Forget about the better on gas part unless your getting worst then 12mpg city. It's a great car but the gas mileage is horrible.

"....german engineering anyone?..."

oh my f**king god, what nationality do you think FELIX WANKEL the inventor of the rotary engine in your car was????JAPANESE!?! LOL

Wow, I had a :Freak_ani moment. That didn't even cross my mind :)

perfected by....the Japanese!

I'm going to inquire about that RX-8 I posted on Monday, maybe even buy it if dealer is willing to play the ball

I guess I'll let you guys know how this goes ...

thanks for all the comments!

To the guy from NJ: I looked online, its a bit too far of a drive, and average prices I saw for 25-35k miles are $16-17k which is what I hope to end up with with this one with 16k miles

good luck roman

I have an '04 manual. Love it and have had NO problems with it and have 53K on it. Unless you sit in traffic every day GET the MANUAL. It is a different more powerful motor not just the difference in the trans.

Expect 18mpg in the city and 20 mpg on the highway. Rev it up when you drive it and it will be fine. Don't shut it off until it is fully warmed up and you won't flood the engine.

Your bumper to bumper warranty should be good for 50K miles but check on how many years it is good for. Last thing is check with the dealer on the recalls, there are a few. Also there is a thread on TSB's. If you buy the car read over the TSB's and have the dealer fix them all before your warrranty is up.

Last thing. You mentioned you live in upstate NY. You will absolutely have to buy snow tires for the car to drive it in winter. The car is rear wheel drive and the tires on it are summer performance tires only. They are no good in the snow.

Come back and let us know how it goes and good luck!

Thanks everyone!
What are TSB's?
And when I went to test drive that Auto, I'm not sure on the tires, but I actually ended up going through a little storm in it, and it wasn't that bad in snow at all, that's why I liked it even more ...

TSB = technical service bulletin

AFAIK, YMMV

Here is the link to the forum that has information on the TSB's for the 8. They are essentially updates to the dealers on common problems that Mazda has found solutions for. They are not recalls so the dealer is not obligated to fix them unless the owner comes in and complains of the symptoms. Also unless you still have a warranty the owner would pay for them. It is the same with all car manufacturers. The short of it is: If you buy the 8. Print these all out, bring them with you to the dealer and tell them you would like all the TSB's checked and serviced under warranty.

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-trouble-shooting-95/technical-service-bulletins-tsbs-recalls-rx-8-a-14453/

talked to that dealer, they are not willing to negotiate on the price, and the car had smoke coming out of just one exhaust? not the two? cold start and left side was smoking and right side wasn't
then my brother said that it sounds like the car is misfiring badly

so all in all we walked away

and I'm taking a suggestion by the guy from NJ and looking for overall a better deal then this

but now, I'm looking at Supra, RX-7, RX-8, Crossfire, Mini Cooper/S all in manual, and I'm not in any hurry

if I end up with either of the first choices, I'm just going to get another cheap beater to drive around and use the first as going out/weekend, and keep mods to minimum most likely

I wish I could find a good deal on the 8 though, I love it, especially with that VeilSide kit

low mileage for '04 is a little suspicious - perhaps that rx8 spent most of its days in a dealership being fixed.

you like the angry catfish look?

No 04s....or AT!