Ol1i3x

Personally i think the rotory design is genius, but with the rx-7's bad reputation for reliability my friend questions it. What exactly made the reliability bad on the rx-7? like what broke exactly. My friend guarantees that the rx-8 will break down before 100K (even around 60 he says).

anyways how far have u guys gone on your 8s and any MAJOR problems?

mjcampb

None, but I only have just under 4k so far, it's a weekend car for the most part.

Vertigo-1

iTrader: (3)

Mines is a daily driver, but even including long joyriding sessions where I drive it like a madman possessed, I've only logged about 6000 miles in a year of owning the car. Haven't had any problems with mine other than hard starts and the idjit brakes acting up.

Rupes

What exactly are you asking in the poll? How many miles are on our car, or when we think it will break down?

Your friend knows very little about the rotary engine powering your car if he thinks it will only last 60k miles. The problem with the previous one was with the seals melting in the engine (for the most part) due to excess heat. The naturally aspirated engine should greatly lower the amount of heat produced, and all but eliminate this problem.

Ol1i3x

the poll obviously is asking about miles, and my personal question is any problems? (if so state your miles). lol actually the poll is kind of useless, but i want to see how many 8s have reached what miles

911SC

Has your friend ever owned a rx-anything? Our 83 was stolen with just 18000 miles, but I worked with a girl that had 180000 miles on her 79. I've seen many RX with well over 100000 miles on the engine. The twin turbo was another story. What does he drive?

PaulieWalnuts

Your friend has just shown he has zero real knowledge or direct experience with rotaries. Most of his knowledge came from "I heard from so-and-so that rotaries...". A little history:

1st gen RX-7s (FB, 79-85) and 2nd gen RX-7s (FC, 86-92) were virtually bulletproof and would run over 200,000 miles with no problem. Most of these car's limitations were that the bodies and other components (exhaust, alternator, brake calipers, etc) would wear out before the engines and become too costly to justify fixing. Properly cared for 1st/2nd gen's will run 200-300K or more.

3rd gen (FD, 93-95US) biggest problems were with the Turbos and electrical system. Turbos would need service/replacement at the 50-75K range, not the engine. The biggest problems with blowing engines were from people modding improperly (boost, etc) and in general severely abusing the car.

The Renesis in the 8 is a revised version of the 13 series that came in the 2nd and 3rd gen's. Turbos are what caused most of the issues with both gens. Since the 8 is natually aspirated I would expect 200K or more not to be a problem.

Now that you have accurate information, go school your friend.

The only major problem I have had with my 8 is not having enough time to drive it.

Paul

vectorwolf

I'm at just under 23,000 HARD-driven miles (car was a test drive mule as well). I've not had a single issue thus far. And I've gotta say, I never expect to. :D

I believe the reason for the RX-7's engine failures was heat issues. As in the cooling system not quite being up to the task of handling both of those turbos. The RX-8 is totally N/A, and has an amazingly effective cooling system (if you don't believe me, just TRY to get the heater warmed up on a sub-freezing day, lol).

LiveBlues

Nearly 10k and no problems. I've had mine just over a year now.

cgrx

none

snizzle

The rotary has 3 main moving parts, compared to the 40+ of conventional piston engines. Less moving parts = theoretically less poblems. Give him that little tidbit of info

10kRPMS

tell them:"It is a rotor thing and you would not understand"

Smoknjim

58,364 miles and not a single problem

Old Rotor

I have 23k and it has never let me down. Paulie pretty much gave you the 7&8 story. The early rotary story is Mazda took care of you. They put thousands in my 2's,4's. It's what you do to keep a good idea going. I think it's a fun to drive car and a good value. I'm looking foward to the next thing they will do to it. The Rotary is still so new in comparison!!!

PaulieWalnuts

Good point. The rotary was first put into production cars in the 60's. Piston engines were in cars in the late 1800's so they have more than an 80 year head start in refinement over rotaries.

stownz

Wow smoknjim, I believe that is the most miles I've seen for the 8. I've had mine since the its debut. Now I have 43K on it. My warranty is almost up, but I have had no problems with the engine except for a flooding. My brother had to move the car and didn't let the car warm up before turning it off during a cold winter week.

I am a little concerned about the engine issue, especially after reading about the Vegas incident where some 8's engine are being replaced due to heat issues. Hopefully it's just an issue to a select few 8's.

legokcen

That makes me happy. I want to keep mine for a very long time.

Ol1i3x

camry =p

midlifer

Man, that's some miles! What's your commute like? I had a bad one a few years ago, 210 miles round trip. Luckaly I shared the ride with someone. Nice to see an 8 wit that many miles though.

Bob

BasenjiGuy

First, try to use correct grammar and syntax so we'll know exactly what you're asking about. Then, specifically state which engines, 12A, 13B and variants, or the Renesis, that you're discussing. That way we can give you some answers.

The 12A and naturally aspirated (non-turbo) 13B engines had great reliability, often going for 200,000 miles or more before needing rebuilds. The 3rd generation RX-7, with a 247 HP twin turbocharged rotary, was a complicated vehicle and its reliability wasn't a good as the previous rotaries. Maybe that's the car and motor that your asking about....

The Renesis should be similar reliability to the 13B naturally aspirated motors. In other words, don't overheat it and change the oil when you should and the motor will last longer than the rest of the car.

rx8wannahave

Only 4.2K but I've been "issue" free...

1.3L

I have 4500 miles on my 2004 RX-8 and other than an easily correctable little rattle in the instrument cluster, I've had no problems with the car. Likewise, my 1985 RX-7 was 100% reliable and gave me no troubles.

1.3L :D

Smoknjim

Most of those miles (about 49,000) were put on in the first year I had the car. My work commute was 62 miles one way. Add to that the fact that i was living 10 miles from the nearest store and you can see how it adds up fast. I am on my third set of tires ( I don't baby it) The originals only lasted 16000 miles. I switched to Potenza RE 750's 245X40 and the first set gave me 30000 miles. I would reccomend these to anyone who is not happy with the OEM's. They are better in the rain and didn't get noisey until past 25000 miles. I rotate them with every oil change (3000 miles). I just recently moved to Florida and everything is closer here, so my miles should pile up slower now. BTW, i have been getting 20MPG over the life of the car.

Old Rotor

Glad to hear about the RE 750's. I just put on a set at 23k, and love them. I did my research and they were the best tire in my area for the money $433. You say first set, so did you get them again? How even did they wear? I will rotate these more often then the stock RE 040, that I waited till 11k to do the first time and then the noise really started. Never a balance problem just road noise transfered to the car. They wore very even, but ofcourse the rear wore faster.

Jumah

Approaching 30k miles and aside from some fit and finish issues with the build, which were all easily corrected, I have had no issues. I expect the vehicle will be going strong ling after the 150k to 200k mark.