hello everyone, im interested in a 2004 rx8 that only has 23k. before i continue a little history on myself. im 23 years old, college student and i currently drive a 2002 saab 9-3. the saab is awesome, really fast and good all year around. the cars are finicky when it comes to maintenance and oil, and im an advocate for preventative maintenancebut other than that their bullet proof. now for the reason im selling her and moving on: the car has has a lemon like clutch issue, ive replaced everything i can and the problem wont go away, and noone can seem to fix it. so out with the old and in with the new. finally for my question. the rx8 i want to look at has low miles but has had 4 previous owners, and i dont know how i feel about that. i read up on the before you buy section so hopefully im not a broken record. also when i go to look at the car is there anything i can look for that might scream turn around and run? how long does the clutch on these cars usually last? and how are they in the winter?im not worried about the gas mileage (turbo 4's when modified are gas hogs) id just like an all season sports car that if i take care of wont let me down...

 

A 2004 with 4 previous owner and 23k miles only? Might be a re-manufactured engine. Get a carfax report and ask for a compression test before you buy. Good luck.

 

^ WTF does the 23,000 said miles have to do with it being a reman?

Snow capability will strictly depend on how much snow you put it through and whether or not you have winter tires on it. THe rest you can search and read stickies for. Oh yeah, ignore monchie for eery post he makes.

 

Yeah i agree with the above 4 owners on an 04 with only 23k miles on it is suspect. If it was 2 owners then that would be more believable, as above sounds like a new / reman put it.

 

a reman engine wouldnt necessarily be a bad thing right?

 

The opposite of bad.

 

You can tell from my signature bar that I am from snow country. To your 4 season driveability question I would advise that putting the RX8 on the road in light accumulations of dry snow is OK. Running the car on wet snow or deep accumulations is not so OK.

Also, if your going to run it in the winter and your local road crews use anything to treat the roads your driving on (salt, sand, etc) then expect that you will be doing a lot of rust removal and repainting each year - especially in the forward part of the rear wheel wells where the surface is metal and not plastic as well as the underside behind the front tires.

 

Quality oil spray treatment at the begining and end of snow season and you should be good. My car has seen the past 5 winters and I have no rust, in fact I rolled and pulled my fenders without any paint flaking a couple weeks ago. Not sure if it is available in your state(s) though.
Winter tires are a must in snow. I haven't been stuck yet.

 

thanks for the help everyone!