Phlash

......not recommending the RX8.......due to declining reliablilty........

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17385761/

what a shame.......

playdoh43

on the bright side, mazda 6 made their list of newly recommended for 2007 with improved reliability.

wisconsinben

I no longer put much stock into what Consumer Reports says about anything. After they scared every new parent in the country a month or so ago with a report that "showed" nearly all vehicle child seats are unsafe.

After further testing it was revealed that the child seats Consumer Reports tested were subjected to the equivalent of being t-boned by a car traveling 70mph...not the 30-35mph that was stated in the report. So either Consumer Reports has a very poor understanding of speed and energy...or they flat out lied. Either way I don't trust them to tell me which vehicle is better than another.

Gambit

do they go by the, "lets listen to the loudest whiners" method?

they need some kind of curve for people that don't know how to take care of their cars

StealthTL

iTrader: (1)

Their "best" cars are always the generic non-offensive appliance-mobiles; Camry/Accord or Odyssey/Sienna.

The '8 is not an "appliance".

S

...stopped caring about their reviews in the '80s, when they noted that "...if you put the Accords' seat all the way back, you can't reach the pedals or the steering wheel."

BoosTED

iTrader: (2)

Hmmm that was an important safety problem with those older Accords.

rodrigo67

yup, imagine your going down the highway doing 70 and decide to adjust your seating position, and all of a sudden you can't reach the pedals...it could happen to anyone...

Detrich

yah, there's a window on page 2 of the article:

NOT RECOMMENDED
Cars with declining reliability:
— BMW X3
— Cadillac STS
— Dodge Magnum
— Ford Mustang (V8)
— Mazda RX-8
— Volvo S40

i guess it makes some sense... a lot of 8 owners tweaking their cars and then going to mazda with issues doesn't help our stats. i think if everyone kept their cars stock we might have higher reliability ratings. just how the cookie crumbles.

Detrich

i tend to agree.

they didn't long-term test mr. clean autodry carwash either before giving it a glowing review. and, when i contacted them about it, they blew me off and said file a complaint w/ consumer affairs gov't agency.

bastards, i tell u... no one nowadays cares about anything or anyone or takes any responsibility for anything.

jskup1

iTrader: (7)

Damn, my wife has an S40. ...but I don't give a damn about Consumer Reports.

Gambit

only if you're short

CarAndDriver

We get CR and we just got the issue. The 04 is the big black dot and 05 is average. Drop the 04's out of the equation and the RX-8 would be at least average.

Everyone knows on here that the 04's tend to have more repair and recall issues than later years.

Groundrush

Uh-oh...I have a Mr. Clean Autodry...I take it there's a problem with it?

Dookie_Rx-8

"declining reliablilty" ?? hmm maybe for the people that dont know about this forum? but my 8 been/is running stronger than ever before...

DarkBrew

I've never worried about their recommendations for cars. The only car I've ever owned that they gave high marks to was the biggest piece of crap I ever owned.
CR can blow me!

New Yorker

Uh… no.
If you're still judging CR from their reviews of twenty years ago, you're woefully out of touch. Their reviews over the last few years have been spot on, and when they review sports cars today they review them—unlike before—as how they fare as sports cars, NOT as family cars. The reliability ratings are based purely on the surveys their thousands of subscribers complete every year, so when CR says a car is "below average" in reliability they're simply reporting the experiences of their subscribers.

Here's their review of the 8…

Highs: Smooth-revving engine, handling, ride, shifter, braking.
Lows: Fuel economy.

The RX-8 is a fun-to-drive sport coupe with a practical twist: two small rear-hinged back doors. It has excellent road manners, delivering both agile handling and a very comfortable ride for a sports car. The transmission glides from gear to gear, and the engine revs with equal smoothness, although fuel economy is unimpressive.

THE DRIVING EXPERIENCE

The RX-8 provides good isolation from bumps and impacts, and the highway ride is almost sedanlike. Wind and road noise are tolerable for a sports car. Despite its softer suspension, the RX-8 feels sure-footed, agile, and lithe, even in bumpy corners. The steering is quick and communicative, and it responds quickly to changes of direction. The car was stable and balanced at its limits on both our handling course and through our avoidance maneuver. A smooth-revving 232-hp, 1.3-liter rotary engine provides lively acceleration, but the car is not as quick as some competitors, such as the Subaru Impreza WRX STi, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, or Nissan 350Z. The six-speed transmission shifts precisely. Expect only 18 mpg overall. Braking performance is excellent.

INSIDE THE CABIN

The interior of the RX-8 features high-quality materials and excellent attention to detail. Surfaces are soft and textured, with lids and covers that operate smoothly. The triangular shape of the engine's rotor is echoed throughout the interior styling. The low dash makes visibility from the low seats quite good. Controls are well-placed, and head room is sufficient for six-footers. The leather front seats are very comfortable and supportive. The rear seat is fine for kids. Adults won't find it roomy but should be comfortable enough for a short trip. Even with the rear-hinged doors, getting in and out of the low-slung RX-8 requires ducking. The major controls and displays are well-illuminated and easy to read. The digital speedometer is prominent, but an analog one would be more intuitive. Minor gripes include the similarity between the audio system's tuning and volume/power ***** and the locations of the center console's seat-heater controls, which can be accidentally activated with your arm. The RX-8 has a variety of storage spaces, pockets, and cubbies. The center console has two sturdy, recessed cup holders in front, and there are two more in the rear. While the rear seats don't fold, there is a lockable pass-through for long items.

SAFETY NOTES

Side-impact air bags and curtain-style head-protection air bags that extend to protect both front and rear passengers are standard on the RX-8 and supplement front air bags. The front safety belts are equipped with pretensioners and force limiters for reducing belt slack and forces in a crash. Sensors that detect the position of the driver's seat and if front belts are buckled help determine the level of deployment of the front air bags. Intrusion-minimizing pedals are also designed to collapse in case of a collision to help reduce leg injuries. Rear passengers also have three-point belts, but some may find the shoulder portion tugs a bit heavily on their shoulders. Integral head restraints on both the front and rear seatbacks are tall enough to adequately protect against whiplash. Driving with kids: Though front-facing seats should prove secure in the RX-8, rear-facing infant seats with wider bases may be hard to secure in the deeply contoured and narrower rear seats. Rear-facing infant seats with narrow bases will fit better. There are two tether strap anchors on the rear parcel shelf and LATCH anchors in both rear seats. Though slots in the cushion are intended to help access the LATCH anchors, they are still deeply recessed making attaching and detaching LATCH straps difficult.

RELIABILITY

We expect reliability to be worse than average.

Seems about right to me.

CarAndDriver

05 is average and not enough data for 06's cuz not enuff CR readers had them! I would assume at least average. 04's dragging the 8 down.

Detrich

i would stop using it immediately and instead wash (& dry) your car the traditional way. do a search and read the mr. clean autodry thread, or pm me and i'll fill u in. basically, it has horrific long term effects- even tho it seems to work great initially the first couple of months.

ShottsCruisers

I would bet the declining reliability was due to the engine recall this year. CR simply reports/calculates this based on subscribers annual responses. The data is credible as it is on my three Land Cruisers. Nothing is more reliable in an SUV. And yes....Mercedes and Rovers suck big time. The data results is different than their performance testing which is subjective.

longpath

iTrader: (1)

While I concur with the sentiment that has been expressed that the '04 reliability is negatively impacting the response they have gotten from their survey, I will point out that generally, people tend not to fill out reliability surveys unless they have an axe to grind or, conversely, are so overwhelmingly happy that they feel compelled to spread the word. This emotional component skews survey results.

My bigger bone of contention is with the review's assessment of the LATCH anchors. I have installed my daughter's seats in four different automobiles:

1. my 2004 RX-8
2. my wife's 2006 Subaru Imprezza 2.5
3. my mother's Subaru Outback (not sure of the year)
4. my father's Mitsubishi Galant (also not sure of the year; but it is the oldest of the four)

Of the four, my car's LATCH anchors are unquestionably the EASIEST to access. This is with three different seats, one rear facing and two front facing models, so I don't think this is simply caused by some unusual quality of the car seats I happen to have used, though I concede that it is possible.

dmp

Consumer reports is about like the UN of product reviews. Never buy or not-buy simply based on what they report.

shazy

I hate JD POWER, they are soooo overrated. But yeah, if you buy a car based on this, then you just fail. You know, most people will read that and won't even try to figure out why half those cars have reliability issues.

Hidef1080

That review was actually a good review and I'd say pretty true to what I've seen in my '06.


The problem I have is the “We expect reliability to be below average.”
Okay.... Based on what? '04 RX-8's... Camrys.... Civics.... What?


I know some people live and die by Consumer Reports but I find them and Car and Drive as well as some other mainstream publications to be somewhat bias.


Again I have to say that that review was pretty good when you read it.
But I would like to know what they base their reliability on.
I know in the pass they would base new cars on the old cars so the 04's [first year model] could be the problem.

Spin9k

Just some common sense I'd venture, as I don't often read CR, but their reliability ratings should be based on the historical universe of cars they have ratings on, so older models years are the base as that's how to get reliability ratings....you wait and see what happens over the years.

As for reliability, I'd say the RX-8 (engine excepted) is plus or minus similar to an average car, which is fairly good, but not stellar. However the engine being one of the more important systems in the car, problems there seriously taints the whole ownership experience I would venture tio say.

Rather than an afternoon dealer visit for some simple new car problem, when the RX-8's motor blows, the car is out of commision for up to several weeks, something hard to forget or forgive when filling out a relability questionaire.

refugeefrompistons

useless revival...