I have been hearing good things about the Mazda 6. My brother Tony wants to trade in his giant truck for one of those. I was looking at the Impreza at one of the car shows and it just seemed rather cramped. I used to drive a truck with a cab (front seats) about the same size, but it was much more open.
I don’t need a Rotary, although I did drive one for 6 years or so. I would love if my dad put the 4 port engine back in with it. It’s his project car but he never has time to work on it.
Back in college one summer I did help him cut out the rusty parts on the bed and weld in a new sheet. A pinch of body filler and a paint job later and that thing was looking sweet. I think if we reupholstered the seats, got some new tires and fixed/replaced the grill (my sister got into an accident with it once, totaled the other car; REPU came out with a dent and broken plastic) it would be looking pretty sweet.
Here’s a good example, the 77’s had the best body, only 3,000 made.
I like ice cream, but I don’t like poisoned ice cream. With some of the issues and tradeoffs they have mode Mazda almost seems to want to kill their Rotary’s off. You look at the initial designed and are all “yay!” look at what they put into production and ask “why?” I like the RX-8, but I think they could have done better. Instead of a pimped sports car they cut off some of the nicer features for efficiency.
Pretty much they could have made a heavier more powerful engine but they didn’t. I was reading about RENISIS engine design and they had to redesign things for efficiency and / or environmental concerns. At least the new ones don’t have a thermal reactor, much more restrictive than an exhaust manifold. (They also forgot to make it backwards compatible with my REPU!)
As for the RX-8 specifically I like the look but it could have been sportier (or course driving up the price). I’m not saying its underpowered or anything, it is very descent, in fact the specs aren’t too much off the 4.3L Vortec in my truck; 150kW, 250ft or so (depending on variant), I was just hoping for more. Also, the way the setup the base model. Maybe I just don’t like the way they design cars lately. Everything seems too small and the inside looks like it has been injected molded as one piece.
Of course I don’t plan on buying a new vehicle soon. There is nowhere in this town I even like to drive; so as long as my truck is running... I miss living out in the middle of nowhere where they had no-to-light traffic. I’m not into that conspicuous consumption things, so as long as my truck doesn’t look like a complete POS I’m fine (I do have a little taste). As with any 15 year old vehicle it has some issues (leaking seals, worn bearings), but none serous. It’s actually the biggest engine they put in that vehicle and it has some nice power. Also, the serious cargo capacity is nice while still being as short as most full size cars for easy parking.
I have two rear view mirrors, I even have a third sitting in the back seat. You only need one to be legal. I actually keep thinking of going to get a muffler (it would have to be welded on, so it limits my choice of area shops) but I am never in town on the weekends anymore. I was going to go do it last Saturday, but I didn’t feel well.
you're just jealous, Dave
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