moonbeam

- I was ready to buy the RX-8 (less than 25 miles on it!) this saturday but didnt because...
- I Saw 2-dings on the exterior which I told the dealer to fix before I signed away 30 Grand
- But most of all, because of the test drive:
- it handled nicely but after I exited the freeway at the stop, smoke started blowing out of the exhausts that I could only best describe as white and "excessive"
- it continued like this at each stop on the street all the way back to the dealership
- I didn't get any CELs, or any other indicators on the dash; only thing was that white smoke coming out of the exhausts
- The smoke was still coming out after turning off the engine at the dealership

- They person I spoke to said:
1. The smoke is from the residual oil in the rotary engine burning away.
2. It "should" go away after the brake in period, since after all it only has less than 25 miles on it
3. The smoke could have been due to when I turned it on earlier to test the controls and switched it off not giving the residual oil a chance to burn off

- Has anyone experienced this as well?
- a search on "smoke" in this forum did not produce any answers
- I really want an RX-8 but don't want to slap down 30G for one that may have a bad engine
- Thanks in advance for any help

mysql101

I don't know what the deal is, but all the dealerships I went to the new cars had <10 miles on them. At 25, I'd be suspect to that car having been on a handful of test drives already.

The new RX-8 will have a burning smell to it the first 100 miles or so. That is normal. I didn't notice any smoke though on the 4 new RX-8's that I've driven, but I wouldn't discount it.

Personally, I'd hold out on an RX-8 with <10 miles on it, but with 25 miles on it, it couldn't have been trashed for long. Prob is the test drives tend to go hand in hand with redline buzzers.

Razpewton

My RX-8 had four miles on it when I drove it off the lot. Never noticed any smoke either then or since then. I did notice a new oil smell, but I personally wouldn't buy a car that smoked. That's just me...

Residual oil? naaaaaaaaaaah

mysql101

also. why are you buying a new car with dings?

sferrett

Yeah smoke like you describe is not normal - I would not buy *that* rx8 - I'd take one from the lot that was not smoking like that.

Pinhy

agreed on the door ding comments...that would raise a flag right there about the dealership

the smoke...not "normal" but can happen especially if you turned it on and off before warming up....when i flooded mine and they replaced the plugs, they said it burned white smoke for a few minutes until the oil was gone.

the 8 does burn oil in its gas, so you will get residual black on the inside of the exhaust anyway....

8pex

The smoke is definantely bad mojo, stay away!
As for the dings, it is common for new cars to have door dings as they are parked close to one another. A good dealer should have them removed before the car is purchased. I have personally bought a new vehicle at night and did not notice two door dings, I called the dealer the next day and set up paintless dent removal and no charge off course.

Ajax

The smoke is actually common in cars that sit on a lot and are not driven a bunch. The first car I test drove blew white smoke like that when it was first warming up, but never afterwards.

I'd probably stay away too, especially when you have the combo of smoke and dings.

The burning oil smell did not go away in my car until after 1500 miles. I didn't really know what it was, but i'm glad it's gone :b