Did the dealer kill this engine?
 

I have been lurking on the board for about a month now, while finding a good deal on an 05' RX-8. Well I found one at a dealer about 45 min from me with the options I want. I've taken it for a test drive and this is where my concern is. The car drives great, but it has 160 miles on it already :sad: . And judging from how the sales guy was telling me I should drive it on this test drive (he went with me), I have to believe the thing has been abused on these short 13 mile jaunts. I'm confident that the car was always fully warmed up because he told me that you can't MOVE the car within 10 minutes of starting it. But as far as taking it easy before the car is out of break-in mileage that definately has not happened. Should I be concerned about this? What kind of long term effects will this have on performance or reliability?

I'd be concerned if I bought a car new with miles on it, if I was looking for a new car - I'd expect one with 0 miles, right off the boat. Long term effects, not really. The car really feels like it gains balls around 15k miles anyways :]

that doesn't sound right... You can drive off right away after starting, it just wont rev like normal (it'll rev slower) till it warms up to operating temp.

Sucks when you know more than your dealer does.

Tell them you want the warranty extended for the extra 160 miles that is already on it.

All new cars will have some mileage on the odo. Apparently this one was used as a demo as you indicate. Therefore, you should get a very good deal on the car. Don't fret about 160 miles 'cause the car is warranteed for 50K miles.

BTW, there is a thread somewhere on this forum where owners reported the mileage on their cars when they bought them. Do a search and read that thread.

You aren't in Kansas City, and buying from Tony at Tumina are you? Sounds just like the spiel he gave me. Mine had 12k when I bought it (2004) so I wasn't worried about breaking it in but the salesman was giving me shit about shifting too low and "That's not how you drive this kind of car". Now that I've had it for a while I tend to agree. Love that beep :)

At least if they made you let it warm up, there is less likelyhood the car has experienced some kind of damage. Personally, I would say keep looking, but the supply of '05s is getting pretty low these days, depending on what part of the country you are in, so you may not end up with many choices. Check out autotrader.com and search for new 05's in your area, see what you can pull up. Might be a good place to start.

No its not in Kansas, I'm in Ohio. I've searched Mazda's inventory quite a bit. This is the first one that met ALL of my preferences in regards to options that has been anywhere close to me. Anyway thanks for the input...anyone else want to chime in ?

i bought my 05 new in december with 900 miles on it... they guaranteed the warranty from the mileage that was on it the day i drove it off the lot so i have until 50,900 on the warranty.. you can get a hell of a deal on the 05's b/c they're trying to clear them all off the lot so i would so go for it while you can get a good deal... btw i got mine for 25K plus ttt and it was classified as new and almost fully loaded..... just fyi

i dont know what the proper breakin method is for the rx8, but for most cars its not good to rev high for the first couple of hundred miles. so yeah, id be using that as a huge haggle point for him to lower the price. HE he refuse to lower the price I wouldnt buy it, because its probably not broken in properly