Test drove a 2011 RX-8 R3 - some questions
 

Recently test drove a brand new 2011 RX-8 R3 (it only had 50 miles on the odometer) and I was wondering if some owners could confirm or dismiss some of the issues I found with a seemingly brand new car.

Exterior:
The paint along the bottom of the doors seemed to be more "bumpy" than the rest of the door, like it was spray painted on? I'm not talking about the side-skirts as they were normal, which is why I saw this abnormality. Is this a coating to prevent rock chips or a bad paint job?

Interior:
The lining of the pillar along the windshield was coming off but could be pushed back in quite easily. Is this something that will keep popping up down the road?

Air vents were quite loose when you rotate them around, it seemed like they were going to pop out of the hole they were in.

The Mazda symbol on the steering wheel where the horn is freely rotated in its spot and also rattled quite a bit.

The shift knob was crooked and could be easily rotated while driving.

The clutch was very soft and wouldn't come back very quickly. I think there was air in the line but that wouldn't affect the rebound of the clutch so much.


If anyone could comment on any of these it would be helpful. I'm not sure if this is how RX-8's are or if the one I drove was a dud.

Thanks!

Is this a new one sitting on the dealer lot? Or a used one with low miles?

It was on the dealer lot. It also had a decent sized door ding on the rear fender so it seems like it's seen a lot despite being so young...

The bumpy paint is same as mine when I bought mine new.

The lining on the top of the windshield is poorly done but is also same as mine when new. I never understood why Mazda didn't tuck the edge in.

The air vents are slightly fishy.

They Mazda symbol on the steering wheel... Series 2 have different steering wheels, so I don't know about that, but it sounds fishy.

The shift knob can be tightened by turning clockwise. I don't know what you mean by crooked though.

Your description of the clutch sounds wrong.

The bumpy paint is likely a rock chip guard. FD Rx7s have them all along the bottom. A great way to tell if an FD has been repainted is to check if the guard is still there.

I haven't noticed any interior lining coming off on my 2009 (Series II). All of the other interior things you noted sound bad to me, as I've not noticed any of them on my car. I've always had an annoying buzz from the driver's side rear deck speaker area, though. That drives me nuts sometimes.

hate to separate it out so...

I think if it was just thickened paint, the paint wouldn't be bumpy and they would have smoothed it out so it was unnoticable.

some kind of antirust thing under there. idk.

Correct. It is a special textured coating to resist road debris. Many cars have this.

Sounds like it was assembled on a friday near quitin' time...

You might want to think about a used '09 or '10 R3...you''ll save a ton of money. Pretty low mileage '09s can be found in the low 20s.

Yeah that's exactly what I intend on doing but I wanted to see how the fit and finish of a brand new one was so I would know if there were something wrong with the used one I got.

As a side note I plan on either adding a turbo, s/c, or dropping in a 13b-RE cosmo engine =)

then you probably should get an S1, cuz there hasnt been many add-on kits for S2 engines yet.:bootyshak

I like the S2 better =)

The shop I've talked to has done turbo and s/c kits to the S2 already so I know it's possible.

Really now?

You better ask to talk to their clients to see how happy they were with the results before you spend money on the car thinking you're going to get what you think you're going to get.

Go see the car in person, too.

BC.

Pics and specs or it didn't happen.

Speed1 / KDR, SNTP.

hahahaha