Frank Patrick

Having purchased my 8- as soon as they arrived, I now have some serious miles on the car- It is not my imgination, but the car is getting better with age- way quicker, on my second set of tires- swithced brands (pirelli) handling is better- I have never had so much fun with a car-since my 1970 240Z- Funny, how different these vehicles are, yet how much they remind of each other- I'm just a working guy, not rich, so it was a strech getting into this car- I would do it it again in a heartbeat.

chambo

serious miles?? how many?

Much less than me I assume....I just broke 3K the other day and have continually noticed my baby getting peppier with each tick of the odometer

Frank Patrick

36k

sti_eric

Cars usually do get a little faster with more engine wear. Take a look at some of Car & Driver's "Long Term Tests". They list performance at the beginning of the test and performance at the end of the test (after about 40,000 miles). Typically, 1/4 mile times are as much as 3/4 of a second faster at the end of the test for "normal" cars (i.e. I don't think you will see a Cobra improving it's 12.8 1/4 mile time by half a second after 40,000 miles). This is usually explained by the fact that after driving for a while, some of the material on the pistons has worn away, which causes less friction, which causes the engine to produce more power.

mysql101

as the compression and other things get lowered, the car should get slower with age.

in another thread someone who drove (i think) a mazda star car said they dropped something like 16% or 20% or something.. i'm making up numbers, maybe someone can find that thread.

StewC625

Pistons?

BWAAA HA HA HA HA HA!

Such a lowly device to propel an automobile ...

Also don't forget that the ECU also learns your driving habits, and if you "drive it like you stole it" it will respond in kind with quicker throttle response - bigger opening for less throttle movement.

draco067

If I recall correctly, it was something like 4-5% over a season of racing, nothing nearly as drastic as 20%.

A season of racing being many times more abusive to your engine than years of normal driving.

Ike

Quoted from David Haskell

"It probably loses the 3-4% in around 25-30 hours of racing and then stays the same until 50 hours. That is about as long as we run them before a rebuild. I do not have a complete data base on this because the motor is so new. The current engine I have in our car has a 1.6% loss in 16 hours of racing. This is a pretty good number for any racing engine"

mysql101

there we go. I guess I was thinking about years down the road and added up the compression loss. It's too bad we don't know if the loss continues, increases, or slows down.

Ellar

Years down the road racing it the whole time?

RX8Bliss

36k miles? you deliver pizza with your 8?

Overport

Thats awesome, please be sure to report any mishaps while you are gaining mileage. You might just have the most miles of any RX-8 on here. Info is appreciated!

r0tor

iTrader: (1)

...every car eventually starts to loose compression as piston rings or side seals wear

Ike

Yes, but with piston engines it takes a long time and they usually get faster for a while before the start to slow down a bit (probably nearing 100k+ miles with the better ones), the loss is also marginal. There are some knowledgable rotary guys that seem to think the RX-8 loses compresion rather fast and that the HP decrease after just 20-30k miles is significant.

hotpot

My 8 has 6000 miles on the clock and it's getting noticeably peppier with time, so far.

6speed8

Ike, what guys? The Renesis is TOO new for this kind of information (or most likley MIS-information) As usual you are a bearer of downer news. It seems to me ALL engines will get a significant power boost WITH age due to carbon build-up on the pistons or rotors, hence increasing the compression ratio. Then of course as the rings or seals wear that boost is reduced and the trend goes down from there.

let's hear from more high mileage owners - I have 17k and the engine is great puls better than new, but of course it has the M flash.

srm858

I have 13k on mine, not exactly "high mileage". My car definitely runs better now than when new. I don't notice more power, but certainly much better mpg. I wish it idled a little smoother. I get into my antique Accord and immediately notice the smooth idle. Not a big deal, but just seems a bit unrefined.

I haven't needed to bring the car to the dealer for a couple of months, which is a record for this car. I guess the bugs have been worked out.

Ike

I'm not the bearer of anything...

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-aftermarket-performance-modifications-23/renesis-side-seal-discussion-38411/


I'm not saying I believe everything in that thread, but it's certainly an interesting read and it's a little scary how many knowledgable rotary guys change their tune to more along the Ito camp as the thread goes on.

6speed8

The Mr P&P thread? That's just a few people spouting their beliefs and some other people agreeing on speculation/theory. If there was a major defect/flaw there would be dozens of threads on compression loss/power loss (just like the MPG threads). I think time will tell, and I would hope that Mazda really did their homework on the Renesis, cause if it turns out to not be reliable, there will most likely never be another Rotary engine from them .

Ike

Would hope that Mazda did their homework on the Renesis such as making sure it would pass emissions at port, making sure the oilpan was correct, making sure the HP was correct at 250, then at 247, then at 238, I could list more but I think you get the point... I hope for your guys sake and the Rotary that Ito and some others in that thread are jumping the gun and there really is no problem. But lets face it, Mazda R&D and the rotary haven't had a very good reputation the past 10 or so years.

6speed8

Just have to wait and see, but for now I'll side with Mazda. The RX-8 was a totally new (from the ground up) design. With ALL the new designs, I am actually quite impressed there are not MORE issues. For such a small car company the RX-8 came out quite well, it impresses more than disappoints.

2nd Alarm

There are a few things I was told by the service manager (also a buddy) at my Mazda dealer. First the gas milage will improve as the car is driven, second to prevent loss of compression drive it like you stole it. I looked at him as if he was crazy, but he said he was serious. This engine is designed to be rode hard and needs to be rode hard.

clark

re: "ECU learns your driving habits..." I've heard this mentioned before. Does anyone have any more definite information about this? What exactly does it learn? What exactly does it adjust?

I'm not sure that I'm too happy with the automobile thinking that it knows how I drive, since I drive in two different modes - many short trips and not too fast interspersed with much longer trips a little bit faster (well...maybe just slightly more than just a little bit). How quickly does it catch on to the change??

KKMmaniac

A reply by IkeWRX:

"Would hope that Mazda did their homework on the Renesis such as making sure it would pass emissions at port, making sure the oilpan was correct, making sure the HP was correct at 250, then at 247, then at 238, I could list more but I think you get the point... I hope for your guys sake and the Rotary that Ito and some others in that thread are jumping the gun and there really is no problem. But lets face it, Mazda R&D and the rotary haven't had a very good reputation the past 10 or so years."

Although I respect the fact IkeWRX takes the time to hang out here, and usually gives some reasonable insight from the “outside” that we RX8 owners may not care to hear but should, Ike, I gotta bust you on this one. Subaru remains one of my favorite car lines to this day, but remember when some of us on the Impreza forum who received first allocation or for that matter, the first model year of the WRX complained about the problems with our cars? Juddering clutches when cold, noisy valvetrain when cold (mine rapped like a diesel until the temp. gauge read normal) that was supposedly cured by replacing the hydraulic timing belt tensioner, numerous CEL’s until reprogramming, and transmission problems (which admittedly, were most likely caused by drivers who didn’t realize with AWD, the tranny takes the major shock, since the tires aren’t going to break loose) among them.

And how could this have happened, what with the WRX in production since ’93(?), and the new WRX the US finally got being sold in Japan and Australia for nearly a year before appearing here? I didn’t think there would be any potential for problems with chances like these to work the bugs out. (hey, slamming the “other guy” instead of answering the questions works for the presidential candidates, why can’t I do it?)

Sorry to veer off topic...

Ike

I agree KK, all cars in their first model year are at the very least going to have some minor bugs. But I think in this day and age engine problems is a big no no. Mazda of all companies should know this very well with how the rotary is viewed by many car people. There are a lot of people out there that know next to nothing about rotaries, but have it in their head that they are unreliable.

The point of my earlier post really isn't all that different from what you say in your thread KK. Maybe Mazda did do every imaginable test on the Renesis, maybe they didn't, but in either case it doesn't mean that there can't be a problem with it. So just passing off a potential problem as nonsense simply because you think Mazda did a lot of testing might not be a good idea. At this point the engine issue (or lack thereof) is really not worth debating further until more is known and more RX8s start to get up there in miles.