>He blew out the shift light indicator within a month! He never got into 5th gear and rarely got into 4th! He just let the engine hum way high!!!! He was like if I put it into 5th I have NO acceleration....
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Yeah...one of the things I like about the S2K is that it doesn't have one of those silly shift lights. I always ignored it anyway.

Your buddy was right about 5th having no acceleration. It was fine for cruising along on the highway. But if I wanted to push it over 100, I usually had to drop back down to 4th to get up there.

I loved that car......but my new S2K is doing a great job of helping ease the loss! Now if they would only put about an 18 gallon gas tank in it......

 

Here's an interesting article from R&T. And yes, the redline is 9,000rpm.

http://www.roadandtrack.com/features/Print...asp?ArticleID=7

Quick quotes from the article:

"The Renesis was impressive indeed. Without the aid of a supercharger or turbocharger, it pumped out about 250 bhp. In a brief test drive, I found that this powerplant, much like the Honda S2000's VTEC inline-4, produced most of its power in the upper rev range, which is fun and rewarding on a racetrack but quite cumbersome during real-world driving."

"With 90 percent of peak torque available at 3250 rpm, the RX-8 seems to find its true stride when the tachometer needle sweeps past the 3000-rpm mark, surging forward with alacrity. And the acceleration keeps building all the way to its 9000-rpm redline. Sixty miles per hour comes and goes in roughly 6 seconds; the quarter-mile mark in about 14.5."

I love my S2K but if there was no such car, I'd definitely consider the RX-8. Anyways, it's flattering that the design on that car looks a whole hell of a lot like ours. The suicide doors are cool though. This car will be more of a direct rival to the S2k than the 350Z. The weight, balance and power of the RX-8 is very close to our car. Manufacturers are finally putting some life back into cars. It's about time.

 

Hmmm....impressive numbers, indeed, but unfortunately the RX-8 will fall behind very quickly. Considering that it's a new model, there won't be many changes to it for the next couple of years...while all other current vehicles will be getting makeovers and improvements (especially in Hp) within the year or two. Mazda should've made a Hp target of around 280 to stay competitive....unless it has future plans that we don't know about...but then we'd have to again consider reliability issues. However, I doubt Mazda will compare this vehicle to the S2k or any other roadster for that matter. I'll have to reiterate that the targeted vehicles will be those of 2+2 capacity....and if this is the case, then the RX-8 will have no problems competing.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by baritone
[B]I loved that car......but my new S2K is doing a great job of helping ease the loss!