Originally Posted by W0Pdego,Apr 16 2008, 01:46 PM

I hope you mean RX-8, the bastardized younger sibling to the RX-7 and not the Audi R8, the ridiculous new car with a lambo engine. With that being said, I agree with everyone's responses. I love driving a manual car, especially one that shifts as nicely as the s2000's does, as a poster before stated, driving auto feels like you're just guiding the car, not driving it. FYI, the auto RX-8 redlines at 7800, not 9000, this is due to the torque converter on the auto not being able to handle the wide rev range (correct me if im wrong). As a result, the engine is detuned and falls short of the 238hp that the manual renesis makes.

edit>reread your post, i see you are actually talking about the R8. Although i agree that sports cars as a definition are typically rear wheel driven, i see no reason to exclude awd from the list. AWD can perform just as well as a rear wheel driven car if the manufacturer takes the proper steps to eliminate the understeer that the cars have a tendency to produce. I had a chance to drive an R8, unfortunately it was on the street and not the track, but I found it to be a fantastic car. If AWD is the eliminating factor to call a car a sports car, then how would you define a car such as the Porsche 911 Turbo?

Originally Posted by iamhomin,Apr 17 2008, 10:04 AM

Definitely not. If it were offered in AT, it wouldn't to sell many anyway, since the S only attracts certain type of buyers.