[clyde]

Originally Posted by lupinsea

Peak torque hits at 5500 rpm and there's a gentle though noticable surge when you hit this point. Fortunately, the engine pulls nicely all the way to redline in a very smoooooooth whine. No harsh vibrations at all. If it wasn't for the warning tone you'd have no idea the engine was approaching 9,000 rpm, it's that smooth.

It takes some time to really get fmailiar with the car's power delivery. There's another surge that comes just after 7k, but it's also very subtle. The power production is so smooth and linear overall, that it never really feels like it's picking up steam, and it's not until you look at the speedometer that you realize how quickly you've accelerated, regardless of the rev range. Beyond that, there are days that car feels a lot more powerful than others, which seems to be an ever more common complaint about cars in general as engine management has become more computerized. Some RX-8s also feel noticably stronger than others, but no one has done any drag strip testing to see if it follows. Dynos for the car have also shown quite a range...from mid 150s HP at the wheels to just over 200 HP at the wheels (using dyno day samples where a number of rx8s were tested on the same machine at nearly the same time with the bulk of pariticipants dynoing close to the norm of 180ish to the wheels).

I would also like to take a closer look at the RX-8 consumables costs.

You will use more oil. Some people need to add a quart as often as every 800 miles. My car goes through about 0.5 quarts every 1,500 miles. I think I've added a total of four quarts in 20,000 outside of oil changes which I generally do about every 3,000. It uses 5W20 which isn't always available everywhere. There is debate about whether synthetics are okay for use in rotaries. I'm not convinced that they're good or bad, but I use dino oil. I don't need the long life characteristics of synthetics and the oil coolers on the car are supposed to be very effective at keeping the oil cool enough that the higher temp capability of synthetics also isn't needed.

BMW has a solid heritage in the world of motorsports and seems to build good performance machines.

As we have proven here at carmudgeons time and again, motorsports heritage means nothing. That said, Mazda has a pretty long list of motorsports accomplishments too.

This is completely tunable if more camber or caster is desired. . .

Camber is limited in front on the RX-8. The most anyone has been able to get in bone stock form is about -1.5 deg. Most people are reporting a max of about -1.0 or -1.1. After putting on Konis (which gave me an 11mm drop in ride height), I was able to get -1.6 initially, but I didn't do an alignment before putting the shocks on. Last time I checked, I was at -1.9 on each side.

the RX-8 comes with a torsen limited slip as standard equipment.

It probably won't be an issue with street tires on a stock car, but the Torsen will act like an open dif when a rear wheel gets in the air.

Hmph, tough decisions lay ahead.

They are both fine cars.