RX-8 Wheels COTY - finally a new Libery didnt get it

[fpv_gtho]

quote: www.carpoint.ninemsn.com.au:

'SPORTS STAR' WINS WHEELS CAR OF THE YEAR
ROTARY-POWERED MAZDA RX-8 TAKES AUSTRALIA'S TOP MOTORING AWARD

A stunning blend of sports coupe innovation, superb handling, and four-passenger comfort has secured Australia's most coveted motoring award.

The smooth revving and powerful rotary-engined Mazda RX-8 has been named the 2003 WHEELS Car Of The Year.

" The Mazda RX-8 represents the birth of a new and worthwhile category of car," notes WHEELS editor, Ged Bulmer.

" The RX-8 has achieved a genuine sports coupe experience, complete with four doors and four seats, thanks to daring, ingenious design.

" It is packed with a range of cutting-edge design features and was the stand-out winner in 2003 over a quality field."

THE WHEELS CAR OF THE YEAR

The RX-8 took the prize after being short-listed with the Honda Accord Euro, Toyota Kluger AWD, and the petrol-electric Toyota Prius.


Other nominees included the Audi A8, BMW 5 Series, BMW Z4, Holden Adventra, Jaguar XJ, Lexus RX330, Nissan 350Z, Subaru Liberty/Outback, Volkswagen Touareg, and the Volvo XC90.


The WHEELS Car Of The Year has now adopted an 'Academy Awards' style system, with the basic sales volume and safety criteria no longer enough to gain automatic entry to the test program. A panel of senior WHEELS staff and contributors rejected many cars that would have previously made the cut – allowing for more in-depth analysis of the true standout models of the past 12 months.


The RX-8 marks the first appearance of what Mazda terms 'shock cone' technology. The bottom skin of the bonnet is covered with shallow cones, designed to reduce pedestrian head trauma, in the event of an accident. Mazda plans to introduce this technology throughout its passenger car range.


The RX-8 looks like a true sports coupe but seats four adults in comfort and actually has four doors - two normal front doors, and two smaller rear-hinged doors. The latter cleverly incorporate the body's central pillars, thus facilitating easy rear seat access.


The RX-8 is the only four door, four seat sports coupe on the market, and the only rotary-engined model in the world.


The RX-8's rear doors and bonnet are made of lightweight aluminium, constructed with a new energy-efficient friction welding technique, which uses only one percent of the energy required by conventional methods.

"With no direct and obvious competitor, and priced between $56,170 and $63,280 the RX-8 is brilliant value," adds Bulmer

"It's good looking, clever, great to drive and a worthy winner of the Wheels Car Of The Year."
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as the name says, finally the new liberty hasnt one. you notice though that most of the time whenever the falcons in a strong chance to win it the liberty gets in its way or the award gets cancelled. like 72 with the XA, cancelled. 79 with the XD, cancelled. 94 with the EF, liberty won, 98 with the AU, liberty wagon won. the only exclusion is 89 with the EA that the MX-5 won which is fair enough.

well next year the territory will be in the running, so will the fiesta so ford could be aiming for 3 straight wins with the BA and RX-8 taking the first 2. lets hope they dont screw it up

[SHAKER]

well thers no doubt the mazda rx8 is a worthy winner, but who can afford one.....60 thousand dollars for a small car is a LOT of money in anyones language. How Ford can win 3 awards in a row is a bit of a mystery to me as they won last year, didnt win this year, and next year is anyones guess in this point in time. The xa xd ef and AU although good cars in there time were never going to set the world on the fire, unlike the BA Turbo which won it last year and deservedly so.The EA was never going to win it was almost the "xk" falcon syndrome rearing its head again. The reason they cancelled the awards i 1979 was because they didnt think any car of that year made any progress in terms of technology ,safety etc so they done the right thing, rather than pick a lemon (like they did with camira in later times ironically.1982) They demanded for cars to be upgraded and improved and basically give better value for money.

[fpv_gtho]

the idea behind the 3 in a row wins for Ford comes from the 33% shares Ford hold in Mazda. i believe the XD had enough to win it though, jsut based on how lightweight Ford tried to make it with the vast use of plastics including the fuel tank. now if thats not bringing something new to the segment then i dont know what is.

[SHAKER]

thats fair enough, but making a car lightweight doesnt really make an award winning car, people also like the amount of glass the car had as it gave it a more modern stronger appearance.The fact was that a standard falcon still had a carb 200 c inch engine with a 3 speed manual trans, vinyl bench seats drum rear brakes and compared to cars going around in europe at the time, it just didnt cut the grade.As far as the Ford/Mazda issue, its still a Mazda, even though have part ownership of the company, i wouldnt call it a "second in a row" for the blue oval.

[fpv_gtho]

well the wheels judges compare it to the australian family car class, so that wouldve been just the commodore and i think holden still had the kingswood then, but both of which wouldnt have been in the running. i personally would consider the RX-8 a win for for in part at least, it was fords money that went into the Renesis afterall, plus, if you'd consider it a win for ford in the indy car series last year with them being the sole engine supplier than i guess this really is not much different

[SHAKER]

Holden did have there vb commodore out in 79, but that was no better than xd in terms of technology, and they did compare our cars to european cars and basically said that we are getting ripped off with our cars compared to what the euros got for there money.They put a picture of a lenon on the cover of the wheels magazine basically calling our cars lemons!. Well the Ford Cosworth engines being in all the indy cars was a last ditch effort to keep the series alive as the other engine manufacturers pulled out and the series amd it looked liked it was in a lot of trouble, with the IRL series(the rival to the fedex indy series) having chevrolet and nissan v8s and a lot of ex indy fedex drivers and teams making there way to that series.....its lucky its still going. Fair enough Ford did pour money into the mazda, but the rotary engine is a mazda product and i dont think itll help fords image in australia any better. Having said that, better a mazda than a daewoo or holden win it i guess.

[fpv_gtho]

well the VB won it in 88 and wheels cant really talk about lemons when they gave the award out to the P76 and the camira. Ford though hit back in 72 and 79 with fairly good advertising campaigns for the XD and XA. just more proof i guess how shit wheels are, despite how much they go on about their 50 year history

[SHAKER]

In 1988 it would of been the vn that won it, and wheels gave the award to the alloy "v8" leyland p76 (which by all reports are good cars), the 6 cylinder p76 was underpowered and chewed thru a lot of fuel. In 1988 the honda civic should of won it and in 1982, well who knows what they were thinking.

[crisis]

just gos to show that what the experts like dos not neccessarily mean its THE car to buy. I could never see myself in one of those. I would much rather the much derided Monaro for the price.

[fpv_gtho]

In 1988 it would of been the vn that won it, and wheels gave the award to the alloy "v8" leyland p76 (which by all reports are good cars), the 6 cylinder p76 was underpowered and chewed thru a lot of fuel. In 1988 the honda civic should of won it and in 1982, well who knows what they were thinking.

that was a typo on my part, the VB won it in 78. apparently leyland credited the whole P76 range for the win and wheels kicked up a stink cause they specifically gave it to the V8 model, bit of trivia there. and crisis, i guess your just after the low revs punch of a V8 that rotaries dont provide

[SHAKER]

yes well they would try to flog off the 6 cylinder model as much as they could as they would of sold more 6s than v8s obviously, i wouldnt of bought one either, i would of bought either holden or ford for sure if i was in the new car market back then....not that i was old enuff to drive in the 70s =P

[fpv_gtho]

well they still regretted giving the award to the P76, it makes you wonder what was going on for them to cancell the award 2 years and for 2 years give it out to a lemon

[SHAKER]

i dont think they regretted giving tha award to the v8 p76, i think they regret not making it clear that it was only the "v8" model that won the award and not the "6cyl", form all the reports ive read, the v8 p76 was a good car, people have even shoe horned the all alloy leyland v8 under the bonnets of toranas and commodores.

[fpv_gtho]

they always go quiet whenever the camira gets brought up though. the all alloy V8 wouldve pushed the P76 to the finish line like the turbo 6 pushed the BA in 02, but at least the standard ford 6 isnt something you'd rather forget and likewise with the cars dynamics. the same story cant be told about the P76. we should be glad though that we havent adopted something similar to the "truck of the year" in america