Sold my other toy and looking to buy an RX-8. I've read the FAQ and spoken to a few owners. I've looked at a few cars and these are some options:

'07 Base with 85k miles, car had replacement engine at 45k. Car is lowered on BC Racing coilovers and has this massive aftermarket intake (has the MAF welded in). Asking price $9.9k

'04 with 112k miles. New engine, flywheel, release bearing, catalytic converter, coils/plugs/wires all put in in the last month. Looks like touring model (sunroof but no leather). Asking $7.5k. Only downside is it is yellow.

Assuming mechanically things check out, which one would people purchase? I am leaning towards the '04 because the mechanics have been replaced.

 

I would get the '07, because it's still under warranty.
But, I would ask the owner for all of his oil change records, and if he still has the original intake box. If he has both, I would take it in for a compression test before buying, and if it fails, get that process started.

And the OEM box would be needed to get the engine covered under warranty the second time, just in case the need the car to be stock to satisfy the dealership's requirement.

BC.

 

Unfortunately the 07 is at dealer and no records. The 04 has 12k engine warranty but not install labor.

 

I'd still go with the '07.
If you have any receipts from your old RX-8, you can just use those.

If you have access to the VIN number, you could always "create" a user in mymazda's website, and see if any information is available under the VIN.

You could always call another dealer with the VIN number and see if they have any service information in the system on that VIN.

But yeah, I would go with the newer car, no question about it.

BC.

 

When you say the 07 has a massive intake are you talking about something like this in the picture below?

If that's the case then expect to replace it when you buy the car because those things are horrible and can actually lose power over the stock intake.

 

This is the shot of the engine. I say massive but I've actually never seen the stock one.

 

that is the aem/ms intake and is very good. it will not void your engine warranty and you only need maintence recipts when you own the car

 

Well, going to try and test drive it tomorrow.

 

Any update? Just curious...

 

Well, I drove the '07 and it seemed worn out. I think the coilovers must have been sitting on the bottom of their travel so that didn't help much.

Ended up buying the '04. It has new engine, clutch, cat, plugs/coils, tires, etc. (has receipts for everything). It feels like it is going to need shocks (they look like originals), brakes (okay for now) and ? engine mounts (lots of vibration when idling). Interior is great shape except for the silver piece along the console. Great shape for $7k compared to the other cars I'm seeing around Atlanta.

The bad - my daughter is already calling it the banana.

Pics after I try to buff out some shine in the paint.

 

What were the results of the compression check on the 04? Just because its a new engine does not mean it has good compression, the remans can be not so great sometimes.

 

Good question. Since it was under warranty, I didn't have it tested yet. Taking it to Mazcare on Friday to have the car gone over including a compression test.

 

How is it under warranty, was there an extra warranty purchased for it? Even if it got a reman engine put in at 99.9k miles it would only have a warranty on that for a year or 12k miles.

I hope everything works out for you and the engine ends up being strong.

 

It has the one year warranty.12k and has only 500 miles on it so I'll just pay for the labor if it's bad. It pulls great though.