Possible new purchase, a couple questions
 

Hello,

I've been browsing the forums here for a few days, looking to find some answers to a couple questions I've got. There's a 2004 Mazda RX-8 for sale near where I live, with approx. 55,000 miles on it and a 6-speed transmission for $13,900. I love everything about the car, especially the unique rotary engine, but after driving it I had a few concerns.

First was the smell that I noticed shortly after starting the car, almost a metallic burning smell. After using the search feature on the forums here, I found that a strange smell was common in the RX-8, but all the cars in question seemed to have 20K miles or less. Would this be a possible indication that the engine was replaced at one time? Aside from the burning smell, there was nothing negative to be reported about the car, it handled amazingly and was probably the most fun I've had driving any car :)

I have a question about the transmission as well. Do the six-speed trannys generally have a lot of feedback through the shifter? I noticed quite a bit of vibration in it while I was driving. Nothing startling, but it was enough for me to take notice of it.

Lastly, is there any way to determine what trim level the car is? Probably a dumb question, but it makes a difference when determining the book value.

Thanks in advance for your time!

the smell I couldn't say personally i don't get anysmell when starting I would go back and double check to try to find the source....The tranny shifter well it vibrates but if it is very bad then there was a recall or a tsb at one point for the motor mounts....my mounts are fine and it still vibrates some but that is just something I got used to....trim level it all depends....does it have gps? leather seats, power seats, heated seats, heated mirrors? by knowing that would help you figure it out....

The shifter didn't have a whole lot of vibration, but I wasn't used to feeling that since I never experienced any real feedback in any of the shifters in other manual-equipped cars I've driven. And yes, it has leather/power seats, heated seats, heated mirrors, but I don't believe it has the navigation system. Thanks for your response!

My advice would be to go to a dealer and test drive a new one to compare this one to. I don't have any smell like you're describing and I wouldn't say I have shifter vibration while driving. It could be a worn motor mount which will not be covered under warranty. Again driving a new one will give you an idea of what normal is like.

the shifter doesn't so much vibrate, but it does move around normally, the engine and tranny aren't bolted to the frame of the car and they move when the engine torques or shifts a bit on the mounts. And your shifter goes straight into the transmission too, so you're going to feel it move a bit.

Thanks for the responses, guys! Unfortunately, the closest Mazda dealership is 75 miles away from here, so I'd have to set aside some extra time to do that, which I don't have much of, and that's assuming that they have any new RX-8's in stock. I live in North Dakota, and sports cars are a somewhat rare commodity here as far as dealerships go. Daisuke, I think you've pretty well described what I experienced, though if I get serious about purchasing the car, I'm going to see if the dealer would allow me to take it to a mechanic or even to the Mazda dealership to have it checked out just so I know there's not some impending doom just waiting for the next buyer. I'm also going to see if I can get the service history for the car and, of course, a carfax report.

Mine has a similar smell, I have a transmission leak and the fluid is dripping from the rear of the trans onto my midpipe which is causing a burning smell anytime I do not have recirc on.

Mine vibrates A LOT. But Im at 71K and Im pretty sure I need motor mounts because the whole car vibrates at idle as well as the shifter.

Drive a new one and compare, I wouldnt buy it if it has a smell.

I used to get a horrid burning smell when they swapped out my tranny, but it's gone now.

As for the shifter, mine vibrates and moves and stuff depending on the road conditions but not overly so. I rather like it :)

See if you can find time to go to a dealership though, or find another RX8

leather seats = gt

Alright, I will definitely make time to check out the dealership and see what I can find out, hopefully they'll have some RX-8's there I can compare to. If things start to sound sketchy, yeah I'll probably pass and find a different one...but damn, aside from the smell after it started up, this car is niiice. I'm jealous of all of you.

Anyhow, thanks for the responses! It's great being able to get advice from people that own the car and experience it on a day-to-day basis.

Where are you located btw?

^prepare yourself for an addiction like no other

There you go :)

I say have the guy get a compression check on it, and have a mechanic look for that smell...I smell nothing like that at all while driving.

Ah sorry, early morning still :p:

Mine stinks, damn trans leak. Burning oil + Raw Gas from the midpipe = YUCK.

So you start to vomit after getting high? Sounds awesome to me! :lol2:

Well, I usually get high first then giggle about this stinky smell and make jokes. Its a lot of fun.

The burning smell is unusual. Check to see if the engine or tranny were replaced. Those would be the only two reasons I could think of for a "metalic" smell. If either one of those were recently replaced, then this finding is typical and I wouldn't worry too much. As for the shifter, I've owned several manual transmission cars and this is the only one that I've felt the kind of movement I experience. This is my 2nd RX-8 and both had some movement. They were kind of a swaying sensation of the shifter while it is in gear. This appears completely normal in my experience and also something you shouldn't worry about. This is totally unique to the RX-8, but just chalk up another tally in our unique column. It makes the car that much more interesting!

Thanks again guys for all the input! I haven't yet gotten all the information I'd like to have about the car, hope to get all that taken care of this weekend. Kind of relieved to hear that the shifter is just a quirk of the car, and that the smell is likely caused by a replaced engine or tranny. Not that I'm relieved that there's a chance it needed one or the other replaced, but it's nice to have the facts. Anyway, if I end up with more questions, you bet I'll be back! ;)

^you better be...i hate owners that dont do research on the car, then complain... met some guy on myspace, KNOWS nothing about his car, says he gotta CHIP for car HAHAHAHHA!!!! damn i felt sorry for him, i tried to guide him in the right way, to become part of the 8club, and to do research on his car...sadly he didnt take my advice, now hes drivin around arizona with what i believe is an EBAY chip...so sad

EBAY chips are awesome, yo. Helps the VTEC kick in!

:lol:

bOjangles, A replacement engine shouldn't be too concerning. In case you didn't notice in your research, Mazda is volunatarily replacing a lot of the rotary engines due to multiple issues. You should actually have more peace of mind if the engine was replaced than if you're still running the original motor. I bought my 2004 used and worry that I will encounter some kind of catastrophic failure as a result of the issues Mazda has since addressed. Mazda also extended the powertrain warranty to 10 year, 100,000 miles. A replaced engine should ensure a strong, healthy car for the long run. A replaced tranny may be a different story. That's not typical. Let us know what happens.

lmao...I love you guys already.

I did notice that Mazda has been addressing the engine problems, and I know about the extended warranty...more or less I'm just not used to the idea of a new engine being an entirely good thing :Eyecrazy: I will play 21 questions with the dealer this weekend and see what I can find out. I'm not sure if this is worth mentioning or not, I forgot to include it in my original post, but the car appeared to have an aftermarket K&N air filter/air box. Not sure what that might be an indication of. Any of you guys have experience with those?

K&N does not make any "airbox"

what you're seeing is the stock airbox & K&N drop in filter (most likely)

For the engine, you should ask someone who knows the car to go ride it or test drive it with you. dealership might hate it, but these suck ass economy days, they're not going to say a word.