About to Buy...Should I?
 

Hello,
This is my first post at RX8 Club, but I have been lurking for a couple of days. I have narrowed my car search down to a couple, based on style, performance, and price. However I am leasing, so I am only concerned with monthly payment. I am down to 3 cars, a Sport 6 spd RX8, a WRX Manual, and a Acura RSX Type S. (roughly same payment)

The RX8 is the only true sports car of the bunch, has the nicest inside, and is by far the best handler. But, many reports put it as the slowest, and the reliability is unknown.

So here is my Question. The RX8 would be my daily driver. I need it to be reliable. How big of a problem is the flooding issue. I dont think my clients would be to understanding of me missing apointments because my RX8 'flooded.' Has the M flash fixed this??

I love the car, but am leasing for 48 Months, the last thing I want is to be stuck in a car that is unreliable...

well, for 48 months...you'd likely still be under warranty.

But, I bought mine used with 3000 miles or so on it, and other than the three recalls (airbag and 2 ECU flashes), I've had nothing but great things for the last 5000 miles. I havent flooded it yet, and have had the unfortunate luck to either have had stalled (reteaching the Wife a standard) or accidentally turn off before warming up my RX8 and have never had a problem.

Love it love it love it

Re: About to Buy...Should I?
 

The WRX is quicker, but the RX-8 is faster than the Acura. You're correct on the other attributes! :cool:

The flooding issue is no more - the M flash eliminated it. Even then, I had my 8 for 9 months before getting the M flash, including a Canadian winter, and never flooded once. It's been perfectly reliable, without a single problem.

Buy away! :D

Regards,
Gordon

I was on the fence like you until I found out that yellow was being discontinued. I've had mine for a month now with no regrets. Freaking awesome car!!! Is truly the best of all worlds IMO. Unique styling, comfortable, handles great...and as far as being fast, she's plenty fast for legal driving as long as you're willing to downshift a gear or two. I drive it to work 26 miles each way and sometimes wish my commute was longer. The rotary engine is really cool too. So smooth, so pimp daddy!!! Buy it and experience the shit eating grin for yourself. Good luck.

Maybe the WRX is quicker than the 8, but who'd want to get out of their car, walk away, pause and look back..... and see THAT thing? Yikes!

The flooding issue, while not trivial to those that experienced it, was way overblown and Gord is right, Mazda has made the current M flash of the ECU a high profile program for dealer service departments because it speciically addresses the flooding problem.

The 8 is my third rotary and flooding them seems to have to do mostly with your startup habits. Where in the country do you live, exactly, MorePower?

Have you driven all three?

Because they all feel very different to drive, especially in terms of power delivery. All nice choices, but when it came down to it, I didn't like the WRX's looks or turbo lag, nor the RSX's frantic engine (and didn't fit me very well).

But odds are, one of those cars will match your driving style, and the others won't be in the running anymore.

I've done the unthinkable (start car, move across lot, turn off) many times now, and it's been fine. Even before getting the M flash. I might be missing something, but I just don't see any "I FLOODED!" threads anymore.

My A/C is very cold.

Milage is now 18s.

Only "problem" is a slight squeak in the seat, which apparently has a well-documented fix.

I looked at the exact same 3 cars. I agree with others that the RX-8 is faster than the RSX. And it feels way more solid than the other two. And when I found I could get one for only a little bit more than the others, there really was no way back.

if you can afford it, and you can it seems, id totally go for it, the rx8 is the best value amongst those three cars, you wont regret it one bit...go get it now :) and get pictures

Thanks for the help guys. I went and test drove another one again. On 2 seperate RX8's ( in case one was a fluke) I started them up, backed them out, and then shut them off. Total run time was about a minute on one, and about 3 on the other. Both times A-OK. No problems. So it seems that part is fixed. No it is time to do some serious thinking.

P.S.-Why did mazda have to have so many coll colors. The wrx is easy, everyone has the Blue, the silver is boring, so that leaves Black. Acura, my girlfriend has the beige, so not that, and there other ones are boring to. With the RX8 every single color is great, all very deep and metallic. Maakes choosing tough.

P.P.S-Boothguy, I live in Arizona, no cold winters for me.

Well, you're down to the fun part of the equation: figuring your color and equipment choices. Christmas is comin' early!

Nah! Don't buy. It's a drag owning the 8. Once you take possession of the thing, you think about it constantly. You look for excuses to go driving - making 3 sometimes 4 trips a day to the corner store. You waste time washing it twice a week. You spend all kind of money on it making modifications to personalize the car. You check in with this forum three times a day. Wax twice a month. Keep getting stopped by strangers asking about the car. Getting unwanted attention. You ignore your family and friends to get behind the wheel. STAY AWAY FROM THIS CAR.

Well you'll have no flooding problems for certain if your in AZ, no matter how long it sits, the engine will never get cold enough. :p

Right on Broker :)

The color black is nice.

Good luck with your decision.

For real - that is one ugly ass car

I'm not sure the flooding issue is gone. I have the M flash and decided to do a little test this past weekend. I backed it out of the garage and turned it off. Washed and waxed the car and then started it to run back in the garage. I did this when I bought the car last year when it was cooler out. It flooded big time. This time it did start, but missed badly and smoked like crazy. I think if it had been cold, it may have flooded.

As I have stated before, lets wait for the winter months to see if the M has fixed the flooding issue.

As another note, still waiting for my AC amp to fix the cycling AC. It's been 2 months now. They say the end of next week. We'll see.