I am 19 years old and looking to purchase an RX-8. I am wondering what might be better to buy, a 2004 or a 2007, if both have about the same amount of miles. If I could get some opinions here about what to buy or if I should even get an RX-8.

 

Get the 07 it will be much less of a headache.

 

Just wondering, why would the 2004 RX-8 be more of a headache? I know it's a little older but it's still not an old car

 

Depends on who owned the car and how much they took care of it.

Someone who didn't do regular maintenance = stay away

Someone who took care of it from day 1 = it will be fine

It's really up to you. Although it's always nicer to have a newer car.

 

A lot of the mechanical problems with the engine were hammered out by the 07 models. Everything else will be more or less the same.

 

Are there specific signs that I can look for to see if they have been taken care of it?

 

Such as?

 

IM in the same boat as you dude. Except im deciding between 05 and 07. The only thing attracting me to the 07 are:

new car

Advance keyless which is pretty cool

less problems (as mentioned)

 

2007. The 2004 was driven with a bad flash for too long, at least until August of 2006 IIRC. Much better to get a 2007.

 

Does the 07 still have some of the 3 year warranty on it? If so, easy choice. Actually it is an easy choice regardless (unless one owner was a complete idiot), get the newer car.

 

Without going into a whole slew of issues just google it or search the threads. Some of the 06's were built with the revised version but all of the 07's+ were so it's a lot less of a gamble.

Not saying the 07 won't have a problem it's just less likely to, play the odds. Given that the OP is 19 I would suggest a new (if affordable) 09 (great deals) or even an 08 still under warranty. Warranty really helps younger people on a fixed income because they don't have to worry about unplanned problems causing holes in bank accounts. It's worry free driving which only makes zoom zoom more fun.

 

Nope, buying new car does not save you money.

 

I would really love to get a newer one, but i don't work enough to be able to make the payments for that new of a car. My budget is about 17,000, past that i wouldn't be able to afford it. Any suggestions for that price range?

 

17 grande u can get an 07 .. easily

 

For $17k you should be able to get a 2-year-old MT with performance package with about 10,000 miles. If you shop around, be patient to wait for exactly what you want, and are good at negotiating or someone is willing to teach you the art of negotiation.

 

With how many miles? I want this car to last a very long time so it can't have a whole lot of miles. How many miles would be good for that price and how long do you think it could last as long as i take care of it. Which i will.

and sorry idk the lingo..whats MT?

 

10,000 miles if you look hard enough. The last two cars I bought for myself (wife gets a new car) were both used, 2-3 years old, and both had less than 10k miles on them. Best way to buy a car. Interior still has a little bit of the new car smell left but someone else paid for all the depreciation.

If you take care of an NA rotary, no reason why you shouldn't be able to get 200k miles out of it, but many here don't, and will say I'm crazy. That's OK, I can take it.

MT is Manual Transmission. Don't buy an automatic transmission. It's easy to learn to drive a manual and it's a lot more fun, especially in a rotary.

 

Ok awesome! Thank you very much you have all been a big help. Btw I want a manual they are much more fun and you can control it better. Thanks again everyone!

 

I found so many with less than 50k , which i believe is a good mileage for a used car. But im waiting to find the RIGHT one with errything i want. been on this search for quite a long time now but itll be worth it.

 

There were no major chances to the 06+ RX8's compared to 04-05's (with recalls performed) to even say that 06+ will be considerably more reliable. The only considerable difference between the 04-05 and 06+ were the automatic transmission RX8s.

 

I just bought my 07 6MT with 29,xxx miles for $14,950. It's a black GT w/ black and red leather. Only thing it doesn't have is nav, but I already had a GPS unit so I didn't care about that.

 

'07

 

+1
Also depends upon wear and tear.

 

+1. Like everyone have already stated, a car that is badly taken care of is the car you should avoid. Of course it is better to buy a "younger" car, but if it hasn't been taken care of properly, it could be worse than buying an older car. As I stated before, there are no significant changes between the 04 and 07. If I had the money to do it over again, I wouldn't hesitate to consider a 2004 that has been taken care of properly and is in good condition.

 

I like the fact that there are more of the first generation RX8's on the road... this means access to more spare parts, things are easier to find. If I could do it all over again I'd request the dealer run a compression test and compare to numbers in good spec.