Looking to buy Mazda RX8 - opinions?
Discussion
Afternoon all!
I'm 3 months in to RX8 ownership and loving it! Did a lot of reading of the horror stories but decided that they didn't worry me enough to not buy one!
Isofix baby seat fits in the back nicely so means we can enjoy a day out with the little one, fuel economy isn't that horrendous. Probably get around 23 with a mix of motorway, cross country and town driving. IMHO there isn't much around for the money that has the looks, handling and practicality of the 8.
If anyone is currently considering it, do your homework on the numerous owner forums, see as many as you can to get a decent becnhmark and buy with your head. If you're preparred to travel around a bit there are plenty of decent examples for sale.
J
I'm 3 months in to RX8 ownership and loving it! Did a lot of reading of the horror stories but decided that they didn't worry me enough to not buy one!
Isofix baby seat fits in the back nicely so means we can enjoy a day out with the little one, fuel economy isn't that horrendous. Probably get around 23 with a mix of motorway, cross country and town driving. IMHO there isn't much around for the money that has the looks, handling and practicality of the 8.
If anyone is currently considering it, do your homework on the numerous owner forums, see as many as you can to get a decent becnhmark and buy with your head. If you're preparred to travel around a bit there are plenty of decent examples for sale.
J
Hi Guys, I must say I'm well smitten with mine, spent all day in it yesterday working and still had a blast in it last night 
....love chasing the red line they certainly shift when prodded hard enough. Handling is spot on, good feedback through the wheel and ya arse
The guy I got mine off knew all about the issues and had a half used tin of oil that he gave me, so at least he was keeping up to it.
For the money whats not to like.
....love chasing the red line they certainly shift when prodded hard enough. Handling is spot on, good feedback through the wheel and ya arse The guy I got mine off knew all about the issues and had a half used tin of oil that he gave me, so at least he was keeping up to it.
For the money whats not to like.
Unless it's really huge, you should have no problem with the pushchair. My 3 yr old rarely uses hers but it's been in the boot easily. I managed to get a 6 man tent and 3 blokes camping gear into mine for a long weekend at the Belgian GP. The boot is a decent size, just a bit of a funny shape.
Jay,
No problems with getting the pushchair in the boot, we have a 3 wheel iCandy Peach Jogger and that goes in no problem along with the multitude of bags that we seem to need for our 6 month old! When we were looking I took the pram and car seat along to check they fitted in as the other half wasn't convinced they would. As Ephraim mentioned, it's a bit of an odd shape but you can get a surprising amount in there.
J
No problems with getting the pushchair in the boot, we have a 3 wheel iCandy Peach Jogger and that goes in no problem along with the multitude of bags that we seem to need for our 6 month old! When we were looking I took the pram and car seat along to check they fitted in as the other half wasn't convinced they would. As Ephraim mentioned, it's a bit of an odd shape but you can get a surprising amount in there.
J
After doing my own research, I figured I should revive this thread.
My current chariot is an E30 325i - light, RWD, and although its got some poke it's not fast by modern standards. It's getting too unreliable to drive regularly, so I'm looking for a newer replacement that offers the same smile factor, but that my 5' 2" missus can also drive.
An old episode of Top Gear got me interested in the RX-8, but now that the oldest ones have 12 years on them, how are they holding up in terms of reliability? Do engines only last 60k miles? Prices are still 3-6k in my neck of the woods, so they must have some reason for retaining their value.
As said, I drive on old BMW so oil and fuel consumption isn't an issue, but if the car's going to be a money pit I might as well stick with what I have now.
My current chariot is an E30 325i - light, RWD, and although its got some poke it's not fast by modern standards. It's getting too unreliable to drive regularly, so I'm looking for a newer replacement that offers the same smile factor, but that my 5' 2" missus can also drive.
An old episode of Top Gear got me interested in the RX-8, but now that the oldest ones have 12 years on them, how are they holding up in terms of reliability? Do engines only last 60k miles? Prices are still 3-6k in my neck of the woods, so they must have some reason for retaining their value.
As said, I drive on old BMW so oil and fuel consumption isn't an issue, but if the car's going to be a money pit I might as well stick with what I have now.
Grrrmachine said:
An old episode of Top Gear got me interested in the RX-8, but now that the oldest ones have 12 years on them, how are they holding up in terms of reliability? Do engines only last 60k miles? Prices are still 3-6k in my neck of the woods, so they must have some reason for retaining their value...
Well looked after ones do last - its just finding a well looked after one that's the problem! You always want to have a compression test done and the results should show numbers in the 7's and 8's.I've had mine for nearly 2 years now, its done 45k (18k from myself) and has been tracked a dozen times but is still a solid as the day I got it... Regular oil changes are quite important!
I love the RX8 to bits... I even wrote an essay on mine!
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Tremaine, having read your essay I've seen the pic of the RX8 parked next to an E30. How do the two compare, since that's exactly the transistion I'm making. The BMW's not a fast car these days, but that six-cylinder shove above 4000rpm is a real blast, and I'm worried that the Mazda will feel a bit bloated and asthmatic in comparison, despite the higher bhp.
Grrrmachine said:
how are they holding up in terms of reliability? Do engines only last 60k miles?
The specialist I use see the RX8 engines dying between 40K and 120K miles. The cost of a rebuild (~£2500) means they become worthless.I tend to do ~3K miles a year in my RX7 and rotary MX5 so a rebuild is every 25+ years. OK with me, the advantages are worth it.
These engines only make sense in small, lightweight sports cars that do low mileages.
Grrrmachine said:
Tremaine, having read your essay I've seen the pic of the RX8 parked next to an E30. How do the two compare, since that's exactly the transistion I'm making. The BMW's not a fast car these days, but that six-cylinder shove above 4000rpm is a real blast, and I'm worried that the Mazda will feel a bit bloated and asthmatic in comparison, despite the higher bhp.
You need to use all the revs - they will do almost 70 in 2nd and 95 in 3rd. You need to drive one to see what you think - a good one. A car with poor compression will appear to run normally, but will be down on performance.Grrrmachine said:
Tremaine, having read your essay I've seen the pic of the RX8 parked next to an E30. How do the two compare, since that's exactly the transistion I'm making. The BMW's not a fast car these days, but that six-cylinder shove above 4000rpm is a real blast, and I'm worried that the Mazda will feel a bit bloated and asthmatic in comparison, despite the higher bhp.
The E30 is definitely more fun to drive, it has much better feedback and feels a lot more raw - you feel like an integral part of it rather than being someone who just controls it. The RX8, definitely feels overweight and bloated by comparison. It is faster than the E30 but it doesn't feel that much faster when you're actually in it.
Having said that, its still tremendous fun to drive. Whilst its low on Torque, it does hit peak torque quite early and taking that car all the way to 9,500 revs is addicting.
Whilst not on the same level as the E30, the electric steering in the 8 gives a surprising amount of feedback and has a lot of feel to it. IIRC its got the same platform as the MX5 NC. The RX8 has shockingly large amounts of grip too, I took mine out for the first time this morning (been using my new MX5 the last 3 weeks) and was shocked at the speeds I doing round corners without trouble. And when you do push it a bit too hard its really easy to catch, its a very forgiving car.
Oh, and that rotary whine
My E30 is race prepped and my RX-8 is pretty standard so I can't compare them both on road, instead I can only use track experience as away to tell.
The RX8 makes a great weekend toy as long as you're not bothered about paper figures!
Hi mate. I can only offer some advice from a one dimensional perspective, that of how quick these things are in the real world. I have competed for several years in Sprints and hillclimbs , In various cars including bike-engined ones. This year me and a friend are contesting the Sevenoaks Speed League in a a Prodrive PZ RX8, purchased for the princely sum of £2,500. It is totally standard, as are all the cars in the up to 2.0 standard production car class, of which the RX8 sneaks into with an equivalency factor. So far , the car is undefeated in the rounds we have entered, and it's a 1-2 if we both run. Last time out we beat the 2013 champ in his Integra Type R by more than a couple of seconds, and he is no slouch behind the wheel trust me. We also beat in the damp and then dry conditions another regular winner in his different class Duratec powered Elise on cut slicks. We were even In the wet slightly faster than a Porsche GT 3 driven by another ex champ. We got a special mention at the awards ceremony for the cars performance, which shocked a lot of the other runners all day. I'd like to take some credit for our driving abilities, but in reality the car is just so well balanced any grippy that you can drive the absolute wheels off it in total confidence and the car does nothing nasty. We are going all out to win the championship this year, next round is at Lydden Hill. I am so impressed wth the PZ I can bore the tits off people , but I struggle to think of another car you can buy for a couple of grand which is so good.
Gassing Station | Japanese Chat | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff