RX844

To the wise ones. I'm just at 190,000km's on the RX8 with the lease just about up. Looking at purchasing the car for future project and wondering what sort of K's the 8 would cover (freeway driving) before major rebuild??

takahashi

Wow you have won the biggest mileage!

I guess with that much freeway driving it will still be ok. I used to drive a Camry for 120000km in 2 years and had only 2 oil changes.

It is wise to rebuild it - at least take it open and do some pics. I am sure some great rotary shops in Sydney can do it and make it like brand new.

astro

190000kms!.


"If it ain't broke... don't fix it!"

Keep driving your car till it breaks down. Only cost $50 bucks to get it towed to the nearest dealership in the event the car or engine dies. (city/ inner suburban)

However, I hope nothing happens on your engine till it reaches 300000 kms++.

BTW, do you rev your engine hard or baby it?.

takahashi

Well if you force induce your car or have it highly tuned, yes do rebuild.

Otherwise don't.

But you can do it and take some pics for us... we are interested right? hehe....
(you can ignore the last advice)

Cromax

Highway k's ... aka babied in comparison.

How the hell do you rack up that many k's in 4 years though? I guess it's only 50000km a year! RX844 must be commuting from Sydney to Coffs every day!

Rotor Convert

I used to do those sort of k's in my Honda...not hard to do specially if you use your car for work which it sounds like is the case here.

I am loathed to get k's on mine now. In 14 months have done 28,000kms which is low for me. In the Honda in that time I did just a tick over 50,000kms....we drive the Alfas a lot!!

Congrats on your k's thats awesome. Many happy hours behind the wheel.

Just out of interest when do you:

1. Change oil?
2. How often do you check the oil and what's your usage?
3. Any issues while you have had the car?
4. How many k's do you get from yout tyres?

If you can answer these, sorry for the Spanish Inquisition I would be grateful...will help me budget and give us all hope that we will see that many kms from our engines!

Cheers

RC

Cromax

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition, amongst our weaponry ...

rotarenvy

wow! thats some high Km's.
try ausrotary forums. yours is one of the highest I've heard of.

I agree if it isn't broken and running well don't bother. if it is feeling tired then maybe. it isn't that expensive to rebuild a rotary anyway, is it?

RX844

Hi Guys and thanks for your comments and the Spanish Inquisition. Yeah I'm covering just over 1100 km's each week for work commuting from the Southern Highlands into Sydney each day (makes the drive worthwhile in an RX-8!!) and I can tell you I have enjoyed every kay travelled, something about this car that keeps a smile on your face

The car is serviced every 10,000km as per the book and oil is changed every 5,000. I'm on my 3rd clutch set and 4th set of tyres. Aside from the Mazda recalls, she's been as sweet as a button.

Now that the lease is up, I'm finding the idea of parting with it a bit hard hence the reason for my original post. Looks like a nice set of rims and suspension mode might just be worth do'in.

Revolver

Personally, I'd be tempted to trade her in for a fresh one but I otherwise agree that a rebuild isn't necessary unless you want to mod the drivetrain.

Revolver senior lives down your way (was Bundanoon, now Moss Vale). Some great roads around there.

DrewMan

Just wondering what kinda mileage you get on your freeway driving?

Brettus

iTrader: (2)

KEEEEEEEP IT !!!!! We want to see how far you can go before it needs a rebuild

enforcer

There are many references on the net pointing to the fact that the RX-8 will last over 200,000 miles (320,000 kms) such as...

http://autos.msn.com/research/userre...?modelid=12029

There are many other unauthorised assertions...."Throughout the rest of the world (except in the USA) Mazda requires RX 8 owners to use a heaver weight 5W-30 or 10W-30 oil to properly protect the motors, which will then last for over 200,000 miles outside the USA."

..but they don't tell you how many rebuilds they did!

Rotor Convert

Am sitting here smiling at your reply!! I drive mine for work too and I love every moment I am in it. Glad that you have gotten such a good run out of it. I wonder if there are others with higher kms out there? Maybe as someone has said there might be someone in Ausrotory....but I reckon your car would be the Granddaddy on here for sure!

Thanks for answering my questions...as Cromax says nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition. God I love that film!

Oh well good luck and I reckon as others have said if it aint broke don't fix it. Maybe get a compression test done and see how the engine is travelling and then decide.....then let the mod monster in you out...seems like the egg is cracking as we speak!!

Rotor Convert

So can you recite the whole film word for word?? If so you are one of my kinda people!!

What about the Life of Brian???

The Holy Grail.....

Have I started something here.....

Cromax

Always look on the bright side of life LOL

My favourite is the Holy Grail to be perfectly honest ... something to do with the black night ... 'tis but a scratch! hahahaha

Rotor Convert

Yes I like that one too. I love the bit where the knight is hopping around with one arm missing and one leg gone saying come on it's only a flesh wound!

I specially love this line tho....come back here you silly english kniggits....your mother was a hamster and your father smelt like elderberries.....you stoopid food trough water..come back or I will taunt you a second time!!!! If only I could have memorised modern world history for my matric exams as well as i memorised Monty Python!!!

Rotor Convert

Sorry I have digressed.....oops

RX844

Hey Drewman, I've never really worried about mileage but it's around 450k's per tank- although I don't drive it for the economy aspect.

And Rotor Covert, your right- the Mod Monster Egg is well and truly cracking open (time for a new thread!!) Suspension issues first or Rims ???

astro

Out of curiousity, have you dynoed your car?.

Perhaps you could enlighten us on the theory that a rotary gets stronger with age. If so, I'm driving my car everyday if proven!.

labrat

It is probably only meaningful if you've charted kW against km over the life of the car. You need a trend to tell you something.

RXVIII

I would be interested to hear from you regarding the clutch life.

Were they consistent in life span and how many KM's?)

Was it standard type clutch each time?

Cheers

labrat

I'm sufficiently old and perhaps wise enough to know that's certainly not true. I think the problem using dyno figures to make any sort of reliable statement of a car's performance starts at the point of manufacture. All manufactured goods suffer from a variation in performance - think of a simple item such as a light globe. Cars are incredibly complex machines, and in spite of rigorous quality control, variations must occur. It wouldn't surprise me if there was a few percent variation either way in the actual kW's of RX-8's leaving the assembly line. Then of course you have the way in which the dyno testing is done. I haven't checked any testing threads recently, but I remember thinking after reading early reports that dyno testing is not a trivial exercise, and there can be considerable variability in the results.

Going back to the original line of this thread, I find it heartening to learn that with proper maintenance and reasonable driving care, a motor life at least as long as any conventional motor can be anticipated.