mogley

So i been lurking around here and read Dave's post about his coils being fried and his sage advice that younger drivers may take it up the backside sooner or later if the car decides to crap itself.

I really can't afford to drop benjamins into my 8, even though I love the thing to death.

I been reading a lot of tech threads and have concluded that the 8 is quite an unreliable car, i've had problems myself with the engine refusing to rev past a 7000 (although which has now disappeared) and with almost 50 000km's on the clock i'm starting to feel a little uneasy about the road ahead.

I mean, i can deal with a coil replacement, spark plug problems etc, I think the joy of ownership is worth the hip pocket hit but I'm a little concerned about complete engine failure.

That is one thing i cannot afford.

Don't get me wrong, i love the 8 and the rotary and there is really nothing else i would rather drive. It's such a pity that the thing is so unreliable.

It sucks even more being that I really am not in the financial position in my life to be 'upgrading'. The re-sell and subsequent loss from new rego/stamp duty etc means i won't get more than $35k tops. I can't buy anything sensible at that price. The 8 was sporty and sensible. That's why i love it. Maybe an s2k but that is way out of my price range.

It's either the 8, or sell-it and drive a run-around or keep the 8 and run the risk.

I'm leaning towards keeping her because i just washed, clayed and waxed her and she is driving and feeling like silk. But moreso, just because I can't afford the only other car i would want (s2k) and everything else is quite paltry in comparison.

Buying a run-around and just ditching the whole idea of sports car ownership is also a possibility but that is really a last resort. I have the rest of my life to drive a grocery getter.

Any of you guys ever thought about selling your 8 because it's unreliable?
Why did you keep it?
Or why did you sell it?
What would you replace it with?

Cromax

I was thinking of selling my 8 because it was starting to empty my wallet due to my student budget and increased petrol expenses (which have now died down a lot). My car has been very reliable though, so I wouldn't sell it because of that.

Lots of reasons. I started to like it. After owning it for a while you tend to grow attached to inanimate objects, which albeit unhealthy, is one reason. Another good reason is my girlfriend has the same car, and people think it's kinda cool we drive the same thing (Or at least we do)

I didn't

It will be replaced with a Jaguar unless Mazda bring out something decent when I'm looking at replacing it ... that said, I hope I can keep it until at least 2010.

mogley

lol me and my girlfriend both drive 8's too.

I agree with MissyK and how yes there are going to be a lot more people posting about negative experiences VS good ones. Likewise, there are probabaly just as many people who have stopped posting on these forums because they sold it due to problems.

I see so many 8's on the road, that i'm sure most go through their lives without crapping out. But to hear that Dave has had his coils go, and a lot of other regulars here on the forum whom are here for better or worse and aren't just coming to ask about CEL problems, which is sort of a counter-argument to the whole misrepresented proportion thing.

I think the 8 is a beautiful car, and the only thing i like about the s2k is that it is quite good looking, not so much as the 8 and if you get the drop-top its a bonus in the summer. I love to drive with my windows open cause i hate that driving in a bubble feeling.

Maybe i will stick a Mazdaspeed kit on it when my eyes start to tire of the stock look.

The s2k is a little out of my price range. $35k for a car with almost 90000 km is a little steep.

mogley

Blah she's a traitor. She wants to get the EVO X.
Good thing she is poor.

mogley

Yeah girls get away with everything.

Me: "Dad can i borrow laptop i need to do some study?"
Dad: "WTF use your own"
Me: "I REALLY need to study tonight"
Dad: "Isn't it time you moved out?"


Sister: "Dad can i borrow your laptop i need to do some study sad face pout pout"
Dad: "Sure honey, whatever you want, are you sure its not too heavy, here let me carry it to your car for you, oh wait take the cordless mouse too and here take some money and my car and everything else too just in case you need it! Study hard!"

Cromax

You're asking the wrong parent. Sons always have to ask their mothers, it's a tactical mistake to go ask your father first.

takahashi

Back to the topic.

Most dealers are lazy to crack it open that is why the engine is replaced.

I was told that you can dignosed which part of the car is failed by looking at the compression graph. Apex seal crack has a different pattern than the rotor one. Any how, all are opened and checked, replaced what is needed, even can polish and washed. Put it back together and have a new engine.....

Cromax

I think they're both equally as bad honey :P

RXP33D

I'm 21, 95 000km on my own. No engine hiccups at all.

I think it comes down to the way you drive it too. I always like to stretch its legs after sitting in traffic for an hour.

takahashi

Good attitude to life... oh I mean the above area I highlighted

mogley

I've always wondered about the wisdom of stretching the legs and the whole carbon buildup issue.

I redline from 1st to 2nd every now and then but feel like my secong gear is going to snap off everytime.

The car just feels like its gonna break down whatever i do.

Don't rev it and you run the risk of a faulty engine. (Or so they say)
Or rev it and risk your gearbox blowing up.

Should have got extended warranty.

Maybe i should get a motorbike instead and try my luck on two wheels.

RXP33D

211Nm of torque has no chance of destroying any gearbox. Unless you really try, like I did, lol, lucky it was still under warranty.

mdr

I was driving a 03 Mitsubishi GTV seriesII and it was a very reliable car, only had 65k on it and was nice all leather sun roof plenty of room etc...

I wanted an 8, and have wanted one since I first laid eyes on them.
After reading this and other forums I almost backed out of buying the 8, thinking man I don't want to trade a good reliable car for one that breaks down all the time, that floods and can't started and spends more time on the flat of the tow truck than me driving it.

But I then realized I had been digging for dirt, on the car and I found it, so I decided to start digging the forums for the good on the car.
Found lots of people that have 100K plus and even in the US threads people with 100K Miles on them and have had very little or no problems out of the car.

So I decided to jump in and get the car I have wanted for so long.
Now I am a new owner still so I can't really advise you on the over all reliability of it long term. But what I am getting at is don't go by just the negative post in these forums to make up your mind. There is an old saying, the squeaking wheel gets the grease, that is because it is the one making the noise. Same as the post on these forums the un-happy ones are the ones that post the most and scream the loudest so they tend to keep their post at the top of the forums.

Post about how good the car is seem to float to the bottom and next page pretty fast. But they are there if you search them out.

All I can really say for myself is, I love this car and my wife may have to bury me in it.

Maybe this will make you feel a little better about keeping her.
https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-discussion-3/another-100-000-mile-rx-8-road-124921/

mogley

I guess what i'm trying to get at is, ok the car isn't a lemon or a hunk of junk out of Eastern Europe. (I was in Prague recently. lol at the Skoda. Interesting to see what the Aussies think of it)

Anyway, the point is however that for a fairly expensive car that is meant to be a manufacturer's flagship, considering the price and it's competition, the car falls short in the reliability department.

It's just lucky that its other qualities are redeeming for most owners.

But from a reliability viewpoint alone, yes i agree it is easier to remember the bad days at work and how everytime you wash your car it seems to rain but i think its pretty well accepted that the 8 is far more problematic than its competitors (the s2k, the 350z).

Only time will tell whether it is enough of a nuisance to justify getting rid of the thing, although i guess the replies seem to suggest there is more light at the end of the tunnel than i first thought.

Cromax

I had an issue with Mitsubishi. My first car was an ex-executive Verada (I got an ex-executive one 'cos I paid cash for it, that and it was at "very very nice price") ...

... anyway my reason for my fear of buying another is my brakes failed completely in it due to a faulty brake booster which left the whole brake system with no pressure, which caused me to plow into a tree at a decent speed ... and I lost my beautiful black sedan

Anyway, a few weeks after the claim was made, I got a letter from mitsubishi stating that there was a mass recall on ALL mitsubishi magnas, veradas, GTO's etc. etc. that used the same system due to that problem! Long story short, insurance company gave me back my excess.

That ... and I had told Mitsubishi every service that the brakes weren't working properly. I just had my service before I had the accident and I complained about intermittent braking problems, where the brakes just wouldn't work.

Suffice it to say, I'll never buy another Mitsubishi again!

Cromax

I disagree... the car's in a market on its own really.

Speaking of unreliability, ever spoken to an owner of a Ferrari or an Aston Martin? They usually have a very nice way of putting a positive spin on their woes.

timbo

I'll chip in, FWIW

I was a pre-order RX-8 owner, bought on a 3 year lease, so decided not to keep it or to get another when the lease expired last year.

I think I enjoyed just about every minute of driving the car -- oh, there was the odd moment early prior to the first recall, when the oil light came on while motoring down the Hume. That was just an oil sensor issue. Apart from that, not a problem.

I would have bought another one had Mazda done a little development of the car over three years. They didn't need to do very much....probably something as simple as Bluetooth and iPod connection built in would have done.

It is one of the beautiful cars and represents such great value for money -- I said that when I bought mine, and I paid for a cloth pack what people pay for leather, Bose and sunroof today.

So people are finding the odd problem? Stands to reason, but it's nothing earth-shattering and no reason not to own the car.

I'd be tempted to buy another good one second hand, in the future. There's good (non-dealer) Mazda shops around, and the car is nothing less than a hoot to drive.

Revolver

I agree Timbo. There's still very little else for the price that has the same combination of handling and practicality in a good looking package.

I do think though that the car's development could have been more thorough before being released on the market (or Mazda more upfront about the car's engineering weaknesses and voluntarily paying for the various fixes the early cars have needed).

Hopefully, they have worked through these reliability problems and the later cars do not suffer the sort of problems some of us have endured.

Cromax

I don't see how you can say that! The majority of us have had trouble free motoring for 3+ years. The only problem I had personally was due to the incompitence of the mechanics at my dealership (but hey, what can I expect, aren't most tradies useless?).

The people who bought the RX8 in 2003 should have expected problems. Everyone knows you never buy the first release of something new, due to the fact that the product has never been tried and tested in the real world. So for those of us with cars built 2004 and after, we haven't had so many issues to worry about.

Furymax

I think you should sell it.

Then you can suffer like me - I miss my car everyday !!


FURY

takahashi

Try something else... and you will see how good it is