RX 8 PZ Test Drive
Discussion
Just taken the RX-8 PZ out for a testdrive having been enticed by the improved looks that prodrive have graced the car with but was somewhat disappointed.
Sure the car handles beautifully - setting up a long drift around a big roundabout was simplicity itself and no trouble to maintain. It stops well too - performance under acceleration was satisfactory (not as good as I had been led to believe) but the main issue was that I had real trouble fitting into the cabin as the dashboard itself is very low and the suspension had problems.
Prodrive may have spent a lot of time and money improving the ride characteristics but it didn't stop the suspension bottoming out at the front without much provocation (nearly spinning the car) and the fact that the left rear corner kept knocking - not all the time but every ten minutes the car would catch a bump and the rear suspension sounded like it was trying to escape by digging a hole somewhere...
I now find myself torn - the car was good but I can't help feeling that there is something fundamentally wrong with the package - the problems with the suspension are off-putting given how much extra there is to pay to buy the PZ (compared with a nearly-new standard 230ps model which is what I would otherwise be looking at) but something else just doesn't gel...
Anyone else have some experience with this model that can offer some reassurance or confirmation on my thoughts?
Sure the car handles beautifully - setting up a long drift around a big roundabout was simplicity itself and no trouble to maintain. It stops well too - performance under acceleration was satisfactory (not as good as I had been led to believe) but the main issue was that I had real trouble fitting into the cabin as the dashboard itself is very low and the suspension had problems.
Prodrive may have spent a lot of time and money improving the ride characteristics but it didn't stop the suspension bottoming out at the front without much provocation (nearly spinning the car) and the fact that the left rear corner kept knocking - not all the time but every ten minutes the car would catch a bump and the rear suspension sounded like it was trying to escape by digging a hole somewhere...
I now find myself torn - the car was good but I can't help feeling that there is something fundamentally wrong with the package - the problems with the suspension are off-putting given how much extra there is to pay to buy the PZ (compared with a nearly-new standard 230ps model which is what I would otherwise be looking at) but something else just doesn't gel...
Anyone else have some experience with this model that can offer some reassurance or confirmation on my thoughts?
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