vipernicus42

LMAO!

You had me going for a sec... Until I noticed your location at least!

Jon


Edit: I wrote this on the 7club, thought I'd post it here:

FWIW, this dealership actually has a very good reputation in the region and has long been the only place I go when I need mazda-only parts. The sales dude was a newbie and it showed, but I kind of liked that because there was no pressure on me. With the thousand questions I asked him the pressure was clearly on him the entire time. Then when I called Joe at RPM with the sales guy sitting right there I could see him sweat, lol.

I'll be asking about the compression test and the 8yr/100,000mi engine warranty that I read about today. We didn't get into an extensive discussion about warranties when I was there, at one point he just said "It's over 100,000km so it's out of its factory warranty" which is true for the rest of the powertrain, and more than true for the rest of the factory coverage. He might not even have known about the extension that Mazda gave for all the Rx8 engines back in June.

vipernicus42

So I went back to the dealership today. I filled out the initial paperwork. I go back on Tuesday to put the deposit on it, and again a week from Tuesday to pick up the car

They provided me with the service history and TSB/Recall history for the car. The guy invited me to look up any TSBs/Recalls I like and if they aren't on the list, bring them to his attention on Tuesday and he'll make sure they get processed before I pick up the car. So I'm going through the list of 60+ TSBs/Recalls on finishlineperformance.com (thanks rx8club!) and reading them all to see which ones apply to my car and find out if they've been done.

I took the car for a longer, unsupervised test drive today. It runs very well, but I found a few small things that they've agreed to address. Here's the lisst of stuff they've agreed to fix for me before I take delivery:

- Shift **** (yes they're installing a stock one for free as part of the deal)
- Barely audible "clunk" sound in front end on hard decel after cruising (ball joint?)
- They will double-check the TSBs/Recalls on their own again on my special request
- They WILL provide actual compression test numbers. Not just a paper saying "compression is OK" but actual numbers in kg/cm2
- The heater **** and coin tray cover need attention

Overall not too bad. What I'm finding amazing as I read through these TSBs and Recall notices is how they have official service bulletins and procedures for things that we do in the 1st Gen section on our own all the time. For example, TSB 01-015-08 is the Deflooding procedure to follow when your car gets flooded because it didn't fully warm up and you popped the clutch and stalled it. 01-050-06 is the cure for "lung mustard" as we call it, or as they put it "milky substance" - a PCV valve installation procedure basically. It's cool to see that this stuff is so common that Mazda produces documents for its techs on how to deal with customers complaining about this stuff!

For those curious, my VIN ends in -40101500 so I'm included in pretty much all of these TSBs. It's a really early car it seems, so I'm going to have to deal with alot of the issues that come with being the owner of a vehicle that was just out of the "beta testing" phase when it hit the dealer lot. Well, it's probably the best way to learn I suppose!

They've been very good about dealing with me as someone who knows about these cars. They don't treat me like Mr. Stupid Customer, and they've been happily dealing with all my questions and concerns. I didn't expect this much from the dealership, but these guys are living up to the good name they have in this city so far!

Which reminds me, I verified with them that the engine warranty does indeed apply. In fact, it was one of the first things he told me when I walked in today. The file folder containing all the car's info had "out of dealer warranty" written on it so he had assumed that meant -all- warranty, but in fact it was only the powertrain and comprehensive warranties that it was referring to. I got the 4yr comprehensive extended warranty with it, along with his promise that I can drive the service guys crazy as much as I want, showing up all the time with issues for them to fix under warranty, lol.

Very exciting. I'll take scans of the print-outs he gave me on Monday and post them. A lot of stuff has indeed already been done on this car. The oil cooler lines for example. Joe warned me about corrosion issues with those and sure enough in March of this year they were replaced under bulletin 08-04, so that's good!

I'll keep you guys up to date as stuff happens

Jon

kersh4w

iTrader: (3)

congrats!

04RX8man

Congrats....

blackenedwings

Welcome and congrats!

rotarygreg

happy for you man. just a thought though. you were saying about having just liability on the car, at least with my bank, if you are borrowing that much money for a car, they want FULL coverage on it. they have a secruity on the car, so that you cant sell it or anything without sorting it all out first, and they want to make sure that if you were to get in a major accident and write off the car, they get their money. if the car is scrap, theres nothing for them to have the security on, hence, full coverage, period. thats just my experience over the last few years having big loans on cars and paying a fortune in insurance because of it (and my age).

also, the RX8s are cheap to insure for what they are because of A. the "4 doors" and B. all the airbags and high crash test ratings. car seems like a safer bet to insurance companies than any other run of the mill sports car.

anyways, congrats on the new ride. FBs are awesome(even if mine has just been sitting in the garage for the past 8 or so years), but SE3Ps are all that awesome with a modern twist and head turning styling.

Greg

vipernicus42

Yeah someone had mentioned that to me so I went and asked about that. They said it wasn't an issue. I'm hoping it's not, because I didn't budget for full coverage... Though I know I'll eventually have to get it.

I'm sure this is covered in a FAQ somewhere that I haven't gotten to yet but... SE3P?

Jon

kersh4w

iTrader: (3)

yes?

rotarygreg

se3p is the chassis code for rx8s, like FBxx (i forget the last few digits of the rx7s) or FCxx or FDxx

Greg

vipernicus42

That's odd... My VIN starts "JM1FE17" so I would assume that you'd go with "FE" ... since the others were "JM1FB33" "JM1FC33" etc...

Where does the SE3P come from if not the VIN?

I've scanned and attached the papers the dealer gave me. I'm still going through the TSBs to compare it to the Recall history they have on the car to see what they missed.

Jon

tubingchamp

iTrader: (3)

I got the 160K KM(100K Mi) warranty notice a few months ago, and I'm in Canada

Icemark

Hey Jon,

SE3P was used in Japan, so some people are convinced that is the only code.

FE is correct for everywhere else in the world.

otakurx

I'll admit it's almost as fun to drive as my 83

EmperorBen

that's still quite a bit of miles at a high price, i see alot of 04's at like $10k and still lowering. I'm getting an '05 for $12K.

rotarygreg

learn something new every day. i never new that, but it makes me feel more a part of the RX spirit, being that its in keeping with tradtion and all. lol. I guess thats where the SA22 comes from for the first few years of the first gen rx7s as well then? japan?

Greg

Icemark

The S and the F are some what interchangeable if you look at the 2nd digit, you will see that.

S A
F B
F C
F D
F E (or S E depending on what you want to believe).

The bigger key is A<B<C<D<E (and soon) <F.

And actually the third/4th part (3P) of the designation has been used since the early-eighties with the FB as well for all the RX-series since.

But if you follow the VIN on the cars in North American, Aus/NZ and Europe FE would be correct.

vipernicus42

Keep in mind this is $13K Canadian which at current exchange is $10,400USD for an originally-Canadian car. I wrote this blurb on the 7 club in my thread talking about my 8, so I'll quote it here

vipernicus42

Signed the paperwork tonight. Tomorrow morning they run the numbers and will call me to let me know if I'm approved for financing. Assuming that goes well, I pick up the car next Tuesday at 6:30pm.

The first road trip is already planned. We're heading to Montreal for Smoked Meat sandwiches That's about a 400km round trip, so it should be good enough to break the car in, find any immediate problems and still have us home by midnight!

Jon

rotarygreg

and kill a tank of gas and then some. lol

greg

kersh4w

iTrader: (3)

congrats dude! i bet you are excited as all hell!

vipernicus42

Damn, today brought crappy news.

The financing company called me back. They said a few interesting things

1) My credit score aparently rocks. It's up over "700" which is pretty good on a scale that apparently goes from 3-something to 8-something

2) My salary is easily enough to cover the loan, especially since I currently live with the folks and don't have many bills (cell phone and bus pass basically)

3) They *will* give me the financing on one condition: I need a co-signer

4) The reason they want a co-signer despite my credit score being so good? I've never had a loan of equal or greater amount before (my largest being $10,000). They say that the current state of the economy has made them put that policy in place.

I also tried visiting my bank (TD Canada Trust) to see if they'd give it to me. With them I tried to see if they'd combine the car loan, my remaining balance of my student loan and my VISA balance into one loan. Again they said they would do it with a co-signer. They didn't give me a specific reason, but told me they could give me up to $10,000 pre-auth'd even if not used to cover my other debt, but not more.

So it looks like I'm going to have to wait. I'll take 6mo and finish paying off my student loan and VISA and maybe things will be better with the economy then.

I will be back!

Jon

rotarygreg

that sux man. sorry to hear that.

greg