teaelle

hi, my frd just found a 2005 brand new RX-8 6MT with everything loaded, and less than 20 miles at the dealer

is there anything that she needs to aware of about the car? (reliability, service/maintainence, fuel econ, drive in winter)

just want to do a full research b4 buying the car, thanks a lot

skhmund

suggest using the SEARCH button..........do your research n let yor friend decide if this car is right for her, there's more to it than just "O IT LOOKS CUTE"

Btturbo

Besides doing more searching!!!

Good, about avg, terrible, dunno.......other than that, you will have no regrets, car is a blast to drive and thats what it is all about.

teaelle

thanks but what i want to know is there any problem about the maintainence/service/reliability

Raptor75

Just to warn you that you’re about to be flamed to death for not searching for these answers but here is a quick run down.

Reliability is good in the later model; if the car was built before 3/05 you my want to make sure the car has had the spark plug, battery, starter up graded. You can find the build date inside the driver’s door. There is a flooding issue that can cause the car not to start if the engine is shut down before warming up. The above upgrade helps resolve this problem greatly but if you don’t follow instruction it still has a chance of happening. I have never had this problem myself.

Service and maintenance is key check the oil often, the RX-8 will burn a quart every 600 to 3000 miles depending on how it is driven. This is normal for a rotary.

Careful of the paint, it is weak and chips easily.

Fuel economy is a joke, the car will gets as low as 10 mpg in heavy city driving to 24 on the highway. Most average 16 to 18 mixed. Myself I drive mostly city and get 11 to 12 MPG....ouch! There is no telling if your getting one that gets good mileage or bad till you start driving it. One guy was getting 9 to 10 MPG on his RX-8 with Mazda telling him it is normal and is caused by the way he drove the car. He sold the car and got a new one and now gets 18 MPG driving the exact same route. Your mileage is a crap shoot and don’t expect Mazda to do anything if it is poor.

Many people have found Mazda dealers to be pretty poor regarding warranty work and customer service in general. There are good ones out there but Mazda in general dose a pretty poor job. IMHO.

The tires on the car cannot be driven in Snow! If you drive in snow you need to get a spare set of winter tires or at the least Performance all season tires.

Over all the car is great and is a joy to drive but my experience with MPG and poor Mazda service have taken some fun out of the car.

Go48

Like someone suggested, read some of the threads involving particularly those dealing with fuel mileage and engine flooding.

Rotary engines are particularly prone to flooding if the proper precautions are not observed. The one rule about a rotary engine that you dare not risk ignoring: Do not shut the engine down cold. If you start the car let it warm up before shutting it down. If you have to just move the car, let it warm up before shutting it down. That will help her avoid flooding the engine. She will also have to check the oil level on a regular basis--like every other fill up--because this car is designed to consume engine oil. If your friend is not willing to take these extra steps 100% of the time, she should not purchase this car.

Also, if this car will be driven primarily in stop-and-go traffic, she can expect to get REALLY poor fuel mileage--perhaps in the low teens or even less. If it will be driven mostly on open roads at reasonable speeds, she can expect around 20 mpg average--maybe more, maybe less. Fuel mileage seems particularly difficult to predict for this car.

Other than those things, this is a fantastic, unique vehicle that is a dream to drive. Quiet, smooth, relatively fast, handles great, comfortable. What more can you ask?

teaelle

thanks, this is the answer that i am really looking for

Winfree

Use a really good grade of gas and I hope the price on Mobil-Exxon drops - their hightest works really well - figures

Use eally cheap oil - non-synthetic Castrol works well

If you don't do a double lock click on both the driver and passenger door and get that little honk, some lights may stay on in the car. Also make sure radio and air conditioner are turned off - as this may drain the battery. If you leave the car for a couple of days the battery may go down - a quick fix is get a little jumper kit from Walmart that kind with a rechargable battery that plugs in to your wall socket - this can save you much grief!

Never never reach your arm in through an open window and unlock the car - it really hates this and you will be going though your manuel trying to turn the security system off.

Always make sure your sunroof is closed before getting out in the rain or a car wash

If you live in the country - you will need a repellent to keep the mice out of the firewall insulation - and watch for free gifts of seeds

Clean off your dip stick really well, and put some white fingernail polish on the oil level stick it is much easier to read and do not over fill it

When you drive at low speed watch your rotations - keep them low by shifting down when they go up - fewer rotations = better milage.

Race only on the tracks and do not loan this car to your Dad or boy friend! Do not drink with this one - you will need your mind! This car will attract men!!!

Make sure you get a really really good briefing - read the manual before you drive and earnote anything that doesn't make sense. Find other people who drive and love this car. Read the comment section -it will scare you a little - but then ask your service maintence rep about each worrisome comment and find out how not to have these problems...

Quest8

It's reliable, I wouldn't worry about that. Plus, it has a great warranty. If you're going be creeping along in dense city traffic, you're going to get poor gas mileage, as others have said. However, with normal traffic, mpg is acceptable. I live in the Atlanta metro area, which has a lot of traffic and I get 19 or 20 mpg in mixed driving. You'll need to buy snow tires for it if you want to even think of driving it in the winter, from what I've read here in the forum. You do have to stay on top of the maintenance more seriously than with other cars because of the rotary engine. The flooding issue is never an issue is you adopt the simple precaution of letting it warm up before you turn it off. It warms up very quickly, so this is not a big deal. I accidentally turned mine off cold once and it did not flood. I think the 05's don't flood as easily as the 04's did. I bought my 05 GT six weeks ago and am still as excited as the day I got it. It's a fantastic car!

teaelle

LOL
so you telling my gf cannot let me drive the car???

i will let her drive my Acura TL during the weekend and I will attract some girls!!!

Stavesacre21

Aside from all of the above mentioned issues with milage and flooding, one biggie that i overlooked when i test drove was your HEIGHT.

Primarily because I was so pumped about the test drive, I didn't adust the seat to it's correct position and just test it like so. Ends up I bought it, and after that, got into the car and tried to adjust the seat to the lowest position...and my hair still brushes/smashes the ceiling (with a sunroof). You'll hear almost everyone else over 6' tell you the same...if yur over 6' tall, or even breaking even, sitting straight up in the chair may place your head in the ceiling. Not TOO big of a deal, because all you have to do is slouch down a lil...but it's still the case. Just another minor detail that you won't wanna overlook for comfort's sake.

Everyone else has made some valid points as well...on top of those, search it out.