great, comfortable car. I just made a 1200 mile trip in it that I'm not sure I'd be able to make in an rx8 without stopping every couple hours. Plus I save a quart of oil per gas tank. That's just my $.02 though.