hmmm, how long has it been now? i think i would be getting in contact with a lawyer. you should probably give them another week, but then I'd be pissed! but i guess thats just me. have you told mazda about all of the problems that have been posted here?

 

I feel your pain man. My car has been at the dealer for over 3 weeks now. I get a call from them saying my parts were stuck at customs. So finally they get here the other day, and guess what when they open the tranny they find more broken parts, so now I have to wait again for the other parts to get here. I cannot believe they wouldn't have looked to make sure they ordered all the parts in the first place. I FU*KING hate this Mazda service. I am just so irritated by this. Just wanted to rant. Sorry.

 

I can't believe all the BS you guys are getting! I am looking to trade my RX-8 for M3 January to get more properly sorted drivetrain. Thank God I know sales manager at BMW store and will not take too bad of a bath. I just do not want to wait till something grenades on the 8.

Bob

 

Well Doc, I hate to say it, but I agree with you. I just want a way out of mine. I really don't feel the car was ready to be released yet. Maybe it will get better, but for now I have been without my car over 80 days since May! A VW Bug is more reliable than that!

 

To me it seems that mazda dont want to pay for the dealership mistakes. They are definitely not telling you the whole truth. My speculation would be that dealer did not diagnose the problem correctly what caused so many repairs and mazda does not want to cover dealership mistakes. When I was working for Nissan same things were happening occasionally. One guy with his Xterra that was in a shop several times still breaking down finally got a finger from nissan and the dealership. So on saturday he brought his car parked across the street put up a banner saying "I bought that lemon from the dealership accross the street and they refuse to fix it". They bought it back from him same day.

 

hmmm... Interesting. I guess that is still an option. I think it's worth the tow bill to take it back... and I'm free this weekend! Thanks. Sorry Town North Mazda...

 

And you know what if I was still in big D I would go with you - unfortunately I moved to big apple. Well anyway it would be nice if you could get support from other members that live locally that would be willing to go and picket with you. Dont give up.

 

I can't give up... I don't have a running vehicle!

 

at least get them to use the new MS clutch and Cover for replacement. if they cant get it i can in just a few days.

 

That would even satisfy me. I just don't feel comfortable with the same clutch and same transmission... something isn't right! If they gave me a MS clutch and would cover their waranty I would feel much better.

 

Well, no action has been taken yet, so I guess I'll begin to "Winterize" my car. Any special precautions considering my transmission, clutch, driveshaft, and exhaust are removed?

 

Just thought I would post an update... After being forced to file for Lemon Law I just recieved a letter from Mazda stating that they declined my claim becuase the damage was caused by "an outside influence". What kind of outside influence causes a clutch to "explode" in just 5 days? Just thought I would tell those of you interested in my story where I was.

 

DId the letter go into any more detail?
When you wrote to Mazda, did you put together all the work orders done by all dealers and marked the ones related to the claims about bad tranny, gear engagement, etc....?

I would give it a second try, collecting and sending ALL the information you have about the work done on your car since day one. And probably including some print outs from here. Eventhough, the information found on this site may not be acceptable in a court -heck, its the internet- it may help soften up their warranty claim department. Just a thought.

 

Yeah, I agree. I did include all work orders and my day-to-day log and sent that to them. It didn't really go into more detail. It just said based on my vehicle history the dealership and district rep had declined coverage therefore Mazda must decline the claim and sees that there is no further action required on their behalf.

 

they told me the same crap about outside influence so i wasn't covered i ended up paying for the labor and not the parts at least.

 

We had the same problem on all our 20 "8"s, during both racing or just only sport use. The problem is in the 4 little double springs of the clutch disk. They become shorter after a few kms.

 

Slim-sad that Mazda NA and apparently worldwide doesn't care if they do not retain customers. I really enjoy my car but because of problems that you and others are having one feels you have to use the clutch and transmission as if they are made of egg shells. I am trading my car tomorrow for M3 which is much more expensive but feel is built to be driven. I am really sorry for all the grief that Mazda has given you and others.

Bob

 

The M3 at this point is much better than the first of the current gen M3's that came out 3-4 years ago. (Reliability of German cars in general isn't all that hot either)

I have had transmission problems on my 8 as well plus most of the other little things that my dealership has happily fix. I would guess that the RX-8 is having the same growing pains that the M3 had; however, with that said, there is no substitute for good statistical reliability analysis for a vehicle from companies like Consumer Reports. You have to factor in the good with the bad and internet sites typically will only list problems. It won't be too long before Consumer Reports has complete data for the RX-8 in its first year.

One thing that I think is being particularly hard on the RX-8 is the relatively heavy flywheel (or should I say "high moment of interia" flywheel). It has so much stored energy that the transmission has to deal with. Remember the energy stored in a flywheel at 9000 RPM is twice that which is stored at 6500 RPM - high reving cars need lighter flywheels. Personally, I think the Mazdaspeed flywheel will increase longevity in the RX-8. I wouldn't be surprised if something like it comes standard pretty soon in the 8's.

-Mr. Wigggles

 

thanks guys. Apparently there is another thread that was just started in the RX8 discussion board with a few other people stating the same problem.

 

Well, just an update for those of you interested. After 2 months and 28 days with a broke down car, I finally have a meeting schedule with the District Manager. I'm not real sure what it's going to accomplish, but I have a meeting. Hopefully we can get all of this worked out and get my poor car back on the road.

 

OMG its still down. !!!!
Sheet..

 

yep... We are at 133 total days down, and I have driven it for 89 days. It's been broke down for 60% of the time I've owned it! Where is the RX8 god when you need him? :D

 

thats i think makes it a Lemon by Ca DMV law..

 

I dont think Mazda it self is a bad company they just have ******* ******** that work for them.