2 Buy or not 2 Buy?
 

I just joined this forum, and I feel it is almost time to make a decision. I have read thousands of your posts and have taken test drives on 5 separate occasions. As a result, I know all of the reasons to get the 8. However, I'm not a rich man and $30K means a lot to me so I am not one to buy on impulse.

My question to you all is... What are some of the things you are unhappy with about the 8. Besides flooding and other things regularly discussed on this website. Things like blind spots, or lack of low end torque during everyday driving. Tell me things that I wouldn't experience through test drives.

Thanks in advance.

Make sure you get yourself the spare tire option. Other wise I have no issues with my 8, and I've only had mine for a day WOOHOO

Regrets?
 

Never flooded, but I take care.

Torque is roughly equal to my old Acura V6, which is not exactly gutless.

Torque is only a number, multiply it by revs for horsepower - I got horsepower comin' out my ASS!

19 (US) mpg average.

If you worry about your car not being a torque-monster, just get the revs up, I consider anything under 5k to be 'out-of-the-power-band'.

Yes, the blind spots are bad, but I daily back into my garage, and usually I can judge where my edges are with great precision.

I am only unhappy that the Japanese get climate control, we don't. The Euro's get hood support struts, we don't. Otherwise, I have zero regrets, I couldn't see myself driving anything LESS than the '8'!
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doc

I agree with Doctorr. You'd have to kill me to take my 8 away!

If I really had to complain about something, it's the placement of the cup holders. You'll constantly hit your arm against any cup in there when shifting. So I make sure to drink my coffee before driving to work :D

No major complaints. And I would say no to the spare tire, as it effectively destroys most of the useful trunk space you've got. The Bose is okay for a factory stereo, but crappy for a high-end one. There is a blind spot, but if you remember your high-school drivers ed to actually turn your head and look, and use all your mirrors, it's not a problem. Also, putting tall people behind tall people in the car generally doesn't work.

Honestly, I dont think I have any complaints other than the mpg's but that is the price I pay. Not a problem I still love the car to bits. Most anything else that I could add would be a quirk which I wont waste time on stating here. I was as you are on the fence at some point and I just had to do it and take the leap. I have not looked back. zoom zoom

You will love owning a Rotary. I am waiting until Spring of '05 for when my current car is paid off. That way I can selectively drive it (too much salt on the roads here in the winter!). I am for sure buying the RX-8. My mouth waters listening to the current owners. :D

I am coming up on 5 months with my car. The posts above say most of it. Things like the spare tire come down to personal preference (IMHO). The bottom line for me is that after almost 5 months my biggest problems are not getting enough driving time (back and forth btwn home and work isn't enough!) and explaining the silly grin on my face.

mm

Re: 2 Buy or not 2 Buy?
 

Blind spots -
The blind spots really aren't that bad unless you refuse to set your mirrors a little differently (there's threads on this), or refuse to turn your head.. The only blind spot I've encountered is straight out the rear windshield at night.. but that's probably because of the tint ;)

Flooding..

Some people have flooding problems, some people don't. It may be a car thing, it may be a driver thing.. I redline my car often after it warms up.. I have never had a flooding issue, and have been trying to get it to flood purposfully for about 2 weeks now.

Torque==

For every day driving, it is MORE than enough... It's no F-body.. it wont pin you in your seat.. but most people don't need that for every day driving. It's definately more powerful than most vehicles out there. By this statement, I mean all cars on the road, not just performance cars. If your every day driving means drag racing, then you will be dissapointed. However, the car will not put you in any danger because of lack of power.

Things I don't like ..

Gas mileage,

Sometimes I get good, 18ish, sometimes I get bad, 15ish...
I think it depends highly on the distances I'm driving and the amount of time it takes the car to warm up (outside temp). I have a friend who lives about 2 miles from me. If I drive mainly to her house and back, which I do often, then I get bad mileage. If I take even more moderate journeys, I get better mileage.

I don't like the position of the seat heater buttons..

And my only other complaint is my compulsion to drive it at odd hours of the day for what sometimes becomes long and pointless trips. Such as driving 100 miles from home, only to turn around on the highway and go home without stopping..

1. Torque/HP fine for everyday driving, IMO. Unless you live for drag racing or blowing people away at red lights, there's plenty of power.

2. Cupholders are poorly located if you're using the shifter.

3. The Bose stereo is unimpressive.

4. I get 19 MPG. I'd like more, but it's not so bad that I'd rather have a different car.

5. Never had a problem with blind spots, but then, I'm probably just used to poor sight lines after my last car.

6. Never had flooding problems. I don't take any unusual precautions... I just don't shut the car down ice cold.

7. I'd like climate control, but it's not a huge deal.

8. The power windows are only 1-touch down... not up. I find this annoying, but it's probably just my pet peeve.

9. Winning blue shows dirt easily and looks not-so-good when dirty. Unless you're good about washing your car, grey might be the best color.

The good:
https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...ghlight=things

The not so good:
https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-discussion-3/little-dissapointing-things-15980/

Re: 2 Buy or not 2 Buy?
 

You've read thousands of posts, and test driven the car *five* times? You've past the whole impulse thing a while, back I'd say. ;)

Buy one and stop reading so much. :)

Just for reference..


I DID buy the car on impulse, I am not a rich person either. I live in an apartment and have no real assets.

I decided on a friday , after seeing my bosses new SC400 that I wanted a better car because my 2001 alero was pissing me off becuase everythig was breaking because i was so hard on it because.

Anyway,

I did not do the research you are doing now. I did not know about the HP misrepsentation, nor did I know about possible flooding issues or gas mileage or checking oil. I didn't even test drive any other cars. So I purchased this car on the spot.

Do I regret it? No. Do I lie to myself everyday and pretend that I love a car that I secretly hate becase I have sunk so much of my time, energy, money and emotion into? No. I love this car it has some quircks that i am willing to live with it is sort of like being married we cant all marry perfect supermodels who eat like pigs but never fart and never curse and are never moody.

Re: Re: 2 Buy or not 2 Buy?
 

LOL... good point.

Everyone has a lot of good input here. No car is perfect, but I'm not hearing anything bad here. I should have also mentioned that I have a little baby. Does anyone else load babies or little kids in car seats? I tried it at the dealer and found it pretty easy. So yeah, stoplight to stoplight power is not on the top of my priority list anyway because it scares the crap out of my little one.

Thanks Maximus! I should have searched first. I just posted on impulse...

My 3 year old 's first comment - after riding in the back in her car seat:

"It's like carowinds."

http://www.carowinds.com

She and her six year old brother fit just fine back there. They prefer to ride in this car, over our Pacifica - even though they sit too short to see much out the window.

Go buy one!

Re: Re: Re: 2 Buy or not 2 Buy?
 

Yeah, all the above posts pretty much sum it up.

I have a 12 y/o daughter. Her & her friends fit great in the back seats and say it's comfortable. The suicide doors make it easy for them to get in & out of.
If your baby is still in a car seat see this thread... https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...threadid=20984
and if you have a spouse to convince, see this thread... https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...threadid=21050


I LOVE MY 8!!! So does my husband, my daughter, her friends, my friends and everyone else who has seen it. No regrets, only minor quirks but you'll have those with ANY car you'll buy.

If a beautiful fun sports car with versatility is what you want... BUY AN 8!!! And this is what you'll look like :D as we all do.

zoom zoom

This thread might be the straw that broke the... errr... the wife's back. If what I'm reading is honestly the worst things about the car, then the decision is to go and get one...

Next step... Find a dealer in Hawaii that won't screw me too bad. The last two times I went to take a test drive, I went with the intention to purchase. However, the best I could negotiate was $200 under MSRP. That's after a solid 3 hours of negs. The longest I've ever negotiated was 8 hours, but with the 8 I was told that I won't even get CLOSE to invoice so I left. I had a check with me and offered $27K for a base 6MT with spoiler and app. pkg. and they told me to keep dreaming...

Re: Re: Re: Re: 2 Buy or not 2 Buy?
 

It's funny because my wife was laughin at me all the way home after our first test drive because she said I looked like an idiot because I was literally grinning all the way home...

Thanks for the posts EVERYONE! You guys are all lucky to be drivin an 8.

Framkly, if you're going to wait until Spring, unless you're going to get an absolutely great deal it might be worth waiting another few months to see what changes model year 2005 may bring...