BHR Ignition for a daily driver with no track use?!?!
 

I've spent the last hour or so searching and reading threads. I know that the BHR ignition setup is a recommended upgrade for those looking for performance and reliability. I have no question it works, and thats not where my question comes from.

Our RX8 just clicked over 72k miles. We bought it right at a year ago with 58k on it. I have all the service records on it since it was delivered to the first owner (we are the second). After reviewing the files, the plugs have been changed at the dealership ONCE at ~33k miles. I have started to notice a slightly rough idle, and our gas mileage is down from where it was at 58k miles. Around 17mpg around town when we bought it, down to about 15mpg around town now. About 1,500 of our annual miles this year were a road trip to Philly in August, the rest are just running around town, and short trips to Indy/Cincy/Nashville, etc. So I would guess around a 70/30 spilt in driving between city/highway. So there's a little history on the car, and our normal driving habits.

I'm looking at replacing coils/wires/ plugs to help with the mileage, and poor idle performance. Parts from Napa (and 3 other sources) are all right around $450-$500. The BHR ignition is $565 for everything. Roughly $100 more. In the grand scheme of things, not a ton of cash, but enough to warrant the question......

Is it worth the extra money for a simple daily driver? It appears that the stock coils have "lasted" 70k, and the plugs have lasted about ~35k on average. All of the threads I have read put the BHR setup at the top of the list of things you should address before doing any other performance mod, and some list them in reliability mods as well. I doubt this car will see anything other than new filters, and scheduled maintenance for the next several years (until it's over the 100k engine warranty anyway), so I'm unsure if it's worth the upgrade or not.

I should also note that I have a 2003 GMC Yukon sitting in the "driveway" with the Mazda with 145k miles on the stock coils. I use it to tow a LOT (15k+ miles of towing each year), and as my daily driver, while the wife daily drives the Mazda. That truck got new plugs/wires at 100k, and the stock coils are still running strong. Basically the wife is afraid of two things that prompted this post. Am I wasting money on parts for a bone stock daily driven car, and will it have ANY effect on the engines 100k mile warranty. I think I know the answers, but would rather have some backup to defend my extra spending!

So is it worth it for a daily driver, or am I wasting money on an otherwise stock car? Will it effect the 100k Mazda engine warranty?

Thanks in advance guys/girls!

yes it is worth it. the average lifespan of stock coils to be decent is maybe 25K miles. the BHR coils will outlast the car. It won't affect your warranty, and they will eventually pay for themselves via less replacement of OE coils, and/or mpg improvements over the barely adequate OE's

You say the OE's have lasted 70K.. they may still be firing, but I'll bet you cash they are barely providing enough juice to ignite. Brand NEW OE coils are barely adequate at high rpm/load conditions

(fwiw the BHR coils, gutting my cat out, and AP tuned by MM, all paid for itself in under a year in fuel consumption alone)

I agree with the above post, although the prices you got for replacing the ignition with new OE parts is mighty high. You can find them for much cheaper from some of the vendors on this site. Raceroots for example has coils, plugs, and wires as a set for $310.

If you have the money though, the BHR kit would be a good way to go, as you won't have to replace the coils again after that.

Just get them, it's something you'll never regret.

I'm going to stick my neck out a little here. BHR has, on multiple occasions here, said that this coil kit is a reliability upgrade. Many have found that performance and mileage have increased after they have installed the BHR coil kit. I was following the research that was ongoing when the LS1 & Yukon coils were being considered as a replacement for the OEM coil packs. I would consider this to be a worthy use of your money, especially since the increase in the cost in the OEM coil packs.

The BHR kit is totally worth it. My RX8 is a daily driver and I've been extremly happy with the results over the stock coils.

Itz well designed... easily replaced.... performs better... lasts longer....
and...

it's water resistant...


(somehow i think im not in the right frame of mind ;p)

it's also great with gravy.

Any kind of MPG numbers as measured by users of the BHR kit?!?!? I'd like to throw some math at it to help plead my case to the "budget committee" :D :D

I think I'm sold on the idea overall, just need to make sure it passes through the budget, and falls inline with other plans for this car and the other car in terms of planned maintenance.

Get the BHR, keep the old set just in case you need to fight for a warranty claim (stick the stock back on beforehand.) Bad coils can destroy your cat and damage your engine. One advantage of the BHR is that they with a fresh set of plugs, pretty much tell you in the event of engine problems that it's [I]not[I] a coil issue. I saw no change in mpg when switching the the BHR set, but only had 15k miles on the car at that time. I get pretty much EPA mpg, with max = 24 and min = 18. Also they're cheap insurance against flooding (make sure you have the MSP-16 reflash done at the dealer if it's not been done already).

Around 1\1.4 km\l

Just placed my order with BHR. Much thanks to Charles for answering my questions about acceptable methods of payment (long story) quickly and accurately.

I'm going to track the mileage for the next few tanks of fuel before the coils get here, and then a few tanks on the other side to see if I can make any "firm" claims on improved mileage. I'll of course report back on all the other neat, cool features, and feedback on how they "feel".

,,, :) ,,,

Hmm... my 04 6MT has 91K (Km - not miles) on it, and as far as I know the coils have never been replaced. I am too going to get the BHR kit. This post makes me want them even more ;)(

To add a different perspective to this :

The stock coils do perform well with high quality leads . I strongly believe that one of the main reasons our coils don't last long is because the shitty OEM leads cause them to overheat.

However , if you are buying new coils and good leads the bill will run you pretty close to the BHR anyway , so you may as well get the BHR .

Get BHR. After installing them everything that the engine does feels smoother, eg. idle, and acceleration.
It is worth it. Awesome reliability mod.