# Thinking of getting Mazda rx8 any advice?



## Melkor (Aug 16, 2012)

Hi all
I am toying with the idea of getting a rx8, but I have read that the car must be run up to temperature before switching the engine off or the car will not restart.
Is this correct as this seems a bit of a pain if true.
Cheers


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## davo3587 (May 9, 2012)

My brother purchased a 04 plate bigger engine model. He paid £1800 and its done 26.000 on its second engine. He still waits 30 seconds after each journey before he turns his off, which I find bizarre, be careful as they suffer awful with rust also.


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## trv8 (Dec 30, 2007)

Plan you journey's around fuel stations :lol:.


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## possul (Nov 14, 2008)

To get the best out of a rx8 engine they should be driven hard.
They choke up when ran cold and switched off which then leads to flooding and non starts, can also lead to the CAT breaking up due to un burnt fuel 
Coil packs and plugs are very common.
Anitroll bar links common.
Drink a bit of oil.
If any signs of low battery or starter issues its not worth trying to start. If they dont spin fast enough they won't generate the compression needed to start.
If they have hot starting problems it normally means worn rotor tips which equates to a new engine.
There not a car to use for steady drives to work or the shops but for fun b road blasts or spirited drives using the entire rev range to get the max out the engine.

do I like them?
Yes, think there great to drive, handle well, like the styling, i terior isn't a bad place, dont feel quick but iirc they get nearly 60mph from 1st and speed soon starts to build, lack of torque that's all.
Would i own one?
No due to the above faults!

Mx5???


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## Melkor (Aug 16, 2012)

Hi thanks for the advice, it has to be a four seater as I have two young kids
I'm not worried about the fuel consumption as I Am currently running a 4 litre v8
But I do spend most of time sitting in traffic so maybe the rx8 isn't for me.


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## Skilzo (Jan 7, 2013)

Check out the owners club, if you think about getting one get a compression test but has to be with a specialist or main dealer as the compression tester is different from a normal engine 

I am still toying with the idea to get one or not but I just don't know if its worth it


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## alan hanson (May 21, 2008)

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=307002


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## possul (Nov 14, 2008)

Thought I remember a thread on them before.
Let's start from scratch.

What are you looking for in a new car? How much do you want to spend?
So far, four seats and fuel consumption not to important, lucky git


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## Fuzzybrush (Mar 9, 2013)

As long as you have deep pockets, go for it! There not too economical but when running right they are great fun.


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## Melkor (Aug 16, 2012)

Lol I wouldn't say deep pockets, but I don't do much mileage, maybe 50 miles a week 
I am pretty happy with my current car and the rx8 is the only thing I really fancy changing it for, but if it isn't suitable then fair enough


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## nick_mcuk (Jan 4, 2008)

You will kill one doing 50 miles a week....as previously stated they need to be driven properly or problems will occur.

Also watch the road tax....most of them are in the top band because the emissions are rather high!


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## PootleFlump (Jan 1, 2006)

From what I hear you need a good supply of both fuel and oil.


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## Melkor (Aug 16, 2012)

Thanks everyone 
I think i might forget that idea for now.
I will just keep admiring them, maybe one day


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## Chris_911 (Jul 31, 2013)

Evo magazine published a 'buying guide' in the November 2013 issue.


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## Kerr (Mar 27, 2012)

Skilzo said:


> Check out the owners club, if you think about getting one get a compression test but has to be with a specialist or main dealer as the compression tester is different from a normal engine
> 
> I am still toying with the idea to get one or not but I just don't know if its worth it


The tips are made of carbide and the thing with carbide is often it shows no sign of wear before it does fail.

I'd imagine that in an engine, the compression test could be fine one day and the tips could fail the next such is the behaviour of carbide.


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## AudiKosti (Jan 28, 2013)

had a mate of mine that had one over here in Cyprus, let just say the trips to the petrol station were more then the trips home for him. Drove it like mad but he couldn't keep up with the maintenance so ended up selling, he regrets it now, but it was for the best.


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## m1pui (Jul 24, 2009)

Doing little mileage in it isn't a problem, the last year (well between servicing it in October and selling it in the June) I had mine I only did 800 miles in it.

The running up to temperature before shutting it off isn't the massive hardship it sounds. Obviously you don't want to be doing lots of short (i.e. sub 1 mile) journeys in any car, but you just have to make sure you don't start and quickly stop an RX8 (i.e. pulling it off the drive from cold and shutting it down is a no-no). If you did need to do something like pull it off the drive, either let it run for a few mins on part throttle to let it clear itself a bit, or just take it for a run around the block. That's enough to stop it from flooding. But again, it's not something you want to be doing with it every day!

The compression loss does tend to be gradual, but detectable early enough with a compression test, as the failures tend to be through wear of the components due to oil wash from unburnt fuel (which is usually a result of failing coil/ignition parts, which themselves well known and easily addressed problems). That's why a hot-start is a good barometer to see if it's worth then having a thorough investigation/compression text.

Generally, catastrophic failure is due to negligent owners. So if you do look at a car, take a look at the paperwork and the owner/driver to see if they're the type that would be regularly checking and topping up the oil with the correct grade.

If you fancy one, I probably wouldn't wait until "one day." They're falling into very cheap territory which means they're liable to start falling into the hands of reckless owners who won't look after them correctly. Get one now from a decent owner before they start being snapped up by them.

As long as you go for a pre-06 plate model, the most you'll pay for road tax is about £285 (band L or M IIRC) at current prices. It was sometime in March 2006 that the regulations changed which means that they started taxing them at the £460 (or whatever top band is) price.


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## Beatman (Jun 6, 2010)

18 to the gallon, in town, on an A road , flat out on the motorway?


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## Melkor (Aug 16, 2012)

Thanks m1pui
That's really helpful


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## davo3587 (May 9, 2012)

Just an update, my brother has just informed me his clutch is slipping and priced at £940 from one of the guys on the rx-8 forum who is an independent mazda service technician, I told him to get a civic type r like mine. Lol


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## Melkor (Aug 16, 2012)

Ouch that's a dear clutch, saying that the auto box went on Volvo v70 and that would have been 2 grand for a recon box!


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## moono16v (Oct 12, 2010)

Don't full stop.


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## m1pui (Jul 24, 2009)

I got roughly 18mpg everywhere. Marginally more on a run, but not so different that it was worth calculating. Flat out on a motorway? Well that doesn't often happen but I'd imagine the fuel consumption increased when giving it some down fun roads.

£940 for clutch seems steep. Was that perhaps for a performance upgrade one? As Camskill and other places generally do a full clutch kit for around £250, and i think an Exedy clutch was not a huge amount more, so another £700 in labour sounds a bit much.

I'd say they're best described as a quick car rather than a fast car. Due to the perceived lack of torque and the way the engine is, acceleration is very linear so you can end up at naughty speeds without realising. And the idea of a lack of torque is very much relative anyway. As figures go, both models of RX8 produce more than a Civic Type R.


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## m1pui (Jul 24, 2009)

Ultimately, I wouldn't talk you into buying one but I wouldn't talk you out of it either.

Take a couple for a test drive and see how you get on with them. If you want to buy one, don't buy an expensive one, but make sure it's a good one and haggle hard. Don't be surprised to find that some cars have had higher than usual number of owners and/or lower than average miles. A lot seem to be bought as second cars or buy people who don't do many miles and equally they get bought by people on a whim who then **** themselves at the fuel consumption and end up shifting it on after a very short ownership.

Do a bit of research on the owners club and look for a car that has had its big service, or price it accordingly if it's due. Mazda do (or did) a fixed price servicing menu for the RX8 and when I had mine the big one was priced at £440. I sold mine just before that one was due.  Can't find a price list on Mazda official website, but here's a couple of specialists that have a menu online.

http://www.euro-spec2000.co.uk/Mazda/RX8/
http://www.rotechniks.co.uk/acatalog/RoTechniks_Mazda_RX8_servicing_schedules.html

For these cars especially, it is completely a buyers market. There's plenty for sale and other than colour there isn't a huge spec/options list so there isn't much variation between all the cars you'll look at.

Tell yourself you'll keep it for a year and aim to put it up for sale after 10 months or so and be prepared to potentially have it up for sale for a little while. Ideally, if you get yourself a good one towards the middle/lower end of the market, you'll sell it on and recoup most of what you paid. Decent early examples seem to have settled at about £2500-3000 for the last year or so. I sold my 2004 54-plate model in 2010 for £5000, which was a good price. I was lucky in that I had 2 people interested in the car on the same day so they sort of had a little bidding war between them, but I'd had the car up for sale for about 2 months prior with almost no interest!

I had mine for just shy of 2 years, covered about 4000 miles and other than 2 services and oil, the only other unscheduled expense I had was a new battery and a drop link that it failed an MOT on. Oil usage was about a litre of Castrol Magnatec 5w30 every 1200-1500 miles. They don't need more expensive fully synthetic oil or super unleaded fuel either, so that's something of a let off.

If you can afford it, sometimes it's nice to scratch an itch


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## President Swirl (Oct 23, 2011)

Accord type r? Not an answer to your post, I appreciate. I would have one over an RX8 any day. I'm sure a lot of the horror stories are forum spiel from owners who only change the oil when it turns to treacle, but I think the Type r is the better bet.


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## Rollinlow (Sep 25, 2013)

Don't as other post bro in law has one and that's on second engine its a ball ache to do anything on it an has to rev it hard before he turns it off not that quick I don't think.


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## m1pui (Jul 24, 2009)

President Swirl said:


> *Accord type r? Not an answer to your post, I appreciate. I would have one over an RX8 any day.* I'm sure a lot of the horror stories are forum spiel from owners who only change the oil when it turns to treacle, but I think the Type r is the better bet.


If this is an option, then I would too :lol: Test drive a couple of RX8's just for the craic though!



Rollinlow said:


> Don't as other post bro in law has one and that's on second engine its a ball ache to do anything on it an has to rev it hard before he turns it off not that quick I don't think.


Unless, as i said in my other post, you have no other choice than to shut off the engine within a minute or 2 of starting it from cold, then you do not have to rev it at all before you turn it off.

If he's doing that every time he stops the car, then he's probably been as big a cause as anything else for the engine failing.


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## possul (Nov 14, 2008)

We were told by Mazda to rev before shut off


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## m1pui (Jul 24, 2009)

possul said:


> We were told by Mazda to rev before shut off


Every time though?

That's your dealer passing out incorrect info if that's the case


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## Rollinlow (Sep 25, 2013)

Yeh he was told by a Mazda specialist to rev it i thought its not good bud had no probs since doing this, they told him it cokes up if you don't.


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## possul (Nov 14, 2008)

m1pui said:


> Every time though?
> 
> That's your dealer passing out incorrect info if that's the case


Especially if cold
Mazda told us, not the dealer 
I'm a tech not mazda


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## Melkor (Aug 16, 2012)

Thought I might update this
I have been and test drove a couple of rx8s, great fun to drive but they were in poor condition, so the search goes on, but I'm in no rush for now .


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## m1pui (Jul 24, 2009)

Am genuinely puzzled as to why they recommended that then. 

As long as you're not driving miss daisy and never revving above a couple of thousand rpm you shouldn't have a problem with coking up.

Once the engine is up to temp there's no need to rev it before shut down.

Unless there's been some new knowledge found since I got rid of mine a couple of years ago as there was never any talk of it on the owners club during my time with one.


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## possul (Nov 14, 2008)

The people on the owners club probably researched the engine and not pootled to the shops on a Sunday morning to fetch the paper!


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