Vizacar

Hi everyone,

New here but have been doing a lot of reading. Lot and lots of good info to digest. Anyway, I bought my Shinka in April and have an appointment for the first oil change Monday - DarCars Silver Spring Mazda MD. I haven't had any problems with the car yet.

Car was built 12/04 - believe it is group 1?

While there I'd like to find out as much info as possible from the service manager/techs. Would like to know what you think I should be concerned with.

So far I'm going to inquire about:
upcoming recall for undercarriage heat
latest flash - believe it is 'R'
control arm issues
Gerber $500.00 rebate

Anything else? I don't mind asking questions. Please let me know if there is anything else you think I need to ask about or check into.

Thanks

zoom44

why ask them about the recalls? all the info they could possibly have is here for you to read and ask about. why ask about the flash? what will that accomplish? they wont tell you what it does because they wont know. plus you will get the latest flash when you go back in for your recall work.

RenoIV

Better wait for the recalls to come to your house. You already know more than they do.

I'd suggest asking the service writer what weight of oil they intend on putting in your car. I've not heard great things about that dealers service dept.

I might make the Fuds meet on Sun.... Still haven't seen a Shinka up close... I like the color .... just not as much as Red. :D Perhaps a few more 8s will show up this time.

Vizacar

To see how much they know. Do they have the parts yet? When do they expect to start seeing the cars? How long do they estimate it will take? What kind of loaner car will I get? I could think of a lot of questions to gauge how knowledgable and open they are to their customers. Never hurts to understand the expertise and openess to their customers.

As for the flash...there are a lot of threads here how some dealers don't seem to know squat while others are very upfront and on top of it.

I really want to get a feel for the service department that will be servicing my car for the next few years and understand what I might be in for in the future.

I'll also ask if they have been seeing a lot of tranny complaints. Seems to be a problem with more than a few here.

Nice to know what I might be up against.

zoom44

valid points sorry if i was harsh in my previous post. its always good to know your service department.

Vizacar

No sweat zoom44. I remembered as soon as I saw your post, how on another thread you mentioned for everyone to quit calling and harassing the dealers and to let them get their jobs done. I took it in that vein. Totally understandable. In your position I imagine you see a lot of us n00bs over react.

Yea, I will check on the oil RenoIV. Hope to see you tomorrow.

Vizacar

Took it in.
When I checked in, the guy who took my info had no clue about RX8s. I think he was a Chrysler guy. I had him put down 'check on recall' on my service check-in sheet.
When they pulled my car in, I stood outside the side door and watched the tech. While draining the oil he read my sheet and called the service manager over to check on any recalls since I had written it down. Kind of surprised me as I thought he would know being a RX8 tech. Yes, they are specialized at Darcars. They even come in at 8:00AM, vs 7:00AM, unlike the others. One of the techs even kidded me about that as I dropped my car off at 6:45...hehe, 'you have to wait till 8:00 when the RX techs get in'. I mentioned about the recall for the heat build-up concerning the cat and gas tank and they went to check. Talking to the tech he mentioned some cars get it and others don't. I told him I thought I was in group 1. I told him about reading up on it and was expecting a letter soon about the recall in August.

After they checked, he didn't do anything except get in the car with the big computer reprogrammer and hook up. He didn't check the bushings, harness, gas tank etc.

I also noticed he didn't check my control arms.

I was left with the impression the shop wasn't on top of it as far as the RX8s are concerned.

Some things I did notice though. While sitting in the lounge and watching a couple of techs work on a Lexus, they replaced the master cylinder. One tech walked over with the new one filled and dripped brake fluid all over the side of the front quarter panel. The other tech wiped it up. Even though their hands were dripping in brake fluid they had no concern about touching anything inside the engine compartment or anywhere else for that matter. They did try to wipe it off but I would hate to see the paint in a few weeks. While bleeding the brakes, they didn't hook up a drain hose to the bleed valves. He just opened the valves and let it spray everywhere under the car and run in rivets off the inside of the rims and tires. Totally unprofessional as far as I am concerned. I never saw ANY tech, of the couple dozen or so, use a protection blanket.

When I got my repair statement they never mentioned about bringing it in for the next service. Funny thing is, it was posted in the waiting lounge to expect to get told about the next service and about 30 other things concerning my car. I wan't told anything except where to sign. Unfortunetly I was handled by a cashier who was interested in money vs my car.

On my service invoice the only thing it says, concerning the recall, is 'Performed Recall 33056' Anyone know what that entails? I suspect it is only a reflash as that is all they did. What level...I haven't a clue. The cashier made me feel like I would be asking too much if I pressed the issue.

I will say this though. The parts department was very professional and on the ball. He knew immediately who I was as soon as I started rattling off the dealer installed options they had promised me. He said...'oh you're the Shinka guy who has all those parts on order? I said yea and he surprised me by saying... well Mr. Graham we have all your parts. We got them in just last week.' Come to find out they were even using a few of my options as displays in the parts showroom. They even had my name on them. He then helped me drag all my boxes out to my car.

I next went to their body shop to see about getting the spoiler installed. The service guy there, told me it would take most of the rest of the day...about 5 hours, and I told him I would wait. He seemed surprised but I assured him I had nothing else to do. After taking my car to the back, he came up and told me he would put a person on it right away and it would take 2 hours at the most. 40 minutes later they delivered it to the front after washing my car. Outstanding service there. He never even checked to ensure it was suppose to be dealer installed. He took my word for it. I could have just bought it and lied to him to get them to install it for free.

All in all, I will DEFINITELY go to another dealer for mechanical service. I hear Frank at Anderson's (I believe this is the right dealer), in Virginia is great.

Overall, I like a service department that interacts and can tell you more about your car than you know. They should treat you like your vehicle means as much to them as their does. Make sure you are treating it right, just like they treat theirs. I am use to that type of service on my ZX-6. I expect nothing less. I hate to feel like just another customer, even though that is what I am. I want the tech to come to me and tell me about my vehicle, what shape it is in and what he would do etc..., not just get a page to come to the cashier to pay my bill.

The service department at Darcars was too generic for my RX8 tastes. All of their dealers, go to the same service department. Everything from Toyota, Lexus, Chrysler, Ford, Mazda, Kia, and a dozen others. Not specialized enough.


I will go elsewhere in the future.