I'm looking at an R3 that had a clutch replacement, but I was curious why would the clutch burn out so quickly? Does it indicate that the car was driven too hard? My last clutch in a Mazda lasted 400,000, but that was half highway driving. Should I be concerned?

 

Clearly the previous owner did not know how to drive.

 

Maybe too many burnouts? I've done some power launches on my old car, and sometimes it would slip a little in third gear if I really gunned it too hard. Still, it lasted for many kilometres. I also downshifted to take advantage of engine braking to save the brake pads. Are the OEM clutches on these not that great?

 

Abuse is the only answer.

 

Full clutch? Or clutch pedal? Those are a point of failure on rx8s, and are actually under warranty

 

Not too certain. Just mentioned clutch was replaced in the ad so I'm thinking not just pedals? This is on an 2009 R3 with under 40K on it.

 

My OEM Clutch disc exploded at 17k miles. Pushed the pedal in an BANG!

It happens.

 

dmp has a point. stuff happens. Many early 2009 series 2 RX8s had serious transmission problems right from the start, and some had to have them totally replaced. Any mechanical part can have a premature failure due to manufacturing defect, as well as fail from abuse.