That's funny. After most of my younger life driving sporty(Corvettes) or just plain cool(muscle)cars, I switched to 4 wheel drive pickups. After 6 straight years of them I wanted to reclaim my youth and buy the RX 8. I love the car but I miss the room and the 4 wheel drive. I should tell you that I'm driving my work van( a 1997 ford E150) for a winter ride and it sucks! I would like to keep the RX8 for one more summer but the value of these things is falling pretty fast. Another opposite thing here, my wife has constantly reminded me of the fact that the Mazda is 'useless'!! Makes me kinda want to keep her(the car)!

 

The one thing that do bother me is that the rx-8 is "useless" but I fell in love with it about a year ago when I seen on in front of me and I didnt know what car is was. I just knew it looked different and I liked it. I had a mustang gt when I was younger but gave it up when I moved here from california. It wasnt a good "family" car. Since then I've had 4 jeeps and a 300M and my wife had her own cars now. So, if all goes right, i'll give this mazda a try. If it dont my back up car is a Charger RT. By only having 2 months on my lease I can take I truck in now if i wanted to get the charger but Im trying to hold out for the rx-8

 

i have blizzaks on my rx-8 and i pass 99% of the suvs i see when it's snowing out. don't discount how well a rwd car with snow tires, traction control, and DSC can do in the snow!

 

Different is right on. I felt the same way. These things look like a $100K sports car. I get comments and looks every single time I drive it. I like having something that not too many other people have. It's part of being individual. You know, not following the herd. I saw one, liked it, and bought it. And I'm not disappointed with it. I just wish it had all wheel drive!(again, the work van thing)

 

Thanks for sharing your opinion but I disagree in how the car is "useless". When I bought a car I wanted a 2 door sports car. Then I found my car and I found the 2 rear doors were very USEFUL in terms of getting people in and out. Instead of 2doors I find the 4 doors more helpful. The car performance is top-nothced. And now that with more and more people tuning the 8 the potential of the car is becoming more apparent.

Now I understand you cannot go 2-tracking with it or pull a boat or what a Jeep can do but it sounds to me you bought the car to bring back the youthful days you had.

Anyway just my opinion.

Have a Happy New year.

 

You're right, the car is not useless. The rear doors and a decent amount of room in the back seat actually make this car pretty useful as far as sporty cars are concerned. This was my wife's choice of words. Just like my tools are useless, my snowblower is useless, I'm useless, etc.......



Happy New year

 

Youthful days? Good lawd, im only 34. Maybe useless was to harsh of a word. I guess the backseats and doors are useful. I just wish I could keep my commander and get the rx-8.

 

Any one have any good experiences with ANY of teh Mazda dealerships on the east side? I've gone to Troy Mazda and was unimpressed with the service the last time I went.

Story of last time: Basically I was having and still having starting problems. They told me, I need to take off every single modification and replace the battery... after that the car will run perfectly fine. I have an intake, cat delete race pipe and catback exhaust... along with 2 10" subs and 700 watt amp, LED floorwell lights and kill/toggle switches for everything. Everything is always shut off before I shut the car itself off. My amps read at the normal 14.5-15.2... so ya... needless to say I probably won't go back... ya nothing major and maybe I'm just picky, but still... new battery and take all mods off = perfect car... bwaaa these mods were done after the fact I was having the problem.

Present time: I think I need a new motor under the 100K warrenty. Reason... only getting 260 per 1 quart of oil plus milky white residue on dipstick AS WELL AS oil filler cap. According to my buddy, the coolant tank liquid is blackish. And last but not least, the starting problem is horrible with my car. For example, first time start up perfect, but say drive for awhile... stop, shut car off, and get gas... car won't start up again with some hard cranking.

Ok end rant... I'm going to try Sterling Mazda on Van Dyke... any reviews on them?

 

The milky oil could be from moisture in the engine. If your not driving on a regular basis, then your not heating up the engine and thats when the moisture will mix in with the oil on the dipstick, cap, etc. If you drain the oil and it's all milky then you have a problem. Blown head gasket or worse, cracked head or block. The starting problem is b.s. I don't have that problem and I'm not driving my car hardly at all. Make 'em explain why your modifications are causing this even though it happened before. My car uses about a quart every thousand miles. There's a dealership on the west side( livonia or Northville or Novi can't remember) that is really helpful and positive about these cars. It's a long way to go but probably worth it.

 

Not trying to be a jerk here but if everything is useless maybe you need a new wife or she needs a new husband? lol

If you want allwheel drive the clue was you said you are from califorinia? I may be the okd guy here but I grew up driving two wheel drive trucks cars and vans 4x4 wasn't available to the average guy till I was a older teen Jeesp CJ-5&7's only back then. Back then in Michigan we had much more snow than we do now we had bilizzards two or more times a year and snow stayed on the ground most of the winter and you drove on ice most of the winter. I have had allott of 4x4's trucks SUVs 2 Broncos,2F-150's, 5 Exploreres and a Navagator, but with snow tires my RX8 is great. The only problem i have is the front air damn (see my picturs below) when the snow is to deep cant' drive because it becomes a plow. Otherwise it is fine you need to learn how to drive in the snow and ice and then you can approciate how well it handles!

again not trying to be a jerk just stating this car handle just fine or even better than some front wheel drive cars even though it is a little light on weight.

 

You may want to Try the old Bill Cook now Suburban in Farmington they do all sports cars there they will be better than troy or any other eastside Mazda, and steer clear of Bill Thayer in Livonia! Mine is an 05 and the battery went and I took it to them last (late) winter and they gave me a new battery (I have no electronic mods yet want an iphone patch cable to the Radio control head) also want a new exhaust system stainless high flow, but I'm self employed and they cost about a "G" and the economy is bad, so trying to save but tough right now. The high flow exhaust systems specifically designed for RX-8 exhaust actually improve the engine performance and longevity. My buddies brother raced Rotary engines at Waterford and around the country very successfully for years and he said the factory exhaust system with the cat (is for environmental purposes) and along with the back pressure destroy the longevity of a Rotary engine especially under racing conditions. Crux you change the exhaust and you void your warranty on your engine, so if the engine fails you have to change it back before you take it to the dealer to get it fixed!

 

no reviews on sterling mazda, but i haven't had any issues with suburban mazda in troy.

as for the starting issues, why not take all that crap off, get it warrantied, then put it back on? or at least unhook it all. worst case scenario, you've eliminated all of that as a cause of the problem.

you say you're getting 260 per quart... you mean 260 miles per quart of oil? if so, something is very wrong. check your coolant for oil in it asap. i get the milky white residue on my dipstick when it's cold out... it's condensation.

 

Yeh the milky white is the condensation and according to mazda tech there is some exchange of steam iinto the oil during combustion and high revs, but the 260 miles /quart? Have you had the updates done to your cpu they lowered the oil burn when they did the plug change out on on the recall and then they moved it back up because of seal and engine failures buring to lean. Maybe you should make shure that the cpu flash isn't burning excessive oil. Also check your exhaust pipes wipe them clean on the insde with papper towels then check after driving should be black sooty thick slightly greesy but mostly sooty but not wet oily greesy gooey. Also check your coolant to see if it has oil in it. You may have a seal failure?

 

sorry, a change in subject...

has anyone had experience with ralph thayer mazda in livonia, on plymouth rd?

or sesi mazda in ypsilanti?

 

SESI in Ypsi is very good. I've had all my warranty work (including the flooding fix) all done there. Even the parts counter guys are nice and know their stuff.

I always test a dealer by walking in and just giving the enough information to make a diagnosis. I look for the ignorant BS that some dealers will spill out. (Not knowing anything about your automotive knowledge.) I have yet to call BS on SESI. So far, they have my trust and business.

 

Hey Guys,

Don't know if any of you would want to make the treck but on April 18th the Indy Rx8 club is doing Midwest Mazda Fest in Indy. Check it out at indyrx8club.com.
50 cars are registered already. Hope to see some of you there.

Later,

Kempf

 

so i saw a white 8 parked at a downtown ann arbor parking structure today. it had white stock rims w/ big mudflaps and california plates. thought it might belong to a member here...

 

Hey, from the linden/ fenton area. I got to school up at michigan tech, but am always back home for the summers. Looking to do a turbo install this spring when i take the car out of storeage. Anyone interested I would be glad to have the help, or even the company.

Saw a yellow rx-8 on southbound US-23 a few months back. right around Brighton. Any of you?

 

Saw a black '09 in Birmingham today. Looks good with the cladding from the front wheelwell to the back. Does'nt look right parked in the snow though!

 

I dont see to many RX8's even in the summer.

 

Just wait til you spot me in the snow... Granted now I'm missing the front lip, but 2" drop still plows the snow plenty well...

 

I go to Sesi and have no complaints. The first time I went in, I needed quite a few service bulletins taken care of, and they gave me a free loaner. I only go there once a year, for a spring oil change and any minor repairs that may be needed.

 

Update with the car... hoorah...

1. Oil light just came on at 898 miles. I'm pretty sure I just burned through an oil change from the dealer in that many miles.
2. Fourth gear may be going out. Under throttle or highisk rpm's it grinds and feels like a synchro is wobbling around (not sure if that makes any sort of sense). It's basically hard to shift into fourth when in the higher rpm's.
3. Engine start problem is not resolved... it's now been decided we're going to replace spark plugs even though the dealer said they were perfectly fine.
4. Missing my front lip... who cares though it was broken and a different white anyways.
5. Electrical problem... parking lights turn off, dash lights won't turn red, and center console lights turn off randomly at night or when the headlights are on. I've made sure the resistor/transistor under the hood is secured and it is
6. Electrical problem... parking light won't turn off when the parking brake is disengaged
7. Gum has melted to my heated vinyl seats...

I can't wait til spring/summer... All problems will be fixed and no more headaches. On a more positive note though I washed the car and I can actually see the white and the pearl yay!

 

I've started to drive mine lately. Too expensive to let it sit in the garage. Lots more funner to drive with the traction control off! I wouldn't drive it until the oil light comes on, though. That's too risky. I check every 500 miles. Can't wait until Mt. Clemens Wednesday's start.

 

I used to go to the clem on wedesday and RO on thursdays but that was on my bike. I'll still do RO on the bike but drive the rx8 to the clem.