Hey, guys. I have been on and off this site for over a year I think... trying to decide whether or not to buy an RX-8 over an Audi A4. I have finally decided on the RX-8 because it's just so much fun to drive.

I currently have an MR2 Spyder which I love, but it's now paid off and I wanna use the money it's worth to put towards a car with 4 seats and a trunk before it depreciates too much.

Advice needed. Do I buy this one I saw at this delership today? I test drove it and it was awesome. Only prob, it's clutch seemed to not have the same distance of travel as the new one in the showroom. It drove perfectly and was fine, but is that clutch thing a problem?

Other problem- it has no navigation system. I really want one (I hate the aftermarket ones that attach to the windshield, etc) and the salesman said you can't have it added because it's a mechanical flip up one. But can't I have that entire center stack replaed with the navigation system?

Other than navi and the clutch, the car's my fave one. No spoiler, no chrome wheels, just black with all black leather. 6 speed manual and the leather was in great shape.

There's a 3 year/75K mile bumber to bumber warranty they add to the deal for free.

It's a 2004 with 20K miles and they are asking $21K. I wanna offer them around $18K because I know that the person that traded it in probably only got around $16K.

Also a concern- do you think this car was in an accident and sat around for a while? I am only asking because 7K miles a year sounds rather LOW.

I hear that I should be sure to do a carfax (duh) but definitely be sure that the recalls for the battery and starter were tajen care of.

Any advice would help!

Thanks!

 

carfax.

nav is what it is. you get it or dont.. the mr2 is a great car.. but the rx8 is more fun..

beers

 

hi - congrats on narrowing the choice to the 8.

My advice on the navigation thing - either accept the fact that you arent going to get the stock Nav or accept the fact you are going to go aftermarket nav. My advice is to NOT go for the stock Nav. Sure it looks sweet popping up out of the dash but the updates are few and far between and compared for the money you would spend to a dealer for one you could get something 100X better aftermarket. The stock nav in the 8 is pretty crappy I must say (relative to what else is out there)

The idea of telling a dealer to tear up two perfectly good car's dash units to get a stock nav into yours is silly (and they will laugh at you) Nav's in our truely are installed at the factory and you would spend an ungodly amount of money to do some kinda swap like that.

This is just my $0.02, i hope you find what you are looking for. I have a brilliant black 05 with black on black leather, no nav, 6 speed manual and it kicks ***.

 

Skip 04 and too much money for what they are offerign.

 

thnx toxin! I may get it even still.. if I cant buy the stock nav system and have it put in i may just go without it. the aftermarket ones, to me, are annoying because they stick to your windshield and you have to constantly keep taking it off and hiding when you leave the car so it doesnt get your car broken into.

car and driver:
why skip 2004?

 

I went though the same thing with the navi after i bought mine. Big regret. You'll find that there are some good setups you can get, and they really integrate pretty nicely. As for taking it off the windshield...eventually becomes second nature IMO.

Also, IMO, i would get at least an 05 for the fact that so many more of the TSB's were either done at the factory or were taken care of before production. Not that it's any less reliable, but better to come prepared then try and clean up the aftermath.

 

I wouldn't worry about the nav system. It was a 2K option if bought new and in my opinion was never worth it. A good portable one will do just as good and most times better then the one that comes with the car. You have the option to move it from car to car and don't have to worry about updates which mazda seems to have a hard time with (and costs $) doing.

I wouldn't be to worried about the low milage. I had my 8 almost 3 years and just turned 17K on it. It was never in the shop, other then for recall or tsb issues. It was a weekend/summer car and was garaged all winter. Many people use this car as a weekend driver ( it's not the most efficiant car for a daily driver) and you will find many 8's in the low milage range.

I think 21K is high for a 04 6mt. I have a local dealer selling an 04 GT with 16K on it, with nav for 18.5K. These cars do not hold thier value well and I wouldn't be surprised if the other owner only got in the 13K range for a trade.

As long as it's warrantied, your covered for 75K, which is great as it's better then the warranty that originally came with the car...

 

IMO, I think you might want to stick with AFTERMARKET in-dash NAV system.

You can add stock NAV system to the 8, but its a pain in the freaking *** process so I dont really think is worth it.

Get the HDD in dash NAV, and pay someone who KNOWS what they're doing to install them. cost about 3K in total. aftermarket NAV units got lots of feature that stock NAV system will never be able to offer.

21 K is way TOO HIGH for 04, I'll offer them 16K tops, take it or leave it. (think of it, u can get a brand new for like what , maybe 26 K fully loaded ?)

 

Unless you truly drive lots of places that you are unfamilar with, a factory Nav system is a $2000 waste - it doesn't really improve a car's resale, and you don't wind up using it much.

I bought one on my wife's Honda Odyssey - and we've really only used it maybe 20 times in close to 4 years of ownership for what it is truly designed for.

Meanwhile I have a portable GPS solution using my Dell Axim PDA and a small Delorme rechargeable Bluetooth GPS receiver. I don't even stick it to the windshield - just bought one of those "stickypad" things that you see in auto stores for setting your phone on and not having it slide around in your car. I set my unit on it, and when I need to look at it, I glance down at it on the console, or hold it in my hand. Both units slip into my pocket when not in use.

Much better solution.

Also, do a CarFax on the car, and to look for accident damage, look it over very carefully - you can spot paint work a mile away - there will be masking lines inside the fenders in the front and overspray on rubber seals, wrench marks on bolts holding the body panels on (doors, fenders, hood, decklid, etc.)

Also, $7k isn't that unusual if the guy doesn't drive it in the winter. Mine is a year-round daily driver and only gets 11,000 miles a year of use - I'm at 30K with almost 3 years in service.

Stew

 

Well, I don't know if this helps but I just picked up a 2004 RX8 GT everything but the navigation and rotary accent front and rear for $18.9k. The car has 8k miles on it and has been in no accidents . It seems you should be able to pick that one up for around $18k, also you can PM me with the vin and any other info on vehicle and I can let you know if its been in an accident. I have a few resources i can use for that.

 

as everyone has already said, low miles isn't a bad thing. i drive less than that right now so i wouldn't sweat that. as for the clutch, mention it to them and see what they say. if it's something that is wrong, see if they'll replace. you'll also want to have someone independant look at the whole car anyway so they can look at the clutch before you buy to make sure there isn't anything wrong. if there is, they should repair/replace before you even consider. and as you know, that price is out of control for an '04.

 

Congrats on choosing the 8 first and foremost =)

As for the navi in all honesty the navi is NOT that great i'm not sure where you live, but if you live in a nowhere small town like where i lived when i first got my 8 the navi is worthless cuz the towns so small that you can get anywhere in 5 minutes but if you live in a big city then its also worthless there too because roads usually change and navi isnt kept up to date with new roads and such...i've only found use for the navi when i go back home to iowa from georgia and its useful because i dont want to memorize the way so it works for long drives but little drives around towns dont work well in my experience my parents have a the new Lexus GS AWD and the navi on that is MUCH better but ya we cant get that so sincerely aftermarket ones are good too cuz my friend has one and she loves it

but other then the navi being not that great the 8 is a great car =)

 

Use search. 04 was first year and had the most teething problems and lots of recalls that were fixed in 05s and beyond.

 

skip the stock navi. portable Navis are great. I have a Palm TX running tomtom with a bluetooth gps receiver. works great and I can bring it from car to car. Then again, I do not drive a while lot.
rx-8 is 100000000000000000x more fun to drive than an A4.

 

+1 - the clutch/tranny is not considered a strong one in the 1st place. Definitely look into it. If the dealership is willing to include it in the warranty offer then it's not really an issue. Just make sure that is in writing somewhere, b/c most dealer's won't cover clutch issues.

 

you guys have been a HUGE help.

NYCGPS mentioned an aftermarket system that goes in the dash? hmmm... I am picky and just dont like the look of aftermarket internal things like that on my windshield. no offense to those of you who like the aftermarket nav!

I will stop at the dealership and mention that I did some research and found that he is way overpriced. If the guy that traded it in only got around 13k, there is no way I am letting them make $8k profit on me.

I did do a blue book check on it though and the retail was around 24K.

Oh, I live in San Diego.

 

blue book or not, the dealer shouldn't get more than $18k for it in today's market.

 

There must be more than one black on black leather 8 in the San Diego area for sale.

Nav is OK if you use it. My experience is that those people who drive lots to places they aren't all that familiar with will use it effectively. For everyone else, it's dash-dressing, and one more thing that can go wrong.

 

Actually 21k is a good price at a dealer in Calf.

With all that traffic down there did you expect someone to drive more?

It's worse than LA. Only two roads into town.

 

for an '04?

 

Use Edmunds and not KBB for pricing. That is too high for an 04, but there is a sucker born every minute. Can't help u if ur that.

 

I have an 04 I bought new in March of 2004. I only have 13k miles on mine. If the person was like me then it was just a toy car for Him/Her and the low mileage is not something I would worry about. But in that regards, if said person was like me then when they did get a chance to drive it they drove it hard, like it is supposed to be driven. Which is actually good for this engine, but bad for the clutch, breaks, ect. I'm not surprised at all that clutch is a little more loose than a brand new one. Never had problems with my 04 either, although for some reason unknown to me people here on the forums tend to be against the 04s.

 

The Reason: 04 was the first model year, therefore there are many more issues (small, md, & lg). Many of said bugs are worked out "on the fly" and are fixed in later production years. So many people rec. not getting an 04 - but that usually means "don't get an 04 if there are other non-04 options available to you."

No one is actually "against" the 04.

 

I'm no sucker. That's why I am here to learn and not buying without doing research.

I am going with Kelly. I want them to use Kelly for my trade, so I am cool with them using kelly for their price.

I test drove a weird setuplast night. CLOTH, non-power seats on a grand touring with nav. It was an 06 that had only 1,000 miles on it. Very strange. Anyway, the only reason i went down to that dealership was because the idiot on the phone lied to me and said the car had leather.

RAZZ1: You're clueless, dude. At many times of the day, LA traffic sucks BAD. It can take an hour just to go from one part of LA to another (when it should only take about 10 minutes).

San Diego traffic is only bad between 5 and 6PM on weekdays. Other than that, I can get from Del Mar (north) all the way down to any of the southern points in about 15 minutes.

 

If the seats are cloth, then it's a touring model, not a grand touring.