vulcan300

Hello all. I'm new on this forum but a long time fan of the 8. I had a deposit on a 2004 years ago but ended up buying something else instead of paying the huge dealer premium at the time. I'v regretted that move ever since and now I have the opportunity to buy an 8 in great condition, with low KMs for a good price.

I'm looking at a 2005 GS AT with the flappy paddle shifters, the car has 37000 kms on it, has a mint interior as the current owner is a clean freak, flawless exterior. The car comes with a set of Pirelli snows on some decent aluminum rims and is 16,500. Do you think that's a good price considering condition and mileage and the included snow tires?

I'm fine with the GS trim level but I'm wondering how the car will perform in the winter without traction control. Do these cars have a tendency to lose the back end in light snow?

I've read about the flooding issue and the service manager for a Mazda dealer strongly advised against using an 8 as a daily driver. From what I've read on the forum flooding is a potential problem, but as long as you're careful with the car it shouldn't be an issue. Is the Mazda guy just being overly cautious or am I asking for trouble by buying this car as a daily driver and getting rid of my Mazda 3 GT sport?

Any advice you can give me will be greatly appreciated.

J

rodjonathan

iTrader: (6)

another flooding thread SEARCH!!!

to answer your question as long as you let the car warm up before turning it off you will be fine tell the dam mazda guy to go to training again. drive it hard and youll be ok also never move it and turn it of like into the garage or sth always let it sit for 5 min or so before shutting off or better yet take her for a spin

ZmFnZm

The mazda guy is being a fool, the car is amazing as a DD. Just dont shut it off before it warms up and you wont have any problems with flooding.

Also, AUTOMATIC?@*$(@*%&@*^&$@*%&@#*$&#@*(%$^&*@^$#%$!*( &@ WHY!!!!!!!!!

rodjonathan

iTrader: (6)

for me auto coz the 8 was gonna be my temporary car after my wreck coz i had a cast amount of broken bones including a variety of fractures in my left arm and leg so no clutch but fell in love and would have lost too much money trading for a manual coz i got the car dirt cheap ... and now i have a 2010 camaro ss with the 6 speed so i drive that when i feel like stick

shaunv74

Dont' get an AT older then 2006. It still have the lower power 4 port motor and will be disappointing. The 2006 model year and newer was the first with the high power AT and the only AT to get IMHO.

ZmFnZm

That seems like a good reason to get an AT, but other than that ugh!!!!

rodjonathan

iTrader: (6)

^ im with him mine was a good reason but learn to drive stick if you dont know how and just get the manual you wont regret it

vulcan300

Thanks for the responses so far. I guess I need to provide some more info so you understand why I'm looking at an AT GS.

First, I know how to drive a stick. My daily driver during the summer is an 86 MT 911 Carrera Targa. As a result I get plenty of MT practice when I'm driving that. As for power, that also isn't my main concern. The wife doesn't know how to drive MT and has no interest and too much power will just get her in trouble when she's driving therefore I have to compromise for any daily driver I buy. I think that answers why AT is the way I need to go. Also, even though it is a lower power machine if I wind out the engine it'll develop more than enough power to get me a 10000 dollar ticket

If I didn't have a sports car already, and didn't need a car that my wife could drive I'd be all over a 6 speed GT. But since I have specific needs I'm not going to go that way (as much as the guy inside hates it).

So again, the main question is whether I'm paying a reasonable price for what I'm getting. I think so, but wanted the opinion from those on here who've bought the same type of car. I think I have the answer regarding flooding so I'm not so worried about that. The other question is how an MT will perform in the snow, but from what I've read on the forum it sounds like an auto will do OK even without TC/DSC.. Can anyone who owns one comment?

2hit6

As long as you have a good set of winter tires on... you should be fine. As for At Vs. MT....there is no comparison...MT has a lot more power and performs like the RX-8 was built for.
________
BlackRosse

vulcan300

Trust me, buying an RX8 with less power than absolutely possible does hurt a bit. But life is about compromise. In the end, it still has plenty of power and its still an RX8. If anyone on here owns an AT and can comment on how they like it that would be great.

Marc_GS

When it comes to MTs, I actually like the GS trim over the GT (so much, I bought two of them...), but with the automatic, I would definitely recommend the GT. One very subtle thing about the GS trim with automatic is that it is the ONLY RX-8 you could buy in Canada that didn't have a limited slip differential. I would say that, ESPECIALLY for winter use, the LSD is required. Even with the fairly low power of the 04-05 AT, in slippery conditions with an open differential you WILL lose traction and the car WILL be difficult to control, even with good winter tires.

As for price, I think that at $16500, its about $2k too high. Automatics sell for significantly less money than equivalent MTs, and I'd expect to pay about $17k for an MT in the condition you describe.

I'd also strongly recommend you look at 2006+ if you're getting an automatic. It's not just the extra power, the 06+ will also have 6 speeds rather than 4, and will benefit from the other incremental improvements that took place over the first 2 years of production.

Thief

For that kind of price, I'd expect a GT manual. Not a GS.

Marc_GS

Agreed, you can find a GT for that kind of money. But a GS isn't really much cheaper in the used market, for whatever reason.

vulcan300

Marc_GS, thanks a lot for your insightful advice. That's what I've been looking for. Even though I've spent a couple of hundred inspecting that car I think I may just pass on it. The last thing I want is to be fishtailing my way down the DVP in the snow this winer :-)

Now, does anyone know of a sweet fully loaded GT AT for sale?

Thumper3322

+1 Older ATs really suck!

+1

schnipster

now i know i am not a pro driver and not in the borg collective but the only place i would drive my car with no traction control is in florida during the winter months...you get caught ANYWHERE there is a slight incline in traffic, and you are driving slow in the snow....you are not going anywhere at all ...period.....its tons of fun in the snow however without TCS unless drifting this thing is a skate..

Rotary Mike

A lot has already been said on here so I'll be short

• Flooding - I have owned my car for over a year now. I have 32 000KM on it since I bought it. I have never once flooded my car and this includes countless 'start the car, back out of driveway, shut off car'. I don't always let it warm up and have done start-up/shut offs in sequence before. The Mazda guy is paranoid.
• If you plan to drive it a lot in the winter, you will want the TC and stability control. Not for city driving or light snow so much, but for the highway. If you must drive in the snow (like me) then you will notice very quickly how easily the car want's to highside itself on the ruts left by Big Rigs on the DVP/404/401/427, etc. Rear wheels getting light at 60-80KM/H does not always = good times
• Although I prefer MT, get what ever makes sense to you, but like many said, get the 6 speed auto.

vulcan300

Thanks to everyone who responded to my questions! In the end I passed on the car I was looking at and I'm now on the lookout for a nice 2006+ Automatic RX8 GT. If you know of one for sale let me know.

YT1300

vulcan300, where are you located?

A few things to note from my experience with low-to-no traction situations in the winter with my 8: TC helps put the power down but not much more; LSD will do nothing in the snow without some form of traction; DSC does nothing at low engine speeds. I've driven my 8 (05, GT, MT) essentially sideways, with the engine just at tickover, clutch in, and DSC was just twiddling its thumbs waiting for the difference in wheel rotation to be noted. Of course, with both wheels freely spinning in the snow at the same rate, DSC was doing nothing at all.

vulcan300

I'm located in Toronto Ontario. This past winter was a bad one for snowfall in the city, and since I'm going to be using the car as a daily driver I need it to be able to handle a bit of snow on the ground. I generally tend to drive conservatively when the snow is falling and in a previous car that had all the traction control good I found that it helped to keep the car more easily under control in the snow. In theory the traction control should help the RX8 to find traction by independently braking the rear wheels and sending power to the wheel with the best traction. Do you find that it doesn't work this way?

Kafka

We usually put DSC off when going from a stop. Then switch it on after up to speed (above 20km/h).

Reason is that you always have a little bit of "spin" when you start from a stop to rolling in the snow. The DSC will detect it and brake and hence make the car not moving at all....

Other than that, DSC is great in snow....definitely saved my butt a few times when changing lanes in 404!