240sxJay

I'm debating with this guy on another forum. I am a nissan owner but I know that when i had my 350z, the rx8 smoked me stock. Here is what he responded back ...

the rx8 is legally a 1.3 liter and in most racing is considered a 2.6. and its whooshing out 237hp.

theres way more to a car's handling then a 50/50 weight distribution and thats besides teh fact the z is 52/48 and mid engine.
rotaries have rev limits because otherwise the heat from the friction will destroy their seals.

Rx8s cant grip like a bitch and punch out of the turns, i figure it is because they made too many compromises in street tuning the suspension..

I have test driven them both, I decided on the z for a reason it peformed better in everything but seating space.

I useto think the z and rx8 are both good starter cars but clearly you were unable to push the Z anywhere near its limits.

My point is I was dissapointed in the 350z and compared to rx8's performance it was poor. (No longer have the 350z shortly after test driving the rx...i will be working on a Fd probably later on

03gti1.8t

out of the two i would go with the Z. it has more after market support, currently anyways. the rx8 is faster in the twisties but i think in a straight line, the Z would walk it. i raced a rx8 once and won on my way back from clearwater one night. i didnt win by much, buy i won. by like 100-110mph i had a good car length on him. it was an older guy, he was pretty cool about it.

240sxJay

It was the complete opposite for me. Stock 350z which is what I had ...and went against a Stock Rx8...by 4th I couldnt' catch up and was just about redline as well. This was when the rx8 just came out so i'm sure it was stock.

03gti1.8t

both are pretty bad ass cars. i dont think the aftermarket companies are going to offer as much support for the rx8 as they do for the Z. i mine, every aftermarket company offers something for a Z, but you wont find any mainstream turbo kits for the rx8. again, that may change in time but will have to wait and see. maybe if the drifting circuits start to use rx8 instead of fc and fd, then maybe the aftermarket support for the rx8 will gain some steam. the rx8 is just to smart to tune easily. you cant even get a dyno run cause once the ecu sees that the front wheels arent moving, the ecu starts to pull power like crazy. that really sucks for tuners.

240sxJay

Isn't that why they put stand alone ecu's? One of the biggest downfalls of the rx series is their ecu's

I still stand by that the rx8 is superior to the z ...STOCK! Sure with money you can make one better than the other...but off the floor. I believe it is quicker, can manuever better, twist and turn and punch out of turns betters. Where are all the rotary fans?

03gti1.8t

oh for sure the rx8 is a more well rounded sports car then the Z. its quick, looks good, great interior, and can handle like a mo fo. but as for raw performance and potential, the Z takes the cake.

BoostLogik

Chalk another one up for the Z. The RX-8 does look better though, but I think the Z wins overall.

Sourskittle

I'm pretty impressed with dyno numbers I saw a bone stock RX8 lay down... 173whp and 130ish Ft. of torque... Its a monster...

350Z is my pick, and I really don't care an insane amount for them either, but both do look cool right now ( I think the 350z will still "look cool" in 10 years ).

Mazda needs to me smacked for not turboing the RX8, but I guess they wanted more than 50K miles out of them...

N/A rotarys are almost IMPOSSIBLE to break, and turbo rotarys are about impossible to keep running without spending porche money...

Rotary7

wow,where did you get your info from?
My TII had 149k on the ODO,I have seen N/A sling an apex seal before 100k..

EsCoRtLvR

That was most likely an automatic which has around 40 less horsepower than the 6 speed. There's 2 tunes available for the car, the automatics get the standard, better gas mileage tune and the manuals get the power tune. I've re-programmed a bunch because of the recall. Every one I've done has been that way. I don't know if you can reprogram the auto for the power tune, but it's not likely since there is an auto and manual computer and programming the auto computer for a manual tune probably wouldn't work .