andybell

I am just about to purchase a car and obviously I am looking at the RX8 low power due to the cost/value. For only slightly less I can get a fully spec'd Golf GT TDI but obviously this is a less interesting car in terms of driving and looks etc.. Nothing else seems to match the cost/value aspect really. I have read over loads of posts and picked up some key points and hopefully somoene can shed some useful light on these points:

• MPG : I have read the posts and found that it seems to be 3750rpm that is the key. Drive above that and it burns more fuel. Is MPG really as bad as some people make out or is it just scare mongering?
• Servicing costs: Anyone experienced costs of servicing yet and if it is very expensive?
• Residual : I have looked on some sites and after 4 years its worth £10.3k not bad. Plus they hold their values really well so good investment type thing.

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated. I realise some people will say if you worry about things above then dont buy it but I would like some sensible feedback. Not everybody can afford to have the rx8 as a second car

jimbobjoe

I've had my RX-8 for 9 months now, and covered over 18,000 miles. So:
MPG: the first few tanks you will get 18-20 mpg. This steadily gets better. I now average 24mpg, occassionally up to 26 and never below 22. There are several theories about getting better mpg.
One theory is to keep below 37500 rpm, as that is when an extra fuel injector comes online. Another theory is to keep between 4000 and 5000 rpm as the fuel mapping is apparantly leanest at this range.
The jury is still out on this one. There is an adaptor available that lets you connect a laptop to the engine management system and monitor lots of things. I'll probably get one soon to test out all these theories. Like most owners I would at least like to know how to break 30mpg.

Servicing cost: the first service at 12k costs about £100. I got it cheaper as I supplied my own oil. (an oil change on the rX-8 only changes half the oil as they don't drain the oil coolers. I wanted to keep a single brand oil in the car at all times. Plus mazda charge way too much for oil)

Residual: No-one really knows yet. Mazda only have one factory that is tooled up to make this car for the whole world market. The engines are hand-built. So it's not going to achieve audi TT levels of common-ness (ok not a real word). But that hasn't adversely affected TT residuals, has it ?. This type of car is going to be valued on 2 things:
1) How fashionable it is. (think TT, Mini, 350Z convertible etc)
2) How damn good it is. (think boxter)

It is a fantastic car to drive. It is very well designed, built, and priced. It is also unique, and that is important in this market segment (At some point people are going to realise that cars like the TT are seriously overpriced for what is effectively a Golf) I think the RX-8 will hold up just fine.

zevans

Tell me more - I was going to look into this.

Re mileage - look in the general US forum, there's loads of discussion about this. If you search for posts from me today you'll see at least two interesting threads with my thoughts.

Basically, you have to drive it like a rotary and use the revs, otherwise you will get poor mpg and use oil. It ain't a TDI but most people drive cars in that fashion.

You won't. The shape of the combustion chamber at combustion time is an inherent problem with economy in rotaries... same reason there's two spark plugs.

What other 225bhp sports cars can you buy that give over 30mpg? (Performance diesels don't count - they are nose heavy and FWD and therefore not sports cars.)

I was going to change the oil as I've just hit 6000 miles... how do I flush the coolers? Like you if I'm changing the oil I want to change ALL the oil.

I think other sports car manufacturers are bricking it... in three years' time when the RX8 is not considered a cutting-edge buy, who the hell is going to pay 5 grand more for a 3-series?

The only problem I can see is, as I said above, you have to drive it properly to get the best out of it and the average person just does not understand revs, gears, and torque. Therefore, the average person thinks it's not a very good engine.

jimbobjoe

http://www.ghg.net/dharrison/

haven't taken the plunge with this yet.

I think you have to disconnect the coolers and flush the system through. I think they do that in the 2nd or 3rd annual services


I agree. Ford, Vauxhall and VW have all just announced super hot hatches for 2005, all aroung 200bhp, and all at about 20k.
Why would anyone in their right mind pay 20k for a jumped up FWD shopping cart, when they can have a 'proper' RWD sports car for the same money?.

The general advice still seems to be to drive it like you stole it.
But in terms of the 30mpg goal, the government published figure do say that 30mpg is possible, although probably not much fun. There just seems to be a bit of a question about whether sitting in 6th gear at 60mph is actually less efficient than 4th.?????

zevans

Depends if you're really "sitting" or whether you're changing speed. I only use 6th when I'm really not expecting to change speed for a while - and in fact even change down to 5th if I get to a large incline. My biggest worry was swapping cogs all the time would be a pain, but the drivetrain is so well set up I don't find it a hassle at all.

I think this is what Mazda intended - otherwise why is 5th there at all?

Reg

After first 800 miles I'm getting about 20 mpg but I did manage 27mpg on a recent run on the M62 some of which (inevitably) was in standing traffic. I tried the 'keep it under 3750 revs thing except for a couple of times when I just had to floor it. I reckon I could get 30 mpg on a good clear motorway run - time will tell. I like the idea of max fuel efficiency between 4000-5000 revs but seems a bit like having cake and eating it - can this really be possible?

BVD

Hi,

I've had mine for nearly two years and still love everything about it. It certainly does drink a bit of fuel under some driving conditions (i.e the way I usually drive ), but I bought it knowing that paying for the cost of running it was not going to be a problem. I don't think that I'd enjoy having to drive a car like this whilst making all my gear selection and rev decisions on the basis of economy. It somewhat defeats the point of a car like this (for me anyway).

If your budget is a bit tight then I'd certainly recommend that you keep checking it out a bit, and maybe even broaden your search on real costs a bit.

Over here the services seem pretty reasonably priced (certainly in comparison with many other 'performance' type cars). That would be the least of my worries.

Our fuel is cheaper than yours, I believe, but a few extra dollars or pounds a week in fuel should be reasonably modest compared with other costs such as depreciation and insurance (particularly in first few years). For example, if car A does the same distance for five dollars a week less in fuel than car B, then that's $260 a year which is a noticeable amount of money. But it's nothing compared to the real cost of depreciation, insurance, etc over a year.

If you've not owned this kind of car before, you may find that a few things might be costlier. E.G. Better fuel required and more of it, more oil used, higher insurance, more expensive tyres when that comes round (I suffered a sidewall puncture after only 3,000 kilometres and the new tyre cost several times more than I paid for my first entire car!!) and so on.

As you say "some people will say if you worry about things above then dont buy it " but unfortunately there is some truth in that. All you can do is work out how much you want to spend a month on a car, and then do the sums to see if you're comfortable with what the real cost of owning any of them will be.

I would say that the cost of owning and running an RX8 is going to be higher than many other (inferior :D ) cars - but not hugely so.

Good luck with your calculations. It's a great car, so I hope you decide to join us.

Rich MLC

How can I add to those last two statements?
Absolutely spot on - what a ripper, mate

I must confess that I did have andybell's initial dilemma - but my inspired decision was to have the car of my dreams and also keep my 1996 MkIII VW Golf FWD shopping basket (and optional rear-load garden rubbish cart!!)

Go for it - it'll be the best decision of your life....!! :D :D