Trading my RX-8 for a MazdaSpeed6
 

Ok - I'm sure this has been covered in depth before, but I haven't been on here in a LONG time and want to get some input.

In Canada, the MazdaSpeed6 is a little cheaper than the RX-8 and we all know the RX-8 is a gas-pig. My wife and I are looking to trim some life excesses to concentrate on paying down some loans, so I am considering walking into a Mazda dealership and ditching the lease on my RX-8 and getting a 6 instead. I am 18 months into a 48 month lease and I am WAY under on my mileage. (I'm allowed 20K/yr and I'm now at only 14), so I figure I have some leverage there.

I know they both take premium gas (>91), but will the gas savings be substantial enough so that I can justify this trade with my wife (plus, considering the fact that GW will soon invade another oil-rich country, further sky-rocketing gas prices). I know the 6 is turbocharged, but do I still come out on top?

no

if you seriously want to save money on gas get a 4 cyl. a turbocharged 6 cyl will get about the same mileage.

sorry to hear you might be leaving us...

i suggest getting some insurance quotes and review all other aspects of total-cost-of-ownership before jumping ship. the ms6 just may well be classified as a full-blown sports car and cost more to insure. (for example, my 8's classified as a 4-door coupe and costs nearly the same to insure as a 4-door sedan.)

best of luck...

There's a few problems with what you want to do.

1) The MS6 isn't going to save you much. You're swapping one 30k car for another 30k car..

2) You can run regular gas (87) in the RX-8. Just play it by ear, some cars love it, others have issues.

I think I saw the same EPA mileage numbers on the MS 6 sticker as the 8, City 18, Hwy24 or 25. So, I don't think you are going to gain much in fuel economy. What we did was go out and buy the base Mazda 3 for my wife it gets 25 city, 34 Highway. Now the 8 is not a daily driver but a weekend warrior machine.

No, the MS6 is not the answer to your gas-worries... The mileage you will get will not be worth it...

huh?? 6cyl???
 

turbo 6 cyl?? Where did you hear it was a 6 cyl? it has a 2.3L turbo 4 cyl. ( http://www.mazdausa.com/MusaWeb/disp...ehicleCode=MS6 )

My wife traded in her quad-cab truck to get her Speed6. We have the best of both worlds, my 8 and her speed6. It really is fast, I mean.. fast.

as far as mpg, it gets a little better then the 8, like maybe 3-4 miles per gal more but if you are looking for a 4 door sedan with room for a family but a car that hauls ass then get the speed6.

don't get it as a replacement because of the mpg rating. it isn't much better.

good luck with whatever you decide.

uhm...the mazdaspeed6 gets 19 and 24 i believe

Not sure if that was about my statement of the 3-4 mpg more or not but if it was, I was speaking of the reality I have experienced and not what the sticker on the new car says.

on average my 8 has been 18-20 while my wife's Speed6 has been 20-23 (in town)

:)

:spam: nah bro, that was my reaction to his question on gas savings

But since youre experiencing better, and I don't have the car, youd be wiser than I.

My car has been doing pretty good. 19.47, 23.5. The 19.47 included tons of me stalling it repeatedly and warming it up extra long plus a lot of town driving and that one day getting stuck in rush hour traffic that was about 45 minutes of stop and go (mostly totally stopped) to get five miles. The 23.5 was in about 2/3 highway driving (at mainly 75 MPH or more) and also included several stretches of stop and go and/or less than 15 MPH (mostly 8 MPH) driving including trying to go over the I-5 bridge (25 minutes to drive about 3 miles) and then lovely 20 MPH traffic passing through Tacoma and then some more wonderful 15 MPH or less and barely moving traffic in Seattle. :)

My current tank has around 190 on it and is almost to the half tank mark. This includes about 75% highway and the rest city driving, stopping every block kind.

I think my car is getting pretty good compared to what others report with their car. I should probably do better after I learn to drive my car better with the clutch and everything.

Actually... If I was driving the Speed6 I'm sure I would get about the same mpg as I get in my 8. My wife drives a little more conservative then I do. I have a lead foot. :evil_laug


I'm sure if we were to trade cars (it would never happen, I love my 8 too much) then I'm sure the mpg would swap too.

If you really want a fast/sporty car with reasonable gas mileage, you might want to look at the new Civic Si. I looked when I got my 8, and it is a nice car, but kind of boring compared to the 8 and I wanted an RWD sports car. I am prety sure you will get real world mileage close to 20/30 with a Civic Si, not bad considering they are plenty peppy.

wow, great mileage bunny...

i'm sure if i drove my 8 more conservatively, i'd get better mileage. but, every time i get behind it i want to go woot. and, since that's why i bought the car in the first place, i figure i can drive like a grandpa when i am one... LOL but, until then... :cool:

mazda six have three version, a 4 cyc, a V6 and a turbo charged 4 cyc.
getting a 4 cyc is saving money, but a down grade.
getting a V6 is the same, so what's the point.
getting a MS6 is an upgrade, but it is not a fuel saver. it will eat more gas then your RX8 if you do some minor upgrade.

Mileage on an RX-8 is gamble. With my city driving I get 14-15 mpg, and highway 21. Many people here have reported varying results with fuel economy. Since it is 4cly although it's turbo'd. I'm sure you'll get slightly better miles per tank than most of us here, being 2-4 mpg better.

When I was looking at the 8, I was also looking at the MS6. I shopped around for insurance and from an insurance stand-point. The cars are extremely similar. I was quoted a difference of 40 dollars, more, per term for the RX-8. The key things they look in cars is engine displacement, doors, air bags, and theft deterrent devices. I'm not sure if things are different in Canada though...

the civic hybrid touts even better mileage (up to 50mpg i think), per a very favorable AAA magazine review.

Getting out of a lease is always a bitch. You can rarely justify it

I've been pretty easy on it so far and shifting as close as possible to the recommended shifting points in the manual and I see it does work for better mileage. :)

Dude, you'll get hosed if you try to get out of that lease right now. Your 8 has depreciated and someone will have to eat the difference and it won't be the dealer. There's no way that savings in gas will make up for the reaming you'll take from the dealer.

Actually, you'll do a lot worse when you learn how to drive your 8... then you'll beat the sh*t out of it.

Everyone please, I am so very sorry for my comment on page one, I had no idea what engine the Ms6 or any other mazda product has,(save of course for the 8) cuz I don't like 'em, I only know that mazdaspeed means turbocharged, forgive me.

forgiven, you are. ;)

\

All too true. If you try and get out of this lease for a MS6, you're gonna lose out big time, and you will be reversing your attempt to cut costs. If you wanna spend more, then by all means do it. :)

Absolutely. I read most of the way down this thread until someone pointed out the REAL problem with your plan... That you'll likely not be able to get out of the lease without being absolutely KILLED on the money end. The leases are deliberately designed this way, even if you are going back to the same brand and/or dealer for a different and/or more expensive auto.

I was even further into the lease than you on an old car of mine and they wouldn't let me out... 28mos into a 36mo lease on a Ford Focus, I wanted to get into a Mustang GT and tried this scheme. Talked to FoMoCo credit and everything, pointing out I wanted to spend more money with them for a longer period of time and all they had to do was let me out of my lease for a purchase of a newer car... And they said "go ahead", but the terms of buying out the lease were outrageous. My attempts at being reasonable, pointing out that I wanted to give up my lease on a $15k car to get a $25k+ car, were fruitless.

Well, in the end they got their monthly payments when I just kept the car for those last 8mos... And they got a car with over a thousand $$$ worth of body damage that it didn't have when I tried to get out of the lease 8mos prior (up to $2k allowed by the Red Carpet Lease program), and I didn't go back and get another Ford. I guess I showed THEM, huh? :)

The lease part is the killer. As for the gas I figured if I got 3mpg better over the life of the car 10 years I would be saving in the range of $9000. That was assuming gas prices a little over $3, they will go high and so will this number. Work it out on a spreadsheet, if your looking to keep the car long term it might make sense.

Well, the gas mileage savings depend on how much you drive. Let's assume you drive 12k miles per year.

With the 8 we'll say you average 18 mpg. So in 1 year you'll buy 667 gallons of gas. That's $2000 if gas costs $3 a gallon.

With the MS6, let's say you average 24mpg. You'll buy 509 gallons of gas and spend $1527.

So for a year of gas savings, you've saved $472, or about 1 car payment.

And the more you drive, the more you save. I'm doing about 20k miles per year, so my yearly savings would be around $830.

You might want to check your spreadsheet, or you're using numbers I simply can't comprehend.

I quickly ran the numbers for a car driven 20,000mi/yr, with a mileage difference of 3mpg (19 vs. 22), and gas a $3.50/gal... And came up with a difference of only $5000 over ten years. Even if you assume $5/gal, the difference is just over $7000. Of course, if gasoline keeps rising in price like it is, $5/gal is not that far away. *yeccch* If that happens, and I have to drive more than I currently do, it's time to get a Civic.

In any case, I find it highly doubtful that anyone would keep a car like an RX-8 or a MS6 for ten years... or at least not keep it for ten years rolling up 20k miles/yr.

Good luck averaging 24mpg with the MS6. I had a 6S (MT) and averaged 22.0mpg over 26k miles, with about 40% of those miles being pure highway at 70-ish mph. I used 22mpg in my calculations above using my own experience... Figuring that the MS6 would, at BEST, equal the mileage of the 6cyl Madza6.

I plan on keeping my 8 for the rest of my life, but I'm not driving 20k a year on it, that's for sure.