Its getting close to decision time for me on the car front. The RX8 is my top choice right now. I've been reading the forums religiously for weeks now. All the talk of flooding has me a bit worried though. My drive to work is very short. We're talking like 4-5 minutes unless there is a ton of traffic. My concern is is this drive so short flooding could become a major issue for me? Ohio obviously gets very cold in the winter so the car may not heat up very quickly. What do you guys think? Anyone else in a similar situation?

 

Don't worry about it.

 

From the descriptions of the problem, you should be ok, especially since those 5 minutes will be spent actually driving -- engine doing a lot more work than when just idling so it warms up quicker. I wouldn't expect flooding to be a problem. But, a constant diet of short trips like this isn't good for any car because it doesn't get a chance to boil off condensation that accumulates in the engine, and spends most of its time running rich. This is considered "severe service" and calls for shorter oil drain intervals. Again, not unique to rotary engines.

 

My commute is only a little longer than yours and I've had no problems.

 

Buckeye - I'm here in Columbus also and I haven't had any problems with the short commutes. I just make sure that I run the car the recommended 5 mins. even if I'm just pulling the car out of the garage to get the lawnmower out.

With our colder weather just make sure you give the car the opportunity to warm up a bit before your trac home. When you initially turn the car on after a day at the office or first thing in the morning it will run around 2k rpm and slowly come down from there until it idles at 800-1k rpm. I've driven off at lunch time at 1,100k rpm and everything seemed to be fine.

Where do you plan on purchasing your 8? Byers or Ricardt? I purchased at Byers and Chris is the Sales Mgr. there. He is a good guy and he'll will work with you because they have plenty of 8's on the lot.

Good luck, you will be extremely happy with your choice of the RX-8. I drove a 350Z, G35 Coupe, S2000, & 330 Ci and the 8 won me over hands down. What color are you planning to go with?

 

I've never had a flooding problem with mine.... My drives are either really short (just a couple miles) or kinda long (about 50 miles) depending... Anyhow, on the short trips (when I drive the .9 mile to Lowes for more crap the Ole Battle Axe needs for house) I don't do anything special for warmup or shutdown... I get in, drive, and turn the little fugger off. When I come out, it always starts right up and gets me home. The only thing I don't do is start it to move it out of the garage and turn it off immediately. I guess I don't want to tempt fate or something (again, I've never flooded it so I'm just going by what I've read). For those times, I usually drive it around a block or two, or three, or it turns into a 50 mile drive, or a trip to the liquor store...

 

I've been talking to both Byers and Bob Boyd in Lancaster. I can't stand Ricart and would only use them if the other dealers in town wouldn't deal and that definately is not the case. Bottom line is I will be able to get a GT RX8 at invoice. I'll likely buy from Byers if I do this b/c its much closer (assuming Boy Boyd isn't willing to beat them on price). I'm still deciding between red and titanium for the color.

 

you shouldnt have problems. However, if I stop for coffee in the morning (2 blocks away) I have to drive a few extra blocks in order to warm up before stopping. But, hey I enjoy driving this car so its no big deal.

 

Red and Titanium would have been my next two choices. I don't think that you can go wrong with either one. Byers gave me the first 8 below MSRP (so they say), $500 below, back in October. It was toward the end of the month and they wanted to get a Yellow one on the road. Best of luck and let us know when you get it.

 

I have never had any problems with short trips either but I always run it till it's warm or I rev it to 3,500 rpms for 10 seconds before I shut it off. I think people are under the impression that I am showing off but hey who cares I drive an RX-8 and they don't .

 

My commute will be five miles also, when I let my beater go...

The RX-8 warms up very fast. I think the small size means it heats quicker. My advice: Don't sweat the flooding issue.

 

Try revving to 4K then shutting off the ignition. So far it's working for me.... although I always make sure the car runs for at least 5 minutes.

 

Byers gave me the first 8 below MSRP (so they say), $500 below, back in October.
_________________________

It's a different market down here probably, but I just bought one for $2500 below MSRP. Titanium/MT/Grand Touring/Black & Chaparral/that's about it. If that's the going rate in Columbus, I hope things "loosen up" there soon.

 

Thursday night the 11th was in the mid-30's here in Los Angeles. I had my car idling for about 30 seconds when I realized I had to go back into my place to do something, so I did a no-no. Yes, I shut the car off almost immediately.

I went back out after about 20 minutes and my car started without a hiccup!!!! No stuttering, no nothing. Is this surprising to any of you guys?

 

So you call your wife "Ole Battle Axe" and your RX8 "the little fugger"?

 

I drive less than 2miles to work, and I often stop at 711 which is about a .5 mile from my house.

Never flooded.

Even after sitting underneath snow for the past few days, starting with a weak battery

 

Word.

 

ok i give my car 2 minutes almost exactly, before i go anywere and i have never had a problem no matter how short a drive i make.

 

Folks, just for a reality check I was watching some show on the History Channel about innovations in car design over the years. One thing that was a big selling feature was the ability to start the car while sitting in the driver's seat as opposed to getting out in the mud and handcranking it.

Since it's 2003 I would think that RX8 owners should not have to go through this elaborate warm up and cool down checklist that resembles pre-flight for a 767 aircraft.

During the 12 years I owned an '87 RX7 the thing was almost never in the shop. I just did the standard maintenance expected on any car and drove the thing. The diehard fans on this site seem to be able to rationalize everything up to and including replacing the engine as the "character" of the car.

The car magazines can heap all the praise they want on this car but when it comes to people voting with their dollars, I think this current model will be discussed the same way that people talk about that funky/cool dot com company they used to work for.

 

Or, OR... you could realize that this is the internet and small problems get blown up to epic proportions.


But nah, I'm sure that this car will just be a forgotten Mazda bynote that we'll all laugh about in a couple years....

 

I don't know about the Boeing 767, but a Cessna 150 checklist is significantly longer than anything being asked of RX8 owners. I always thought many of the procedures were good ideas for cars too. Especially like the leaning out the engine until it dies part. To bad we don't have such a feature - sure would solve the flooding issue.

 

There's one more aspect you should consider, and it does not only pertain to rotaries: Condensation inside the muffler and cat converter. An engine not driven to full operating temp never evaporates or burns off moisture in the exhaust system, caused by repeated heating and cooling down. It's been known to rust out mufflers very often.