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Colinbentley
Original Poster
154 posts
17 months
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I am very sadly selling my beautiful red RX8 because I canot find anyone to satisfactorily service it.....and the horrendous cost. A month ago it took a Mazda dealer 10 days to identify the problem of a thermostat and $1037 (Australian) to fix.Three weeks later the car is back there needing a catalytic converter, cost $3000, but there is not one in the country, so I have so far been without the car for 2 weeks. Plus I have to drive 180 kilometres to the dealer. It's a shame because I love the car, but it seems to spending more time in service than it does being driven, and costly into the bargain, so we are parting company. I paid $23000 for it less than a year ago , but today all I can get as a trade is $14200. I can't be bothered going the private sale route as the market is flooded with RX8s. Seems I have a lot of company. Don't think I will ever buy another Mazda.
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GravelBen
10,023 posts
99 months
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$1k to change a thermostat? Perhaps you should try a different mechanic!
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omgus
4,841 posts
44 months
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GravelBen said: $1k to change a thermostat? Perhaps you should try a different mechanic!  So you are in Australia, the country that does the most ridiculous things to rotary engines outside of Japan and you can't find a decent mechanic to deal with it? I find that very surprising simply because of the stories of mad rotary engined cars that most of my Aussie friends (mostly based in Sydney but a couple of them are in Melbourne) tell me.
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Colinbentley
Original Poster
154 posts
17 months
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Where I live in country Victoria Australia most mechanics won't toucha rotary engine, so I was really stuck with my "local" Mazda dealer 180 kilometres away., the problem of service at a dealership is very high overheads and a consequence high repair costs.
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samoht
111 posts
15 months
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If you really don't have a decent rotary specialist in your area, I'd say you have two choices:
1) Go DIY, use the appropriate owners club forums to learn how to do things and order parts online. I'm sure someone somewhere in the world does an RX-8 cat for less than AUD$3k. At least if you're rural you hopefully have some space to work on the car.
2) Accept that owning a specialist car in a rural area doesn't work, and give up. Choose your next car based on dealer proximity.
[there's also 3) replace the engine with a small-block Chevy, I guess]
The rotary engine cars are quite distinct from other Mazdas, I imagine if you'd bought a Mazda 2 you wouldn't have anything like the same difficulty with servicing, nor would you lose such a high % on resale.
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The Flying Ox
301 posts
42 months
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I can't believe a cat is AU$3000!!!
£174 for a new one over here, and swapping exhaust bits is about the easiest "proper" job you'll ever do on a car.
Is the resale value with the cat in its current state? If so, get a cat, fit it yourself and then go back to see if your price increases.
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Colinbentley
Original Poster
154 posts
17 months
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The resale value is with the cat fixed. I even priced a cat with another mechanic with a non genuine Mazda part and even came back witha price without labour of $2000 but by then the car was with the Mazda dealer and a bit late to get it back. What started all this was the fact that the engine light came on. I'm not a DIY person. I drive 'em I don't fix 'em.
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Colinbentley
Original Poster
154 posts
17 months
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PS I've traded the Mazda on a 2003 Mercedes SLK 320. At least it's a normal piston engine but I know repairs are expensive. I don't mind paying for repairs if the mechanic knows what he is doing but in the case of the Mazda dealer....10 days to fit a thermostat...and and over 2weeks so far waiting on a cat for the Mazda. Hope Merc people are better.
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The Flying Ox
301 posts
42 months
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Colinbentley said: The resale value is with the cat fixed. I even priced a cat with another mechanic with a non genuine Mazda part and even came back witha price without labour of $2000 but by then the car was with the Mazda dealer and a bit late to get it back. What started all this was the fact that the engine light came on. I'm not a DIY person. I drive 'em I don't fix 'em. Right. Who's up for starting a UK -> Oz import business for RX parts? This time next year, Rodney, we'll be millionaires!
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TAS1981
346 posts
74 months
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Er .... not being funny but....for less than $2000 you could have imported one...from...anywhere. Labour should be tiny and any mechanic who would dare to call themselves such could change a cat. You might struggle if the bolts were seized but exhausts are exhausts. Its not rocket science. Plus what have you done to it for it to be only worth 14k? I don't see many that cheap here and I have been having a look! A ropey one was 19k! (Sydney). I would not rule out Mazda's because of this....Anyway what do you think is going to happen in the Merc needs work?! I have an MX-5 (that was still 10k from 2000 with 100kms on the clock!) and I bought an induction kit from the US and I bought brake pads from the UK. I went on the MX-5 forum and here for some price checks....moral of my story...do some research and don't believe everything main dealers tell you! I'm sure you are just letting off some steam / having a moan which is fine but if you had asked perhaps we might have been able to save you a few bucks?  Good luck with the Merc anyway.
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TAS1981
346 posts
74 months
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