well yea im a new person to this rotary engine thing and i was reading all the negative things about the Rx-8. im wondering if i should buy it.. the top 10 reasons im worried about spending 33g on this car are as follows....

1) I read about engine failire below 5000 miles... apex seals etc.. wondering if mazda redid the engine design yet or are planning on fixing the problem on future models.

2) I read gas mileage is way below the estimated 18/24.. some getting 13? wondering what everyone else is getting for their mileage...

3) Transmission failures? iono.. just read about them.

4) Car is slow.. (one thread said it was..) wonder how fast its 0-60 time is. ( can it beat the IS-300? my friend gets under 6.5 for 0-60)

5) GOoey stuff all over the new cars.. dont want to have to go back to the dealer everytime something weird leaks out or have any goop on my car.

6) No Tuning? i read somehwere in this forum that you cant do anything to the "delicate" engine... is rotary to be babied? can it take the NOs shots and turbos, intake, exhaust, headers that pistons can?

7) Irvine dealers can be dumbasses? hahhaha...

8) does the DVD nav system go in and out of the dash? or is it stationary?

9) Warranty on the 8... nobody here mentions it.. wondering how good the warranty is and if it covers bumper to bumper. (is-300 is 7 year 70,000 bumper to bumper)

10) insurance quotes? anyone? do the suicide help lower the price on insurance cuz its 4 door?

those are my main questions feel free to let this newbie know how rotary works... its limitations and its good-stuff-ness..... oh yeah and ive been comparing the following cars: Rx-8, Subaru impreza sti, Is-300, Evo, audi a4. tell me which car is good for the money. (im guessing all you people will say rx-8) oh yeah and i just wanna know how the sound system is... ok thanks...

has anyone else read the other thread i put up earlier yesterday? it kinda like.. dissapeared.... weird...

Don't bother with the 8.

well I will tell you my reasoning.. I am in OC as well and will be buying in a week or so. First I will not be racing. Maybe performance driving courses but definitely no street racing. Maybe autoX when I feel comfortable with putting my baby out there.

so a lot of the things you are wondering about do not apply to me. I would say that from what I read mileage sucks at first but gets better over time. To me, its a sports car of course it will guzzle gas!

As for the engine, a rotary engine I find is a beautiful thing. As a mechanical engineer I can appreciate the inner beauty of the engine dynamics so that definitely drew me to the car. Mazda has a good deal of experience with rotary design so that was even more comforting. So I feel that the engine will be fine some quirks but otherwise fine.

For tuning I would say yeah its probably a bit tougher than your standard Piston engine. I don’t tune engines so I would not be a good source on this.

And if you are looking for acceleration.. Then this ain’t your car. If you are looking for a 0-60 speed demon then get yourself something else. For me I loved the handling, taking a test drive in south OC is a lot of fun with those big open roads.

As for the Irvine dealer.. been to them and yes they suck… Tustin Mazda has been pretty good to me so I would check there. The warranty isn’t bad. Go to the Mazda website for more info.

Insurance.. Huge! Its four doors. So its in a different class. Vastly different than my friends RSX. Good 300 bucks cheaper a year.

Nav is built in the dash so I doubt its easily removable.

It honestly sounds like you are looking for a street car. My friends shop has an STi and they have been tuning it, getting a new intercooler and a prototype turbo in there. Its definitely a more mature car to be tweaked. The EVO is wicked fast as well.

For me. the car was not just about speed or tweaking it is about the package. The mechanics, the handling, the price, the driving experience, and the looks all came to say get the RX-8. Which I will be doing shortly.