rx-8 reliability
 

I'm considering getting a manual rx-8, but I have a few concerns. Well, let me explain my personality:
I'm the kinda of driver who likes to drive hard every single day, doesnt matter where I'm going. Keep in mind I didn't say I abuse cars, just drive hard. I like zipping through traffic. My question is, how reliable is the rx-8 and how bad does its gas mileage really get, if driven hard on a everyday basis? Seems like there are as many people complaining about the rx-8's reliablility and below 20 mpg mileage, as there are people saying the exact opposite. My assumption is that the people with the horrible mileage and reliability are the true enthusiasts who like to drive their cars like sports cars. Is this a reasonable assumption? I'm not trying to upset anybody, but I cant think of any other reason.

:rolleyes:

No. This car will break on you. Get a hummer. That seems to be the logical choice for folks that dont like the RX8. Save your self the pain of research and just go away.

Oh, and the gas mileage sucks. The hummer will be much better.

it gets bad gas mileage no matter how you drive it.

:rollingla

I drive the same way, the car is happy when you rev it up, so don't worry about it.

If below 20 mpg is an issue, look elsewhere. You should expect to see 15-18 mpg in city.

That's quite the screen name you got there.

what the hell is going on here lately? why are we getting 5 new threads like this every day????

These threads are being started by people with less than 10 posts. Likely it's the same person.

Well the reliability questions are coming from the lack of knowledge on a rotary engine and possible stories of Mazda's poor record on resolution of problems.

Gas for the poor gas mileage questions, you really need to ask where they are coming from..........

To the original poster.

Reliability: The rotary will eat up hard driving, red lining it is necessary for clean operation. The engine takes hard driving very well but needs to be kept maintained.

The gas mileage is abysmal, I get 11 to 12 in stop and go city driving and 18 to 22 mpg highway driving.

I've had my RX-8 for 18 months, ~28,000 miles. In that time I've done around 10 autocross events and 2 high-speed track events. No reliability issues here.

I get about 17-18 mpg around town. If you drive hard all the time, expect your mileage to be worse.

hey MON!! Mazda makes tough cars....if you compare it to say a VW or Mitsubishi....the quality is sky high...people say rotaries break if you rev them...and yes they will if you revv it past say......12,000RPM! but they are very very strong. engines straight from the factory are especially strong..as far as other parts go, i'd imagine they later builds 2005~2006 are better. fuel economy?....hard to get good fuel economy in any car when you mash the gas. just think...fast rotary=no fuel economy! but get one anyway, there are sooooooo good, you wont regret it

Yes... But don't you think the harder you drive it, the shorter the life of the APEX seals??

If you're even the slightest bit concerned with gas mileage,then my advice to you is not to get this car..go buy a honda or toyota

You ask specific questions, you'll get my specific responses:

Gas milage: disappointing. 15-17 is a good estimate for city driving, 21 on the highway MAYBE

Reliability?: I HEAR that the powerplant is very reliable. So far, though, I have to confess I've had a catalytic converter fail, another CEL caused by a failed sensor (don't recall which), a broken door-window motor, a failed battery (1 month old after the ignition TSB, failed to start the car the other week, had to tow to dealer), two sets of replacement brake pads due to shrieking brakes, a loose door insulation piece that causes bad rattling with bass in the car, as well as some cheap plastic that caused the center console and glove box to break during normal usage. The car has 20k miles on it.


That said, I'm glad of 2 things:
1) I'm under warranty so none of this cost me a dime.
2) I love this car so much none of this made me blink. It's fun as hell to drive.

Take the good with the bad....some negative points.....Lots of Positive...Ying/Yang...

Has anyone dared try the "Vornado" air acceleration contraption....appreciate any comments...thank...N

I thought it looked that way too.

If not, it's a sure sign the new person isn't reading *anything* before their first post because anyone who reads any threads at all would run across one of the other 19 resulting flame-fests. :nono:

Besides - this was an especially presumptuous introduction: "Hi, all of you learn about me and submit customized summaries of the past discussions to me."

Advice - Instead of 21,000 members learning about 1 member, maybe the 1 member could learn about the car we discuss here every day. The Tech posts aren't encryped or password protected. There's years worth to read. :mad:

Don't ever let anyone tell you the vornado/tornado products don't work. They do or your money back!

Also, be careful not to attach 3 or more of them in a row or the resulting air mass can rip your car apart.

No.

Bad boosting, low oil, jumping on it before it's fully warmed up, ping, THAT will eat up apex seals.

Proper hard driving won't.

Hah.

Vornado is a fan made in Kansas, in the 40's, 50's and 60's by OA Sutton, I have one of 'em, they're @#!$ incredible.

There's a new vornado with the air cone, deep-pitch screw, and airfoil case of the old ones, but now they're plastic and Maid in Chian. I have 2 of those, they work as good as the old ones.

But the old ones look cooler :D:

What you're thinking of is a Tornado, and they're pure bunk.

thanks for all the replies guys. I appreciate it, even though some of you where more interested in putting me down....get a hummer? But no matter. To those of you who gave me a real sincere answer, I thank you. You guys helped me out a lot. My concerns where based on the things I read about the car on this website, basically rumors, not fact. Don't care too much about regular maintenance and crappy mileage, but the car has to start every single time, and be ready, willing to go without feeling like I'm asking something unreasonable from it. It's a sportscar after all no? I drive a 1997 mazda protoge right now, with over 100k miles on it. I drive that thing hard every single day and it has never given me any complaints. Love that car. Not the fastest, but still fun to drive. This is one of the reasons I'm thinking of getting another mazda, the rx8.

Ah, well, that's a different sort of question.

Regarding what you read here in general - you'll see far more people posting about their problems than posting, "wow, I had another trouble-free day today". If everyone posted everything good or bad every day then you'd see a far higher percentage of satisfied and even delighted drivers.

Plus, if NoTears thinks your post or thread is worthless he'll post something about pie. Don't worry about that.

Start every time? A brand new car under warrenty? Yeah, pretty much, just like they all do. If you go to the Tech and Issues sub-forum you can read about the occasional catalytic convertor replacements, flooding (and how to prevent it) and a myriad of other issues. I'd suggest reading those threads, then asking a question by replying to them. There's far too much known about these cars to reasonably expect anyone or everyone to summarize it here.

There's old threads on reliabilty you can read if you want details, but I can at least offer than many owners on this forum are past 50,000 miles with their cars still running strong. I saw one owner claim over 73,000 miles.

and 1 claim over 100k and he still loves his car as much as the day be bought it if not more

If you look at the latest consumer reports auto issue, the reliability for the 05s is very strong. The reliability for the 04s is not so good.

I don't think it will adversely effect them for the operational life of the car, I have heard of people going strong after 200K. When Mazda raced 24 of La Moans (spelling?) they tore down the engine after the race, piston engines need a complete rebuild after this race, but the Mazda's rotary didn't need a rebuild. The star racing series runs rotaries because they can run a whole season with out a tear down, pistons engines can not do this. Apex seals fail because of pinging, lack of oil, or over boosting turbos.