Jas5

I greatly appreciate any feedback and thoughts on this

I've been looking at 350Zs, RSX-S, and 04 GTO's... then I stumble upon this gem

It's an *extremely clean* (like new) 2006 white RX8 6 speed, with only 39k miles. I love white most.
Black leather. Has sunroof, cruise, 18" aluminum, which model would this be? The carfax says "2006 Mazda RX8 Base / Shinka " but didn't have shinka sticker on side. It has the MAZDASPEED lettering on exhaust tips and was fairly loud, were these exhausts available from the dealer, or was it custom? It also has an AEM cold air intake.

The dealer said that it has an aftermarket engine, they don't say that it was OEM replacement. The carfax does not mention anything about an engine replacement. Before we purchase, we would definitely get a compression test from their shop, and probably identify the engine name.

Car drove really tight and felt super responsive. There wasn't a lot of torque, nothing like a Z or GTO of course, but once I revved it north of 5000 RPM, it was a blast, especially around corners. The CAI whistled and the exhaust let me hear the great rotary sound. Felt great to rev high.

The bad? Very rough idle start up. Steering wheel and car shaking. I gave it gas as I started it the first time, and it felt like it wanted to die, but I revved it to 2-3000 rpm for a few seconds and it stayed running, but was rough. The check engine light was on, and I think the CAI may be making it run rough and causing the light. The rough idle went away after I drove it for ~10 minutes by myself, after it warmed up. Side note: I test drove their stock 06 shinka 6 speed (lots of swirl marks on black paint), the idle was smoooth, but didn't feel as responsive as the white one, costs $2k more and has 5k more miles.

It comes with 3 year/36k mile warranty. What could the rough idle be from, maybe the "aftermarket" engine? I wonder what engine it could be? It looks like a stock RX8 motor, but I am new to these. A compression test and the warranty adds another level of comfort. And the fact that it's like new with 39k is great.

RX8Soldier

iTrader: (24)

I'm interested to hear what this "aftermarket engine" is...

Rough idle could be a number of things. First thing I would do is make sure the air filter on the intake is clean, and make sure they clean the MAF and eccentric shaft sensor followed by the NVRAM reset procedure.
Last, it may even be your motor mounts. I haven't heard of them really going bad after only 39k miles, but I wouldn't be too surprised, either.

maskedferret

iTrader: (1)

Black leather in a 2006 model I believe disqualifies it as Shinka model (should be a white / beige alcantara suede-like material); that is most likely a GT model.

Seems like a MazdaSpeed exhaust and CAI (the MazdaSpeed one is the same as AEM) already installed. The exhaust could have been installed by either party, but the CAI most likely by prior owner.

Jas5

Thanks guys

Any way to look at the engine and tell what type of motor it is? I figured that with the 6 speed manual you can only have the 237hp 6 port motor. However the auto may come with a ~190hp 4 port or a 210hp 6 port? I'd be devastated if it turned out to be the less powerful engine, so I want to be sure. Like i said it looked like any other rx8 motor i've seen. Do RX7 motors fit with this tranny and motor mounts (drop it in)?

The salesman told me the mechanic will check it out tonight and if the idle is fixed, i'm going tomorrow to get it There's a chance that I just had to drive it hard (redline a few times) to burn up any excess carbon and/or fuel sitting in the motor. IIRC when I came back to park it, it wasn't all rough.

monchie

^ If you do, take pics.

Jas5

So if the white one isnt fixed by Monday and idling like butter, i'm goin to test drive a blue one with tanabe lowering springs, aem cold air intake, agency power exhaust , kazera 18x7.5 bronze wheels. It's the manual, has been garaged, has under 50k miles, and a new motor from mazda 6 months ago. $13.5k Only negative is cloth seats... more grip but less luxury
The blue one may be it. Fresh motor? +1000 points
The AP exhaust is the loudest AFAIK and may be too loud for me but i have a cat-back and test pipe on my N/A 3000GT right now so cant be too bad. These rotaries motors are very 'buzzy' but so unique.