Are 05+ huge improvement over the 04?
 

05+ RX-8s seem to carry a much higher premium than the 04s. I know the earlier 04s had some bugs, did they address all of them in 05+? What are the changes?

Thanks

the biggest reason is that most 04's are out of the B2B warranty.

Excluding that factor and the PCM reflash, anything else?

Thanks

Most of the TSBs for 04 were fixed for 05. Mechanically, I don't think there were any major changes. Just a lot of trim/detail fixes. At least with an 05, you have a chance B2B warranty still valid.

I think the biggest improvement was '06. By then a lot of small but annoying things were fixed. Air conditioning programming, sun visors, temperature control knob. '06s also came with a protective screen for the AC condenser.

Ken

'04 - '08 are mechanically identical for the most part.

the only thing you gain with a 05 is that the engine might have had the omp flash done earlier in life.

Didn't the '06 get two oil coolers whereas the 04's and 05's only had one?

I think, my 06 has 2.

the only bugs i have in my 04 are on my windshield. i have no problems with the car and never have lost a race with another n/a rx8 to date . i race 9 other rx8 on the track .....

The only difference in the oil coolers is between Manual & Automatic Transmission models. The manual having 2 and the auto having 1 cooler.

Thanks man.

There were lots of little problems with the 04's which were fixed for the 05 model. Bigger improvements for 06 and 09.

There is quite a jump from 05 to 06 which is why I went with an 05.

There are NO mechanical differences between those models (except the '09, which is very different).

and any auto owners SHOULD buy a 2nd oil cooler to help keep the motor as cool as possible....just my 2cents though

i have an 06 auto
 

I have an 06 auto with 2 oil coolers so i dont think standard or auto made a difference. I could be wrong but i got 2 of em. Look for my thread and you can see them cuase there is no bumper on my pics.... as its getting fixed and you clearly can see 2 coolers....

any 6 Port comes with 2 oil coolers, whether AT or MT.

Sounds correct
 

Thats a sound statement.. I have an auto 6port....

Lemme put it this way



Yes.

No opinion on the differences. But I'll chime in and say I didn't notice much of a price difference at all when I went looking. So, of course I'm going to buy a year newer car for just a little more money if it's in my price range. I've seen some people report buying 05's recently for around what I paid for mine but I've also seen some 04's get purchased for almost as much. I think it's just a matter of where and how long you keep your eyes open. I bought mine for my daughter who won't be driving age until the end of the year. But I started sort of looking around several months ago and jumped on one as soon as I felt like it was a good buy.

The later car just seems to have less problem, probably because they are newer too helps. Anyway the used market is flooded with these cars, most dealers have had these cars sitting since May (in the NE at least). I am very close in closing a deal on this 06 with <40K miles under factory warranty. If I don't get it, maybe I will wait for next month's $3500 rebate and get a new one for $20K :)

I don't think people realize with the rebates and the discounts, they can get a brand new one for $21-22K.