Test Drove RX8 and bad smell under hood...Is this ok?
 

Noticed a bad smell under the hood after i test drove it...i got the RPM's up to about 6000...I test drove an 04 and a 05 with similar miles...is this normal? They both had the similar issues.

Is this a major red flag?

mine does make a coolant smell when shes very hot.

Wow
I would say it very well could be....
That being said I've never heard of anyone complaining about this before...

Perhaps its an Engine Cleaner the Dealer is using on the car and once it gets hot .... it starts burning off the residue <shrug>

Mmmmmm yeah .... I guess .. I wonder if the OP got the car that hot however?

Besides coolant smell is very recognizable ... the sweet sickly smell.

Please define "bad smell"
Coolant?
Fuel?
Burning rubber?
Burning clutch?

Burnt chicken?

OP obviously didn't think they were going to get a response so quickly.....

Ummm I'm guessing Burnt Toast .... does anyone else smell burnt toast?

It's under the hood...like a burning oil smell...it wasnt one car it was both..im not up to par and my burning smells so i dont know for sure what it was but im gonna say burning oil

Could just be something as simple as spilled oil during the oil change. It could be something much worse though. Is it a smell that just kind of bothers you, or does it burn your nostrils?

I'd recommend taking someone with you that knows cars, or take one of the cars in question to an independent mechanic to get it checked out.

Where in Florida?

But the bottom line is..........if you ran it very hard at all, it could have a slight odor upon shutoff.

If it is BOTH cars then I am assuming you are either smelling something normal or the dealer is doing something to make them smell funny..... Obviously it could be a problem, but the odds of both cars having the same issue that causes the same smell being at the same dealer at the same time just don't seem high to me...... But I would definitely take someone who knows a good bit about cars with you to check them out. Even if there was not a smell it still wouldn't be a bad idea to take someone who knows a good bit to go look at them...

If it seems like a slightly bizarre burnt sweet smell then they could have overfilled the coolant and had some spill out while you were driving.

But I think it would be slightly unusual for the car to not smell like anything if you lift the hood up right after driving it hard

^..............Your last statement says it all!

Thats it!!! :Freak_ani

could be also the brake pads. That happened to me when my pads got really bad i started to get that smell a few minutes after driving since the pads where getting really hot and maybe making contact with the rotor. give a good check to those pads and rotors

I would guess it could be anything from engine cleaner, to engine degreaser, coolant, oil, and many other things. The real question is was anything else apparently wrong with the car? Is there a carfax report with any negative findings?

Have someone from the local area rx8s come with yuo and see if the cars are acting normal, and everything checks out on them.

I asked where he was at just in case I was close by.

If he was, I'd drive mine over and he could see if it smells any different.
My guess is and will remain..............he's just smelling normal engine fumes/smell for this car.

i live about 10 minutes from west palm