Hi all,

I'm EJ & I have loved the RX8 since I first saw one. (a friend owned one years ago.)
I have been looking for a long time, & doing as much research as I possibly could before biting the bullet.
I wanted to be prepared - not go in blind.
When I was ready to shop for one, I'd find one I liked, or something I liked less but still liked, & before I could ever get to them, they always sold.

I specifically wanted a red or black exterior / red & black interior -Shinka Special Edition - and I finally found the one.
Mine is a 2005 Shinka Special Edition - 72k miles. Velocity Mica Red, no mods, all stock. Red & Black interior.

I'm super proud of it. I'm sure you can all understand that feeling.

Attached some pictures below, Nothing fancy, just wanted to show it off & introduce myself.
I'll probably be pretty active on here while I go through the process of fixing her up.
She's gonna need some work & I'm 1000% okay with it.
I finally found the one.

EDIT - I'm not familiar with how car models & VIN's work, but the VIN ran as a Shinka, if it is wrong, oh whale, I love it anyway.

 

Grab your favorite drink and have a read a rx8help.com, contains lots of useful info.
Do a rotary compression test if you haven't.

 

Welcome aboard! Definitely catch up on RX8help.com to plan our your next steps. Nice find though, looks in decent shape.
Also, I hate to be *that guy*, but whoever sold you the car should not have claimed its a Shinka. 05 Shinkas did not come in that red or with that interior theme, its a regular GT. But, it does not super matter anyway, the Shinka is not a significant change from a GT, nothing you would notice.

 

Welcome!! Your 8 appears to be in very nice condition! Do you know any of the car's history?

Unfortunately as stated above, you were misled into thinking it is a Shinka. Its a standard GT trim level and I see the accessory fender strakes. I prefer the standard GT over the Shinka to be honest. Mostly because of the sand colored interior really.

Either way, would love to see pictures of the interior!

 

grats but yep its no shinka. iirc the 05 shinka only came in bcm and had parchment interior

 

They didn't call it a Shinka. The VIN# said it's a Shinka. I don't know. Either way, I'm hype! Idc which one it is, I love this car.

The history was pretty good. Two owners, no accidents, well kept engine, no rebuild, which means it's gonna be on me I'm sure sometime soon, but I pre-planned for that. Ik that's a common theme with these cars.

The only issue I found was a recall on the fuel pump from 2017, but I already made an appointment with Mazda to have it fixed. A few dents & scratches, but nothing serious.

The interior needs a solid scrubbing/vacuumuing & the drivers seat is ripped, but everything else is spot on. I'm soooo happy.

 

Wow we're in the same boat LMAO
Even got them on the same day

Your car seems in very good condition :^)

 

Weird the VIN is coming up as "Shinka" as it is not one. The Shinka wasnt anything special anyways. I believe the only major upgrade was the shocks, everything else was just cosmetic. Looks nice though, get Mazda to compression test it for you while its in.

 

Looks very nice, and welcome! I'm only a little over a year into ownership, certainly spent many hours early on doing the reading and am still doing so. Good luck with it!

You do know that red cars are stopped at a much higher rate than boring grey ones like mine, right?

 

Haters yo. Why not just both then?

 

I've had a few red cars, tend to like certain reds a lot. The RX8 red is pretty awesome, I'd love to have one.

 

Right? I don't know way it came up that way, but between you guys & my dad, it clearly wasn't much of a difference.

No biggie! The dealership just fixed a fuel pump recall that previous owner did not fix. Will have them do compression test once it's not 20 degrees outside. Haha

 

So far nothing major!

 

Haha!

Y'alls cars are beautiful.
Mine's currently flooded & needs a tune up, but she's getting there.

It really was a toss-up between the red & black.
I couldn't pass on the red though xD