To start, I have been sold on the sound, looks, and handling since I watched the rx8 first enter the Grand-Am series (I know it's nothing like the street car, but looks and sounds close enough!), so I don't need to be told how fantastic of a car it is.

I have never had the chance to get one until now...found this in my budget:
'06....41,000km....$15k...never winter driven, which is important in the great white north

the questions I have:
1) is the fuel mileage as bad as the critics say it is? I drive almost 200km (highway) a day for work, and this would be my daily driver
2) with the 200km a day translating into around 50,000km a year, what is the expected life span of the rotary engine?
3) mechanical fixes...how expensive are they? I have an option for a 200,000km warranty for $3000...would that be worth getting?
4) lastly, a stupid question...do they require premium gas?

Thanks in advance for the responses

 

Not the car for you

 

1. Yes
2. Depends
3. Depends. It's your money, not mine.
4. It is recommended

 

Depending on how heavy your foot is, you could be filling up every other day.

 

Depends on what exactly? Im not a madman behind the wheel unless im at the track. Driving cautiously, should i expect to spend over $5k on repairs before 200,000km?

Possible dangers to run regular gas?

 

You need to read at least the first 8 posts of this thread: https://www.rx8club.com/new-member-forum-197/new-potential-owners-start-here-202454/



...and "driving cautiously" as in "Avoiding accidents" has nothing to do with mechanical repairs, assuming you have insurance against accident damage.

If you mean "driving slow and babying the engine" then yes, you can expect to have lots of issues from carbon buildup. 200,000km is... 124k miles? It's maybe 50/50 that you can get the engine to that mileage without issue.

And no, it needs 91 octane + (US spec number, not sure if there is a Canadian conversion). If you can get it to run fine on anything less, it means the engine is losing compression. The lower the octane you can go, the worse your compression is.

Read the thread. My gut tells me that this is not the car for you. Maybe as a 2nd non-daily driver, but not your daily.