Is it worth buying this RX-8?
 

Whats beautiful is that since Canada is a cold ass country and winter just began, prices in the car market have begun to drop, hopefully the same will happen for this beautiful RX-8: 2007 Mazda RX-8 GT SHINKA | cars & trucks | City of Toronto | Kijiji

My question to you guys are:
- What do you think of the price now?
- If the price fell below $10,000 (my budget) would it be worth it?
- Seeing that the vehicle has modifications makes me question how abused the car was, what are your thoughts about that?
- Are the modifications any good? I never heard of Standen's LTD low Springs...

The modifications are ok. They're definitely more for street cred and to be more "hella JDM yo" then to actually help anything (although that particular intake is one of few that consistently shows an improvement over stock). I wouldn't buy it based on the bumper alone, not to mention how riced up it is already. The lights are super blue and terrible as well. I've never heard of that brand of spring, and I can't find any for the Rx8 online.

If you can get the owner to do a compression test before you commit to buying it and you like the car then go ahead. It might be more fun (and potentially cheaper) to just buy a relatively stock one (with confirmed good compression) and modify it to your liking. Assuming you're patient you can find a used Rx8 with a good engine for ~7000CAD.

To summarize: It's expensive and IMO pretty ugly. You can do better.

Welcome.
I agree with Legot. Imho, I would prefer an 'unmolested' stock model, preferably original engine, with a knowledgeable owner who maintained it properly.
Most importantly, don't buy one unless you can get a Rotary specific compression test.

Keep in mind these are Canadian dollars, RX-8s were $50k cars up here new.
You'd have to check the book value, but it feels like a reasonable price to me.

That said, the el cheapo sickspeed/Jspeed/Exoticspeed isn't filling me with confidence the owner actually took care of the car. That can be a bargaining chip for you, mods don't usually increase the marketability of a car, they decrease it. Cheap mods more so. Check that he didn't use Royal Purple in the trans also. No bueno that. Just make sure you're not buying problems.

What really got my attention is the low mileage and the fact that it was garaged in the winter.

I do agree with you guys that going stock would be best to go but I'm having a very difficult time finding 2006/2007 with low mileage like this at a reasonable price and not having rust (checked a few which do sadly). I don't want 2004/2005 simply because I don't know what damages the old ecu flash did to the motor and I'm paranoid over all of the issues the 2004/2005 had despite being the most popular years.

As for the modifications I don't think they look too bad, I will ask the owner if they have the original parts to it, worst case I just buy back the stock parts I don't like and fit it back on.

Sucks to hear that the aftermarket parts are cheapo brands! Clearly that's not a good thing. Any other opinions or recommendations out there?

PS - the white leather looks so freaking good in the RX-8!!!

Well, if you like it, if the price seems reasonable, and your willing to pay it, then the only thing you need is the rotary compression test, 2 sets of 3 numbers.
That's the most important thing.
Insist on it, no test, no deal.
If you want it, & they don't want to pay for it, tell them you will if it passes.
It'd be worth the extra couple hundred bucks to be sure.
Good luck!

Honestly, not worth it. I got my R3 with 44K KMs for 16k $ 2 years ago in Alberta. I see R3s going for 12k now. IMHO that is way overpriced. It took me months to find her but it was worth the wait. Just keep looking around and the right one will appear. If you have to convince yourself, it's not right.

^Well that's depressing, I disagree though. 12k for an R3 is definitely not overpriced! Especially CAD.

Lol $10k?! that's bonkers. Maybe I should upgrade :o

^I just did a quick kijiji on 2009+ Rx-8's in Calgary... The lowest price 2009+ RX-8 is $18,000... The 2 R3's are 19k and 23k

http://www.kijiji.ca/b-cars-trucks/c...a54a1000054a68

http://www.autotrader.ca/cars/mazda/...=True&wcp=True

What the hell 12K for an R3??? That's insane, especially in Alberta where car prices are higher than here in the GTA!!! Unfortunately my budget is 10K but I know for sure this car isn't going to sell anytime soon, most RX-8s have been on market for as long as 4 months (ever since I've started looking for a car). So this means lower prices! (I've seen RX-8s here have their prices slashed by as much as 3-4K)
Unfortunately, the R3 is expensive here (14-16K) and there are not many on market. :(

I say a car is worth whatever someone's willing to pay for it.
If you find a car you like and want, whatever it's worth to you is what it's worth.
You just can't be foolish though, and be sure you're not buying someone elses problem.

I got mine a little over 1 year ago. 2010 R3 with 14k km (8k miles) on the odo, it was 22k when I purchased it and it was worth that to me.

There you go.
Original MSRP on my '04 was over $35k, & now they're dirt cheap if you're not picky, but finding a bone stock garage-kept GT with 18k miles in showroom condition like mine was is rare.
I paid $14k (US) for mine 2 1/2 years ago.
It was worth it to me.

^Yeah the R3 was 50k+ brand new up here.

Did anyone look at the oul that this guy uses? 10w30 royal purple. Based on a lot of research that I did on oil on this forum, royal purple is the one of the least recommended for these cars. Might not be a big deal but still.

^That's minor, I really want him to introduce me to his contacts that get him cars that cheap!!! :)

I hope I don't come out sounding like an idiot but is Royal Purple Engine oil synthetic only? Also why is it one of the least recommended oils for the engine when its most recommended for the diff and tranny?

It's not recommended for the diff and tranny.

The diff can survive using it, but it's not the best.

Put RP in your tranny and you will feel fantastic at first, until your syncros fail in a few thousand miles because RP doesn't make a transmission fluid that is the proper spec for our transmissions.


Regardless of those two points though, engine oil analysis tests have shown that Royal Purple is subpar in protecting the engine. That is the entirety of the reason why we don't recommend it.

Sorry I meant that 12K for an 07 is overpriced. I have indeed seen 12K here(Calgary) during the summer. People are offloading RX8s like crazy. Honestly, no one wants them and there aren't many people buying. I go to school in BC, but they are slightly more here. Honestly you just have to wait for someone who wants to desperately get rid of it. Mine was from a lady who bought it in a midlife crisis, dealers then were selling R3s for around 20K so when I got mine for 16K it was a steal.

I should apologize though, I've only seen 1 for 12K so perhaps thats was an outlier. Everyone is correct in saying that the going price is closer to 14K

Is there a special name to the rims on this RX-8? They look chrome-like and it would be something I would like to keep in mind should I buy another RX-8.

Looks like he stripped and polished the stock wheels. Not sure they were ever sold like that, but it's a reasonable DIY project if you want to do that on your future car.

Shinka wheels are the same style as the non-Shinka, only they are a 'dark chrome' color instead of the standard grey.

I just sold mine for 5k with BHR coils and stance Coilovers with 62k miles in great shape and always garage kept in Michigan. I couldn't give it away if that puts it in perspective.

how about this one? what do you guys think