flatso

wow you guys are really expanding, that theater is not even that old I remember when it was Rt 1 flea market not too long ago.

Being their are long waits do you know any other dealer in the area who have a good service centers? Sansone? Maxon? Crystal?

RX8Z

I wouldnt really know, and I'll be fair, I wont say come to us, were the best but I would say, we have a great history of customer service

Try asking some of the members in the NE forum and see where they go. I know my guys here, are great wit the 8's being they own it themselves too and we have a mechanice here who is a specialist from Japan who worked at mazda with Rotary's.

So I trust him with my life per say.. Let me know if theres anything I can assist you with, I would definitely love to have your business, but if you have better luck elsewhere , thats great too ! Its all about your ride man, take care of it and you will be fine.

Later

Z

Marcus Desaul

I had the most annoying clicking sound coming from my rear window for the first month I owned the car. I went out of town for a week in January so I scheduled it to be fixed during that time. When I took the car in, even though the clicking sound was pretty obvious, I drove the Tech around anyway so that I received verbal confirmation from him on it being there.

Upon returning, the car was fixed, the clicking sound gone. I was very happy with this except that they had removed the headliner in the process and when they reinstalled it they didn't bother cleaning off all their greasy finger marks. I took some 409 to it and it's gone.

Just this morning I started to notice two more noises. One came from near the driverside vent. I'm hoping this isn't the same issue the rest of you discussed. I'd prefer it just go away. heh. The second was a knocking around the passenger seat but I think this was just the seat belt clip slapping against the side of the seat. Will know more on the drive home.

And...might I say...I've never thought a commute to work could be too short...until owning this car!

RX8Z

You know, i love the Rx8 but this issue with the rattles really dissapoints me with Mazda and I geuss its the reason why Mazda almost went out of business

Drive a Honda and you'll never have this rattle noises.. If they can do it, surely Mazda can do the same. If only they spent more time on insulating and making sure parts arent loose, issues like thse wouldnt hinder the real greatness of the Rx8

Hopefully Mazda will acknowledge these wide spread issue and offer some kind of nationwide fix on this, cuz after driving this morning and a rattle here and there, it just aint pleasing lets just say..

Z

Japan8

Off topic, but you know the funniest thing... Honda can hardly sell a damn car in Japan... their "home market." 94% of their revenue is the US... so why do Americans buy them? I don't know. I have had mixed reviews with a Prelude in the US and an Ascot in Japan. The Prelude was utter ****. The Ascot was bulletproof... I hardly did a thing to that car, but it kept running. My friend who loves Hondas spends an insane amount of money doing "regular" maintenance and calls the car reliable.... yeah because he's replaced all the major wear and tear parts.

But enough bitching about Honda cars (idiots who can't make a FR car except for the s2k (ick!)...

bon911

Those who hear rattles from the passanger seat or somewhere around there, put your manual or some sort of book in the pocket on the back of passanger seat and see if that reduces any noise.
The top part of the packet was tapping agaist the seat and making nasty noise... the seat itself shakes too much to start with. If you have flat tire fix tool in the trunk make sure nothing inside makes noise also. I still have some noises that I need to figure out where they are coming from, but those two were the main source.

BillK

Oh, if only what you said was true it would make the world a much better place.:D

In reality, all cars at all price points rattle, as I have recently found out. Perhaps a Honda Accord doesn't have too many rattles, but guess what, the S2000 does (often associated with the top, but not always.) Heck, I just drove a brand new Acura TL that had a variety of trim rattles - more than I would have expected.

BMWs have rattles from various places. So do Audis, Volkswagens, Porsches, and so on.

Some are better than others; for some reason despite the sea of cheap plastic in GM SUVs I've yet to hear a rattle in a Suburban, but a friend sold his Tahoe because his dealer could never find the rattle in the dash that was driving him nuts.

In short, the only solution seems to be finding a dealer who cares about finding and nailing down your rattles and finding a manufacturer that cares. Mazda seems to fit the bill on the latter (most manufacturers would not even bother looking for the steering wheel rattle mentioned above); finding a dealer that cares is much more difficult.

My dealer is very good for "real" problems, but on my current vehicle (not an RX-8), it's a little over a year old and has been back for the same stupid rattles six times with no resolution whatsoever. I now know that, unfortunately, the only way to get rid of the rattles will be to dump the car.

While I've got to figure that one out, you've got to figure out if the 8's rattles fall into the same category for you. I actually sold my last car because I couldn't take the rattles it had that my dealer couldn't fix, and unfortunately my current vehicle is even worse despite being much more expensive.

(How nuts? How about some days I drive home with the driver's door popped open because something is rattling when it's closed?)

Sorry to rant, but if I could find a truly rattle-free performance car I'd buy it in a millisecond...

ChrisW

Well, my Prelude was totally reliable, but it did rattle, as does my RX-8, unfortunately.

The only cars I have owned that didn't rattle were cheap small hatchbacks, with skinny tyres, softish suspension and so little kit there was really nothing to work loose. I think it's very hard, in a car with firm suspension and low profile tyres, to eliminate all rattles.

MikeDemo

Alright, something is really starting to **** me off and its so annoying. Ok, it started out every once and a while now it is doing it all the time. Whenever I listen to any kind of music with the tinnest bit of bass both my doors rattle when the bass hits. and its not like i'm listening to hard core rap with serious bass all the time, like it does it when i'm listening to country too. And i have the bass set on negative 3, god forbid i at least put it up to 0. I found that it only goes away if I press really hard with my knee against the door but it still does it on the passanger. I also found out that i can pull in on the door and it goes away. Reguardless this is rediculous (sp?) and it shouldn't have to be done. I was wondering if anyone else is experiencing the same problem or have experienced it and what they did to correct it. Any input in to soving this problem will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

jdaled

I seem to be getting that on my passenger door... but only when it's pretty cold out (like it has been for weeks now), and only with the strong bass notes at this point. I also found that pushin on the trim insert area (the brown part on my car) that I can silence the rattle, but I can't drive and hold the passenger door at the same time =(

Boozehound

There's another thread floating around here about rattles. The door rattle is fairly common and if I remember correctly, it's some kind of insulating foam that comes loose in the doors. The fix involves stuffing your door with more insulation (which is like dynamat from what I hear), and your dealer ought to take care of it for you.

i3man

I have the passenger door rattle and I blame it on our crappy roads here that jar the hell out of my 8 day in day out. It seems to stop if I press on the power window panel. Only thing is I don't have a passenger in the car all the time willing to keep their finger pressed on the panel :p

93rdcurrent

Or wait to see my 8 when I'm done with it...

allstate

Just to update everyone...

Today I took in my 8 for its second free maintenance service. I brought up the issue about the rattle in the driver side air vent. Bottom line...they are ordering a new vent. I will have it installed sometime next week. Now this is what service is all about. I was somewhat expecting the same old "could not duplicate" phrase that some of you have discussed. Thank you Mazda for taking care of this!

Overport

mine is newer, only 100 or so miles. i havn't experienced any rattling but once when i first got it. it was a cold night, below freezing......umm i think it was like 31 degrees, hasn't done it since though.

aussie77

I have one rattle in my 8. The silver strip that says "RX-8" beside the driver's seat when you open the door has come loose at one end. The rattle comes and goes a little depending on the temperature, but I am almost due for my oil change so I will hopefully get them to fix it when I go in for that.

TwoZooms

I have a rattle coming from the middle housing (the silver circle) in the instrument cluster. I can stop the rattle by pressing against it. It seems to be worst in cold weather. I'll ask to have it checked during my next service visit.

mshumaker

I also have an intermittent rattle in the driver's side air vent. I've been back to the dealership 3 times about it.

The last time, they pulled off the (drivers side) dash and put padded tape around, and I quote, "everthing [they] could".

While not totally eliminating it - it has made a big improvement. Only on certain roads do I hear it now. Seems to depend on vibration for me - being at the right speed at the right RPM with the right set of bumps...

I've only had the car for about 4 weeks, but I wasn't charged anything for the work - don't know if they chalked it up to "new car problem" or warranty work. The service manager did indicate that another customer was having a similar problem.

Hope this helps.

RX8Z

I can only say thats probably a matter of opinion or a direct result of poor production in japan, by japanese poeple and poor marketing

But lets face it, Japanese markets is horrible to begin with. US is the biggest auto market, and Euro is the second. In the states, Honda is a dominating force

What makes our hondas here different than hondas in japan, who knows. But truth is, models are different, emissions are different, and so is the definition of societys views and needs in a car. In japan, and asian markets, they drive cars for economical reasons. Lots of boxey vans, and vehicles that fit a basketball team.

Bottom line is, everywhere there is a different market and that is expect. What you pointed out is the what economy is all about. Did you know that Hyundai is the best selling car in India, the largest populated country in the world. A Hyundai????

Ironic but true.. thats life..

Japan8

Yep and Chryslers (Jeep) are selling well in China. Crazy world isn't it?

You are actually pretty off on JDM. People generally drive whatever suits them. Many Japanese people spend more money on cars than on their apartment/home. But there are some structural reasons why Japanese people change cars so often... mainly the system makes it uneconomical to keep a car 10 years or more... so everyone changes at 3 when times are good and now at about 5 years it seems.

What kinds of cars do they buy? Toyota and Nissan. They also buy quite a number of BMW and Benz. They love American vans and SUVs... so much more room, but so big that they are a serious pain in the a$$ if not impossible to drive down the many narrow backstreets in Japan. Are there are a large number of Japanese vans on the road? Sure... many people use their car for camping and traveling. And many people have two or three cars too. Many Subaru Legacy Wagon GT on the road here and many Toyota Crowns and Mark II. The only market where the "one box" is overwhelming is in the kei-car "light class" market. Here the one box cars like the Suzuki Wagon R are able to carry 4 adults comfortably even though it is only a 660cc kei-car. Sporty models like the Suzuki Alto Works, or the Honda Beat roadster, are not able to carry much at all...

The JDM isn't horrible. It's quite profitable. The problems of Japanese banks and politicians have little to say about what consumption in the market is like and could be. So, why can't Ford /GM/etc sell more cars here? I wouldn't buy one either... where am I going to get it fixed and how long do I have to wait for parts? I've posted a lengthy discussion about what Americans and Japanese do wrong with foreign capitalized firms in Japan... so I am not going to rehash it all now. The short of it is... Americans have no idea what they're doing and the Japanese they hire as senior management are the rejects from big Japanese companies. So what do you expect? The US home office can't impose it's "normal" way of doing things in Japan... spend a little and wait for profits to show before making a serious investment... it just won't work for consumer and especially enterprise business. To work here means from day 1 you need to hit the ground running... have full services and everything available at the highest levels of quality... and it'll cost you, but if you don't do this you will NEVER succeed... no chance, nada, zip, zilch.

Toyota seems that they can sell enough cars in all the other markets too to take a top slot as one of the world's automakers, but POS Honda can't compete on that level. Compared to Ford Motor Company, Toyota, GM and DalmierChrysler... Honda has a long way to go in worldwide sales. Read the recent review in a car mag on $35k sport sedans? Notice Honda will never win these tests... why? Because HOnda hasn't figured out that FWD is a no no in the luxury car market. For Soccer moms in Accords it's fine, but when you have to compete against BMW and Benz... it's RWD or AWD... or die.

Honda's lack of sales have little to do with production quality, marketing, etc. Well marketing as in ads, etc. Basically... to the Japanese they are a motocycle manufacturer and their cars are ok or just suck. Truth be told... they do suck. Honda is much like Toyota, but they can't afford to be... boring. Honda needs to open up and be innovative... not VTEC 9k redline engines.... but in terms of the overal car. Looks, handling, etc....make it interesting... something people can passionately love or hate. They need an identity...a personality. With these lacking, I don't see much changing for them...

starbucks

"very cold...<50F"

Doh! You make me ashamed to be an Angeleno! :P

RX8Z

Japan8, you are truly entitled to your opinion but seriously, please stop talking out of your ***. Opinions dont make up facts. Ive been to Japan, and I saw more mini vans than ever. That is primarily one of the most selling type of vehicles in all asian market, from Korea, to Hong Kong. Because of obviously limited space, alot of the cars are also compact. And you know what, Sorry I havent seen anyone drive around in a Hummer or a Navigator size SUV and it really wouldnt make sense, when its already over populated of people.

Yes correct, Toyota is the worlds largest automaker but big deal. They fleet cars in the states, quantity doesnt always equate to quality. Check your numbers and you will see that Toyota sells twice the amount of cars, but yet percentage wise Honda profits more. Why is that? Cap gemini Ernyst and Young can show you those figures. Explain why these POS Hondas hold the highest retail value after 5 years , as shown by Intellichoice ,a private indepedent sector who tested all major manufacturers, such as Nissan, Toyota, Ford, Hyundai etc..

Nissan, my god. i dont even want to touch that, for a company that almost went bankrupt how many times? If it wasnt for Renault, who knows what Nissan would be

Being said, the Japanese market is the minority of all the major markets. What is hot there, doesnt mean two ***** because it doesnt represent the market here. The Yen is weak. Forget autos, even companys like Sony dont even profit in Japan.

Obviously you must be reading the wrong figures here in the states. Because these POS hondas are selling, and selling hot here.

Accords sell more than the Camrys for the past years, prob because the Camry looks like crap. Of course, Camry was #1 when it first launch but since they change the look, it all went downhill from there. Of course thats just the public opinion.

Civics, the best selling mid sedan, rated #1 in the class. OF course, thats not opinion. Corollas look good, but how do you explain why they are always in the shop.

Pilot, rated #1 in 30k suv, beat out 4Runner, Montero, and Explorer.

S2000, is there any other convertible roadster at the price with that performance? Mr2 spyder? Does that car even exist or sell ?

CRV, outsells Rav4 its biggest competitor.

Our Hybrid outsells, the Prius.


Odessey, first in the class with fully loaded features, and again retains its #1 rank in the Minivan class, putting the Sienna in 2nd.

Acura division , which is the luxury side of Honda also has some top contenders. If Im not mistaken, back in the day .. integras were the ****. One of the best selling entry level sport coupes.

When the TL launch, it blew away everyone with its total package.

I understand you know alot of Japan, being you reside there but as I say again, Japanese market is a pea compared to the Us Market.

Dont get me wrong, I see nothing wrong in Toyota and I am sure they make great cars. I myself own a Supra, and I love it but please dont go and point fingers , and call cars POS when clearly if you were in front of me now, I can really show you a POS car and it certainly aint a Honda my friend. Hondas are certainly not the best or the worst, but here in the states, they are one of the best and most competitive cars.

I also understand that you are just a fan of the automotive business, but maybe one day when you actually work with the company, you will see the other side of it.

GM is really the worlds largest automotive company and maker, but please, we all know the cars dont sell as well .

BIMMER5&RX8

You don't have to agree with Japan8 but let's be a bit more civil in our discussions here please.

Japan8 is right on about Handas and Acuras being FWD and that cannot compete with BMW and Mercedez. Even Lexus, not known to be a performance brand, has only one FWR car (ES330). I have a BMW 530i and I love the balanced feel of it. That is one of the main reasons I bought a RX8. In general, RWD gives you the best balance. AWD is not as good and I don't need that here in California. I can always rent a AWD car for ski trips, etc. I will never buy a FWD car again.

With that said, Handas are not POS. I used to have an Accord and a Camry. I think the Accord was sportier and they were both reliable.

Japan8

Well no Honda really isn't a POS... not when you have Renault and Chrysler to take up that role. But I have had more problems with the '89 Prelude Si I owned than any other car myself, my parents, friends or anyone has owned... other than Renault. Granted my '93 Honda Ascot ran... ran and ran... and I only changed the oil in that bad boy. So it's like 50/50 for me with Honda... but the cake gets iced by the FWD issue... and so my OPINION becomes... 'Honda isn't worth my time or money. There are many other better cars that are what I want on the market.' ALTHOUGH... I have a friend who is a huge Honda fan... he has a '91 Accord... which is slowly dying now. He believes Honda is reliable. I dunno about that... considering he takes the car in for servicing every few months and spends hundreds of dollars each time. I consider reliablity to be doing next to nothing... just rarely changing the oil and stuff... but the car still runs decent to great. I've seen and heard of this with Nissan and Toyota.... not Mazda. But that is my experience....

Japan8

A business trip or a vacation to Japan mean a lot of Jack and ****. Thank you. Even living and working in Japan as an ex-pat means jack and ****. why? That is a much long discussion meant for the lounge not here.

As I just stated in another post... I can freely admit I am tough on Hondas... I've had a bad experience with them and my friend's "good" experience sounds too costly to me to be considered good. HOWEVER, I have recommended someone to check out the TSX in a different thread... so while I am biased, I'm not stupid.

Also as I stated in the other thread where we are... disagreeing. No one needs a freaking survey or sales numbers from the factory to be able to state that x type of car seems to sell quite well. it's called empirical data... try looking it up since you seem to not understand the meaning.

That being said, yes there are hummers, and a number of SUV's in Japan. Like the US? Of course not... but there are a noticable number. Sun has a limo stretched Hummer as a matter of fact. Japanese people are always talking about how much more space you get out of buying an American van over a Japanese one. There is a certain status to owning a foreign vehicle... even though getting repaired is a bitch and many are not as reliable as a Japanese one... but as they say... it has more "personality." You on your visit or whatever not seeing a hummer again consitutes as jack and ****. I wouldn't say that you see many... but they are here. There are plenty of Ferrari, Porsche, BMW and I have even seen a Panatera. As matter of fact one Ferrari 355 was owned by "kid" out in the northern countryside where I lived at one point in time.... that car was an oddity...yes.

Hondas holding their value has nothing to do with them being good cars or not and has everything to do with their popularity. Haven't you ever taken a business or account course in college? This is pretty simple stuff. If people love the car new or used... regardless if you have to spend $1,000 on maintenance each year, the car will still hold a high retail value over time.

Toyota is not the world's largest automaker... but not too far behind either. Fleet sales do count. If it puts money in your bank account... it counts. That money pays your bills and keeps you in business. period. That's called business. Honda profits more because they don't have fleet sales. Fleet sales cut into your profit per vehicle... you give that up in exchange for selling more vehicles.

And going bankrupt or almost going bankrupt means what about your products and services? Not necessarily a single thing. Nissan's problems have all been managment-related (similar to most Japanese companies). Even so... they still hold a significant part of the JDM. If Renault didn't buy them... who knows. But I don't think Renault was a good thing for them either...

Please don't talk out of YOUR ***. Japan is the world's second largest economy... even if it's accounting methods are dirty as hell... it's banking... hahahahaha, let's not go there... political leadership is a joke, business TODAY isn't much better... despite these and many more problems... they still stand as the second largest economy. Even if they cars sold to the US are mainly made in the US now... they still rank #2. Doesn't sound minor to me. There are 129 million or so people in Japan... because of the system they will buy new cars roughly every 5 years. Doesn't sound minor to me. The yen is weak?! The value of the yen is what it is because of the Japanese government's attempts at market intervention to keep the value to the yen down. You did know that right? Do check your facts first please.

Sony doesn't profit in Japan? Japanese people talk trash about Sony... I would expect that it would have an economic effect. Sony makes great tvs and computer monitors. They are great innovators. After that... they suck. But maybe that is a good business strategy... their products fall apart after about 2 years (at least all of mine, my friends, family, acquaintences, etc.). Just about everyone in Japan says that... even the people who like and buy sony. They like features, etc. on the Vaio laptop even if it breaks very easily... so they buy it and buy it again... and finally get sick of it breaking and switch to IBM... which by the way is better. Real computer people in japan would alway build themselves or buy american... why? Freely available drivers and updates. BUt this is getting off topic...

Never said that Hondas aren't selling in the US. I said they aren't selling in Japan. Toyota sells well in both places, Mitsubishi does about the same in both places and so forth. So why is Honda so different? And isn't that dangerous for them??? If I was a business manager I'd think so... I'd want to expand our base just in case anything ever happened...

That's be your opinion. I'd say they both look like ***... the Taurus as well. But that's just an opinion...

[quote]
Civics, the best selling mid sedan, rated #1 in the class. OF course, thats not opinion. Corollas look good, but how do you explain why they are always in the shop. [quote]

And both look like *** to me and are FWD so I wouldn't ever give them the time of day... You also neglect the fact that the USDM cars are built in the US rather than japan... so build quality will be different. But I will give you this...the interior quality of the carolla isn't so hot... the civic is definitely better there and that is something that Honda does do well.

Ya got me... they don't sell it JDM, I likely don't know it. I don't get US car mags here... just read online once in awhile and get the mags on business trips and when I visit my parents.

I'll give you bang for the buck with the S2k... and that's it. Styling.. ho hum. Interior... ick. Interior space... what the hell do they think... Americans are the size of 20 year old Japanese men?! I'd rather drop a little more money and buy a Z4... with more expensive service and more problems... thank you.

Wasn't the CRV out first? That does help you know. And I'd say the CRV has more mature styling than the RAV4... which helps a great deal I'm willing to bet.

So what? Again... I never said Honda doesn't sell well in the US. NO need to prove it (without providing sources for your info... but that's ok, because I DO believe you).


Integras still are the ****... if they sold the Type R in the US. I am assuming Honda stopped it because of declingin sales.... if it wasn't... bad idea. but I'd never buy one... once again... no FWD for me if I have another option.


[quote]
When the TL launch, it blew away everyone with its total package. [quote]

And the latest reviews read like Acura is at the end of the road if they don't go RWD in the near future. FWD will never be as good as RWD... and Honda's reaching the limit. more power and you have torque steer, plus weight transfer to the rear, reducing traction for the front tires. Dying CV joints under the increased load... yep... FWD sucks. I don't see the TL being picked as best by anyone now...

Having 260 million people versus 129 million has nothing to do with that at all... nope. And China and India are larger POTENTIAL markets than the US... so what? That doesn't entirely marginalize Japan. If you believe it does, go back and take some international business and politics classes.



Like I keep repeating... never said they don't sell and don't have a good hold on the US market. MY HONDAS were POS and my friend's Hondas were POS in my opinion. They all exhibited reliablity like a good 'ol GM car. Cost an arm and a leg to keep them on the road. So yes... from my experience I can say based on my experience Hondas are POS... thank you very much. AND besides... Hondas being able to sell well does not necessarily mean that they cars are high quality and reliable.

Truthfully? I could have been in the auto industry if I chose to... but I didn't. I changed career directions before I went to college. No regets... knowing what I know now... I'd rather not ever work for a dealership... I'm not into sales like that. I'd rather not work for a manufacturer... I've got a problem with selling out. So I doubt the day will ever come that I work directly in the auto industry... sorry.

You are right about GM... althought if you really think about it, do you see a number of them on the road. You've just become used to seeing them, and ignore them normally.... so I am also willing to bet that they sell a decent number of cars which gets diluted in the marketplace.