CMac

Hi Guys it is rare that i post here but at least it isn't waffle

Little story here.. Parked my car in our car port had a normal evening and went to bed at around midnight.

come 12.30am i hear an engine start and if you are like me hearing the Rx8 is like knowing it is your child crying in a room full of kids. I jump out of bed to see my car driving down the street, not flooring it but nice an steady..

I was in shock to say the least... then had some bad thoughts about hurting people.... then called the cops..

Went outside there was no smashed glass and i have all the car keys, nothing to indicate my car had just been parked there!!

Now going through the hassle of waiting to see if it turns up....

I wonder why and how...

Gibbo

I would be very interested as well, let us know what happens. BTW, what part of sydney are you from, I am getting a little scared.

CMac

The inner west

NicoRx8

no alarm??
they must have your spare keys - surely
maybe the dealer or techs stole it - serviced recently??

that sux

takahashi

I wonder how unless a copy has been made. It is near impossible unless they know how to bypass the immobiliser which is pretty hard to do.

Gomez, have you heard people in US get stolen...?

Hope all turn out well cMAC

Gomez

Frank Patrick in the US is the only one I know of that's been stolen without keys. He recovered the number plates...the car was never seen again. His was knocked off from the airport.

Cmac...... sure you have all your keys, what about the Valet key? What period of time would they have had alone with your car under the carport?

Gibbo

I know of an issue that Holdens have and I am wondering whether the RX-8 is the same.
The holdens can be stolen by changing the computer over and using the coded key section to then over ride the immobilser. I am hoping that a change of computer is not the trick here.

Please let us know what you find out also if anyone else knows of how this could happen PM me, don't post it here, it would be then too easy to someone to copy the method.

Cheers
Gibbo

kiwimeat

Cmac,

You have my sympathy. It sucks.

Certainly a concern.

I take it you had the standard security and no 3rd party alarm.

I hope you are fully insured with a new replacement policy (similar to Suncorp Metway's 2 year replacement for 1st owner)?

The only upside may be that if the thieves were professional enough to steal it without breaking glass and over-riding the immoblisher then it's gone for good. This may or may not be what you want of course.

Please keep us informed of any developments.

brothervoodoo

This is a rarity indeed.... maybe it's best you never see the car again, but if you do, I would be very interested to see what they did to manage to start the vehicle...

Gomez

Here is a link to a thread I started a little while back on this subject.

I'd really like to know how long the bandits had alone with the car...it could tend to indicate the method of theft.

Kas

too bad mate. hopefully it doesnt turn up - gererally in a case like this it wont. so congrats, you will soon have a new one!!!

if you do ever find them let me know - i'll give them my address!

CMac

Not sure how long they had with the car but i doubt it was more than 10-20mins max. The first noise i heard was the engine starting and the car was parked 10-15m from the bedroom which i had been in for 30-40 mins reading.

Couple other things, i had turned the light off 20 mins before i heard the engine also the car had been booked in the day before for a service (10,000km) in 1 week.

And yes i have the valet key with the 2 standard keys.

I thought something would have made a noise breaking the lock since it has a deadlock type of lock doesn't it.

It is just annoying now as i have a pulsar to drive around in..... :o

And now i hope it isn't recovered.... The engine is probably on its way to a race car.

Revolver

Mate, all I can do is offer my sympathy.

Hope it doesn't come back and you're driving a new one soon.

I keep mine garaged and supplemented the crappy garage door lock with a secure bolt into the concrete of my driveway. I also hide the keys in my house - even the set I usually use gets dropped into a place thieves would never look if they broke into the house looking for them.

But as everyone knows - that means jack if they've found a way to get past the immobiliser.

On the thread Gomez referenced someone asked whether anyone had stats on the number of RX8 thefts in Australia. Does anyone have any idea where you get that kind of info - I'd be interested to find out.

timbo

Crikey CMac...what a bugger!

As Gomez's earlier thread indicates, it seems to me the bigger issue is overcoming the immobiliser, but that's not impossible And, I daresay if we use this type of network to share information, thieves do too

takahashi

Theives cannot find my key, since I can't even find them sometimes. :p

There must be a method to get around the immobilizer and who knows those things... professionals.

They prob needs the parts from the car rather than the car itself.

Expect the RX-8 parts on sale in Australia trading post and eBays

RXP33D

Rarely you see a pretty car stolen and driven around.

As we speak , its probably getting shreaded down to bits and pieces

so if you see someone offering cheap RX8 parts then you know who...REPORT HIM!

i feel for you cMac.

Gomez

CMac's car was a Titanium. Any mods, CMac? Care to post the rego number on the off chance it's seen on the streets?

Lock & Load

www.autogroup.com.au
Auctioned a 04 BlackRX8 6MT leather trim today BLK69X, with 18,000km on the clock it sold for $40,000 supposedly it was repossesed by the finance company

There seems to be a gang stealing Re-Birthing RX8'S around Sydney /Queensland FUNNILY THE CHOICE OF COLOUR IS BLACK .

cheers
michael

xxup

Titanium

I thought that reds or blacks would be targets...

Gasp - now we have thieves with good taste... Whatever will come next???

Battousai

Well here in Canada they busted a large car theft ring a few years back and one of the best methods they used was to get the VIN number of the car and steal or make up a believable identiy to go with it. They would then social engineer a dealership to make them a key.

They also had a lot of mechanics at some dealerships in on it with them making the new keys for them.

These guys would even steal cars right of the dealerships lot, they would note down the VINs of cars they wanted on the lot, go get the key made and drive off, brash eh!

So if it has been in service recently as you say and seems like they only had about 20 mins with it, not sure if thats enough time to swap out the computer? They may have already had a key made for your 8 and just drove off in it.

There's a little here in this article, but Histroy channel over here had an episodwe of Mastermind about this guy and his theft ring:

http://www.rediff.com/news/1999/dec/10us.htm

takahashi

I doubt the Aussie thugs are that clever

Hopefully they don't see this :o

tonym

Sorry to hear this happened to you, really feel for you CMAC, I lost mine in a slightly different way, but really missed it till it was replaced - it was never going to come back the same. Replacemnet insurance is great fror the first couple of years.

My first RX8 was wrecked in major crash by semi up the rear at around 80KPH on the F3 in October last year. The wreck was sold last November in Newcastle at around $22K (right DAZ-13B?) to some guys from Sydney who were "very" interested in it.

It was a Titanium with the VIN ending in 000154.

Now I wonder where it went ..... Inner Sydney, Lebanese buyers, stolen car ....... maybe they used the the computer from another RX8 perhaps, maybe a wreck that they learned on and have the engine computer and keys from.

Oh ****!!

If so this won't be the last one done like this, bastards!!!

Lock'em up well guys! Now where was that shotgun again ....

I wonder if this has been done before elsewhere and if there is any way to prevent this sort of "spoofing'", any one know?

If I'm right you won't see it again CMAC, very sad really

Cheers,

Tonym.

Gibbo

They have more chance of going to jail for speeding :D

Wildcard

Sorry to hear that CMac.

I had my car stolen a few years back (not the 8). Luckily the thief and my car pulled up next to me at the lights a few hours later while I was out in my g/f's car looking for it. He didn't know what hit him when I crash tackled him through the drivers side window! True story.