You may even want to try the short bus^ :banghead:

Since I knew what I was getting into and since day 1 Nov 28th,2009 till now nothing has change I f**king LOVE my car!!! (of course I would love a 6spd.......soon)

At 113,500 miles and still going strong, loving every mile!

OOOooo... u go man!

Hey guys.
You should live in the UK with £6.00 a gallon @ 16 mpg!!! That is $9.60 per gallon and set to rise. But I still love my rex its the best car I have owned Except for the mpg.....good job its used part time hobby!!! btw Vel red 231 05 plate

and i wonder if hydrogen rx8 is outz yetz

I am glad to hear your honest reply. I used to be happy with my car, considering the price I paid for it brand new. If I had to do it over again I would have never bought the RX8. It is not a good car for a woman to since it is totally unreliable. I have had the lemon's of all lemons. It has drained my bank account and have put thousands of dollars to repair. You buy a new car to have as little issues as possible. But from day one it has had problems. Yeah, it's a fun car to have when it's running. I have six months left to pay it off and then I am getting rid of it. It's in the shop again and I am picking it up tomorrow. Anyone want to buy a 2005 Mazda?

/\ Yep, and some people should never ever buy an enthusiasts car.

Perhaps since your have had your 2005 for over 6 years and this is your First Post..where have you been all of a sudden.??

IF you had bothered to come here sooner (lets wait for your excuses) we may have been able to help you and save you ALL that money that drained form your bank account.

RESEARCH HELPS....an Rx-8 a Lemon....Never...Owners are the Lemons..

everything about it from the scratch on my hood to my foggy tail lights makes my car unique and i love EVERYTHING about it lmao. I'm very satisfied, the 8 keeps me busy and I really like the space in it i can fit a chaperone britix carseat in it for my son (for those of you who have kids) he loves the sound of my MS CAI and my rough idle rocks him to sleep

i love the way how i always visit the bank to empty money for the rx-8 mistress-like maintainence

Don't relate to the maintenance issues with this car. With 56,000 miles on the odometer the only money spent so far has been for tires, wipers, one air filter, and oil changes. Will change plugs soon. Not because of any issues, just because it's due. Love this car.

When i first bought the car in 2007, the only thing i really have to spend is at oil changing so far. No major issues so far and i hope it will last long because i like this car, it's unique and you don't see a lot of these on the road, especially here in Vegas, only a few of us.

thatz great to hear! Unique it is.... kinda surprising to know u had few problems seeing as Vegas can get pretty hot at times!

I'm at almost 51k highway miles on my '07 and the only money I've put into it so far is tint, oil changes, better quality brake pads, wipers, detailing, routine maintenance etc- minor things that you expect to pay no matter what kind of vehicle you drive. Don't buy a specialty vehicle if you don't want to put $4.oo/gal Premium fuel in the tank or pay $55.00 for an oil change every 3k miles... it comes with owning a beautiful, high performance vehicle. You can't treat it like a Kia and expect it to give anything back to you!

Cheers if you love your car and don't mind taking good care of it to have it run beautifully in return! :beer05:

Well said...:)

Really, ALL the RX-8 asks for is some extra engine oil now and then, that is all.

It is NOT the cars fault IF any owner neglects to do ONE simple task, that is check OIL regularly, and a service every now and then.

I just love these "new" owners of used RX-8's who buy one, think they are great and when something goes wrong the car it is a Lemon....I would blame the previous owner.

Especially, those who Think a Clutch upgrade is good, NO there is nothing wrong with OEM Clutch (it is the driver), in many cases these upgrades are causing clutch bracket failure issues...IMO there is still no mod that actually improves the performance of the RX-8..not one...yeah, there are some that make more NOISE.

Do some research before you buy and more importantly LEARN HOW TO DRIVE AND CARE FOR A CAR.

Well saidz....

Hi ASH8, gwilliams6 here. I had a MS CAI put on my 40th anniversary RX8 after talking with friends at Pettit Racing a year ago (they have campaigned and won racing titles with Modified RX7s and RX8s over many years, here in the USA) . Their testing showed from 3hp-10hp increase with the MS CAI, depending on climate and use. Having driven many thousands of miles before having the MS CAI and many thousands of miles after having the MS CAI installed, I can say, here in the temperate Middle-Atlantic States , my cars performance has improved, albeit not amazingly, but still noticeably quicker off the line, smoother acceleration, noticeable better breathing. And added bonus, where I was averaging about 18.5-19.5 mpg on the highway before (5-10 mph above posted speed limits), I now get around 20.2- 21.5 mpg on the highway after installing the MS CAI. My Pettit Racing friends tell me the engine is now running more efficiently. Yes it makes more noise, but I also get a performance boost.

You can dispute this, but it is a fact and reality for me and my RX. In my three RX7s and my RX8 I have always also used Pettit Racing's Protek-R premix, about 4 oz. per tankfull of gas. They developed it to super lubricate and increase longevity of their rotary engines' seals. You use more or less depending on how hard you push your engine. Link is www.pettitracing.com PN#0100-4

Just purchased my 2006 RX8 yesterday. 80 miles later or about half a tank later I am overall highly satisifed with my purchase.

Scheduled maintenance, checked oil level every month and changed oil every 3 months. And the most important thing is checked the coolant level and for leaks (you need it on those hot days). ;)

My 2008 40th Anniversary , bought new June, 2009, has 23,000 mileage and has been 100% trouble free. From what I believe, a rotary engine does very poorly when it sits idle for months at a time, as in winter...drys out the apex seals. Mine runs once or twice a week, 125 miles each time or more, and has been amazingly perfect. It has all options except the NAV.
With changing family size, I need to put her up for sale this summer..Booo :(

Changing family size? 1st off congrats, 2nd of all read my thread about driving it with kiddos! Especially if it's a secondary vehicle... a lot of good points in there from a lot of perspectives :-) https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-discussion-3/rx-8-kids-213787/

Updated:

this year - highly dissatisfied:

on my 2004:
* brakes needed to be done, battery needed to be replaced, spark plugs needed to be replaced... no complaints there as that was expected maintenance
* ECU went out @ 44k; lost my car for a week but Mazda gave me a rental (some sort of boat... Ford Mustang convertible) and covered it under the emissions warranty
* coil packs went out; annoying because my Miata has 95k on it and I've never had to replace coils on it, so I know Mazda can properly engineer an ignition system...
* automatic transmission AND torque converter failed @ 46k. no coverage from Mazda. dealership wanted $4k to fix, which might be reasonable except there was only a one-year warranty. I was able to get a new LevelTen torque converter for less than a Mazda rebuild; also snagged a 19k mile used transmission to get the cost down to just over $2k, but still, the car was never abused, the renesis has low amounts of torque, the transmission should not fail at 46k miles
* motor went out @ 48k; motor was replaced under warranty; mazda paid for the tow, but I was still without my daily driver car for a month waiting for a replacement motor as there were three other RX-8s with blown motors ahead of mine at the dealership
* starter went out @ 48.5k; left me stranded in a snow storm. Mazda dealership wanted $500 for a new starter but I was able to get one on eBay with a longer warranty (seriously, Mazda?) for a fraction of that price. meanwhile my girl's Honda Del Sol has like 180k+ on the original starter.
* battery I had replaced 11 months ago failed; replaced that at Walmart for free

it's pretty low class of some of you to blame owners for problems with their vehicles. I've taken good care mechanically of my rx-8 - routine fluid checks, oil changes every 2k using regular 5w30 and never dropping the oil level low, etc. and even if I didn't, there's no way all of the above should have failed. but, yes, for some reason all of the other vehicles I own have had no major problems despite them all having at least twice the miles on them...

Highly satisfied with mine. I've had her since July '10 and have done 3k trouble free since then. Bought her with 45k on odometer. I love every inch of my car inside and out. I couldn't care less about MPG because cars like the 8 you buy with your heart not with your head lol. I found her in the color and trim that I wanted and have never looked back. Only thing I wiish for is being able to drive her more often since I'm a truck driver and generally only home the weekends. When I was shopping I was looking at a 350z as well but when I look at her I know I made the right choice.

/\ YEP mate, the RX-8 is a GREAT Choice, preaching to the converted....Long time ago...my Mazda "life" goes back to 1969, my fathers Mazda 1500, since then we/I have had, Mazda 1300 (3), 323 RWD, 323 FWD (2), Capella 1600, RX-3 10A Coupe (Sunrise Red), RX-5, RX-7, RX-8, 929 Coupe 1800cc, 929 Sedan HBSHE, 929 V6 Sedan, 626 FWD, B2000 Pick Up, Mazda 2 (DY), and a few that I have missed out, plus the endless company Mazda's cars for work/personal use I had.

So you see, I am a Mazda man..

Without ANY doubt the RX-8 is the best all round Mazda Rotary EVER made. It's dynamics, handling, performance, braking, style and practicality is second to none...then there is the Value for North American driving public.

Sure the old school Mazda's were 'great' in their era, BUT, there is NO comparison to today's cars and today's Mazda's, frankly the old ones are bloody awful...well almost.

I had a friend who owned a 350Z, I had a good look and drive of his, yes, more torque, BUT, the finish, the quality was/is second rate to the RX-8.

The interior of the Z is bloody awful and cheap looking/feeling plastics, thank goodness the 370Z is better. The ride is harsh, noisy and has NO CLASS.

So much so when my friend drove my RX-8, he could not unload his 350Z fast enough!, he also did the Holden Monaro V8 (Pontiac GTO), again he went for the 8, and still owns one.,,

He is not a Forum geek like me, his wife thinks we are losers!...;)

Anyway..keep on trucking! :)

Great resume ASH8 !!

I go back to 1973 with Mazdas. I have owned an RX3, two RX4s (sedan and coupe), first Generation RX7 (first month out,first red one in NY State), this was later turned into a Racing Beat prepared turbo rotary race car for SCCA class; then a second generation RX7 Turbo II (kept stock); and a third generation FD RX7 twin turbo (some mods); a Mazda 323 (for the wife); a Mazda Protege GT (some mods); now a Mazdaspeed 3 GT (MS CAI); and a 40th Anniversary RX8 (MS CAI).

I haven't kept complete totals, but well over a million miles in Mazdas, on the road and on the track without a single engine failure, never left stranded, reliable and rugged. Sure the newer ones are far more sophisticated and I agree with ASH8 that the RX8 is the best all around Mazda Rotary EVER. But they were all fun, and fun to drive and race, on the track and on the road.

I understand the plight of those who have had early RX8 troubles, but I bought my 40th anniversary edition in 2008 and have NOT had any problems at all. I take proper care of it and it has been bullet proof. Just came back this week from a 1600 mile trip in the RX8 and it was sheer pleasure, and I got decent mileage for an RX8, getting a high of 21 mpg (doing 5-10mph over speed limit, much of the way, although I admit I got less mpg when I raced and smoked some road warriors along the way) . Got to have my fun !

I will keep this limited edition RX8, and add the next generation rotary whenever it comes out, gas, or hybrid.

Mazda RX8 drives web link
Many of you may have seen this Mazda site ,put up in 2008. If you haven't ,check it out. It allows you to drive a RX8 or Miata on a few different roads. You can change the vehicle, camera angle, drive location, and music. It has some rocking music, but I also like the road noise selection where you can hear the engine revving. One of my favorite RX8 drives here is the Decker Canyon, front angle camera view, with road noise.

http://www.mazdausa.com/MusaWeb/disp...meter=theDrive

Enjoy