They never should have made an auto RX8. Everything that is good about the 8 is gone when you buy an auto. My wife has a Mazda Tribute that I use to tow my trailer when I go Kart Racing so I had to teach her to drive the RX8 so she would have something to drive when I take her SUV. Now she's always bugging me to take the 8!

 

I always felt the same way about RX-7s. Now that I am older, I take the view that all those people who buy the autos are subsidizing those of us who want the manuals, and helping make the cars more affordable.

 

In my newly-purchased 02 Protege5, I drove 339.9 miles on 11.644 gallons, mostly around town. If I did the math right, that equals 29.19 miles per gallon, which to me is pretty effin' amazing. It's bone stock, 195/50/16 tires, so speedo error shouldn't be a factor. If this is how it's going to be, I'm very pleased. Especially coming out of an F-150 4x4!

Johnnie

 

my rx8 is a 6spd....it's also the wifes car. We had to sell her 3S because it was an automatic and she just wasnt happy with not being able to shift. Just fyi though, automatics exsist because they sell 3 to 4 times more than manual trannys. Look at the amount of passenger cars on the road and 75% of them are automatics. Some people buy cars based on style and not absolute performance.

We avergaed 24mpg on the first 3 tanks and on this last one we got 20mpg...I have been driving it a lot more though so that means it's seeing 6-8K rpms frequently where as the wife shifts before 3500 when she drives.

 

I live in Los Angeles... And I can pretty much drive to Vegas and back on one tank of gas in my 2000 Protege. Given there are no accidents on the way that keep me in traffic. If it's smooth sailing, then it's greatness!

 

More like the complete domination in sales is killing off the manual as it becomes more and more rare, as the automatic is the only available tranny.

 

Unfortunatly it's more like 95%.....no kidding.

 

I have a 1995 LX 5-speed I bought used in 1999 with 52,000 miles on it. It just turned 201,000 miles yesterday. Still has original everything except, tires, spark plugs, cam belt, oil filter, air filter, and oil. Never changed the transmission oil. or coolant. Never touched the brakes. When I had the cam belt replaced at the recommended 60,000 mile interval, the old belt still looked like new. So I decided to conduct an experiment. I determined that the engine was a non-interference type, got AAA insurance, a cell phone, and a spare cam belt, and just kept going. The belt finally broke at almost 180.000 miles, DOUBLE the recommended interval. I LOVE protege's.