Hey, So some background I just bought a used 2004 RX8 6 speed manual from Liberty Mazda in CT. I have had it for about 2 weeks. I've only driven it aggressively a few times because of the snow and cold cold (-17 was lowest) weather in CT.

So heres the deal, I had just driven to CVS and picked up something and the engine temperature was just below the middle mark. I shut of the car and went inside for about 5 minutes. After I backed out of my spot I started to drive in first gear at about 7 mph to exit the parking lot. After about 20 feet the engine fell like it cut out and when I depressed the clutch it idled at about 300 rpm and shook the car. The check engine lights started flashing and it sounded like horrible. I turned off the car and waited for a bit. After a minute I tried to restart the car and it took almost 7 seconds to get it to start. It still idled extremely hard and it sounds like the car was running with out a muffler, it was extremely loud. I used only a little gas and once the rpm broke 3000 the engine seemed fixed and the car took off. Then as soon as i let off the gas and clutched at a stop sign it screwed up again. I drove it about a quarter mile to a parking spot and turned it off. When i got out it smelled like burning clutch and burning oil.

Any idea what happened? I think its a blown engine. Right before this i filled up at a gas pump and topped off with with 93 and the car said it averaged 15 MPG as it had travel 202.5 miles and was on empty and took 13.5 gallons of gas. I still have 3000 miles or 60 days for 100% parts and labor coverage for any repairs.

the engine warranty is for 8 years 100k miles if thats the problem

Yea you are covered if your engine is screwed.

Just call mazda and take it to them and have them check it out.

burning clutch smell i can understand because at that low of an idle, you may be riding the clutch a bit to start off. the burning oil smell...could be a number of things to include an oil leak, an oil spill during the last oil change...i wuld have the car taken to the dealer for the sake of still having an engine warranty. keep us posted

This sounds like catalytic converter failure and a broken engine mount, both covered by Mazda, and both issues with '04's.

^The cat would be covered up to 80k miles and the motor mount is only covered if he has full bumper to bumper warranty left, and that is 5yr/60k miles.

Results of going to the dealership

They said it had a failed ignition coil which caused one of the rotary combustion chambers to fail. They also said it was most likely the winter gas blend for New England and the ignition coil problem that caused low gas mileage. They are also claiming the down shifting shakes are from the damaged coil. We will see when I go drive it at the dealership to find out if the problems are fixed.

I'll keep you posted.

Update:

Yup everything works way better. The bad smell was unburnt fuel going through the cat but it still tested out fine.