Has anyone on this forum purchased a new 2004 RX8 from the
Sound Mazda dealer in Renton, Washington? I've been looking
for a new ride since my 2000 Camaro blew a rear diff under
warranty.
My second question is: has anyone done any business with Hayes
Rotary Engineering near Redmond or Atkins Rotary in Puyallup?
I'm thinking about doing some more mods to my 1980 RX7
(Racing Beat exhaust, K&N air filter, drilled air box) if the deal
with Sound Mazda doesn't pan out. Thanks.

 

I used to go to Hayes when I needed repairs on my '82 RX-7.
When the rear rotor compression went out at 133k miles I had them put in a rebuilt 12A engine for $1,800. It had a one year warranty and I has lucky enough to have the engine grenade on me 14 months after it was installed. Teardown of the engine revealed that the rotor housing had a moderate amount of chrome flaked off the housing interior due to the layer of chrome becoming worn too thin to be used in a rebuild. As far as their business operations in general I found the staff courteous, but overworked and or understaffed. Repair time estimates always took a day or 2 longer than estimated. Now this was in the early-mid '90s and they were just starting to perform repairs on 3RD gen RX-7s that were showing up for mods or rebuilt engines that had succumbed to poor engine cooling and/or overboosted turbos. I relocated to the midwest in late '97 so I dont know how they rate these days.
I do know that their head mechanic, Mike was a saint that always put in 110% for the customers but the owners pushed him hard.
P.S. Be wary of Sound Mazda. Several members of mazda forums have said they would not be repeat customers.

 

Goto www.rx7club.com and do a search for bolth of those names. If you want my opinion, Hayes is someone you want to stay away from. Atkins has had some mixed reveiws. I've never dealt with either. I deal With Rob Golden@Pineapple. He to has had unhappy customers. Anyone who has been around long enough will have complaints. Just like Jason, Rx7.com, SR motorsports, corksport, Pettit, m2, KD rotary etc.....no one will ever make everyone happy. However, I realy suggest you do a search before deciding where you're going to take your car. CJ