Originally Posted by NoCones
Well, having owned an RX-8 for a couple years before buying a Crossfire, the crap talk in this thread is laughable.
Both cars have merit. Frankly, I liked my RX-8 better, but the Crossfire has been fun too.
Styling: they both have love it or hate it elements to them...everyone likes what they like
Straight line: non-SRT vs. RX-8 has got to be pretty much a draw, though they feel completely different...xfire is all low-end torque while the 8 is all high revving hp. In typical daily driving, the xfire definitely feels faster, but in an all out straight line run, I think it would be a toss-up. SRT6 would clearly walk an RX-8 in a straight line.
Handling: this is a no-brainer to the RX-8...there's a good reason the RX-8 is in a significantly faster autocross class (and it's winning national championships there)...it's lighter, balanced much better, and has significantly better steering.
Other stuff: rotary gas mileage is woeful...my xfire does waaaaay better. Crossfire has the advantage sound-wise too...comparing both stock and autox exhaust setups that I had for each. Practicality-wise, the RX-8 is pretty tough to beat for a sporty car. As for the engine recall stuff, yeah, some cars had problems, but few cars actually had engines replaced...mine went in for that recall...I got a couple new spark plugs and an ecu flash, not a new engine. I never had any reliability issues in 50k miles. Only 9k on the xfire and no significant issues so far...although I do have some oil seeping from the valve cover gasket that I need to have the dealer look at.
Well, the engine replacement sucks, I'll admit that, BUT it's kind of a breath of fresh air knowing that after driving my car around for 20k, I've got a NEW engine. Sure it sucked driving around a chevy aveo for 2 weeks with power NOTHING, but in the big scheme of things, anything that makes my car last longer, and run better, I'm willing to do!
There's a lot of guys on our forum that have gotten up to 100k no problem in the 8, keep up the maintence and the revs and you should have another 50k miles without any issues
They are both good cars, and they both have some left-field styling idea's, but in my opinion, they pull it off just fine. Some people will like another more than the other, but that's okay, because as long as you're happy with it, it shouldn't matter what others think
How do you guys get away with having such a small hatch for the trunk though?! I'm guessing most of you don't use the Xfire as a daily driver? Because when I'm grocery shopping that would be a PITA!