RE: Shed of the Week | Mazda RX-8
Discussion
Had a PZ one for nearly 3 years as the daily, did the school runs, commuting, the Ring twice and various other track days when my weekend car was not available.
Considering my other car was lighter and had 378 lb/ft of torque i never missed it in the rx8, it's a good gearbox and you drive on revs.
I put upgraded coils, leads and plugs on mine to make it reliable.
Most of the "230"bhp ones could never get out of the 190's on rolling road days, and the "192"bhp ones about 170 odd bhp.
Combination of over £500 tax, such poor fuel economy (which mattered when i went from 5k to 15k a year miles) and the major pain in the arse of not being able to use them on short trips meant it had to go.
Considering my other car was lighter and had 378 lb/ft of torque i never missed it in the rx8, it's a good gearbox and you drive on revs.
I put upgraded coils, leads and plugs on mine to make it reliable.
Most of the "230"bhp ones could never get out of the 190's on rolling road days, and the "192"bhp ones about 170 odd bhp.
Combination of over £500 tax, such poor fuel economy (which mattered when i went from 5k to 15k a year miles) and the major pain in the arse of not being able to use them on short trips meant it had to go.
Really enjoyed owning mine. Loved the engine and the handling. If I wanted another, I'd buy one in otherwise good nick with a knackered engine and get it rebuilt.
That thing Clarkson used to say, about old Alfas and petrolheads - same sort of thing holds true with wankels, in that you have to really love cars to put up with the fuel economy and engine longevity issues.
That thing Clarkson used to say, about old Alfas and petrolheads - same sort of thing holds true with wankels, in that you have to really love cars to put up with the fuel economy and engine longevity issues.
Probably one of the only PH Heroes to also be in Shed of the Week!
Owned my 2008 231 for about 2 years now and its given me very little trouble. New cat and some new spark plug HT leads and that's about it (aside from the recall work).
Tax is expensive on later ones but if you can afford to fuel a RX-8 you can afford to tax it.
Ignore anything about high oil usage (some use is normal) and try to get either a good chassis with a blown engine to rebuild or a complete car with a good compression test.
Brilliant cars; I was put off them for years but after test driving one I loved it. Hitting 9k RPM every journey does not get old
Owned my 2008 231 for about 2 years now and its given me very little trouble. New cat and some new spark plug HT leads and that's about it (aside from the recall work).
Tax is expensive on later ones but if you can afford to fuel a RX-8 you can afford to tax it.
Ignore anything about high oil usage (some use is normal) and try to get either a good chassis with a blown engine to rebuild or a complete car with a good compression test.
Brilliant cars; I was put off them for years but after test driving one I loved it. Hitting 9k RPM every journey does not get old
Ran a fully optioned 231 version for a few years... bought a pre-reg one from late 2007 when the market was already in free fall for these. IIRC it cost about £13K (list price for new one with the options was about £24K) so I thought it was now or never - where else could you buy a practically brand new car with such performance and engineering for that price? 3 years on sold for about 50% of what I paid - glad I didn't pay list !!!!
Loved the car - no problems in 3 years. Apart from the fuel consumption I tried to treat everything else as pub expert nonsense and in my case that philosophy worked. I never had any starting issues, it didn't use loads of oil, the 'low' torque figures meant absolutely nothing when driving such was the incredible smoothness of the engine (it was no problem to be often in a gear lower than normal)...
I know I was lucky - I had a good one.... and a Mazda warranty! I also don't doubt as the miles increased problems may have appeared. I am trying not to be too rose tinted specs here.
Fuel consumption WAS heavy and odd really - when trying to get a decent mileage out of a tank, inevitably this didn't work as you managed 17MPG... then occasionally it would surprise you with a 21MPG average for no reason... basically, you learned to just drive it and pay the price for that experience. Cost aside it was mainly inconvenient ... to know that despite a quarter tank you would invariably have to fill up, yet again, when you next took to the roads.
I drove mine across most of Europe, commuted in it and used it pretty much every day. I am so glad I owned one and even now I am tempted to use some advanced man-maths and justify one of the last R3s as a weekend toy - but I know I never will.
I think the biggest issue was strangely due to its excellent practicality (4 doors, 4 seats, decent boot) as a lot of them were bought by non-enthusiasts who would not have forgiven them anything. If was two doors and 2 seats I wonder what the market would make of them now?
This shed looks like great value - first thing I would do is get rid of the induction kit (put it back to standard) and put the front number plate back on in the correct place, but they are minor details really... sadly it does have cloth seats - the leather is so much nicer, but for this price who could complain.
Loved the car - no problems in 3 years. Apart from the fuel consumption I tried to treat everything else as pub expert nonsense and in my case that philosophy worked. I never had any starting issues, it didn't use loads of oil, the 'low' torque figures meant absolutely nothing when driving such was the incredible smoothness of the engine (it was no problem to be often in a gear lower than normal)...
I know I was lucky - I had a good one.... and a Mazda warranty! I also don't doubt as the miles increased problems may have appeared. I am trying not to be too rose tinted specs here.
Fuel consumption WAS heavy and odd really - when trying to get a decent mileage out of a tank, inevitably this didn't work as you managed 17MPG... then occasionally it would surprise you with a 21MPG average for no reason... basically, you learned to just drive it and pay the price for that experience. Cost aside it was mainly inconvenient ... to know that despite a quarter tank you would invariably have to fill up, yet again, when you next took to the roads.
I drove mine across most of Europe, commuted in it and used it pretty much every day. I am so glad I owned one and even now I am tempted to use some advanced man-maths and justify one of the last R3s as a weekend toy - but I know I never will.
I think the biggest issue was strangely due to its excellent practicality (4 doors, 4 seats, decent boot) as a lot of them were bought by non-enthusiasts who would not have forgiven them anything. If was two doors and 2 seats I wonder what the market would make of them now?
This shed looks like great value - first thing I would do is get rid of the induction kit (put it back to standard) and put the front number plate back on in the correct place, but they are minor details really... sadly it does have cloth seats - the leather is so much nicer, but for this price who could complain.
james_gt3rs said:
I just can't stomach the idea of paying that much for fuel for that performance.
It's a fair point - though you aren't paying that much fuel for performance, you are paying it for mechanical refinement, handling balance and rear legroom. I see you've got a GT86 - you've got the handling balance because you have a flat four mounted low and far back, like the rotary in the RX-8, and you've got good fuel economy. But how are you doing with the rear legroom and mechanical refinement? And on a similar note, there are a lot of diesels which will show the GT86 a clean pair of heels while using less fuel - but you have to tolerate a taxi engine. Straight line performance is not the only attribute we routinely trade off against economy, we make similar decisions when we decide we'd rather have a NA 6 than a turbo 4 or a petrol than a diesel or 4wd over 2wd or even a larger car over a smaller car, but for some reason people seldom see it that way with the RX-8.
otolith said:
But how are you doing with the rear legroom and mechanical refinement?
It's s
t 
otolith said:
And on a similar note, there are a lot of diesels which will show the GT86 a clean pair of heels while using less fuel - but you have to tolerate a taxi engine.
Don't care I'm having too much fun spinning away the miniscle power on the Prius tyresjames_gt3rs said:
otolith said:
But how are you doing with the rear legroom and mechanical refinement?
It's st otolith said:
And on a similar note, there are a lot of diesels which will show the GT86 a clean pair of heels while using less fuel - but you have to tolerate a taxi engine.
Don't care I'm having too much fun spinning away the miniscle power on the Prius tyresI thought the GT86 drove a lot like an RX-8, and was pretty much what it would have been with a piston engine. Different set of trade-offs.
I see lots of people mentioning 9k rpm a lot. I don't know how true it is but on the owners club when i had mine it was explained that the output shaft turned 3 times for every 1 full engine revolution, so that 9k rpm is only actually 3k rpm of the complete engine rotor.
Hoping someone can explain this better technically than my above efforts
james_gt3rs said:
otolith said:
Exactly!
I thought the GT86 drove a lot like an RX-8, and was pretty much what it would have been with a piston engine. Different set of trade-offs.
It's a pretty flawed car unfortunately, imagine if Honda had made one instead with the K20 - like a RWD Integra.I thought the GT86 drove a lot like an RX-8, and was pretty much what it would have been with a piston engine. Different set of trade-offs.
I worked at a Mazda dealership between 2006-2011 and drove lots of these.... cost free!
For me it was all about the engine. It was turbine-like, so free-revving up to 9k when a buzzer sounds telling you to change up, and with little or no harshness. Torque is very low and the engine needs to be worked, but it was quite an experience, even an occasion, as no engine feels like this! Biggest bugbear was flooding and not suited to short journeys. It needs to be driven and worked. We had many recovered to the dealership which had flooded - We could start them by towing and fix them with a plug clean.
I think anyone who is curious and wants a weekend driver should try one, make up their own mind. I'd go for the 231 6 speed. Is more driveable with a closer range gearbox which suits the engine and keeps it on the boil.
For me it was all about the engine. It was turbine-like, so free-revving up to 9k when a buzzer sounds telling you to change up, and with little or no harshness. Torque is very low and the engine needs to be worked, but it was quite an experience, even an occasion, as no engine feels like this! Biggest bugbear was flooding and not suited to short journeys. It needs to be driven and worked. We had many recovered to the dealership which had flooded - We could start them by towing and fix them with a plug clean.
I think anyone who is curious and wants a weekend driver should try one, make up their own mind. I'd go for the 231 6 speed. Is more driveable with a closer range gearbox which suits the engine and keeps it on the boil.
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