That's exactly right. It was a well reasoned discussion with various people providing useful information and experiences. Forums are all about differing viewpoints. You can start a thread, but you can't dictate what people say in it.

And for what it's worth, I'll say it again. I think the RX-8 is a great handling car, and I think the Shinka is a classy edition of it. We differ over how its handling compares with the FD.

 

Interesting in that the June 07 Car and Driver that just came out compares the 8 to the 350z, Shelby mustang gt, and the new Audi TT. The use of cornering g's to say one handles better or worse is some what debunked. All the of the other cars had higher g's in their test at turn 9 at the track they tested. The GT was first with 1.02, then the 350z and TT tied at 1.01 and the 8 came in last at .96. BUT - I'll quote the rest - "The suspension takes hits from the road like a champion prizefighter, so much so that during our driving loop the RX-8 was actually the fastest car on real-world roads. On the track, the Mazda couldn't make up for its woeful lack of torque and posted the slowest time around the circuit. But just as on the street, the RX-8 inspires confidence in the driver to carry more speed through the corners, and the challenge of maintaining velocity in this car is ultimately more rewarding then relyingon the gas pedal in the others to make up for your mistakes. That's not to say some extra power isn't sorely needed here- it is- but even at the ripe old age of five, the RX-8 pleases us the most."

It came in first in the comparison, but also proves lat g's don't always mean the car handles best. It was the lowest in lat g's but the testers still picked it as the best handling car. Good read.

Tim

 

I never said lateral acceleration was the only measure of handling. But it is one measure, and it is objective.

Some others would be slalom speed, and suspension reaction time. (That is the time from when a steering input is made to when the car actually changes direction.)

Handling is a broad term, and it includes objective and subjective elements. Not mentioned here so far, for instance, is high speed handling. I read one review that criticized the RX-8 for this. Power is also a factor. It can be used to rotate a car to minimize understeer or transition it into neutrality or controllable oversteer.

Besides handling not being just one thing, it's also a dynamic process. It can change as it goes through that process, or it can change under different conditions or different manipulations. This is why a skilled driver can wring superior performance out of a car others might find ill-handling.

Take a sluggish car and a "twitchy" handling car and put an average driver behind the wheel. He might post the better time in the sluggish car and spin off the track in the twitchy car. But the skilled driver might post the best time in the twitchy car. So which car has the better handling?

And that prompts a philosphical question that might apply here.

Let's say you have cars X and Y.
Car X "feels" to be the better handler, but car Y has the fastest slalom time, the highest lateral G rating, and is quicker on a handling course. Which car has the better handling?

 

How about the car that allows the worst driver to get the best times?

Best Time / Driver skill = Car ability

-Edit-

I mean, Performance / Skill = Car ability

 

Nice replies and all valid points. I agree with ya Trick, to much subjective input and output when examining a street car's handling ability. I'd imagine that even 2 pro race car drivers in the same car will have differing set ups in regards to handling based on what each driver feels more comfortable with. I was also trying to point out that even though the FD had higher lat g tests than the 8, that doesn't mean the FD will out handle the RX-8. In the end all we can do is compare data from differing time frames from the same magazine in hopes they still test the same, similar weather and track conditions, same drivers, etc.

Tim

 

Bottom line it is all SUBJECTIVE....
91Verty put it best when he stated...

"I will go out and spend 15000 on a 14 year old 3rd gen without a warrenty and as soon as something happens to it, which we all know will at some point, then I will be able to sell it for 5000!"

I myself LOVE the 3rd gens and would kill to own one BUT can't fathom spending the 15K +++ to own one with no kind of warranty or the ability to use it as my daily driver without worries.
L8R

 

It's not all subjective. You can claim your Mack Truck handles better than a Miata, but that doesn't make it so.

I agree, there's a subjective element to handling evaluation. "Feel" plays an important part. But if car X gets around a handling course faster than car Y it's hard to argue that car Y is the better handler. I guess what you'd be left with is that you prefer the handling feel of car Y even though objectively it proves to be slower.

I suppose there are people out there who would prefer to do Rosie O'Donnell over Carmen Elecktra. I can't help those people. ;-)

 

I'm sure 1 handles better than the other

Tim