My wife's 2002 toyota camry has almost 160,000 miles on it.
I believe that i have spent more on my 07 RX-8 in the past year than i have in the whole time that she has had her car.

It may just be me, but is there anything wrong with wanting the same quality in a car?
I love the RX8, but sometimes it seems like a money pit.
it's the car you love to hate, and it doesnt help when you dont get good customer service from Mazda either.

Anyone else feel the same way?

 

Every car I have ever owned has been a money pit. That is partially bad luck and partially my inability to return broken things just back to stock (i.e. my strut mount blew so I got a new suspension).

 

I'm with you Dirt... I don't think that I have ever owned a car that wasn't a money pit.

I don't think that people buy 8's and expect them to be a cheap to own car... I fully expect to throw money at mine to keep it in good running order.

I don't think that "Love to hate" is a good way of thinking, if that's the case, perhaps a new car is in order... I like to say "hate to love" as in I hate to love the fact that I can't stop driving my car and I LOVE blowing money to keep my cars in the best shape possible. These are picky cars, and that's just all there is to it.

You either Love it or you Hate it!

Ha!

 

^Um you gotta resize that sig.....

 

I totally did... My bad... LOL! SORRY!!! All fixed!

 

Its a performance-oriented sports car. Name one sports car that is as reliable as a Toyota Camry. As performance increases, reliability goes down. That's just a fundamental engineering principle. Engineering-wise, the RX-8 systems are pretty much pushed to the limit of the performance envelope. Thats why there are so few mods for this car that actually provide a noticeable performance increase. The fact that its still as reliable as it is: thats a testament to good Mazda engineering.

If you want Camry-like reliability then sports cars are not for you my friend.

 

Bad customer service seems to be a problem with just about all car companies as far as I can tell. Obviously there will be a great dealership every now and then that helps out, but I haven't come across a single car company that doesn't have pretty sorry customer service most of the time ha...

Just curious.... What all have you had to spend money on with your 8 in the last year? I saw a couple days ago where you had swapped coils and plugs I believe and were lookin at needing either a new cat or motor.

 

My 8 had very few issues but I've spent tons on it anyway

When you do have to replace performance parts they do cost more... Brakes for example.

Some dealerships are okay but most are pretty crappy. I find good mechanics or do work myself.

 

+1 You give up some reliability when you buy a sports car. It is what it is, but at least your rx8 is a lot more fun than your wife's camry, which isn't hard to do.

 

I've had no trouble with my 8. Also had very little trouble with my wife's Camry.

Although...at just under 100,000 miles, the Camry has needed a new starter, new alternator, new power steering pump, an engine mount and an ABS wheel sensor. I guess it's all relative, thinking about the time I used to spend working on the AMC Hornet she used to have. Or my first car, an worn out Alfa.

A bonus nice thing about the 8 is that my local dealer (Rosenthal Tyson's Mazda) is very good, so I don't have to worry about where to go if something does need fixing.

The 8 is a car that I can love to love.

Ken

 

Name one family car as reliable as a Mazda MX-5.

 

just wonder what did you spend on your car since you owned it?
I rarely spend time on my 09 R3 other than just wash an clean it.
I however have spent a lot of time on the 97 Wrangler I just bought making it as perfect as possible.

 

I'll second that Miata comment. I drive mine to 200k with little more than regular oil changes.

 

Well i've had a miata, a 05 MR2 Spyder, and neither had any major problems as a matter of fact they ran excepionally, well over 160,000 Miles.
But for me the uncertainty of not knowing if and when the engine in the rx8 will fail is kind of nerve wrecking.

 

my opinion is to drive it as hard as you can with out abuse the car and forget about it breaking down. what comes around goes around.
Ive seen people took very good care of their cars but the engine failed very soon, also seen people enjoy ripping thru the gears every day enjoy the car had almost no problem till 100k.

 

Why are you spending money on it? If it's an 07, it should still be under all kinds of warranties...

Nothing wrong with wanting better reliability by the way, but you knew what you were giving up when you bought it...

 

Well so far, i have purchased coils, plugs,2 sets of motor mounts, routine maintenance, brakes, tires, all this year.

Three compression tests, and now the motor needs to be replaced,

 

good, new engine means more zoom zoom