OK, well, I'm not quite a new owner, but with a bit of luck there'll be a new RX-8 Revelation sitting in my garage this time next week

I thought I might as well get prepared, so I have a few questions. I've searched these forums, and some of these questions have kind of been covered here and there (and I've read the Ten things that all new RX-8 owners should know), but I'd just like to clarify a few things, and I'd really appreciate any help you guys can give me

1. Running in
Is there a preferred running in approach? I note that Taka mentioned:
<3000rpm first 300km
<4000rpm next 400km (up to 700km)
<5000rpm next 500km (up to 1300km)

Is that the consensus?

Hopefully I'll be picking the car up on Saturday and will have some time to drive it around a bit on the weekend, but then I might have to drive it out to Kingaroy for work on the Monday ... that's a few hundred km's.

2. Bedding in brakes
No hard braking (if possible) for the first little while? What would you guys suggest?

3. The Bose auto-volume thingy
Is it possible to turn this off? I drove a hire car a couple of weeks back which had a head unit with speed-sensitive volume, and it was bloody annoying

4. What "accessories" should I think about getting? A litre of Mazda rotary oil, anything else?

5. Anything else I need to know for those important first few hundred km's?


Again, many thanks for any help you can give me

Cheers,
Mat.

 

2. Use the gearbox - not the brakes..

3. Yes - it is very easy and there are also multiple levels - It is useful on the track as it can get noisy inside the car while the engine spends most of its time between 8,000-9,000 rpm.. Gets hard to fiddle with the volume **** between gear changes...

4. Hymee Gille kit is a must!

5. It takes over two weeks to book a service at a Mazda dealer in Brisbane these days... Too easy to run over the 1,000kms

 

1. I didn't know there was a consensus. Some say it has already been run in at the factory, others say you should do as Taka suggested, yet others say you should throw a variety of rpm at it in each gear during the first 1,000kms. IMHO, just drive it sensibly, do not thrash it (i.e. get above 6K) and always ensure you only go over 3K once it has properly warmed up (i.e. after about 10-15 mins of normal driving).

2. If you've ever seen the way they unload cars from boats you can gurantee that your car has already had some hard stops. However, this is again a common sense thing. Try and avoid emergency stops (e.g. give yourself plenty of space in traffic to stop more gradually).

3. Well, what do you know. Must read the manual one day. I've only mastered the basic functions so far (and I've had the car since 11/04)!

4. Accessories are largely a matter of taste and opinion. The basic car really needs nothing and trust me, once you start to 'play' it can be hard to stop. I guess the grille kit is a must if you do a lot of country driving.

5. You will be grinning widely so ensure you stop when in serious situations.

 

Just drive normally and brake normally, you wanna avoid staying in a specific rpm for too long to avoid glazing. Find a hill climb, load the engine up after total warmed up both coolants and oils.

 

1. No consensus. Plenty of styles

2. No hard stops for the 100km unless it is an emergency. Bed them in properly. Normal stop start traffic will do.

3. Press Tune/Auto function button (I am not sure if it's what it exactly written but it is the small button on the right hand side which to adjust the base/tremble with) and you get to AudioPilot - select "off"

4. Ditto with revolver. Although the most useful one is Hymee Grill.

5. Buy an RX-8 polo and wear that with pride

 

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions guys, very much appreciated

Glad to hear the Audiopilot can be turned off ... the head unit (Blaupunkt I think) in the hire car I had was driving me insane - I couldn't find any way of turning off the speed-sensing volume control on it. Maybe the Bose system is a bit better.

As far as accessories goes, I was thinking about the grille kit and potentially Hymee's catback as well, but it's a work car, so I don't want to spend too much money on aftermarket parts - our company actually buys the car and then sells it again after 4 years. I don't imagine a 4 year old exhaust would attract much resale. I guess I'd get 4 years use out of them.

It's already coming with fender strakes, front+rear rotary crests and floor mats, they're about the only other accessories I really want. Are there any tools/odds&ends that are handy to have?


Heh, I thought that may have been consensus as nobody offered any other running in suggestions in the "10 things" thread

Thanks again guys!

 

1. Do what the book says. Don't race it, but there is no need to baby it either IMO. I didn't limit myself to a particular rpm at all. I use the same philospohy now when it is cold. I let it accelerate gradually, but I don't limit myself below a particular rpm.

3. The audio pilot is not intrusive at all. I have been using it ever since I got the car and I actually prefer to have it on.

 

congrates!
i think everyone have shared their .02, so i wont be doig my bit here.
will sit back and wait for the pix

 

Thanks

Here are a few photos of my actual car (sans fender stakes and rotary crests), sitting at the dealer while the paperwork slowly crawls its way though the system.

You can imagine how much I'm enjoying waiting to pick it up.

http://www.psychogoat.com/RX8/

 

Wah!

That copper red looks sweet

 

nice colour G!

i think sometimes my 8 can be passed as a copper red

 

I'm surprised no-one has picked this up... the bose system is volume sensitive, not speed sensitive. There is a microphone that is used to detect ambient noise and adjust accordingly. The lightweight option (cloth pack) has a speed sensitive volume mechanism.

I tried not to sit on the same speed for too long for the first 1000kms (no cruise control) and avoided racing the engine until warm. I did a similar thing to taka... raised the max rpm gradually as the kms increased.

I didn't do too much with the brakes except avoid a hard stop.

1L of oil is a smart move... it is a little thirsty when you first get it.

Cheers

sco

 

Well, I'm now a proud owner of an RX-8 Revelation ... picked it up at lunchtime.

Now I just have to wait for this rain to disappear before I can really take it for a spin ... hehe

 

omg! well arent you lucky! hehe.. come down here and take me for a spin


have fun with this beast!

 

Hehe, thanks. Got out for a bit of a spin between showers of rain. Absolutely love it, even though I'm babying it a bit at the moment, with all of 50km on the clock.

I've been varying the revs as much as possible, and under 4000rpm so far.

Now I just need some not-the-middle-of-the-afternoon light to get some decent photos. I might brave dawn tomorrow if it's not raining.

One quick and nasty photo attached.

 

Nothing nasty about that, looks terrific!!!

 

Congrats Gibbon. Hope you enjoy it.

 

Hehe, thanks guys, I can't get the smile off my face

 

Yep...congrats gibbon...looks sweet. And the smiles stays...for years, so far

 

I can absolutely believe that

Here's one more quick photo. I like to think of myself (rightly or wrongly) as a bit of a keen photographer, so I'm not really happy with these one I took today (crappy light), but anyway

Wanted to get a couple before it got rained on!

 

congrates Gibbon!

like the colour too!

can you take another pic of it under the sun and have a blue sky as a background?

 

ta

Yup, I'll see what I can do ... hopefully tomorrow is a nice day

 

very nice indeed. I've had mine for a year now and i'm still smiling.

I still take it for a quick hour drive on a whim because of its fun factor!

 

Hi, and thanks

They're headlight washers ... they're standard on leather packs (and this limited edition) here - do you guys not have them over there?

Cheers,
Mat.