Looking to Buy
 

Hey Everyone,

Looking at buying an RX-8 for my wife as she loves the look of the car. Just wondering what your opinion of the car. We are looking for an2006 or newer and yes it must be automatic, I know I hate having to get a sporty car with an automatic transmission.

Thanks for the help

I just bought an 05 with 43k miles. Found it using autotrader.com. I found a big difference in prices in some cases and just kept expanding the radius of my search until I found one that was clean, with low miles 150 miles away at a good price. Another tool that I used was one I found on the nada website called VINCheck. Many of the ads on autotrader include the VIN number. For about $25 you can check as many VINs as you want for 60 days. It really helped because we saw several that were advertised from used car dealers at really good prices but the VINcheck showed body and/or frame damage in the past on almost every "too good to be true" deal I found. This service is similar to CARFAX if you've ever heard of that. It's cheaper than CARFAX and claims to be better. I think you can specify automatic transmission in your search on autotrader. You can definitely narrow down the make, model, year, and price range, as well as the distance away from your zip code.

The model I got is called a Touring, even though it came up as base-shinka on one of the sites I entered the VIN on. Now that I've learned a little on this site, this car is clearly not a shinka. Mine has a mooroof, Bose stereo CD changer, 18" wheels, and power everything except for the seats. These guys here can help you better than me but I think there is also a Grand Touring that comes with even more goodies and there's also the base model, the sport, and I believe I saw some GT's when I was searching. I could be wrong about that as I was considering Mitsubishi Eclipses as well and I could be getting confused with that.

Well, since we're all here we love the car. I don't know how much experience your wife has with cars but if neither of you know much it may be better to get a reciprocating engine.

What Emart might be trying to tell you is that be aware that the rotary engine in the RX8 is different and requires a little different care. I wasn't aware of this until I had already committed to buying and came to this site. I wouldn't have changed my mind though. The things I've picked up on so far is that the rotary is designed to burn oil so you need to check it and add some more often than you would a regular engine, as often as every other fillup even. It also has a tendency for carbon buildup so some here recommend, on the automatic, you put it into manual mode and rev the engine up to redline often to blow out the carbon to keep the motor in shape. The other tidbit I picked up here is that some do what is called premixing. Where they actually take 2-stroke oil and add it to the gas at fillup to help keep the seals lubricated. As far as I can tell, the manufacturer doesn't tell you to do that but some seem to recommend it.

Also, just so you are aware, the warranties on the engine components on all RX-8's were just extended to 8 years/100,000 miles last year, retroactively.

Thanks for the help and some great advice there. Just want an overall view of the car on anything that would be something to look out for. Still very hard to find one in automatic for a good price. But will check out VINcheck as it sounds like a great idea.

As the previous posters have stated, the RX-8 is a high maintenance car compared to your average car. If you and your wife are looking for a low maintenance sports car then I would not advise you make this purchase. Additional to the high maintenance the RX-8 also has horrid gas mileage. If any of the following factors is not a concern, then I would say this car is right for you. As an added note, if speed is a deciding factor, then I would advise your wife to learn manual... It's not terribly difficult, and you can probably pick up a manual transmission car from a local rental car company to learn on for just under 75-200 dollars for a few days. The reason I say this is because the automatic and manual versions of the RX-8 are two COMPLETELY different cars. Yes they share the same body in terms of looks. But speed and handling wise, they differ greatly, and if this is not a factor that you are considering then ignore the last part of my post. But other than that, I believe most of the concerns and major problems of the RX-8 have been listed. Whatever you choose to do after this, good luck!

I can has hyperbole?

well the 8 is not really high maintenance. Just needs to have the oil checked every other fill up. Use 93octane fuel and should b driven at higher rpm's to keep the carbon cleared out of ti...other than that it's a great car

ya 8 is totally not high maintenance for the type of car it is. more maintenance then a civic or corolla though..

Well finally did it. We found an 06 RX8 Red with Black and Red interior. Get it on Tuesday next week and cant wait.

Pics or it didn't happen!!!

oh and welcome to the cult....ahhhh addiction

What are the stats/specs/price of car?

Well actually dont know too much about the car. Had a friend who has a used car lot go to the Mazda Canada auctions, so when he called to tell me they had it, all he said was it had everything on the wish list. He then left it with Mazda Canada to do an inspection on the car which he has done before and said its well worth the money to do so.

Congratulations! You'll love it. Find a twisty road.

I side with everyone who said this car is not high maintenance. There are really only three maintenance things different from other cars:

1. You need to check the oil every few gas fill-ups, and be prepared to add a little.

2. Never turn it off cold.

3. Red-line it at least once a day. I don't know if that's really necessary, but it sure is fun and the engine is made to do that.

The only downside of owning an RX-8 is that you need to come here and argue endlessly on the merits of different types and weights of oil. :)

Ken

^and another bad thing is that you will constantly going for little joy rides which turn out to be like 150 miles for no reason just to drive!!! haha...maybe that's not a bad thing....