When I ran across this interesting article regarding the z cars' class action lawsuit I immediately wondered if us RX-8 owners should think about a similar recourse.
What would our argument be? Fuel economy! Mazda claimed 20-24 mpg but no one has seen those kind of results. Every car magazine has insisted in their long-term evaluation of the car that it isn't getting the fuel economy that Mazda qouted. The average being 15 mpg. 15 is a lot less than 20. I think it's time that us 8 owners speak out. What do you think?

below; the article that inspired action.

Z tire wear prompts lawsuit

Not content with Nissan’s tire-wear warranty extension on 2003 350Zs (AW, April 26), a Texas attorney has filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of owners of 2003 and 2004 model 350Zs, seeking damages and costs of up to $74,500 per owner. Attorney Mikal Watts called Nissan’s warranty offer “a Band-Aid fix” for a much more serious problem, according to a report in the Alice (Texas) Echo-News Journal. Nissan stands by its offer to fix front-end alignment problems that it says caused tire wear in 2003 350Zs.

 

Do a search on this site and you will find 20 gazillion threads regarding the MPG subject as well as several proposals for lawsuits and other such garbage.

The truth of the matter is the MPG rating on the RX-8 or any other car for that matter is what the EPA projects from their antiquainted testing. Mazda does nothing but post the rating on their cars.

Want to sue someone for the MPG rating? Sue the EPA. Have fun storming the castle.

 

Honestly, I am getting 19 to 20 mpg in mixed driving and on the only long trip I have done, I got 23 mpg. So, as far as I'm concerned, Mazda told the truth. Sure, I would like to get around 30 mpg, but I never expected great gas mileage. I have found that as the car has gathered miles, now at 11k, the mileage has improved and it runs better than new.

Count me out of any suit.

 

I rarely get under 20mpg , i have one full year on the car and 29000km. 20.4 mpg on my last tank and i had a few times the odo reaching 180kph. (about 30km of the 400 :-) )

 

It's really ashame what this world has come to. The Cruel, the greedy the self serving, and the oppurtunistic. If people can find any slight flaw, they will sue. WHY? For one reason, and it's not right or wrong. It's $$$$$$$. That 350z lawsuit is ridiculous, A greedy lawyer trying to make a name for himself and make money. People like that look for imperfection in a non perfect world for pure selfish reasons. . Funny how that works. No one is perfect yet you can sue if someone for not being perfect. If some lawyer tries pulling this with the rx8 and gas mileage issue, I hope Mazda fights them to bitter end, and they get nothing but humiliation. Hell Mazda should countersue whoever tried pulling that stunt. That's just so ridiculous. Sorry I had to vent. I just don't like the sue happy world we live in. I guess it will onyl get worse.

 

I tend to agree with srm858.....with time my mpg is slowly going up, and my oil consumption is slowly going down. The car is running better now than it ever has and I average 19 to 25 mpg in mixed driving. Can't say that I would go out on any limb to be a part of this suit.

Mazda has addressed the giant concerns (flooding, power loss at higher rpm, etc.) with ecu upgrades. I bet Mazda may be working on the next version of an ecu flash as we speak.

Nissan, know's they have an issue, as well as Mazda is aware of the mpg issue some folks are screaming about. Nissan has made some huge leaps in everything they do (sales, customer service, quality control, etc) in the past few years and has always addressed the issues in a fair manner. I am sure Nissan will do what it takes once again.

 

well that makes sense...75 grand to cover tire wear on a $40k car.

 

Some people want to sue over anything. After the initial break-in period and the m reflash, I'm consistently getting 20+mpg and I've seen a lot of other posts on here reporting the same. One of the other posters is right the mileage sticker on the car represents numbers from EPA mandated tests. I think the manufacturer actually does the testing but EPA dictates how the tests should be done. The mileage stickers also include a disclaimer that says individual mileage may vary based on driving habits and the situation in which the driving is done (highway, in town, etc.) or words to that effect. I'm still very satisfied with my RX8 and don't have any complaints including the mileage.

 

I dare say that the majority of the RX-8 owners gets mileage that fits somewhere within the EPA numbers. I know I do.

 

Maybe we should look at the transmission instead. We have a modified 5-Speed from the Miata, and it seems that the sixth gear is failing. This is not a true 6-Speed tranny built just for the 8, it seems that it was an after thought.

Look what "The Baller" wrote in this thread:

https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...ht=Missed+gear

"On mine 6th. gear siezed up and has on several others.
They (Mazda) were just replacing with a new transmission but now they are fixing them.....and I must say it works better than it ever did with no noise!
So if your dealer says that the throw-out bearing noise is normal he is being lazy, when they fixed my 6th. gear they fixed the other problems we all hear about."

 

how about the brake issues. Can something be done with regards to them constantly "sqeaking". Myslef , along with a few other users have been having this problem.

Mazda machined my brakes and the problem didn't go away

Mazda then changed my brakes and the problem remains .

 

About the transmission .... i've also noticed it doesn't want to go into Reverse at times .

 

I get about 18-20 MPG, I'm satisfied with that.

-Rupes

 

I am getting about 20 - 21 MPG and my car has only 1700 miles.

 

Keep in mind that the gas mileage is an EPA rating and not Mazda's rating. So if there are any issues it is the EPA and Mazda is not the entity to sue.

As they always say, the EPA rating is for comparison only and few will get exactly what it is rated at.

 

I have every intention of suing Mazda. As I was pulling away from a McDonald's drive-through, I looked down at my gas guage and accidentally spilled a cup of scalding coffee on my wife's crotch. :D :D

 

Its the first year of the car. I just expected that there were going to be some problems with the car that would need to be worked out. If we had a issue with anything it was the horsepower, but Mazda took care of that. I have had no problems with my car aside from the brakes starting to squeal at about 20000 miles. I have 25,000 on her now and she is running great.

I agree people are lawsuit crazy. Thats why we pay out the *** for insurance.

 

> I dare say that the majority of the RX-8 owners gets mileage that fits somewhere within the EPA numbers. I know I do.

Err, I think your wrong. I think all of the threads probably prove it. If was in the EPA numbers, there would not be many threads about it.

I know mine sure doesn't get 18-24. Hell, I've only hit above 18.0 once, I don't drive it that hard. But I am pretty sure its just the fact that highway driving will get good mileage, anything else will burn gas like its free.

As far as a lawsuit, no way. I think its poor on Mazda's part to not mention that the EPA numbers aren't very accurate. Of course, I doubt you will see any manufacturer mention any downsides to their products; doesn't help sales. But a lawsuit ? The fact is the cars can make 23-24, its just the average driving/city driving won't get the low end EPA estimate. Gonna lose that case in the courts.

 

Don't call me as a witness: I'm getting 23 mpg (and going up) in mixed city/highway driving with only 2000 miles on the clock.

 

My tranny went at like 7500 miles.

As for the EPA ratings, when Mazda submitted economy #'s they weren't using an off the shelf engine, this was a hand built fuel sipper. The car was also more than likely driven very gingerly as stated in the owner's manual.

I know that when we had the car re-flashed to M the miles per tank jumped from 205 to 245 on average, and I drive the **** out of this car, and that is also wit 19" rims that weigh a ton.

 

You might want to get out the window sticker that was on your car. The EPA is a number range, and an average number from that range. Everyone except for the most extreme fit right into the range the EPA numbers stated on that window sticker.

 

I'd be willing to bet they drove the car exactly as stated by the EPA rules. They don't just pull the numbers out their ***.

Almost any car off a dealer's lot will give numbers already listed by the EPA. It's not Mazda's fault the EPA methods are outdated and don't reflect real life driving.

 

Another one here getting the stated numbers. I think I've gotten as low as 14, and that was only by trying REALLY hard. If I get less than 20, it's been a really bad week.

You guys that are still complaining and pointing at threads for backup- people ALWAYS complain loudest when they're dissatisfied. You don't usually hear from those who are happy, because who runs around screaming "I'm happy! I'm happy!"? This lawsuit thing would never go anywhere.

 

Anyone trying to sue over gas milage would probably get shredded in court. I'm in the legal field and if anyone asked me to get involved, I'd tell them to find something else to occupy their time and not waste their money paying me in a losing cause. Also, I doubt that a jury of SUV owners would be very sympathetic to poor RX-8 owners crying over gas milage.

 

I have gotten between 18 and 19 on my tanks.

The owners manual also gives "suggesed" shift points. When following this, the car never gets above 3000 RPMs. Do this and the speed limit and you will get 21-24 easily. I'm not saying this because this is what any RX-8 owner does (or should do) but this argument would easily get this case thrown out.

If you want Fuel Economy get a Toyota Prius, not a 9000 RPM sports car.