ramathorne

Hi,

I'm a newbie so please forgive me for being niave. I just bought a 6spd with the grand touring package, nav and the appearance package. It only has 15 thousand miles on it. It's fantastic but I had some questions about the engine break in:

1. I'm getting 17 mpg, mostly highway driving and 18 mpg if I turn off traction control and stability control. I don't rev it out often. Is that normal? I thought I would be able to get at least 20 on the highway. I drive around 78 mph.

2. My cd player keeps spitting out cdr's. Will Mazda give me crap about getting it fixed under warranty?

3. I have Kumho Exstas in the back and the stock potenzas in the front, should I throw some new Kumho's on the front ASAP? I'm not familiar with tires other than what's on tirerack.

4. I have a 96 awd subaru imprezza brighton that is butt ugly and will probably be in need of some work but it runs fine now and gets 26 mpg highway. Should I keep that around for winters or get snows and rims for the 8?

5. If anyone wants to sell me their first aid kit and roadside kit, I would be happy to buy it off them for a good price. I gotta put something in that trunk!

Thanks for the help!

Nergal

I hope you like it. I just got an 06 Shinka in Late Oct, and love it. I did OK this past winter with all seasons (Southwest MO). Stock tires are not safe at all when it is slick. Got a set of Cooper Zeons (same size as stocks) mounted and road hazzard package for roughly $600 (inc tax). If you can keep the beater second car it is not a bad idea, road slush is not the best on the vehicle. Check the oil often (I usually have checked it every 2 wks, but only drive 80-100 miles per wk). I did make sure the car was warm BEFORE every shut off, so have not ran into problems with flooding. Fuel consumption is not the best, but then again we did not buy a yugo either. It is the best damn looking car in the parking lot at work (& I work at a medical clinic). My only gripe is the lack of an aux input for the radio (stock Bose). Otherwise it is sweet.
Enjoy it!
Nergal

joe38g

I'll take a shot at a couple of these...

The mileage, yeah that's about all you get. I may have gotten over 20 mpg once or twice, I usually average around 18, with mixed city and highway.

You can always ask Mazda to look at your car, if they look at it and say it's not covered under warranty, say no thanks, or just pay them to fix it.

I think as long as your tires are around the same tread depth, the type of tire shouldn't matter. If they're not evenly worn down, you should get at least 2 new tires, if not 3. Ideally, having 4 of the same brand tire at the same wear is best.

I bought my car up North and I wasn't going to even consider driving in the snow. If you have an AWD car and you can afford both, I say keep it. Snow tires are not going to do much for you.

Hope this helps, I'm sure some people will disagree with me on some of this, but oh well.

Joe

mysql101

keep your traction control / DSC enabled. It isn't going to give you better gas mileage.

If you want to know fuel consumption, get something like the scangauge2 and you'll be able to see in real time what your throttle position is doing for fuel economy. Then you can adjust accordingly to get the most out of your car.

ramathorne

Yeah it definitely stands out.

I probably will have to end up doing the ilink for an Ipod or something because I don't really use CD's too often anymore.

Thanks.

ramathorne

scangauge2, I know nothing about that? I'll have to search for a thread on that.

NoTears316

congrats on your purchase

Cody Red

keep it real, and drive 70. Congrats on the purchase. I'd prolly keep the soobie if i were you.

Welcome to the club!

-Cody

New Yorker

I disagree—winter tires positively transform the car (as long as the snow's less than 4-5" deep for clearance). Mine handles great in the snow with Dunlop Wintersports…


From edmunds.com long term road test:
"Those who have to deal with slippery driving conditions will benefit from the RX-8's perfect 50/50 weight balance and available traction/stability control system. Throw a set of Bridgestone Blizzaks on this baby and you should be able to handle most anything winter throws your way."

dillsrotary

when on the highway in 6th gear, if you cruise below 3750 rpms you'll noticed a big difference. I'm guessing 78 to 80 mph is about 4000 rpms, which will burn more gas (it's techinical to explain, but it works)

CarAndDriver

Even differences of 5MPH makes decent differences in 8 mileage.

tmak26b

I dont think the stability control will eat up gas, but why keep it on if you have faith in your driving?

RX26b

1. Try putting in some fresh plugs, check air filter, and overinflate your tires by a few pounds. There's no reason you should be returning a paltry 17 running all highway. At those speeds I'd expect minimum 21 mpg.

3. Dump the fronts and backs. All the Kumhos I've bought and tried are pure crap, with the exception of the MXs (haven't tested yet). Go with a good major brand for new rubber. Don't skimp on the only part of your car that's touching the ground when you attack that 35 mph posted limit on or off ramp at more than double. You've got a great performing car, don't buy all-season tires, get something proper. Your car will reward you and you'll enjoy it more.

4. Keep it. It's worth more to you as a beater, than a few measly bucks in your pocket and your 8 caked in salt residue and rock chips.

Razz1

Kepp the Sub for Winter and get some Kumho's up front when you have a chance.

Welcome to the club.

Endor

And mine handles pretty good with Blizzaks too. However balanced it might be though, it's still a RWD sports car. Personally, if I had a AWD subaru around that had a good set of winters tires, I'd drive that instead and keep the RX-8 all nice and shiny until spring came along.

Aero8

+1 on what endor said. I am also on blizzaks, they are great for the winter, but I don't have a awd car to use either. if you don't want to put out the money for the subaru, buy snow tires.

I get about the same mpg.

Congrats on the car and great color choice

dmc27

congrats & welcome!

Winfree

Milage is a little low - make sure you have a good tuneup, the updated points and you may want to add a new higher amp cold cranking battery. These should also increase your power a little.

Your milage wil also improve as you get more used to her, and you are less tempted to race everything on the road!

Your Mazda dealer can order the first aide and tire repair kit for you.

Keep your beater - you will love this car enough that you will hate to expose it to bad weather and besides if she is ever in the shop you still have wheels -

For a while, because I had a weak early style battery my ancient 323 used to give her a jump every morning!

The longer you have this car the more you will love it!

grinn253

Congrats on your vehicle! How about some pix!?

What is this first aid kit? We got our 05 8 new from a deceitful dealer in Lynwood, WA and did not receive a first aid kit Is this an item that is normaly included?


Thanks!
Edgardo

Stavesacre21

congrats on the purchase, bro.

very quickly, as if you don't already feel it, 18MPG is actually pretty dang good to be getting in the 8. Consider yourself on the upper half of MPG for this forum.

also, DSC has absoutely nothing to do with milage, UNLESS of course it's kicking off and on MANY times during a tank. However, for everyday driving it would be very wise to keep it on as a safenet.

as for the WRX, sheerly your call. Another set of rims with dedicated snow tires work miracles in the 8. Don't even dream of driving your summers through the snow...you'll find out exactly how quickly you'll get nowhere. If you already own the WRX outright, i'd suggest just keeping it. Never hurts to have a winter beater.

lastly, enjoy your 8! Remember, the engine doesn't come awake until about 5K...a commen misconception about rotaries in comparison to piston engines. don't be afraid to your your engine up to the reaches of 8K...it's designed to flow like silk. I see you're already well past your break-in period, so there should be no holds left!

funspork

+1

ramathorne

Thanks for the help everyone. I think I'm going to love this forum. Considering I only paid $800 for my imprezza I think it's best to keep it around. It looks like a decent set of used rims and tires for the 8 cost about that much.

I would really like to drive 70 mph to save gas, but can any of you actually do that? It's a strugle for me to keep it under 90.

I've read that as the 8 ages, it gets faster, does it get more efficent at all in regards to gas? I know my car is older, but the previous owner only drove it 5k miles a year. I feel like it still needs to be broken in.

ramathorne

The dealer changed the plugs when I got it, but I haven't checked the air filter or the tire presure. I'll give that a shot. Do you think an intake would increase my mpg? It worked on one of my previous cars.... nothing much but about 10 or 12 miles per tank which on this car would go a long ways.

ramathorne

no it's a $20 accessory from the dealership. It's just a little red bag with supplies in it. To tell you the truth, i just want it because it looks cool.

Ever Hernandez

By now the car is practically beggin' you to hit it...you know, the 9k redline.