Hey guys/girls...just joined to do more research on RX-8s. I am trying to figure out if it would be a good daily driver for the summer and how many issues I may encounter. I am on a local Sport Compact board and getting a lot of good opinions but, would like to hear from the people that drive them daily. So, that being said can a Rotary be a good daily driver?

 

its my only car, and i live in socal...of course it is, just maintain good

 

I've got over 100,000 daily driven miles and still love it. No problems with a DD even in Phoenix's hot summers.

 

I wouldn't DD anything else. It makes any bad situation better, any miserable weather more pleasant, any good driving conditions great



Life is better with a smile on your face.



That being said, don't think of it as a DD beater, because it requires attention. Not 40-hr-per-week attention or anything, but you can't ignore it the way you can piston engines. Gotta constantly be listening and feeling it, so that you can pick up when the ignition starts failing, or the cat, or the starter. Gotta keep the temps down and the lubrication good.




But yeah. Life it better with a smile on your face.

 

My 8 is my DD, let's just say its not just a car in my eyes.

 

Well, I am pretty familiar with regular upkeep and just plain being **** with my cars. So, most of the stuff that people are saying about taking care of an RX-8, I already do/did with my other vehicles. I guess I am more worried about reliability, even of a well taken care of Rex. I am really new to the Rotary concept so, maybe just a tad paranoid.

 

Mine is also a DD and I actually look forward to driving to work. Getting there is another story

With regular maintenance I can't imagine it would fare any worse than a piston motor. Fewer moving parts and all that....

Like mentioned above, you just can't ignore her when she talks to you.

 

The 8 is the DD for most people here so when you see all the OMGMYCARFELLAPART threads, take it with grains of salt they need. Take care of your car and she'll take care of you.

 

Zoomy is my daily driver. He makes the daily drive a pleasure, instead of a grind.

The only negative is the "don't turn it off cold" deal. Not a frequent event - in the four years we've been together, there may have been three or four times where I took a very short drive had to drive around the block a couple of times before parking. But it's not like driving an 8 a little more is a bad thing.

Ken

 

dd here 62xxx miles....but oil needs changed ASAP!!!!

 

Yeah, this is kind of what I figured. I just wanted to make sure it was liveable day to day. Thanks again for the answers.

 

DD for me 120,000
________
AsianSun cam

 

Well, tomorrow I am going to test drive a 37k mile 05 Shinka. I don't know if the Shinka is worth it or not as there is a few 05s I could get cheaper and probably an 07-08 with cloth for about 1k more. Opinions?

 

No, it can not be a good daily driver. You will have 5 issues. Welcome to RX8 forum. Thanks for doing a search.

 

Did...didn't see what I was looking for...and I have read about half of the posts in this forum before I even registered. Thanks for asking.

 

I know what kind of issues they have had. That isn't exactly what I meant. I meant something more like, characteristics of....

 

Each of the 5 issues has 3 characteristics. If you choose to drive it daily, then it physically is driven daily. In other words, if it's driven daily, then it is daily driven. The car has no input on this. It's about what the driver chooses to do. Put another way, if you want to drive it daily, then do it. If you don't want to drive it every day, then the car is going to sit on some days, right? Hope that answers your question, noob.

I just did an advanced search for "daily driver" and changed the option to "Titles Only" and out popped a ton of threads with many relevant ones.

But don't worry that you didn't spend the time and effort to search properly, I'm going to help you some more. I would say the RX8, as a daily driver, is slightly below "excellent," "very good," and "good" in a category that I would describe as "good, with 5 issues, each having 3 characteristics." Hope that helps.

 

I'm of course biased, but it basically boils down to whether you want the Shinka BCM paint and parchment-colored Leather, in addition to the GT features.

To me it was worth it to have a more refined interior and unique coloration as well as the somewhat improved suspension.

If you don't care about any of these factors and plan to mod extensively then a less expensive model might be better for you.

 

actually having the car sitting is worse. so drive it daily!!!

 

I drive mine daily, ~180 miles a day, no issues so far (apart from the initial bad transmission from the factory), it's been ~35,000 miles.

 

^ 180 miles a day?
And I complain about 30...

 

Do you drive yours daily? Do you enjoy it? Any particular likes or regrets?

Ken

 

What would help is if you shut the F*** up. Everyone except you in this thread has been very helpful. So, shut the F up and get off my thread....another internet tough guy.

 

Thank you to everyone else that has been helpful. And to ArPunk, yes your 170 posts in 6 years really impresses me.

 

Thanks Huey...I know they didn't make a lot of them. That is why I want to at least go check it out. I have driven past it a couple times, the first time I had to look twice to catch what color it was(before I knew what Model it was).