04rx8baker

Ok so this past week I bought a 2004 mazda rx8 with 89000 miles for my first car stupidly enough I don't do the proper research before buying the car. I have read a good amount of forums so far and I understand that the rotary engine requires more attention then an ordinary piston engine. After reading all of these forums and seeing the problems 2004 model has it got me really paranoid and I wanna do everything I can to make this car last as long as possible. As far as I known I understand that I should check the oil every other fill up or so and routinely change the oil every 3000 miles and let the car warm up. I've also read up that its good to let the car redline often to let the car clear the carbon buildup. So basically I'm asking if there is anymore I can do to make my first car last long and run string

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

See my signature, new owner's thread, post #9 details out the answer to that question.

Welcome!

04rx8baker

Thanks! Reading it all now

monchie

Welcome...and i'm not going to say anything about your new ride... , well i almost did... lol

pistonhater

/\
There's a lot of FAIL with that

No need to be paranoid, but you should know that your car being an 04', you are out of the 8 year/100,000 mile engine core warranty. So if something happens to your engine now, there's nothing you can get from Mazda.

Take your time to read what RIWWP pointed out to you. That contains all the info you need to know.

ken-x8

There's also a lot of win in that. I bought mine within three weeks of having learned of its existence, and the only research I did was to read a few reviews in car magazines. I did not find this site until after I was an owner. That was a good thing, since all of the cautionary stuff here might have scared me off.

Sometimes too much research can be a bad thing.

Baker - welcome to the RX-8 world. Digest RIWWP's thread - it's full of great info - but don't let any of it scare you.

Ken

pistonhater

Hope that's not the strategy you would use to buy house

It may have worked for you, but we all know there's a LOOOOOOOT of people out there unhappy with the RX-8 precisely because they bought the car without really knowing what they were getting into. Those are the same people that then come to this forum bitching and complaining. Those threads come up at times on a weekly basis. They also go to other car forums bashing, cursing and putting down Mazda and the RX-8.

I did some basic research before buying mine like reading the stickies here, talking to other RX-8 owners, etc. I admit that I became paranoid at some point, but it didn't prevent me from buying at the end. It just took me longer to buy. Not a bad thing since I wasn't in a hurry anyway.

04rx8baker

Thanks I and called my closest mazda dealer and they said the warranty is unlimited not sure if it has to be under 100k tho

04rx8baker

Whats there to say

ken-x8

Nah...house was a lot more money. And pretty much an adult purchase.

The 8 is my second childhood. When I bought Zoomy I could afford to make a monetary mistake, but not a fun one. Considered a BMW Z4...that would have been both a monetary and fun mistake.

The only real problem I had after buying Zoomy was that the seat hurt my back, and for a while I thought I might have to trade for something I could sit in comfortably. Eventually I had my back surgically altered. Problem solved.

Ken

JamesD31

What do you mean you have an "unlimited" warranty? O.o Unless you bought yourself an extended warranty OR you have one with the dealership itself, the Mazda engine warranty was ONLY 8 yrs / 100,000 miles. Which for the majority of '04s is over with.

I say good luck, and DO get a compression test on your car, especially if you feel it is 'starting' slow and/or worries you when you start / drive the car - you will easily tell when you know your engine is dying.

pistonhater

The guy at the dealer was smoking weed when he said that. All warranties, even if you purchased an extended warranty, will have limitations on mileage, years, or both.


Ok, I'll be the first one to say it. The wheels, and the two tone paint job with those asymmetrical stickers is not something that most RX-8 owners around here would give you compliments for. That was a nice way of saying people would make fun of it and/or give you a hard time.

The rear wing is another element for which people around here would give you a hard time; unnless you have some serious horsepower under the hood (meaning, supercharged, turbo charged, nitro or 20B, etc) and actually race the car. Otherwise, having a wing like that on a stock/street driven vehicles is generally consider "ridiculous."

Haha, I see

I actually had the opposite problem with my back. It used to hurt a lot and since I started driving the 8 it has been feeling better. The Dr. said that it is probably because it forces my to sit straight and with a better posture.

So my 8 healed me, LOL

kustus

iTrader: (1)

Congrats on the new ride

tza0001

iTrader: (2)

Welcome to the forum!

04rx8baker

Generally that's the response I was looking for to see what others thought of the car as is the Wing came with the car as an added accessory which is not on the car now. Nothing I can really do about the paintjob it's two tone and everything's painted on. The engine is worked all bit nothing of which is between the parentheses

Thanks man

monchie

You read my mind...lol

pistonhater

I hear you man.

Please know that I wasn't criticizing you. I'm old school enough to believe "different things for different types of people." If you liked the car when you bought it, then that's all it matters.

All car forums have a "culture." So I was trying to give you a general idea of what the culture is on this forum.

There are some things in the culture of the RX-8 forum that people take very seriously when it comes to giving compliments to somebody:

-Rear Wings (very, very unlikely to get a compliment - especially race wings on street driven cars. Glad to see you took yours off)

-Wheels (somewhat likely to get a compliment depending on what you get; but people here have very high standards on what aftermarket wheels look well in the RX-8)

- Lowering suspension (people are tough on this one. It has to be done very well for people to compliment you on it. And doing it right is far more involved than what it seems.)

-Two Paint Jobs (supremely unlikely to get a compliment.)

- Stickers (better be small and have the shape of a rotor or the words MazdaSpeed, otherwise expect criticism.)

- Cold Air Intakes (even if you spend a lot of $$$$ in one, do not expect a round of applause.)
There are other many other things of course. But those are the ones that came first from memory.

But at the end of the day, it's your car and your money, and you do whatever the heck you want with both of those

Before you do any "mods" in the future, make sure you research a LOT before you do it (there's a sticky about mods). That is, if you ever do mods expecting to receive compliments from people here.

This is a "tough love" crowd

G_ man

iTrader: (2)

^ well said pistonhater

kustus

iTrader: (1)

Yup well said indeed. As long as you enjoy the car thats all that counts. Have fun! Thats what it was made for.