The Moment of Truth
 

After many weeks of reviewing this forum, I am listing several of the member identified concerns with the first year 8, as follows:

Engine problems (coolant leaks, mayonnaise on dip stick, oil in air filter), transmission problems, A/C problems, dash button issues (cracked buttons), center arm rest breaks, rattles and squeaks, poor gas mileage, multiple ECU flash issues, defective cats, wind noise, excessive cabin heat from rotary engine, shifter sticking issues, exhaust smoot and stains, uncertain long term reliability, and potential misrepresentations in the owners manual from MAZDA, to name a few of the identified owner concerns.

New cars always have issues, but the number discussed in this forum seems excessive. There is no doubt from the overwhelming number of posts that the car is fun to drive, but there are other cars available with similar fun factor, minus the problems. I am not suggesting every car suffers from these maladies.

I mean no offense, and I am not trying to make anyone mad with this thread. I am just trying to benefit from your experiences.

My question is: If you knew before you bought your 8 what you know now, would you still have purchased?

Thanks alot for your comments.

Yes I would have. The problems with the 8 are really glorified on this site. I have one of the first ones and the problems have been small. People make things a problem, the flashes... aren't an issue. The MPGs way over blown too, don't buy this car for economy buy it for the beauty ;)

I knew about it and I still bought a 8 today. Besides, a lot of those problems are from early ones and few have problems I heard.

If I knew what I know now, I'd still buy it.

I haven't had any problems so far.

(Isn't this a repost?)

Yes... all those things are minor, and every car doesn't have all the issues. Plus some of them have been fixed. It is a first year vechicle, it's going to have some issues. I've had my car since July of '03 and I still love the car. I'll probably buy another in the future. For the Price and what you get, it's really a hard car to beat. Yes, I'd still buy after all the little issues.

I think the issues are overblown - I have 2800 miles with no problems. The bottons are fine, the AC works, I am impressed with the build quality of the car - it is most likely in the top 2 of the finest cars I have owned ( my top car was my original 1971 GT Torino - 400 horses of pure power - could pass anything but a gas station :))

hahahahha

I REALLY loved that car - I think I put close to 140 K miles on that baby. Got arount 11 mpg in town and 14 on the road. I have good memories of blowing the doors off of my best bud's new Datson 240Z. (...ahh youth recaptured for a moment)

Re: The Moment of Truth
 

Unequivocaly Yes

Athough most cars will experience problems in thier first year. I have had my 8 for over six months with ZERO problems, no floods, cracked switches and my a/c is as cold as ice cubes!

Unlike my last $40,000 POS VW Passat W8 which was in the shop 14 times, 32 job orders and was out of service 60 days all in the 13 months that I owned it! This has been a most fulfilling automobile. It was everything I had anticipated and themsome!

If I had to do it all over again the ONLY issue that may have changed my mind about the 8 is that in 2006 Mazda may release a new RX7 with a modified Renesis, 100 more HP than the 8, two seats and convertible. OH, and it 's very own set of first year problems :)

13000 miles, delivered July 29th 2003, and ONE engine light reset (for exessive full throttle operation, I swear) in the first three months. Otherwise, NO ISSUES at all. Couldn't be happier.

I have had all the flashes, am religious about oil changes and maintenance, and have NO issues to deal with - and I live in Houston, where the roads are less than stellar and it's HOT, and the A/C hasn't let me down yet (it also went through last summer, too).

I have found working on the car has been a joy (compared to most others I have owned), it seems put together well (better than my last two Miata's).

I guess I am saying I would ABSOLUTELY do it again, knowing what I know now - that I own a GREAT car!

I would do it again of course. I can't really see counting gas milage or sooty exhaust as problems because they are inherent to the rotary. And flashes as a problem, please, I still have not had my car reflashed., and "mayo" on dipstick was proved to be not a problem by Mazda.

Oh and the number of problems in all forums seem excessive.

I knew about the problems people were having weeks before I picked mine up. 12,000 miles later, I'm still looking for those same problems but they haven't shown up yet. I'm beginning to think this forum is a sham.

Yes, I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

By the way, I guarantee that you'd find a list as long or longer for ANY first year car. For ANY CAR for that matter.

Basically, you got on a forum for a specific car and wrote down every problem any owner brought up and put it on your list. That's hardly representative of the majority of RX-8's.

Mine has been trouble-free after 16000 miles. My biggest complaint so far is the A/C isn't as cold as my old Accord's. But it's certainly livable, so big whoop.

I purchased mine 3 weeks ago after reading this site and am very happy, the few problems seem to be solved. i thought the 8 had less problems than the Z . to me the few 8 problems where fixable . i have seen no threads on engine problems which concerns me more.

Funny...you're putting single problems from various owners and putting them all together as if EVERY member has every one of those problems.

I for one have had NONE of what you're referring to. Sorry.

And some of those you're referring to aren't even issues- the "mayonnaise" on the dipstick isn't anything bad, and has happened to many of us. Doesn't hurt the car. The excessive heat in the cabin was fixed by a recall, and you're not going to find any 8 out there now that has that problem- not that it was even a big issue to begin with. You seem to be picking a lot of minor issues that a FEW have had, on SEPERATE vehicles. And loco is right- just try and find a car with LESS issues than your list has. It's not going to happen. Just read any car forum out there.

Me- almost 16k miles and no problems, other than an AC that's not running quite as cool as I'd like.

I don't own a RX-8 yet but - per my experience, RX-8's list of problems is no longer than other 1st year model car.

I know. My last 2 cars were 1st year models. A 2000 Ford Out-of-Focus and a 2002 Altima. Ford was much worse than the Altima, but I had a few issues with it too.

Bought my velocity red in December... 4000 miles+ now. Took it in for the two recalls. But have experienced no other problems. Would I buy it again? You bet I would.

Re: The Moment of Truth
 

Your right cars have issues.
As far as the excessive response to these issues, well thats what we do on these forums. We post every kind of issue we have with our car so we know how to trouble shot the problems we encounter. As for your question; Yes I still would have purchased. After all its a RX-8...

Oh yea if you guys think the amount of problems we have are bad.
At least we dont have a fourm section called : "The Limon"!!!
IE: eclipseforums.org.
LOL!!! Iam not joking, they have a thread there call that.

Thanks
 

Thanks alot for all the responses. Not one person has had second thoughts about their decision to purchase, evev when I jogged memories over some of the issues. That says a tremendous amount, especially for those senior members who had the first generation cars. This was what I was looking for.

I am in the process of selling my current ride, rather than getting screwed on trade-in. I then plan on getting a black 6 speed, and having leather added after market. Love the leather, not a big fan of the sunroof. :)

I had a sunroof on my 3G Eclipsd, But with heat like 115 in Las Vegas I dont miss it.

Jeffjett,
I cannot believe you. Starting this thread like that.




You forgot to mention the flooding issue:p



Anyway, glad to hear you decided to go for the RX-8. After 11 months & 17,000 miles, if mine went away today, I would buy another one tomorrow, with absolutley no reservations.

to me, the more i read about the 8's issues in this forum the more i wanted to buy it! :p....and the more i learned about the car!!http://forums.probetalk.com/images/s...con_ohyeah.gif
That's why i love this forum!
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.
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5000km and no problems at all!