Hi all.

I am considering purchasing a 2005 RX-8 Shinka with 89,000 miles. I am not here to address my concerns with the Rx-8s reliability. I am asking if this is a wise buy and what maintenance would be necessary.

To the point:

I would be buying this car from my fiancés co worker. Test drove the 8 and was very impressed with the performance and ride. All in all the car rode amazing and had no creeks or rattles inside the cabin. On the exterior on each rear fenders there are small dings. One the size of a quarter and the other one is about 3 inches long. Has not started to rust but defiantly needs to be addressed.

During the "test drive" the only issues I ran in to was with the transmission. Getting in to third sometimes took a little bit of a fight (had the same issue with my 09 SI). During idle the car sputtered a little bit. This may be due to the "configuration" of an K&N SRI filter mounted on the factory intake.. He said it was a K & N typhoon kit but i personally doubt it. The oil pressure seemed high.. it was running about just below 3/4 of the way up the whole time...Normal? Lastly he mentioned that sometimes the car would have back fire during high RPM shifts. Again is this normal or is it indicating an issue?

Now with all that being said he has done normal maintenance to the vehicle but has not done any major tune ups or special attention to the motor aside from an ECU tune (no idea what type of tune or by who). O and the clutch and clutch lines were replaced 12k ago.

With that being said he is willing to put 1500 extra to any repairs that may be necessary. Since he works with my fiancé he is doing this only for me if I buy the car.

So what is the most effective way to spend 1500 dollars to address the transmission issue/ preventative maintenance?

Aside from the 1500 a compression test will be done (and paid for by him) before any major consideration will be done (original motor and transmission BTW).

All in all not taking the 1500 in to account I would be paying about 10k for this car ( I say about bc I will be trading him my current car and he will give me cash on top).

If you need more info let me know and I appriciate all of your input.

Thanks

 

Get the compression test results first and we'll take it from there. He's offering to invest $1500 in repairs because he knows it needs it.....and will likely have to do it in order to sell the car whether you buy it or not.

$10K seems high for this car. There have been really nice low mile 8s selling for not much more than the car you are interested in. Here's one for example:
https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8s-sale-w...culate-235725/

Here's another example; '08 24k miles, $11K:
https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-multime...es-rx8-235220/

Good luck, but I suggest you move cautiously.

 

https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-discuss...t-here-202454/