madkeen73

Got my new RX8 last week and was kinds surprised to see it didn;t even come with an alarm! (I was too busy picking a colour and styling options to notice I think!) Now I'm thinking of getting one.

Does anyone have an RX8 factory fitted alarm? Is it any good? What does it do beyond the obvious woo-woo soundd when someone tries to pinch the car??

It would wanna be good as RRP is almost $850!!!

ta

takahashi

The factory alarm, or any alarm have lost any appeal to me.

I have an experience of my previous car that I fitted the best alarm available at the time with all these sensors interior and leveling sensors, siren is fitted with backup battery, etc. etc.

I parked in a multi level car park in the city opposite to the popular and well known drug dealing places. Had dinner for only one and a half hours. Going back to see the car was broken in, my radio was gone. They had cut the main wire and destroy and damaged the siren.

So I think alarm is overrated and unless in professional thug's hands. When we were there with the police there was a guy who looks like a druggie like person walking around. He was so badly dressed that he did not look like owning a car (well a later learnt that a Ferrari driver can look like that). He prob was coming back for my Recaro seat at the time.

Moral of story is -
1. Park somewhere safe and open to public all the time.
2. Alarm will only slow them but will not stop them.
3. Install nothing that can be stolen and leave nothing in the car!

Sorry I could not help.

But there is no additional immobilizer ability to the factory alarm, when they cut the main supply.

erx8s

Get your auto electrician to place a hidden engine cutout switch , inexpensive and effective

As Taka has stated if they want to get to your carthey will alarm or not .

Michael

Daisun

Is the stock engine immobiliser effective? I think in most cases the crooks are after whats in the car rather than the car itself. I guess there really isn't much you can do except take taka's advice...

Revolver

IMHO car alarms are a waste of money.

matt13b

Ive got the mazda alarm.It seems to be as good as any other alarm.the siren and horn both go off together.It's more a piece of mind.As the other guys said,if they want the car the pro thiefs will get it no matter what.Ive heard sonme amazing stories about cunning thieves taking cars.Did you know though,that if you press your lock button twice within 2 seconds when locking the car,it locks and then double locks the doors with some secondary deadlock.So if the thief breaks the window the door cannot be opened from the inside or outside so the thief will have to climb in through the window they just broke which is much more difficult.
To backup my alarm I have a clublock of course but I also got Datadots put on the car.Hope this helps..

Revolver

Yep, knew about the deadlock feature.

Whoa - alarm, data dots, clublock - where do you live? Baghdad?

WhiteRain

I have the factory alarm. Got it together with the 8 to minimise the pain on the wallet. And also so I'm ignorant on how much it actually added to the price.

I got it because I didn't want to carry a second plastic thing on my keyring to operate an aftermarket alarm - I like that the Mazda alarm is integrated into the key. Was the money worth it, probably not - but the convenience factor is pretty good. Also, a few hundred bucks on top of ~$55K at the time wasn't really noticeable

However, if I were to pick it up AFTER I got the car - I probably would of ended up with something cheaper - or maybe nothing at all.

Flashwing

I purchased my RX8 with the factory alarm. About the best solution I could find was to try and park the car in a location where I might hear the alarm.

If I was to change out the alarm system, I would purchase something with a 2 way pager. No one pays any attention to car alarms because they go off all the time. A 2 way paging system might provide some alerting to me to let me know something is happening.

Also, I've had a few friends who have mounted the sirens inside the cabin. While it cannot stop a thief, they will have some trouble stealing the car with the high amount of noise the siren generates going off next to their ear.

takahashi

Stock EVOlution 9 has a standard GPS tracking system, telling the company if there is any break in or driven over 200m (stolen). Subrscription is just over $1 per day. If there is any raise of alarm, they can contact police straight away.

Revolver

I get that. I'd rather just put that $$ towards my insurance costs and forget about it - if it gets pinched, I just get another one.

nugsdad

The factory alarm is on special at Eagers Mazda brisbane at the moment, for $230. Ask for Conrad in the service dept he is always very helpful.

madkeen73

thanks for the Mazda Eagers tip! Would you believe I just had my MX5 serviced there and saw the 'RX8 alarm special' sign. It's $299...seems like a good deal. I'll ponder it!

ta again