I searched for this topic but couldn't find any UPDATED material on it. How much is the extended warranty going for and is it worth it?

 

When I bought my car, I inquired into the vehicle service contract and was quoted 3000 for a 7/100 StatedCare warranty. YIKES! (You can check mazdausa.com for details on that particular coverage---it is the second highest coverage next to TotalCare, which covers completely everything bumper-to-bumper, with exception to regular wear parts like clutch, breakpads and such).

The dealer disclosed to me his cost, which was 2510, but I think he probably has another book that has the real prices.

Anyway I dealt it down to 2200 (not bad but I wouldn't doubt that they still made a profit)..

FYI, the RX-8 was shown to be at the TOP of the pricing/risk scale for warranty service (Lvl 9 out of 9), about 4x's as expensive as say a Protege' which was at Level 1 on the table the finance manager showed me in his '2004 MazdaWarranty Pricing Guide'). The dealer cost for it was 780 for the same extended warranty.


One thing you should know is that Mazda's extended warranties are through Mazda, and not a third party or aftermarket warranty. There is a huge legal thing going on right now from an off-shore company which had their policies sold through hundreds of dealerships. They filed for bankruptcy and pretty much screwed the thousands of policy owners. This is true, I actually read about it before I bought my warranty, and it was something I was going to bring up with the finance manager but he told me up front about Mazda's backing (I guess it's a selling point).

So I felt it was worth it, for the extra peace of mind for my car and warranty investment. But I shudder to think I was taken for a fool.. 2200 bucks is, IMO, very VERY expensive for a typical warranty, but then again, the RX-8 isn't a typical car, so I accepted it.

One other thing-- the policy can be cancelled with a pro-rated refund, or transferred to a new owner if you sell your car, however there might be a fee involved.

 

Mazda took a BATH on the warranties on the 3rd gen, as did the extended warranty companies. That history is still in their mind, and is probably why the rates are high for the '8. But, I think Mazda learned a lot from the 3rd gen (and also drastically improved upon it in later years in Japan) and the '8 will likely be a much more solid and reliable car.

I think you'll see a few minor bugs for the first year of production, but it looks like Mazda is REALLY keeping on top of any problems with the car, and doing quite a lot to remedy them.

The 1st and 2nd gen were known for being INCREDIBLY reliable cars, BTW.

Dale

 

I am waiting until about 20,000 miles to see if I have any problems. I had a 96 MX-6 and had an extended warranty. I was one of the few driver who used it plus some. Mazda is known to have some reliability problems. The Rx-7 was terrible, I am hoping that the 8 is better.

 

I've been looking over some of the warranty's from places online... Many of them won't even cover the RX8 Has anyone found a place that will cover the clutch? Why don't they cover it (this is my first manual after 10 yrs of driving...)? How much does it cost to replace normally? I'm looking to get a 7-yr, lowest # of miles I can find (since it's only getting driven on the weekends and maybe once during the week). Which warranty do you all recommend?

 

I got a 7 year/100,000 mile extended warranty for right around $2000. It wasn't through Mazda, but a third party the dealer suggested. As mentioned before, Mazda's extended warranty is pretty pricey since the car is brand spanking new. The one I got is just as good, but for less.

 

Does it cover everything on the clutch as well as things like the alternator?