Did your salesman mention the flooding issue to you in the buying process (i.e. befor - Page 3

01-19-2004, 10:17 AM

#51

Cyclonus

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Join Date: Nov 2003

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Re: Sort of

Quote:

Originally posted by Q121825
No one mentioned the flooding issue when I first visted the dealer in November 2003. Even though we spent more than an hour going over the various features and unique qualities of the 8.

However, I went in today to put down a deposit (so they'll ship the car in as they don't have one in the configuration I want on the lot) and we spent some time chatting again about the uniqueness of the 8. This time, the flooding issue was raised. He mentioned the following in relation to flooding:

1. Rotary engines are "more susceptible" to flooding. Make sure you fully warm up the engine before shutting down. Be careful when handing your car off to someone (valet parking, detailing service, etc) as they will most likely flood it.

2. You'll get this book (he waves a slim but colorful pamphlet) and you should read it carefully.

3. There is an emergency start proceedure in your owner's manual. It may or may not work. If it does work, you'll see black smoke coming out of the tailpipe and it will run rough for a "little while". Run it until it is running smooth with no black smoke.

He also intimated that flooding would cost me as the "plugs are fouled and must be replaced and they're not cheap."

Thanks to RX8Club.com, I'm more informed than I was in November when I first looked.

You guys are out of your mind if you think a salesperson is going to say "oh by the way, the engine floods", while they're trying to sell you a car. They're trying to sell you a car, not talk you out of it. Logically, though, they should say something after you've already bought the car, while they're delivering it and going through the owner's manual. As for November 2003, it's possible that the issue hadn't even come to their attention yet. But either way, they're obviously not going to highlight the negatives when they're trying to sell you a car (though they should mention the specific potential flooding conditions once you've actually bought the car). And realistically, this isn't a big problem anyway, it just requires some care on the part of the driver. This is, after all, a performance vehicle, it's reasonable to expect some small degree of mechanical savvy on the part of owners.

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