Hey everybody,

I'm about to buy a 2006 RX-8 for $5000 and I have some questions. First of all, I have done my research and I do understand the oil argument and all of the maintenance required to maintain the car. I love to work on cars and anything that could go bad with this one I could fix myself or have someone else rebuild the engine. However, I do have some specific questions about the one I am buying.

1) The car has a rebuilt title. After getting the vin from the seller, I did some research and found out that in 2010 the car was deemed a total loss but then two months later was inspected and certified by the state of Arkansas to be "rebuilt". The woman I am buying it from says that her sister had it before her and that it ran great and did not know it was rebuilt when she bought it. The woman who is selling it also said she has had no problems with it and that they had taken it on a 150 mile trip to somewhere with no problem. The woman also says she has only put 300 miles on it in the past 6 months. The battery was also replaced about 5 months ago. I guess what I'm asking is, should i be concerned and am i getting ripped off? The car drove extremely well when I had it out and it felt like it had a nice umph to it. I have done research on common problems with the car and can look at things like the ssv, catalytic converter, and the starting of the engine when it is cold and hot. I also asked her if she would get a pressure test and she said yes, but the place she took it to was not a rotary shop and they were completely incompetent when they ran the test. The mechanic told me there was "70 psi" in both of the rotors, which from what I have read means absolutely nothing.

2) If i do buy the car, there are a few cosmetic problems with it. The rear bumper has a large scratch in it and I would need to replace the entire bumper. Also, the passenger dash is completely(literally completely) shattered but the pieces are still holding together. All in all, I just am curious if this is a good/bad deal. I used KBB and the price came to about 4300 for the car in its condition, but honestly there are not any other RX-8's that are in better shape or cheaper. I just was curious what you guys think, thank you!

Josh

 

Also, i just wanted to add that the rebuild happened in 2010 when the car was at 56,036 miles and it is now at 89,000 miles. I tried to get in contact with the insurance company that covered the car at the time but their offices are closed. :/ i guess i will try tomorrow and update as soon as i can.

 

Do not buy this car at that price.

A rebuilt title and a lack of ACTUAL compression test data are huge alarms. A rotary could be just beginning it's downhill slide and still idle hot and start hot just fine.

Get REAL compression numbers from a dealership or experienced rotary mechanic. Alternately, buy or build your own compression tester.

If the compression is genuinely good, have it taken to a reputable shop of your choosing and get it inspected on YOUR DIME. Just because it hasn't broken down for them doesn't mean it won't fold in half in an accident because of crappy repair jobs.

If everything checks out, I'd pitch them $4500 and tell them that's over KBB. If they balk, walk away.

 

Thanks for the reply @NotAPreppie
How accurate would my own pressure testing be and what tools would I need to do it?

 

Just want to confirm what notapreppie said, take his advice and get a compression test done on any rx8 you buy that doesnt have a recent one in hand.

I literally just bought mine last week and since I listened to this forum, I called the seller told them I would not buy unless I could get a compression test done. It took some back and forth, and I will be honest, they were a bit hesitant. But, finally they let me gave me the go ahead and I called mazda and schedualed a compression test and then told the seller the time.

Long story short one of the rotors was a little low, and I used it as a big leaverage to get the price down.

Also, 5 grand for a porsche that was a total loss with a rebuilt title is a rip off let alone a 10 year old mazda.

Shop around the blue book on them is about 4 and some change in great condition.. yes no one will sell you a great condition one for 4k unless they have a drug problem... but still use it as leverage.

Personally I would never buy a rebuilt title unless I was dragging /racing the vehicle... thats your call.

5k is steap... shop around or haggle... but dont skip the compression test on any one you end up buying or just consider adding 5k to your purchase for the engine replacement.

Good luck.

 

On a side note, mazda charges about 90 minutes shop time and will quote you it will take 90 minutes to 2 hours.

Mine came to 180$ in DC and it took 30 minutes... also tell them your intentions are to buy the vehical and ask them to include a free whatever number point inspection the shop does. My local shop gave me a bunch of free advice on other things to keep in mind. It was worth the cost to allow me to make a confidant informed buying decision on the car I bought.

 

You are already on your way to a good start.
Thank you for doing your research ahead of time :-) kudos for that

from my past experience, I bought a rebuilt car, when it got stolen insurance barely gave me anything cuz to them the car had no value. Their justification was; when the car was totalled previous insurer paid the full price and the owner had the option to ditch this car yet, they rebuilt it knowing this car had no value at that point..

Also, compression test is very critical, hot starts are hit and miss. A new uprated starter can mask low compression and hot issues symptoms for some time.

If you have not driven a rotary powered car before then don't based your decision based on how the drive feels :-) trust me on this. These engines can still run smooth and strong while on their way out.

Research, take your time, and all the best :-)

With all those damages you listed above + rebuilt tittle = steer clear for me

 

I gave you two links in my post. One to a commercial product. The other to one I built using the same data acquisition hardware and software (though the pressure transducer is different and that is key).

I don't have any correlation data to say whether the tool I built matches up well with the Mazda unit. All I can say is that my engine failed compression test with Mazda's and my own tools. I'm re-installing my rebuilt engine this weekend, so I won't have good data for a while (it will take a bit for the seals to bed-in). I do plan on checking the compression weekly to track the bed-in process.

If you're handy with a soldering iron, the build process is pretty easy. If not, I recommend going with the commercial product. If TwistedRotors makes another production run of their TR-01, I'd go with that over the RotaryDiagnostics one but they're sold out right now.

 

Thank you guys for the input! So tomorrow I am going with my friend to have a final look and drive in it, and if everything goes well I do INTEND to buy it. Before I buy it, I AM going to have her meet me at a Mazda dealer with 3 certified rotary mechanics. I am going to have them go through their inspection of the entire car and a compression test which I am going to pay for. Hopefully if everything works out well, I can talk the price down to around $4500. I would be willing to put up $5000 for it if Mazda says everything is in good shape simply because an RX-8 for even $5000 in good condition is RARE in the "midsouth". This is only from what I have looked at and if anyone knows of a good place to find RX-8s for around $5-$6k I would really appreciate if you could help me out. Also, I was thinking if it had some minor things wrong with it that I could repair that the inspection would be a good way to get the price down. And finally I was just curious if anyone knows what is classified as good and bad compression levels, or anything in between. Once again, thank you all for the help!

 

Read the new and potential owners sticky found at the top of the new members forum. Scroll down to compression section to get your answers. And ensure that you read that entire thread to understand the rx8

 

The thing is, a salvage title means it isn't in good condition. It means it's been made up to look like it's in good condition.

 

the only downfall is, in the event of an accident or theft your insurer may not reimburse you a penny for the vehicle its upto their discretion.

Make sure you get the proper paper work for rebuilt work that was done after the car was totalled.
Have Mazda inspect the chassis, and all safety components as well. Ensure air bags are functional and the vehicle is safe to be taken on the streets.

Maybe your state may not have enough 8's for 5k range. Have you tried neighbouring states? I was willing to to California from Canada to pick up a car at a decent price not sure if that's your cup of tea.

 

I would be willing to if it were in say Dallas or Atlanta, but I haven't found any that I thought would be worth it. Also, when we went to drive it today the coolant light was on but the car drove fine. Now, I didn't get to see if it was just the part that measures it being messed up or if it was actually low. I plan on taking it to a Mazda dealer this week and having them do their whole pre-owned inspection.

Hope all goes well!

 

If you read the new member thread that I mentioned, you'll find a potential cause for the coolant light.
Read that thread. Don't play lip service to it.