Does anyone have experience with an engine pre-heater for cold weather RX-8 starting? This would eliminate the RX-8's potential cold start/stop/re-start problem, improve gas mileage, reduce emissions, and enable the car's interior to warm up sooner in cold weather.

 

I think all of the benefits you mentioned would be true, but I survived the Maine winter without any difficulty. I park in a garage at home, but not at work. The coldest start was -18F, and it turned noticeably slower than usual, but fired up and ran fine. My biggest problem was that the oil never gets hot, and I think that has more to do with the oil coolers than anything else.

I know I saw a thread on here about block heaters, and there was some debate as to whether they were necessary. Some folk's in Canada go without them and seem to do fine.