RX8, Talk to me.
Discussion
How cheap are these now?
I have heard the legendary thirst for fuel, 20mpg if I'm lucky - acceptable. Their apparent thirst for oil - acceptable. Service history is vital and they fall to bits at 50,000 miles.
So, if I were after an early 231, what should I be wary of? What stops working, what needs attention?
Bear in mind I sold my Cerbera last year and am hankering after a 'toy' that the wife would drive, so rear drive and loads of grunt are not a problem.
Loads about at £2-3000, are these money pits waiting to happen or are they good value? Also, a small point, what is a year's road tax?
I have heard the legendary thirst for fuel, 20mpg if I'm lucky - acceptable. Their apparent thirst for oil - acceptable. Service history is vital and they fall to bits at 50,000 miles.
So, if I were after an early 231, what should I be wary of? What stops working, what needs attention?
Bear in mind I sold my Cerbera last year and am hankering after a 'toy' that the wife would drive, so rear drive and loads of grunt are not a problem.
Loads about at £2-3000, are these money pits waiting to happen or are they good value? Also, a small point, what is a year's road tax?
First of all get on uk rx8 owners club loads of info on there. This myth of them eating lads of oil is rubbish I have one I check it every second fuel stop mine hardly gone through any. 2-3k you might get a good one higher budget better for one with great compression. If I was you and you can afford it buy one with dud engine but good body work and get a rebuild 2.5kish and get it ported. This way you can rest assured engine is good for a long while. The problem with the rx8 is you never know how the previous owners have looked after them so like starting with a new car if you go down the engine rebuild route.But if you don't want to go down that route try get the best you can for the money you have but any car you go see get a compression test its an absolute must with these cars. The compression figures should be high 7/8 anything lower then 6.8 a fail. Road tax pre 06 200 ish for the year 06 on 400 for the year. The mpg is never going to be great but porting the engine helps lots of people on rx8 club had it done. If you need any more help from me feel free to pm me 
Edited by lycara on Monday 28th January 12:23
lycara said:
Road tax pre 06 200 ish for the year 06 on 400 for the year. The mpg is never going to be great but porting the engine helps lots of people on rx8 club had it done. If you need any more help from me feel free to pm me
Road tax for a pre 06 car is £270 and for after is £475.
The lowest mpg I have achieved is 14mpg which equates to about 120 miles out of the full tank of petrol. I can normally get around 200 miles from each tank of petrol. Thankfully it runs on normal 95 ron petrol.
I've been looking at £1500 RX8's on ebay and all seem to be legit and have been considering one over the BMW 330CI I have my eye on. It's just the horror stories that put me off.
From what I can tell as long as it has been warmed up properly and THEN shut down they are fine. BUT whenever I raise this question with the sellers I get a sort of 'Huh?' response! Making me think they have just come back from a 30 second car journey from the shops with a pint of milk. For the last 5 years, lol
Other alternatives I have considered are 350Z's and S2000's, The Honda is too small cockpit wise for me and the 350'Zs might be a bit out of budget as the sub 5K ones probably require some work.
So the RX8 LOOKS amazing for the price, but I'm scared it will blow up a day later. Is there any way to check if it has any problems when viewing one???
From what I can tell as long as it has been warmed up properly and THEN shut down they are fine. BUT whenever I raise this question with the sellers I get a sort of 'Huh?' response! Making me think they have just come back from a 30 second car journey from the shops with a pint of milk. For the last 5 years, lol
Other alternatives I have considered are 350Z's and S2000's, The Honda is too small cockpit wise for me and the 350'Zs might be a bit out of budget as the sub 5K ones probably require some work.
So the RX8 LOOKS amazing for the price, but I'm scared it will blow up a day later. Is there any way to check if it has any problems when viewing one???
Right! I own an RX8. Mine has just gone on me due to compression, only had it 4 months but hey ho, my own fault in a way.
First let me get rid of some of the typical idiotic stereotypes;
They dont drink oil. On average, they use 500ml-800ml per 1000 miles. Mine was using about 700ml. Please, you SHOULD use 10w-40 SEMI SYNTHETIC OIL. originally they were using 5w-30, but 10w-40 was adopted for the series 2 RX8's and was much better for the engine.
So for example, you can buy Castrol Magnatec 10w-40 oil 4lt for £18. Depending on your millage and how much the car uses thats between 8,000 and 5,000 miles. Not bad to say the usual non-owner mob sprout it drinks £40 a month eh? Fuel economy? None. its about 18mph urban, 22mpg motorway. I squeezed 307miles on a full tank before I dared go any more.
CHECK YOUR OIL, EVERY 3RD TOP UP OF PETROL. Always do that.
Onto the engine. If your buying one, please do get a compression test. I didnt, and its bit me in the arse. But on the plus side, I do have the rarest model you will ever find.
Best option is to buy a non-runner. Give it a visual check for these things;
Rust on the rear brake light
Rust on the rear wheel arch
Rust where the rear door opens
Check drop links, as they are common to go at some stage
Naturally check bodywork for dings and so forth.
Common faults;
Xenon headlight leveling unit failure- very expensive, only on 231 models
Coolant level sensor- Sometimes the sensor goes dodgy, its best part of £150 to fix, so best thing is to just manually check.
Check the hot starting. Start the car up, leave it for 10-15 minuets running. Turn it off, wait a minuet, turn it back on if it starts straight away, turn it off again, wait 2-3 minuets, then turn it back on. if it struggles; low compression.
Now, low compression is a good think in many ways! If you buy a £1000, you can get a FULL 1 year warranty rebuild for £2250. If you add £250 you can get an engine port giving you better low range torque and a more horses at the wheels. Combine that with a remap.... and its miles better.I do suggest you goto rx8ownersclub.co.uk im apart of it, great community and always meeting for trackdays and club meets, full club members get very good discounts on everything.
I would get a 231 model, always fully loaded with the heated leather seats which are gorgeous, 6-speed gearbox and there is the optional sat nav, but thats not on every 231.
One thing you MUST check, is that the Spark Plugs, Coil Packs and Leads are changed every 30,000 miles. If theyre dodgy, they would have a white spot underneath the coil packs. Dont buy cheap ebay coils, buy from proper mazda websites like mazdarotaryparts for genuine items, non genuine copies damage the engine.
The best way is to buy a broken one, make sure the bodywork is brill then pay £2500 for a full rebuild plus an engine port, so for £3500 you would have a superb handling chassis, a new engine with warranty and a wonderful car.
If you got any questions, then just ask me, but i do reccomend signing up to the rx8ownersclub.co.uk website, im on there under this name, and you can see what guys like myself have modified and you can see faqs, tech guides and every question you have you can get answered.
-Andrew
First let me get rid of some of the typical idiotic stereotypes;
They dont drink oil. On average, they use 500ml-800ml per 1000 miles. Mine was using about 700ml. Please, you SHOULD use 10w-40 SEMI SYNTHETIC OIL. originally they were using 5w-30, but 10w-40 was adopted for the series 2 RX8's and was much better for the engine.
So for example, you can buy Castrol Magnatec 10w-40 oil 4lt for £18. Depending on your millage and how much the car uses thats between 8,000 and 5,000 miles. Not bad to say the usual non-owner mob sprout it drinks £40 a month eh? Fuel economy? None. its about 18mph urban, 22mpg motorway. I squeezed 307miles on a full tank before I dared go any more.
CHECK YOUR OIL, EVERY 3RD TOP UP OF PETROL. Always do that.
Onto the engine. If your buying one, please do get a compression test. I didnt, and its bit me in the arse. But on the plus side, I do have the rarest model you will ever find.
Best option is to buy a non-runner. Give it a visual check for these things;
Rust on the rear brake light
Rust on the rear wheel arch
Rust where the rear door opens
Check drop links, as they are common to go at some stage
Naturally check bodywork for dings and so forth.
Common faults;
Xenon headlight leveling unit failure- very expensive, only on 231 models
Coolant level sensor- Sometimes the sensor goes dodgy, its best part of £150 to fix, so best thing is to just manually check.
Check the hot starting. Start the car up, leave it for 10-15 minuets running. Turn it off, wait a minuet, turn it back on if it starts straight away, turn it off again, wait 2-3 minuets, then turn it back on. if it struggles; low compression.
Now, low compression is a good think in many ways! If you buy a £1000, you can get a FULL 1 year warranty rebuild for £2250. If you add £250 you can get an engine port giving you better low range torque and a more horses at the wheels. Combine that with a remap.... and its miles better.I do suggest you goto rx8ownersclub.co.uk im apart of it, great community and always meeting for trackdays and club meets, full club members get very good discounts on everything.
I would get a 231 model, always fully loaded with the heated leather seats which are gorgeous, 6-speed gearbox and there is the optional sat nav, but thats not on every 231.
One thing you MUST check, is that the Spark Plugs, Coil Packs and Leads are changed every 30,000 miles. If theyre dodgy, they would have a white spot underneath the coil packs. Dont buy cheap ebay coils, buy from proper mazda websites like mazdarotaryparts for genuine items, non genuine copies damage the engine.
The best way is to buy a broken one, make sure the bodywork is brill then pay £2500 for a full rebuild plus an engine port, so for £3500 you would have a superb handling chassis, a new engine with warranty and a wonderful car.
If you got any questions, then just ask me, but i do reccomend signing up to the rx8ownersclub.co.uk website, im on there under this name, and you can see what guys like myself have modified and you can see faqs, tech guides and every question you have you can get answered.
-Andrew
And to whet your appetite, Ive got a Phantom Blue 231 Evolve model, only 100 of these ever made in Phantom Blue, 400 were made in copper white. They come with half leather and alcantra suede creme interior. Only mods I did was put the manufacturer aero kit on,tints, put some AD08 Yokohoma semi slick tyres and a proper exhaust on her;
Every car has good and bad, if you do it the right way with the RX8, you will have many years of happy, faultless driving.
Every car has good and bad, if you do it the right way with the RX8, you will have many years of happy, faultless driving.
The prices are on the floor because they are thirsty and the engines are prone to failure even if looked after. They drive better than an S2000 or 350Z in my opinion (although not as fast) and if you pay a decent amount for one with a rebuilt engine you will be OK. If you are looking to pay £1500 (bottom of the market for a runner) it will cost you probably twice that to fix it.
Darren156 said:
That's the trouble, all of that sound like way too much hassle over buying a different car without those kinds of troubles.
Buying a non runner, fixing it with one year warranty, rotary revs do extended warrantys too, meaning youve got a fail proof engine is too much hassle as opposed to blindly buying another car? Really? Show me what car for 3.25k you can get 2nd hand with a failproof warranty.
lilwashu said:
The prices are on the floor because they are thirsty and the engines are prone to failure even if looked after. They drive better than an S2000 or 350Z in my opinion (although not as fast) and if you pay a decent amount for one with a rebuilt engine you will be OK. If you are looking to pay £1500 (bottom of the market for a runner) it will cost you probably twice that to fix it.
No the engines arent prone to failure, its bull. some cars have done 80k and still going strong. one rx8 in amerca has done 150k on its first engine.The way i see it, is If i have to spend 2.5k on a ported rebuild every 6-7 years, on a 25k car i bought for 1k-3k, spend 200 on a 3 year warranty, how can you go wrong? look at how much parts are for other cars; S2000 mechanical problems, 350z, boxter engine rebuild is 14k.
Yet the rx8 is 2250 without a port. no second hand car comes with that guarantee on the market.
fernandofan2008 said:
No the engines arent prone to failure, its bull. some cars have done 80k and still going strong. one rx8 in amerca has done 150k on its first engine.
Sorry but they ARE prone to failure (FYI I have owned two RX-8s, one with 25K miles at 2 years old which was on its way out). "Some cars have done 80k" etc etc is a worthless observation as there is clearly not a 100% failure rate.Also, what "guarantee" are you talking about? Rebuild costs vary greatly depending on what is broken.
fernandofan2008 said:
Right! I own an RX8. Mine has just gone on me due to compression, only had it 4 months but hey ho, my own fault in a way.
First let me get rid of some of the typical idiotic stereotypes;
They dont drink oil. On average, they use 500ml-800ml per 1000 miles. Mine was using about 700ml. Please, you SHOULD use 10w-40 SEMI SYNTHETIC OIL. originally they were using 5w-30, but 10w-40 was adopted for the series 2 RX8's and was much better for the engine.
So for example, you can buy Castrol Magnatec 10w-40 oil 4lt for £18. Depending on your millage and how much the car uses thats between 8,000 and 5,000 miles. Not bad to say the usual non-owner mob sprout it drinks £40 a month eh? Fuel economy? None. its about 18mph urban, 22mpg motorway. I squeezed 307miles on a full tank before I dared go any more.
CHECK YOUR OIL, EVERY 3RD TOP UP OF PETROL. Always do that.
Onto the engine. If your buying one, please do get a compression test. I didnt, and its bit me in the arse. But on the plus side, I do have the rarest model you will ever find.
Best option is to buy a non-runner. Give it a visual check for these things;
Rust on the rear brake light
Rust on the rear wheel arch
Rust where the rear door opens
Check drop links, as they are common to go at some stage
Naturally check bodywork for dings and so forth.
Common faults;
Xenon headlight leveling unit failure- very expensive, only on 231 models
Coolant level sensor- Sometimes the sensor goes dodgy, its best part of £150 to fix, so best thing is to just manually check.
Check the hot starting. Start the car up, leave it for 10-15 minuets running. Turn it off, wait a minuet, turn it back on if it starts straight away, turn it off again, wait 2-3 minuets, then turn it back on. if it struggles; low compression.
Now, low compression is a good think in many ways! If you buy a £1000, you can get a FULL 1 year warranty rebuild for £2250. If you add £250 you can get an engine port giving you better low range torque and a more horses at the wheels. Combine that with a remap.... and its miles better.I do suggest you goto rx8ownersclub.co.uk im apart of it, great community and always meeting for trackdays and club meets, full club members get very good discounts on everything.
I would get a 231 model, always fully loaded with the heated leather seats which are gorgeous, 6-speed gearbox and there is the optional sat nav, but thats not on every 231.
One thing you MUST check, is that the Spark Plugs, Coil Packs and Leads are changed every 30,000 miles. If theyre dodgy, they would have a white spot underneath the coil packs. Dont buy cheap ebay coils, buy from proper mazda websites like mazdarotaryparts for genuine items, non genuine copies damage the engine.
The best way is to buy a broken one, make sure the bodywork is brill then pay £2500 for a full rebuild plus an engine port, so for £3500 you would have a superb handling chassis, a new engine with warranty and a wonderful car.
If you got any questions, then just ask me, but i do reccomend signing up to the rx8ownersclub.co.uk website, im on there under this name, and you can see what guys like myself have modified and you can see faqs, tech guides and every question you have you can get answered.
-Andrew
Thanks for that mate! Excellent advice and just what I was looking for. To those of you slating the RX8 because of engine problems,etc, remember I'm coming from a TVR! This won't be my only transport, it will be a 'toy'. ?I reckon if it does 5000 miles a year it will be good.First let me get rid of some of the typical idiotic stereotypes;
They dont drink oil. On average, they use 500ml-800ml per 1000 miles. Mine was using about 700ml. Please, you SHOULD use 10w-40 SEMI SYNTHETIC OIL. originally they were using 5w-30, but 10w-40 was adopted for the series 2 RX8's and was much better for the engine.
So for example, you can buy Castrol Magnatec 10w-40 oil 4lt for £18. Depending on your millage and how much the car uses thats between 8,000 and 5,000 miles. Not bad to say the usual non-owner mob sprout it drinks £40 a month eh? Fuel economy? None. its about 18mph urban, 22mpg motorway. I squeezed 307miles on a full tank before I dared go any more.
CHECK YOUR OIL, EVERY 3RD TOP UP OF PETROL. Always do that.
Onto the engine. If your buying one, please do get a compression test. I didnt, and its bit me in the arse. But on the plus side, I do have the rarest model you will ever find.
Best option is to buy a non-runner. Give it a visual check for these things;
Rust on the rear brake light
Rust on the rear wheel arch
Rust where the rear door opens
Check drop links, as they are common to go at some stage
Naturally check bodywork for dings and so forth.
Common faults;
Xenon headlight leveling unit failure- very expensive, only on 231 models
Coolant level sensor- Sometimes the sensor goes dodgy, its best part of £150 to fix, so best thing is to just manually check.
Check the hot starting. Start the car up, leave it for 10-15 minuets running. Turn it off, wait a minuet, turn it back on if it starts straight away, turn it off again, wait 2-3 minuets, then turn it back on. if it struggles; low compression.
Now, low compression is a good think in many ways! If you buy a £1000, you can get a FULL 1 year warranty rebuild for £2250. If you add £250 you can get an engine port giving you better low range torque and a more horses at the wheels. Combine that with a remap.... and its miles better.I do suggest you goto rx8ownersclub.co.uk im apart of it, great community and always meeting for trackdays and club meets, full club members get very good discounts on everything.
I would get a 231 model, always fully loaded with the heated leather seats which are gorgeous, 6-speed gearbox and there is the optional sat nav, but thats not on every 231.
One thing you MUST check, is that the Spark Plugs, Coil Packs and Leads are changed every 30,000 miles. If theyre dodgy, they would have a white spot underneath the coil packs. Dont buy cheap ebay coils, buy from proper mazda websites like mazdarotaryparts for genuine items, non genuine copies damage the engine.
The best way is to buy a broken one, make sure the bodywork is brill then pay £2500 for a full rebuild plus an engine port, so for £3500 you would have a superb handling chassis, a new engine with warranty and a wonderful car.
If you got any questions, then just ask me, but i do reccomend signing up to the rx8ownersclub.co.uk website, im on there under this name, and you can see what guys like myself have modified and you can see faqs, tech guides and every question you have you can get answered.
-Andrew
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