Buying an 8
02-21-2010, 05:29 PM
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Buying an 8
Hello,
I have been wanting to buy a sports car for some time now. I know the RX8 isn't technically a sports car because it has back seats and 4 doors but it is close enough and insurance isn't that bad. The only thing shying me away from them at the moment is the bad gas millage and reliability issues. Does it really only get 22 MPGs? Also everyone I know that has one has said not to get them because I would need to get the engine rebuilt after 30k. I don't have the money for that. Are the issues because of a design flaw or is it user error? I know you are supposed to do things a little different with them. I also heard that some of the issues are because mazda recommends using oil that is too light in order to increase MGPs. Is this true? I also don't have enough money to buy a new one and would have to buy used so if the car was abused I might not be able to do anything about replacing the engine. I know a lot of people have had no major issues but then again the cars haven't been around for that long so if anyone has a major issues it should be a surprise not the other way around.
I have been wanting to buy a sports car for some time now. I know the RX8 isn't technically a sports car because it has back seats and 4 doors but it is close enough and insurance isn't that bad. The only thing shying me away from them at the moment is the bad gas millage and reliability issues. Does it really only get 22 MPGs? Also everyone I know that has one has said not to get them because I would need to get the engine rebuilt after 30k. I don't have the money for that. Are the issues because of a design flaw or is it user error? I know you are supposed to do things a little different with them. I also heard that some of the issues are because mazda recommends using oil that is too light in order to increase MGPs. Is this true? I also don't have enough money to buy a new one and would have to buy used so if the car was abused I might not be able to do anything about replacing the engine. I know a lot of people have had no major issues but then again the cars haven't been around for that long so if anyone has a major issues it should be a surprise not the other way around.
02-21-2010, 05:49 PM
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If you don't have the money to potentially repair a used car, don't buy one. That goes for any used car as well, not just RX8s. Buy what you can comfortably afford to own and down the road get what you want.
02-21-2010, 06:14 PM
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I am selling my current car to get something along the lines of an RX8 if not one. It is less of me not being able to pay for repairs and more of me not wanting to spend a lot of money on a newer car if there is a good chance that I would have to do a major engine repair on a car that has less than 70k miles on it when cars now a days easily get over 200k on the engine with no issues.
02-23-2010, 09:50 AM
#4
"The RX-8 is not a car, it's a hobby." If you can see some sense in that statement, you will love the car, if not, you will likely come to hate it. My daily driver is a 135 hp 1999 Toyota Solara, which I love; it is quiet, gets 31 mpg highway, is dead reliable and virtually maintenance-free. I also have an RX-8 and love it too, but for exactly none of the above reasons.
If you can't live with 20-24 mpg, don't get it, period. If you're still interested, you can stack the deck in your favor. First realize that all 2004-2008 models come with a 8 yr/100,000 mile warranty on the engine. Look for an 8 that has service records and as stock as possible, so you don't get hassled if the engine fails. Also, consider that a good deal of the maintenance costs are "pre-paid" by the low resale value which you take advantage of as a used-car buyer. The other thing to take advantage of is that many 8's are not driven winters or daily and thus have very low miles. Others have had engine replacements already and have low [I]engine[I] miles. A disproportionate number of problems seem to be with the 04 models, though they are also the most numerous. Remember too that for each year newer the car is, the warranty reaches out another year.
But don't be fooled by the back seats, this is one major, serious sports car! It dominates SCCA class B stock. Look up what it's winning against.
If you can't live with 20-24 mpg, don't get it, period. If you're still interested, you can stack the deck in your favor. First realize that all 2004-2008 models come with a 8 yr/100,000 mile warranty on the engine. Look for an 8 that has service records and as stock as possible, so you don't get hassled if the engine fails. Also, consider that a good deal of the maintenance costs are "pre-paid" by the low resale value which you take advantage of as a used-car buyer. The other thing to take advantage of is that many 8's are not driven winters or daily and thus have very low miles. Others have had engine replacements already and have low [I]engine[I] miles. A disproportionate number of problems seem to be with the 04 models, though they are also the most numerous. Remember too that for each year newer the car is, the warranty reaches out another year.
But don't be fooled by the back seats, this is one major, serious sports car! It dominates SCCA class B stock. Look up what it's winning against.
02-23-2010, 11:28 AM
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"The RX-8 is not a car, it's a hobby." If you can see some sense in that statement, you will love the car, if not, you will likely come to hate it. My daily driver is a 135 hp 1999 Toyota Solara, which I love; it is quiet, gets 31 mpg highway, is dead reliable and virtually maintenance-free. I also have an RX-8 and love it too, but for exactly none of the above reasons.
If you can't live with 20-24 mpg, don't get it, period. If you're still interested, you can stack the deck in your favor. First realize that all 2004-2008 models come with a 8 yr/100,000 mile warranty on the engine. Look for an 8 that has service records and as stock as possible, so you don't get hassled if the engine fails. Also, consider that a good deal of the maintenance costs are "pre-paid" by the low resale value which you take advantage of as a used-car buyer. The other thing to take advantage of is that many 8's are not driven winters or daily and thus have very low miles. Others have had engine replacements already and have low [i]engine[i] miles. A disproportionate number of problems seem to be with the 04 models, though they are also the most numerous. Remember too that for each year newer the car is, the warranty reaches out another year.
But don't be fooled by the back seats, this is one major, serious sports car! It dominates SCCA class B stock. Look up what it's winning against.
If you can't live with 20-24 mpg, don't get it, period. If you're still interested, you can stack the deck in your favor. First realize that all 2004-2008 models come with a 8 yr/100,000 mile warranty on the engine. Look for an 8 that has service records and as stock as possible, so you don't get hassled if the engine fails. Also, consider that a good deal of the maintenance costs are "pre-paid" by the low resale value which you take advantage of as a used-car buyer. The other thing to take advantage of is that many 8's are not driven winters or daily and thus have very low miles. Others have had engine replacements already and have low [i]engine[i] miles. A disproportionate number of problems seem to be with the 04 models, though they are also the most numerous. Remember too that for each year newer the car is, the warranty reaches out another year.
But don't be fooled by the back seats, this is one major, serious sports car! It dominates SCCA class B stock. Look up what it's winning against.
02-24-2010, 12:02 PM
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03-05-2010, 02:46 PM
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I'm considering two used RX-8's with 85k and 110k km on them, the latter had an engine change. I love the car but have a hard time finding a balanced and objective opinion on the car, can someone hook me up with facts, both pros and cons about the car?
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