raspyrx7

holy cow 75 pages in 1wk.... glad I haven't bought one yet... I was a lil skeptical about the lifetime of the motors. Now I can see the light, hell its half what the FD's were lasting... thats paaathetic. I pray they find a solution cause I still really like the 8's and will always have a soft spot for the rotary.

Tirminyl

You should learn how to read. It's fundamental.

What car are you looking at instead?

Gomez

Spin9k

Ah..isn't this what's it's all about (my browser says 38 pages) / they did find a solution. The fix is in place. They've worked on it since the problem appeared and now the answer is potentially at hand.

And there's nothing 'wrong' with the motors, the ECU wasn''t metering the oil correctly, no one has shown a defect in the rotary itself as far as I know. FD needed rebuilds for other reasons. In fact a friend who owns and rebuilds them says knowing how to rebuild one is a pre-requisite FOR owning one!

Since you haven't bought one yet, it's you we should feel sorry for... you've missed out on 3 yrs the joy of RX-8 ownership... yes joy.... not heartache - in the vast majority of cars. Point of fact, right now, this very point in time, you likely could get the best deal you could ever want - why not take advantage of this?

You know you want to...

missinmahseven

They screwed up the ecu programming, not the engine. Unfortunately, in some conditions, that screwed up ECU will kill the engine.

At least our cars don't catch fire in a garage burning down the house, like some FDs did.

I'll bet money these lumps will get 2x the life of the 13B-REW. Talk about trying to do too much with too little.. poor thing needed two huffers to break 200hp.

But of course, you heared the 8 breaks easy on the net, so it's true, right? You read it here too, which makes it double-true, right?

I strongly dislike net parrots. *SQWAAAK*POLLY READ AN ARTICLE!*SQWAAAK!*BAD CAR!*SWAAAAAAK*POLLY WANT A CAMRY!*SQWAAAK*NICE SAFE AND BORING*SQWAAAK*

cornrowdpantha

^^^^^lmao

Design1stCode2nd

I put almost 20k miles per year on my cars and I’ll have the 8 for a minimum of 5 years. So expect to see one with over 100k miles before long.

When you buy a completely new design, engine, platform, everything you need to expect some issues to arise in the first 1-3 years of production. Anyone who bought a 04 expecting the reliability of a Toyota Camry or Honda Accord after its platform has been out for 4 years is a moron.

If I wanted to be sure to get a trouble-free RX8 I would have waited on a 08 model. After 5 years of production 95% of all bugs are worked out in any design. There is only so much you can do in testing a new design before it comes out to the public.

If Mazda does a Mazdaspeed version of the 8 expect to again have some issues. The only benefit there is it would be covered under warranty as opposed to going aftermarket.

Raptor2k

QFT



/thread

Dinhx8

im not some gloomy whiner, but i dont think there's anything wrong with expecting good reliability, nor do i think those who do are 'morons'. Especially when the rotor is touted as 'having only 3 moving parts' etc, a unique design different from the rest etc.

dont get me wrong, i'm a true rotory fan and love my car, but lets not call those who expect no issues morons.

Design1stCode2nd

I’m going to have to stand by my statement there although perhaps naive is a better word choice then moron. Should 04 owners expect a quality car? Absolutely, should they expect a trouble free car as reliable as manufactures who are known for reliability that use platforms and engines that are tried and true? No. New models, even if they are based on existing platforms and engines still wind up with problems. My late model year 03 Nissan Murano used existing platform and engine technology and many owners still ran into issues. The RX8 for 04 was a completely new platform with a completely new engine design. So far most of the issues have appeared to be relatively minor (brake squeal, PCM flashes and so forth). Engine replacement is by no means minor but of it’s the MOP that is the root cause you can see how a minor error in programming can cause issues.

Dinhx8

i think your point is to not freak out too much over what is happening- to which I completely agree-. But to say things like "you have to expect problems", seems kind of well, naive as well on the other spectrum.

As to your statements to the early cycle of cars....i've owned many first year cars of generations, without problems. It does depend on your definition of 'problem' though. But Based on your 5th year of prodcution theory you noted in your original post (5 years before all kinks worked out), then , no car really is realiable now is it? Most gens of cars only last 5 to 6 years max. I'd have to disagree with that.

Tirminyl

I have heard people say "Yeah, my Acura is very reliable. I've only had to have the transmission replaced and a couple of other things done, but it's been problem free and dependable". No car is perfect and every car will have a problem. Whether it be big or small.

Though, this is the cry baby of all boards when it comes to issues or recalls with their car.

msrecant

In the humble opinion of one moron, I believe the problems with the RX-8 exceeds that which one expects from even a Version 1.0 car. Like most people on this board, I love the RX-8 but I am dissatisfied with Mazda product quality and support. They should have (and could have) done better.

Michael

GOD I love Town North (Richardson).

I just called and spoke with Penny about getting my 8 in early and scheduling an appointment so that I could have someone come with me to drive me back to SMU after dropping the car off. She knew about the recall, and told me that they'd probably start doing tests of the RX-8's around the 16th of September, and start scheduling appointments en masse on certain days. She also gave me her direct line and told me to call her Tuesday or Wednesday for more information. While explaining all of this to me, she pulled up my VIN through my given name, and told me to call MazdaUSA to change over the information associated with the VIN to me, as I'm a second owner, and wasn't showing up as the person associated with the VIN on the "Mazda Computer." If you're not the original owner, I'd highly recommend calling Mazda (1-800-222-5500) with your VIN and make sure that you show up as the owner of the vehicle.

On to my talk with Mazda:
Waited on the line for about 15 minutes. Helpful rep when it was my turn. After explaining that I needed to change my info due to the recall, I was pleasantly surprised to find that he was aware and briefed on the issue. After changing the info, he told me that I'd be getting my letter within the next 30 days. I inquired as to whether or not all of the letters would be mailed on the 31st, and if 30 days was just a "window" to tell clients so that they wouldn't be impatient, but just like the dealership scheduling, these letters will be metered as well. I asked if they'd be mailed by VIN or what, and he actually let me know that the "Of course the West and Gulf regions (Eerie - see subsection titles) will mail first."

Just thought I'd share some positive and encouraging concrete information for ya'll. I'll let you know what Penny tells me on Tuesday.

Tirminyl

Great, now post some stats of other version 1's that the 8 exceeds in problems.

map

A lot of people seem to be eager to get into thier dealers as quick as possible, but I'd like to throw throw this out there. If your car isn't having problems you would probably be better off letting the mechanics do a couple recalls first to build up some experience before they start on your car. It might not pay to be the first in line.

Design1stCode2nd

I guess I just don't expect a car to be trouble free. I expect to have issues with a vehicle even if the technology used in it has been out a while. Most new models these days are based on either other platforms or at least other mechanicals. When you start from scratch unless you keep it in for testing forever you are going to miss something. My last two cars were first model years and I have had a variety of small issues. I expected this and figure it is the price I was willing to pay for cutting edge design.

I am in no way saying 04 owners were not smart in buying 04's. All I am saying is if you buy a new design you are rolling the dice with what you get and as long as that is OK with you then have fun and enjoy.

By the time a car is moving to the next design is a prefect time to buy the old design if you are looking at reliability. I would think the 3rd year after a new model (in this case 06) would be a good choice to buy since the majority of bugs should have been worked out). That is what I did and only time will tell if I have been wise or foolish.

My car is only a few weeks old and as the "Marbles in a Can" issue. I'll have the dealer look at it when I go in for the recall. Its a bit annoying that my brand new car has this issue but no big deal. The only issue is that the is no TSB or fix out for it yet so I may have to live with it for a while.

CarAndDriver

I did the specified diagnostic test drive in the Service PDF and no problems whatsoever. The idle did not drop below 700RPM during any of the two one-minute intervals nor was there any power loss problem during two 8500RPM accelerations after the end of the 20 minute drive.

My driving conditions were overcast with morning temperature around 56F according to the car.

zoom44

two weeks old marbles in a can = non issue

CarAndDriver

I agree. I'm not going to be the first in line. I want to read about some experiences and findings on here first.

Spin9k

'Marbles in the can' sound is as old as the rotary. It was there in my RX-2 - IMHO it's a characteristic (yes different than a piston sound, but not 'wrong' or 'bad'), not a flaw or something terrible.

Nubo

I owned a Miata for 14 years/150,000 miles, and it was practically perfect. Unless you count a leaky wheel caliper at year 14 as a strike, everything else was normal maintenance or wear items.

That fantastic owner experience was one of the reasons I bit on the rotary and the RX-8. And, so far, the only real issue I've had with the car was the anemic AC, which the dealer couldn't fix, but I found the reprogramming fix right here on this overly-obsessive, crybaby board! :D

CarAndDriver

I second calling the Mazda US CS phone number to confirm the name and address affiliated with your car's VIN if you are not the original owner.

I am the second owner of a 2005 RX-8 and sent the warranty transfer card in the manual after I bought the car around 8/3/06. I called today, 8/29, and it had not been updated yet. Where did the card go??? I think after nearly two weeks, it should have been a simple process of inputting the information. LAME!

So I had the nice CS rep input my name, address, and phone into the system to match my VIN.

Fortunately, the letters are going out on the 8/31 so I hopefully got in by the deadline.

CarAndDriver

These overly-obsessive crybabies helped fix your A/C when the dealer was useless!

SethSpeed

Just tell her you are cleaning the carbon out of the chamber and that hi-speed driving is a form of required maintenance.