RX8Club.com - Very serious prospective buyer.......need educated opinions

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Very serious prospective buyer.......need educated opinions

I am currently looking at two Rx8 Grand Touring models with MT. One is gray with black leather interior and 85,000 miles on it and we'll just call it Rx8A. Rx8B is silver with two tone black and red leather interior and has 80,000 miles. Both are stunning, which applies to most Rx8s anyways. Rx8A has got a clean Carfax on it showing a report with scheduled maintenace/checkups being regularly performed, no accidents and or major maintenance on it. I have not checked Rx8B's carfax mainly because I believe the seller should supply that and I have not had the chance to talk with the dealer, mostly because I'm leaning towards Rx8A because it is close by and I think the gray looks really good with the black leather. Anyways, I've read the New owners/buyers FAQ a few times over and know the issues with the 04/05 line. I also know most of the questions I am going to ask each seller, two of the important ones being about the MSP16 upgrade and engine compression testing. I guess my first question is seeing that the 04/05 lines are a riskier choice than news one, if these cars made it to 85,000 miles with regular scheduled maintenance and no reports on the Carfax showing engine replacement/trouble could it be that these are a few of the good ones or should I just avoid the 04/05s altogether? Second question is how expensive/difficult is it to change out the cat on these? Can I do it myself? What type of equipment will i need? And lastly, what are your thoughts? Your the experts, and I respect that. I've read and learned the particular upkeep/maintenance concerning these cars including having a spare quart of oil in the car for top offs and the engine flooding issue. Would a tow to the shop due to flooding show in the carfax? I also read about a owner who after driving his car would rev to 3000 rpm for 10 seconds then blip to 4,500 and on the downfall would shut off the car to decrease risk of flooding. Is this Advised? Alot of questions I know, but it's only because I love this car and have had horrible headaches with others without having done the proper research. Besides, from everything I've read if you know how to treat these engines as opposed to regular engines, than they will treat you just as well as any other car with the related mileage/year. I look forward to hearing back from you all and hopefully this works out cause I would love to be a part of the forum and get to love on this car, under the hood and behind the wheel, if your picking up what I'm putting down.

holy block of text batman.

are you sure you read the New and Potential Owners sticky?

Everything you've asked is covered in that thread, and has been discussed here over and over again.

I won't touch on the 04/05 being bad thing. Get compression numbers, ask for maintenance records (actual records, not carfax print outs). Find out if it's had an engine replacement as well. Go with the one with the best combinations of what your looking for. Good luck. Read some more.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SouthernWolf (Post 4230005)

I am currently looking at two Rx8 Grand Touring models with MT.

One is gray with black leather interior and 85,000 miles on it and we'll just call it Rx8A.

Rx8B is silver with two tone black and red leather interior and has 80,000 miles.

Both are stunning, which applies to most Rx8s anyways. Rx8A has got a clean Carfax on it showing a report with scheduled maintenace/checkups being regularly performed, no accidents and or major maintenance on it.

I have not checked Rx8B's carfax mainly because I believe the seller should supply that and I have not had the chance to talk with the dealer, mostly because I'm leaning towards Rx8A because it is close by and I think the gray looks really good with the black leather.

Anyways, I've read the New owners/buyers FAQ a few times over and know the issues with the 04/05 line. I also know most of the questions I am going to ask each seller, two of the important ones being about the MSP16 upgrade and engine compression testing.

1) I guess my first question is seeing that the 04/05 lines are a riskier choice than news one, if these cars made it to 85,000 miles with regular scheduled maintenance and no reports on the Carfax showing engine replacement/trouble could it be that these are a few of the good ones or should I just avoid the 04/05s altogether?

2) Second question is how expensive/difficult is it to change out the cat on these? Can I do it myself? What type of equipment will i need?

3) And lastly, what are your thoughts? Your the experts, and I respect that. I've read and learned the particular upkeep/maintenance concerning these cars including having a spare quart of oil in the car for top offs and the engine flooding issue.

4) Would a tow to the shop due to flooding show in the carfax?

5) I also read about a owner who after driving his car would rev to 3000 rpm for 10 seconds then blip to 4,500 and on the downfall would shut off the car to decrease risk of flooding. Is this Advised?

6) Alot of questions I know, but it's only because I love this car and have had horrible headaches with others without having done the proper research. Besides, from everything I've read if you know how to treat these engines as opposed to regular engines, than they will treat you just as well as any other car with the related mileage/year.

I look forward to hearing back from you all and hopefully this works out cause I would love to be a part of the forum and get to love on this car, under the hood and behind the wheel, if your picking up what I'm putting down.

In the future, please don't mash all the sentences together into a solid wall, it makes it hard for us to pick out the questions. I edited the quote of your posts to make it clearer to answer. Answers as noted

1) I have yet to see an engine replacement noted on a Carfax. It's not impossible, but I have yet to see it. Don't base your maintenance and history on Carfax alone. MNAO can give you the dealer-only history if you supply the VIN. It could change the entire story between the two.

2) To remove the cat, you need a set of wrenches or sockets with ratchet / breaker bar in sizes of 12mm, 14mm, and 17mm. That's it. However, the hardware is usually rusted to hell and back. My recommendation is always to get replacement hardware first, then take the car to a corner garage, pay them $20 or something to put the car on a lift and remove the hardware, replacing the old with the new. Take the car back to your driveway/garage and remove it easily.

3) this isn't really a question. :)

4) No, towing usually does not.

5) Go back to the new owners thread you read. Re-read the part about flooding. Component health is the only thing that matters. The only way that reving it up can possible make a difference is if your ignition/battery/starter health is crap AND you are shutting it off cold. How you shut it off warm has no impact on how much fuel the ECU is adding when starting cold. None. Shutting it off when the ECU is adding extra fuel when cold is where people have trouble.

6) Yes. Good for you on researching first. Too many people don't.

The 07 I was checking out at a dealer got it's engine replaced and a couple days later the carfax showed short block replaced. Happened at a mazda dealer too so that probably had a lot to do with it being there. It's also the only one I've seen it on out of the bunch I've checked though.

Also I've seen a couple carfax (carfaxes?)with 'hard start/no start condition check,' which I'm assuming is a flood and I stay away from those.They usually have a lack of maintenance history too.

Take what you read here about '04/'05 with a grain of salt. On this forum, early RX-8 engines are being replaced right and left. In the actual world, not so much. Most '04/'05 cars are happily rolling along with their "original" engines. In fact, if you go up to a random RX-8 owner parked on the street and ask if he's had his engine replaced, he'll have no idea what the hell you're even talking about.

If your serious about it, then just get it, take care of it with scheduled and preventive maintenance, and your car will last longer, don't worry, be happy. Now, buy an rx8...hurry up, and post pics when you get it, good luck. :)

Thanks for the quick replies gentlemen. RIWWP: your awesome man! Sorry about the text, I'll block it out in the future! That's what I was thinking New Yorker. You guys answered all my questions and more! I'll post the compression numbers if these guys will let me take it to the dealer. Oh and uh.....it's prospective bse50.

I know, i was just trying to drive you mad :)