stangg172004

What do you guys think of the rx-8? im not so worried about the small engine but more so reliability and what not. What kind of warranty do these things come with? Are they problem plagued? How about the rotary. Do these units have the same sealing problem as past rotaries?They are good looking cars and i just need it for a year or two. What do you guys think?

nahooneyya

i've heard about the flooding issues...where if you restart the car with in a short time frame the car won't start..


but other then that..i'd pimp in it!

aaronnn

eats oil fast.
eats gas fast.

and of course, the imfamous flooding issues.

Limmerz

I had my cousins for a few months while he was out of the country.....I agree with the above.

Otherwise it's a really fun car to drive. I really wanted to buy one after driving his around and ALMOST pulled the trigger.....but opted for the s2k instead.

I didn't want to live with those issues above.

CGTSX2004

iTrader: (1)

I looked at one a while back and after reading about the poor fuel economy, oil consumption problems, and taking into consideration the unproven long-term reliability of the Renesis rotary (not to mention the reputation of the old rotary engine for eating its apex seals), I passed on it.

It's a nice car, but I don't want to own a car that is going to need major maintenance from day one of ownership.

stangg172004

it really gets bad gas mileage? who would have known out of a 1.3 liter. And as far a flooding goes, after its flooded how long would it be before u can start it up again?

CGTSX2004

iTrader: (1)

Most people seem to be getting in the low -teens in terms of gas mileage which is about half of the advertised EPA estimates.

MattT516

It's a shitbox... PASS!

1killercls

No thanks.

aaronnn

exactly.
it gets about 13-15 MPG. that's worse than most ferrari's man..

fuzzy02CLS

iTrader: (2)

Give me a standard 4, 6, or 8 cylinder car please. That rotary crap is garbage. It's a big scam & gimick.

VTEC 2

My frd have one..drove from Miami to Orlando. Only get 17mpg in all highway driving. But it is a good handling car to drive. Beside other problem ppls said it also have a weak AC.

95gt

Pass.

Eats gas, eats oil, and is pretty damn slow in general. Does handle amazing though.

Great to drive for a day but would not want to own one.

phipark

Nope, my friend just blew his engine at 25k miles. Basically because of the items described above.

mclarenf3387

You have no idea what your talking about.

And I would never own one, at least not as a daily driver.

bigman

What makes it a shit box, the fact that you dont own one doesnt give you the right to talk shit. My brother has one as a daily driver and has almost 50k miles on it with not one problem. TThe only thing it does is eat oil and gas, only if you beat on it. If he drives the car normal, it wont kill gas or eat any oil. And flooding? I've only heard of that with a few cars, i have personally turned his car off and then back on within seconds and minutes. In the 50k miles that he has had his car it's only been to the dealer for a speaker rattle in the door. I wish i could say the same for the TL i use to own. That car had 60k on the clock and went through 4 trannies, a water pump, ticked like hell, rattled and squeaked more than my Trans Am, and was just a general pain in the ass. I'm not saying that the RX-8 has no issues and that the TL has lots of them, what i am saying is that every car has their fair share of problems and shouldnt be judged because a few people have flooding issues, or a few people blew a tranny or two.

MarbleGT

I just test drove one, and my friend has one. The flooding prob is when you start the engine and stop it before it gets hot, for example pulling it out of the garage when its cold out and stopping it, then immediatly trying to start it again. This 95% of the time happens when its cold out and you have the auto (<----why would you get an auto is its got so much less horsepower) Texas, where its hot, this doesnt happen much to my friend. If its cold where you are, you might think twice about it. It wont leave you stranded though. As far as performance goes, they arent that slow, speaking from someone who has a CL-S. Anything above 4-5,ooo rpms picks up pretty well, but who drives on a normal basis above those.The gas mileage issue is strange. Ive heard people talk of 14 all the way through 22. More often than not, ive heard stories of gas mileage increasing over time. Over on an RX8 forum i used to be a part of one guy bought his 2 yrs ago and reported 15 mpg in the beginning, no he's averaging 18. 18mpg for a car like that still kinda sux!!


1)They have very low torque at low RPMs.
2)9 grand shifts!
3)Nothing really looks like it on the road.
4)The flooding thing isnt a problem in warm conditions with a 6 spd.
5) Gas mileage should be higher than 17mpg on a car like that.\.

go to www.carsurvey.org to find consumer reviews on the vehicle.

Bottom line, I like it, i dont think i would buy one though.

MarbleGT

my friend adds a quart of oil every 3-4 times he fills up with fuel

MarbleGT

a/c does suck, it never really gets that cold.

fuzzy02CLS

iTrader: (2)

No I do!!

In this age there's no need to have a Rotary engine. It just doesn't make sense.

Only reason the RX is back is cause of that engine in Mazda's past, so to me that's a Gimick.
I don't see other car makers getting in on it? There's a reason.

F23A4

My best friend owns one and is looking to trade it in soon after his upcoming wedding. As I've posted in previous threads, he's pretty disappointed with it.

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

As a former owner I can agree with these statments.

It does not eat oil that fast... but I guess fast is relative. I'd say I added about 1 quart every 3-5 fill ups.

Gas, yes. It sucks on gas and that was the main reason I got rid of it. I had done tons of research and figured that the people on the RX8 forum were getting shitty mileage b/c they floored it all the time. Wrong... it gets bad gas mileage ALL the time. I drove mainly highway the first tank, and got 17 mpg. A combination of about 80% highway, 20% city the rest of the time and I averaged about 13-14... and that was taking it easy. If I drove it aggressively (or even the same way I drove the TL), I got around 11 tops. I had to baby it like no other to see anything resembling a good MPG number.

I don't remember the terminology.. but the engine had valves that opened up at certain RPMs. Basically, in 6th gear, you had to keep the car under 64mph on the highway or the second valve opened. When that second valve opened, your mileage tanked. Many people suspected this was the main reason even highway mileage sucked. Whatever the reason, everything I read on the RX8 forum was true. Sure there were a few exceptions on MPG... but I was getting what 85% of the board was getting... even when trying to get good mileage... and the numbers were awful.

It was a fun car to drive in the twisties... but had no balls. I liked it... but didn't love it, not enough to keep it anyway... and sold it after 5 months of ownership. I only put about 800 miles on it (it was a pre-owned, so I had it from 5100 miles to about 5900). Just wasn't the car for me. Luckily I sold it for what I paid for it... so it was a free rental for 5 months minus a few tanks of gas.

If you want a car that is pretty fun to drive and handles well, then look at the RX8.

If you want a car that is maintenance free, gets good gas mileage, has power and torque (especially down low)... stay away.

Oh, and as for the flooding.... I never had a problem... and there were several times where I started the car, shut it off before it was warm, then started it again. Maybe b/c it's warmer in NC then other areas, but no problems here. I also found the A/C to be fine. Needed to turn the fan up a few clicks.. but it kept me cool even when it was approaching 100 degrees (and my interior was black leather).

srika

another RX-8 thread????

MarbleGT

right?

srika

yea... we must have enough info at AZ about why the RX-8 sucks to make a Wikipedia article out of it...

stangg172004

just trying to see the light...

fuzzy02CLS

iTrader: (2)

It's all good. That's why there's a "car talk" section.

The RX8 looks good & handles well, I give it that.

Cog Neuro Sci

Everything you mentioned is right except for the oil thing. Oil consumption is a non-issue; it's completely normal and not something to be taken as a problem. I wouldn't call checking oil every 5 to 12 gas fill-ups and oil changes at 5000 to 7500 miles "major maintenance."

Although no one knows just how long it will last, plenty of NA rotaries are still currently running with 150,000 to 200,000 miles. You just have to make sure it doesn't run out of oil, change oil consistently, and run it at WOT every now and then to burn deposits out.

Cog Neuro Sci

NO WAY. You're way off here.

brian92873

my friend has an rx8 and LOVES it, never regretted for a second..he's told me about the flooding too...but its not a 'flaw' in the car, its moreso just the nature of the rotary engine...i've riden in it and driven it and the thing is a BEAST and wonderful to drive. also note, i believe the rx8 is set up with 50/50 weight distribution so the thing feels glued to the road...

great car, he's never had any problems with it and i think he's had it for 2 years.

zeroday

^^ never heard anyone refer to the rx8 as a 'beast'


and saying an engine flooding issue isn't a problem, rather just the 'nature' of the car is flat out ridiculous.

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

No need for two at this point....