RE: PH Fleet Intro: Mazda RX-8

[otolith]

STW2010 said:

BigWithey said:

STW2010 said:

I miss mine so much....

Miss both of mine.... 190 + 230PZ

You were in the RX8 owners club weren't you? I recognise the username. IIRC your wife was involved too?

I had a slightly different username in that club (stu1983)

I was also a member back then, and really enjoyed it. Then I was a moderator on the forum for a while. It's evolved and moved on, though, as the ownership demographic has changed. Still a few of the old guard about, some of whom are on their third or fourth RX-8 now...

[anonymous-user]

otolith said:

For me, the point of the car is that it's a front mid engined layout - with the handling benefits that brings - with four proper seats. The cost of that is crappy fuel consumption. If you can live with two seats or you don't really care about handling, you can find alternatives with better fuel consumption.

The closest four seat piston engined alternative is the BMW 3-series coupe, but if you also have a problem with things that are "mass produced and common on the roads", the BMW clitoris is also out of the running.

No one has said they 'have a problem' with mass produced cars. In fact I have a Golf GTI and an Alpina so best of both worlds

[STW2010]

otolith said:

I was also a member back then, and really enjoyed it. Then I was a moderator on the forum for a while. It's evolved and moved on, though, as the ownership demographic has changed. Still a few of the old guard about, some of whom are on their third or fourth RX-8 now...

Just looked at your profile, and I remember you. Nice car you have there

[Harji]

otolith said:

Fastdruid said:

Best not consider a s2000, 350Z or M3 then

http://honda-tech.com/showthread.php?t=3002123
http://www.350z-uk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&am...
http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4773...

Or an RS4.

or a Golg GTI 1.8T, definatly used more than my current R3 RX8

[tallandy]

Excellent Lap there but.. wear a helmet only takes someone else's oil. Could save your life!

[Harji]

Kong said:

The only problem with the RX8 is the MPG in my view, it really is dreadful for an everyday car but its not special enough for a weekend toy.

That said they are great cars. Reliable, fast, hugely practical, nice interior, cheap to buy and the best ride and handling in it's class by a long way.

Agree, although practical (I've had four people plus a suitcase type run), if you are going to use it as an everyday car its a pain in the ass. The MPG plummets in town (but is not bad when hitting that red-line), but also the car , I feel is "lumpy" in town, in the few times I do drive it in town.

But i bought mine knowing that's not what I'm going to use it for. However if your everyday drive involves B-roads, there's not much better out there.

[jetpilot]

redgriff500 said:

Simply put not as special / pretty / fast as an RX7 yet has similar pitfalls.

To be fair, they arent much slower than a standard Rx7, however, because of the extra side exhaust ports to meet emissions they are notoriously difficult to extract any extra hp from, unlike the 7 which because of the turbo's, hp can be easily released!

Not as sexy i agree, although they do have an appeal.

I was seriously tempted to get an Rx8 this time round, but the lack of ability to relinquish some extra hp put me back in a 7. There is a company by the name of Turblown with a proven 400 rwhp (dyno) on a Rx8 by means of turbo kit and little else, however, i am not sure if there is any documentation of its lifespan, but it has been tried and tested!

[wolves_wanderer]

jetpilot said:

There is a company by the name of Turblown with a proven 400 rwhp (dyno) on a Rx8 by means of turbo kit and little else,

I can't think of a worse name for a company modifying RX8s

[jetpilot]

wolves_wanderer said:

can't think of a worse name for a company modifying RX8s

I agree, especially on the notorious rotary

[deadbeat]

The mpg is bad, but this is offset by the much lower purchase price than comparable cars. It's no good getting a car that does 21mpg around town as opposed to 17, if you've got to shell out an extra £5k. You'd be crazy to have one as your only car and do 15k a year in it, but I do about 7k and the numbers add up.

[jetpilot]

deadbeat said:

The mpg is bad, but this is offset by the much lower purchase price than comparable cars. It's no good getting a car that does 21mpg around town as opposed to 17, if you've got to shell out an extra £5k. You'd be crazy to have one as your only car and do 15k a year in it, but I do about 7k and the numbers add up.

You could also add to that, if you buy a good one, maybe with rebuilt engine and warranty, that they have done their depreciation and hit rock bottom and would you would be able to sell it for near what you bought it for a couple of years or so later! Where as alternatives would be loosing money in depreciation at a faster rate, so that extra fuel cost is compensated for.

[otolith]

STW2010 said:

Just looked at your profile, and I remember you. Nice car you have there

[Fastdruid]

WRT reliability the warranty direct pages make interesting reading.

Despite all the naysayers about the RX-8 *the* most unreliable engine would appear to be the MG TF 1.8 and Mazda overall sit 6th overall for the reliability index http://www.reliabilityindex.com/manufacturer and 3rd for 'engine' http://www.reliabilityindex.com/manufacturer/Engin...

The RX-8 has a reliability of '196' with an average fix cost of £608 http://www.reliabilityindex.com/reliability/search... , it's second to bottom out of the "coupe's" http://www.reliabilityindex.com/ratings/best/Coupe but the far and away winner is the Mercedes-Benz CL http://www.reliabilityindex.com/reliability/search...

The previously mentioned the Porsche Boxster is arguably worse http://www.reliabilityindex.com/reliability/search... although 1 point better reliability index an average fix cost of £828.

What's most interesting though is that despite all the talk of engine failures the stats say otherwise, over 50% (51.85%) of the RX-8 failures are electrical, only 11.11% are engine related and that what is arguably one of its closest competitors the 350Z *also* suffers from 50% (48.65%) electrical failures and only slightly better with 5.41% engine failures and an average £552 repair cost. The Boxster in comparison suffers 14.93% engine failures alongside that average £828 repair cost. Ouch.

I would hesitantly suggest that unlike most engines the rotary is binary, either its working or it fails. When/if it does fail it's not that expensive to replace either.

Still wish we didn't have to sell ours.

[e21Mark]

I used to have an Elford turbo RX7 back in the day and have loved rotary engines ever since.

[X5TUU]

I have previously owned 3 RX's and sincerely hope to god a hot compression test has been conducted by an RX specialist!

[seefarr]

I've known lots of people with rotaries - they're a lot more popular in Oz than here. Most people I know who had them said as long as you warm them up properly (and religiously) they'll be reliable. Treat it like a highly strung turbo engine!
Also on the upside, if it does blow, you can port it when you rebuild it to get the proper rotary idle.

[Porkie]

Nice article Dale! Enjoyed reading that. V interesting!

[CBR JGWRR]

So, they are just like small capacity two stroke motorcycles then,having a reputation for blowing up, but actually work really well if looked after?

Damn insurance premiums.

[RAClNG SNAKE]

Should we be calling it a three stroke?

[Fastdruid]

Technically its a no stroke!