trying to decide between these 2 cars as a fun car/drifter and finding hard to make my mind up. both cars produce similar power, the bmw has more torque but the rx8 revs to 9k and is lighter, rx8 has 4 doors so will be nice for ferrying the family around, bmw is better on fuel and will probably be the more reliable car, bmw will require a welder (i dont like the idea of driving the family around with a welded diff) where as the rx8 has a torsen diff which if its as good as the mx5 torsen it wont need changing for drifting. although i am a massive bmw fan i do slightly prefer japanese cars (for fanboi points lol ) i've driven both cars and i like them both, not really drifted either though. i've noticed a few people have bought Rx8's as drift cars and ended up not keeping them that long ?? why is this ? what would you choose and why ???
Never driven an RX8 but i had an '01 E46 330ci M-sport and it just felt boring.... :S Owned it for 3 weeks before getting rid, yes it was comfy to cruise about on the M-way, but I don't do that to often, wasn't that quick and felt pretty big and heavy. S14a? lol
IIRC no non-m e46 has an lsd? Even though im a bmw man, id probly lean towards the rx8 as theyre so nimble and from what ive seen can shoot pretty sizeable flames with good exhaust
yeah i have considered that but i really prefer the coupe e46 and i know if i got one i always wish i'd got a coupe.
You can always get an lsd for the BMW - I have a quaife unit in my z4 coupe and it totally transformed the handling on it. A lot of people say that the RX8 engine isnt reliable the older it gets, this seems to be reflected in the price of higher milage cars as they are worth next to nothing
The RX8 are toss. Awful on fuel, no matter how you drive, residuals are terrible, running costs high. I had a play with an RX8 in my 330D Touring and completely left it for dead.
not that bothered about fuel consumption too much as i have a work car and my wife has a normal car for long trips, it'll purely be for fun drives and practice days and might have a go at ODC too, have you driven or owned one Jord ? cos having a play against someone else doesn't really give you an idea of what a cars like, it could've been a 192 and the fella might not of had a clue how to drive it. i've driven 3 now and think the performance is ok,as long as you're not comparing it to an rx7 and think of it more along the lines of an s2000 pace wise, yeah they lack torque but so do mx5's and they're great fun to drift.
aren't quaife's shit for drifting ? the kaaz units are £1k (im not paying that much) and oem bmw lsd's aren't so good either so really the only choice is a welder. there's many 231's with sub 80k on the clock for around 3, i've also read on another thread on here that a fella's got one with 130k or so on the clock and had it for a year and it hasn't missed a beat., from what i gather you've just got to treat them right and look after them right.
i love the look of the rx8 but there so pricey to run it they like to drink oil it makes no sense. unless you can afford to tune it and run it
see more conflicting info on them i got this off another thread tuning wise full exhaust and an air filter will do me, i'd concentrate on chassis mod's TBH, a 330i is going to cost as much if not more for bits anyway so its swings and round abouts, also re*worx are just up the road from me too (can you tell im slightly swaying to the rx8 lol ) would like some opinions from people who have actually bought them as drifters and to why they've not kept them though ???? .
when the RX8 came out it was tested again the 2002 rx7 on the mazda test track. They both ran the same time. Not sur where all this stuff about reliability has come from, ive not experienced many problems with one. The only problem with them is that engines don't last forever. And when renesis engines go, they tend to throw tips rather than just lose compression. As for the drinking oil stuff. Not really a problem. They use cheap oil and use a litre every 1000 miles or so. Usually its changed before it needs topping up.
TBH every car burns a little oil during combustion, its just the rotary's use it quicker. Checked mine weekly when the 7 was on the road and only had to top up once with a tiny bit. Cheap mineral oil & two stroke FTW!
I've had my 330 for about 14 months now, love it to bits, best car i've ever owned etc. They use oil aswel, approx 1 litre for every 1k-1.5k
Never knew the e46's drank, somone i know said his m5 uses 1litre for 1000 miles and thats good some lads on m5board use 1litre for 500miles Dont you have to rev the rx8 before turning it off to stop it flooding? or is that another pub myth?? I still vote for the rx8 though
Don't believe the interwebz bollocks about the oil. My mate had one and ran straight out and bought a load of oil to keep topping it up...it's almost all still in his garage a year on! He says he heard all the usual stuff and found it to be no more trouble than any other car he's owned! I imagine his would have been maintained meticulously and serviced on the button but he had no problems at all. I've driven a few and the performance is OK. Like you say, think S2000 not GTR but respectable enough for a bit of a laugh. I think Mitto had one for a while so maybe give him a PM.