Magnaven

I was wondering if getting a '04 Rx8 sport that has 78,000 miles on it for $10,000 is a good deal. The problem is that that's a lot of miles on it already and it's a 5 year old car. Does RX8 start dying or mechanically breakdown a lot at 78k or 5 years?


The carfax states that it is a one owner vehicle. It also states that it had 3 "engine maintenance" done; whatever that means. Clean title, no accidents.


Test driving it, I found the following:
1. Paint looks like it's been scratched by tiny pieces of sand. When I looked close (about a feet away) at the paint on the car, I can see little scratch lines on it. They're not visible further than a feet away though. Any ideas what happened?

2. All four doors, when I slightly push them to close, they will slam in instead. Is that normal for a rx8?

3. Driver top left airbag makes slight movements when driving. However, the opposite airbag by the front passenger side doesn't move at all.

4. Steering wheel vibrated (shook a little) when I was waiting at a red light to turn green. Is that normal for a rx8? Can that be the engine shaking?

5. How loud is the rpm supposed to roar when driving the rx8? I went only to 4,000 rpm and I can already hear it clearly already.


As for the salespersons, they are a bunch of really pushy salesperson who uses all sorts of sales pitch and tricks. They even doubled up (meaning there were 2 salesperson at any one time trying to get me to buy the rx8). They even told me that they'll make the car only $10,700 for me. And that amount would have already included sales taxes, registration fees, and that it would even include all the finance interest charges! That's not believable, so I rephrased my question and kept asking them about it to make sure that it was true and they kept saying it's true. So I finally asked them how much would that make the car really cost if it was true. They replied "around 6 grand only." And I said "so it'll be like me getting the rx8 for only 6 grand?" They just kept saying "yes." It's too good to be true, so I told them to show it to me on paper. They said okay. However, everytime they said that they'll go get me that paper of all the figures, and everytime they came back, they would change the subject to things like "trade-in" or "down-payments" and what not, even though they said the $10,700 was with no down payment or trade in necessary. Finally the store manager came down and tried to get me to buy without seeing the paper I've been asking to see. To make it short, eventually the store manager brought me a paper showing the cost of the car. I asked if the $10,700 on the paper by the word "car sales price" actually included sales taxes, etc. like they've said earlier or is the $10,700 just the car since it did state on the paper that it's just for the car. The store manager mumbled "just the car." And, then I straight out said "I'll pass."


They're gonna call me back to see if I'm going to then accept their deal, and I was thinking that if they can make it $10,000 flat, and it includes sales taxes and registration fee already (don't have to include finance interest charge and what not), then maybe I'll get it. However, I would like to know if this '04 RX8 sport that has 78,000 miles on it already would even be worth $10,000 flat? I'm not talking about the Kelly Blue Book value. I'm talking about would $10,000 be such a good deal already that if say a month later the car would end up needing some repairs, will I be able to say "I may lose some money on this repair, but it was only$10,000 I got it for." They are a legitimate dealer for another brand of car, but they seem too untrustworthy. Furthermore the car is out of warranty with 78K miles on it already. Bottom line, would this RX8 be likely to break down (especially the transmission and engine) soon after I buy it? How do I know if the engine and transmission will have many more years on it?


Thanks ahead!

risky business

OK, buckle up because my posts are ALWAYS long.

ok first

1. no idea about the paint. maybe it was washed with dirty rags or something. maybe it was brought to a car wash. my car has scratches EVERYWERE that you cant see unless you catch the sun on it just right, even then you can only see like a certain amount of them at a time. i wouldnt worry about it

2. i dont have the slamming door thing... what IS normal i have noticed is that they seem to either be like ALL the way open or they automatically close.. there is a middle spot where it stays open but its not a useful stopping point. you will need to open further to get out.... so in answer to your question, no i guess mine doesnt do that.

3. never noticed anything about the air bags.

4. hmm strange, need more info about the steering wheel shaking. was in an automatic? were you reving it? just flat out the steering wheel shaking while idling... no i would say that prob isnt normal. atleast not with mine.

5. is is a quite car. yes 4k rpm i would hope that you could hear clearly... most engines redline at like 6 or 7 so 4k is pretty high :P.. i would test drive another 8 to compare the noise level.

ok.. onto your other questions. 10k for that 8... simple answer, no.

complicated answer:

umm whatever he said about the 6 grand bullshit with it being 10 out the door is bs. i bought my 8 for 12k and it was like 12.8k with tag and title and all that good stuff.

i would have mazda run the vin to make sure it had all its recalls done.
i would also try to locate/call the original owner to ask them about how they treated the car, i mean what have they got to lose by telling you the truth?

10k for an 8 with that many miles is acceptable yes however this one sounds like it could be a bad apple and the dealership your at sounds very very shady.


ok, ready for more reading yet?

i bought mine with 66k miles and now have 77k, it runs great and i beat the ***** off it daily. i have not had a problem yet and many owners on here have 8s with well over 100k. it's all in how they were treated. try to stick to 1 or 2 owner cars and make sure the recalls were done ON TIME, especially with the 04's



bottom line. i dont trust that dealer, the 8 sounds alittle fishy too.. decent price but way to high for what is sounds like you might be getting.. that sounds more like a 7k rx8 with that many quirks already... you dont want a car that starts off with quirks like that. shop around some more, sorry. i hope this was helpful, sorry for writing a whole book

TheDopeShow

i wouldnt do it i got my 04 GT with 23k on it for 14500 that sounds like there pullin a fast one on ya.

Magnaven

Thanks for all your help! Yeah, my instincts were going haywire telling me that I shouldn't buy the car. I'm not buying it anymore. I actually found a lot of other rx8 to choice from that would be a better choice. I'll ask for all your help again if I need any. Thanks again!

risky business

np! good luck with the searching

Kelli_Kitten

The vibration while stopped in drive could be the Mazda service bulletin "HESITATION/IDLE VIBRATION DUE TO CRACKED ENGINE MOUNT."

Mine does it when I am stopped in traffic, although when I put the car into park it stops, fortunately though my car is still way under the warranty so I'll be bringing it in this week.