well ive been on the lookout for a new car now for sometime. have a jeep wrangler i want to trade in for somthing more sporty, and ive been around and drove alot of cars Tc,eclpise,g6,gensis coupe,mazda 3 and 6,sypder,tibuorns, just to name a few and when i test drove the 8 i fell in love with it. the handling was like nothing i drove before, paddle shifters (automatic) high redline, awesome power on gears, just everything about the car.

The problem, my uncle is a mazda dealership sales rep and has been for about 10 years now and he is set against me getting one. i live in MI where the weather is cold and he says they have ALL kinds of engine problem bad plug, flooding, constient oil changes, and even having to replace the engine. he says its very temperamental, and sometime will just not start for no reason.

Ive read through the new owner sticky forum so i feel more comfortable with the maintenance of an 8 but is there any other insight on things i should know before i try to push this with him. it seems like most if not all problems stem from poor knowledge and maintenance of the car, which cause other problem to quickly follow.

Edit

Also the 8 im looking at is an '04 (the bad years) and has 33k mile on it and they want 10,000 for it

there is another 2007 going for 17,000 with 35k miles on it.

are they asking fair price for them and should i go with the 04 or 07, cause i know the 04 had most of the engine problem but if the engine has been replaced along with the taillight will that fix most of the problem or should i save the head ache and go for the 07 will some warranty left on it? the '07 had less/none problems right?

 

I'd ask for a compression test for the 04 and if its good go with that and save $7000. The only reason I'd go with the 07 was if the 04 was in bad shape. 33k miles tells me it probably looks pretty damn good though.

I would not hesitate to buy a low mileage, well maintained 04.

 

Make sure it was well taken care of, take care of it good yourself and it should take good care of you.

 

ok, thats what i was thinking it seemed like some rich old guys fun car being 7 years old with only 33k on it and it drive fine, but ill get that compression test tho

another question does that extended warranty cover most/all of the engine probs on these if something were to happen?

 

The 8yr/100k warranty covers the engine core and a few other things involved with it, but not every part of the engine. Also make sure you get the maintenance history/paperwork with it when you buy it. The 04-08 rx8s have the same engine with minor changes to the car here and there, there is a sticky around here that shows all the changes https://www.rx8club.com/purchasing-financing-insurance-56/year-year-changes-143280/ . It would have benefited from the updated flashes that the 04 would not have gotten until later if at all.

 

If you want peace of mind, get the 07 with 35k miles on it. Not to be a jerk, most 04's have more problems than any other year. Don't get me wrong, other years have problems too, you just have to take care of them, like doing the scheduled and preventive maintenance, checking the oil level once a week or so, and many more other things to keep the car in a tip top shape. Good luck whichever you choose.

 

To throw in an opinion, I think the engine life will depend on how you treat it. YES, 04's are well known to have unavoidable engine issues, but some people get off lucky. Personally, I have an 04 and just suffered a coil failure. It wouldn't stop me from buying another 04 RX8 one day is the price was right and the condition was good.