Mazda RX-8

harveybobbles

I've nevber known a box to fail.

Only problems with the ST220 is flywheel and water pump

Woody._2

harveybobbles wrote: »

I've nevber known a box to fail.

Only problems with the ST220 is flywheel and water pump

Yeah sorry it was the flywheel and clutch now you mention it. Had about seven in as many months in one car as a result went back to Volvos.

cyclonebri1

vaio wrote: »

is this not a case of apples & oranges?

Seems strange to be comparing a turbine smooth high revving RWD sports car with a FWD fat arsed mondeo with a big engine

Why in hells name?, which is the fastest?, cheapest? and most economical to run both short term and long term???

Reliability, do I hear you say?, phah,

s_b

Woody. wrote: »

Yeah sorry it was the flywheel and clutch now you mention it. Had about seven in as many months in one car as a result went back to Volvos.

sounds more like driver error then

Paradigm

The guy who owns my local chippie has owned a RX8 for 3 years or so & has never had a problem with it. When he bought it he was "advised" by the dealer to keep a very close eye on oil/water levels &, while it's ok to stick to the official service schedule, they recommend that halving the oil change interval is worth while....

He loves it but says it does like a trip to the petrol station

bigjl

Woody. wrote: »

Yeah sorry it was the flywheel and clutch now you mention it. Had about seven in as many months in one car as a result went back to Volvos.

So what you are saying now is that you are traffic or a member of the intercept team, blah, blah

rikbar

OK, a lot of the usual RX8 assumptions and myths flying about here as would be expected.

I have owned my RX8 R3 for over 2 years now, and (touch wood) nothing as yet has gone wrong and the engine is not just on the edge of a rebuild.

Honestly I get about 15-20 MPG using it as a daily driver, it uses approx 1ltr of oil every 1500-2000 miles.

I have done 33000 miles in it and it has to be the most fun car I have driven for a long time, the weight distribution is excelent and the feel of the car on the road is quite amazing for the money you pay.

I have now bought a second car for my usual daily running around, as good as the RX8 is, because I dont want to spend time in a great driving car stuck in traffic or pootling about at 15mpg. I save the RX8 for when I can actually enjoy the things that make it truly great as compared to generic large volume production cars.

If well maintained the car will last for a good 100k+ miles and will give you a lot of smiles the problem is that there are a lot of cheap ones out there that have not been looked after and therefore will give issues in the future. A key issue is that the coils really only last approx 30K miles and failing to change these as soon as they start to go will end up in advanced engine wear and potential failure of cat or engine.

There are a number of warranty providors that will cover the RX8 in full, but they are specialists as the car is unique and therefore a simple one size fits all policy will not do. Mazda will also extend the manf warranty to 5 years for a cost, but this does give piece of mind.

If you are serious about looking at an RX8 please go to the forums on the RX8 owners club, they can give you honest advice about what it is like to own one, the costs and the pluses and minuses, also they can help you determine a good used car from the poorly maintained shed. This car is not a simple plug and play vehicle, it is very different from other cars, therefore you need to know what you are buying and its idiosynchrasies (sp?) but the rewards of driving one are worth it in my opinion.

The owners club will also help you find significant savings on the cost of oil (i pay around £3 per litre) and other service parts as well as being a great place to talk to other owners and find local meets for likeminded people.

I love my Rex, it is just so much fun to drive, I can't comment on the Modeo having never driven one, but have never seen anyone smiling in one as much as I do in the Rex

vaio

bigjl wrote: »

Obviously never driven a decent ST220 then.......

Nope, but I do regularly get stuck behind one on the way into work

s_b

rikbar if you break your own post down everything we have said you agree with
not maintained they blow up
bad on fuel
eat oil
its like a high maintenance, wife you either want one or you dont

guess my position:D

rikbar

Hey SB,

I see what you are saying, but any car not maintained will suffer some kind of failure, that is normal, but suggesting they need a rebuild every 40k miles is pushing the envelope a bit really

Bad on oil is a perception, most newer VAG's with turbos now use approx 1ltr ever couple of thousand miles too, so I would not really see this car as using excessive amounts, not when you compare it with engines of a similar power output.

Bad on fuel, there I agree, but then if you want a perfomance car does MPG really come anywhere near the top of a 'wish list'? Subaru's and other high performance cars return similar MPG figures, so comparably the Rex is not actually that much different.

Wife or car, if you want something that keeps a big big smile on your face, some times the maintenance cost is well worth it (especially if you can buy her the trinkets without paying the RRP, that's where the owners clubs comes into it's own)