Here's my story...nothing fictional, nothing exaggerated, simply the truth.

Future buyers BEWARE!

Bought an 05 GT 2 years ago with 62K km at 90K now and frankly it's the most unreliable car I've ever owned! And I've owned a Bimmer and an old Hyundai!!! I've had to replace most of the common problem components listed on this site on my 8.

I cannot believe I got so unlucky with this car. I don't know if I got a real lemon or if the old owner simply didn't service it properly. In the last 2 years, I've changed to name a few things (cat, clutch, water pump, thermo, battery, engine mounts, starter, coils, wires, plugs) there are more, just can't remember them all right now!!! Basically I've had to pump in over $5K in unforeseen maintenance in this car, just to keep it running! I'm so pissed off at it right now. And it's such a shame because I look at it, and it simply looks fantastic parked in my driveway!

But I can't live with it anymore. The ride has become harsh, every gear shift sounds like the tranny's falling out, I always worry it's not gonna start on cold mornings and to be honest, when it's idling, it sounds like crap!!! A constant horrible rattling noise, that from what I read is normal!!

I have an 8 and my wife has a Mazda3 and we've realized that they don't age well! Both our cars, shake and rattle, the paint is already fading on them, and rust is already coming out on my 8 like cancer!

I've tried to bring it life and I've tried to get it running perfectly, I love the wankel motor, I love the 9K redline, I love hearing it scream...but I can't live with the unreliability and the poor quality put into it anymore...who knows what else is gonna go on it.

My 8 has to go and soon along with our Mazda3.

Unfortunately, this experience has left us completely unimpressed with the Mazda product. We find they are of poor quality materials, that are not quite put together right and are simply not even on the same page as the other major Japanese manufacturers. We will never own another Mazda again and it's a shame, because when they are NEW, they really are fun to drive!

Soon to be Ex-RX8 Owner!

 

Most things you listed break/fail on every car.... most are normal maintenance items. Maybe the car was a lemon. The 8 is not for everyone, good luck with your next car.

 

Not normal.

In any case, you bought a sports car with a lot of miles on it, and it's at 90k now. It should be no surprise that things needed to be replaced. Just about all the things you mentioned are typical things that need to be replaced on an older car.

I've owned 3 Mazdas, and I've found them to all be reliable, and they aged at least as well as other cars in the same price range.

I've never heard of a 3 falling apart like that, somehow I don't think we're getting the whole story. I owned a Protege for 10 years that never needed any work, just oil changes, and eventually new plugs and belts. That's it. Ran like new when I sold it.

 

(cat, clutch, water pump, thermo, battery, engine mounts, starter, coils, wires, plug


if the owner didn't replace it before
cat is under warranty
clutch if the guy didn't know how to drive sorry !!
water pump and thermostat is normal
battery well how old it was??
engine mounts oh well if the guy didn't replace them under warranty you got stock with them!!
starter, coils, wires, plug well what did you expect nothing is for ever!!!

but you Bought an 05 GT 2 years ago with 62K km at 90K now
oh well when you did that did you ask if still under warranty????
i will never buy a bmw with no warranty or any car and expect no maintence

 

Paint Fading? Rust? idles like crap? unforeseen maintenance ?

Sounds like someone never washed his car, never changed his oil properly, and never read before purchasing his vehicle. Sounds like a case of ownership ignorance.

 

troll

 

sorry to hear about your problems. but i have to say that you're unique. i bought my '04 8 in 2009 with 27k on it; just crossed 45k and it's been stone reliable, just like every one of the six Mazdas I've owned since 1997, including a '90 Protege with 150k on it and a '91 Miata with 240k on it (that i autocrossed regularly). and you're definitely the only person i've heard of that's had problems with a 3.

 

I've had three Mazdas. All sterling.

Your experience is the exception. Not the rule.

 

besides what the dealer didn't tell me, Nope not one bit. I've read till i cant read no more, and coming from 10years of owning a 410hp awd talon, this is cake walk..

not disappointed one bit... oh wait yes i am, i want a yellow 8......

 

Sounds to me you have a problem and the problem is not Mazda itself. I have a 1993 Mazda B2200 extended cab pick up that I bought brand new. It has just under 99,000 miles and just recently replaced the head gasket and it runs like a champ! I have kept it well maintained since the day I bought it and it has been good to me. Besides the regular maintenance oil changes, antifreeze, manual and rear diff gear oil, oil and air filters, plugs, battery, distributor cap, and a head gasket it has been an exceptional piece of Japanese engineering. It also looks about as good the day I bought it thanks to lots of tender loving care! I bought a used 2007 RX8 in the fall of 2008 with 8,000 miles with now just under 25,000 that looks and runs better than the day I bought it. I read this forum daily and it simply discusses me to hear such rant about Mazda vehicles. If you want my opinion you treat a car and take care of it like your baby nine times out of ten you will get what you pay for in return. So do not go putting our cars down unless you know what you are talking about up front! Thanks and good luck to you.

 

You are pretty unlucky, the only things i had to change on my 05 is a set of coils and plugs and a bad cat, cracked passenger dash. I got free 100k service at dealer, basically the only thing I wasted money on is a midpipe and 3 set of bodykit.

 

I've replaced oil, coolant and ignition coils over the past 60k miles of ownership. That's it.

 

+1 on the general consensus.

Sorry your experience hasn't been pleasant, but every Mazda I've owned, and all that my friends and family own, have all been wonders to own, and is the reason more people I know own them, seeing how great they've been.

And rust? Yeah, sounds like you didn't wash your car enough, especially if you live up north, which I have a feeling you do.

The paint looks absolutely amazing on my 04, by the way. No rust either.

But I just did the coils/plugs/wires myself as maintenance, and about to deal with all the fluids as well.

But, I'm not at all disappointed with my Mx6. Just owning it still makes me smile.

 

i hate rx8's...

...they **** me off

 

With the resale value of these cars, the "high maintenance" they require, and the time frame that has passed (new-to-now), don't be surprised to see more and more of these threads popping up...

 

i have an 04 rx8 i bought with 51k. Iy has like 6 dealer modification stickers under the hood and runs great. I put 9k on it and almost no money into it. Love the the car.



what kind of mx6? i had an 89 mx6 turbo....fun car

 

Yeah, I've just been doing maintenance, nothing else needed, I love it.

And I used to have an 88 DX, which was got me hooked on Mazda's. After a shop burned it down(Not my choice to take it there, mind you.), I ended up getting my 94 LS that I still have now.

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._6109316_n.jpg

I've got the full Mazdaspeed kit to put on it as well, but it needs so much work, haha. But I just can't bring myself to part with it, grown a bit too attached to it.

I regret that I never got any pics of my 88, but this is when we brought it home.

http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._8309279_n.jpg

I did always want to get a GT with 4WS though.

Edit: Your username looks familiar. Are you on Mx6.com?

 

I've been buying new cars since 1975. I've never had one more reliable than the 8. So… am I disappointed with my 8? Hell no!

 

Answer to your question: not for 1 second.

 

I work on cars everyday. I see a lot of badly maintained vehicles in general, and that's probably your problem. You bought a poorly maintained one. But a lot of things that you have done sounds about right for just about any car with over 90k miles.

 

You think the rx8 has problems? Try the first generation chevy trailblazer. They were new when I was working for a chevy dealer and they had much more problems. Ask the guys that owned the Audi TT. Way worse than us. Its how cars go.

 

Not any more than you or the other guys who have abysmally low fuelly numbers in your sigs.

I'd say that Red just wound up on the bad end of the curve, maybe bad maintenance or just bad luck. S*** happens. My 8 was trouble free for almost 5 years, just over 40,000 miles. Garaged, washed regularly, regular maintenance at a very good dealer. This past week the stuff hit the fan.

Developed a clunk in the back when going over bumps. Turned out to be a bad shock. Battery also tested bad. The day before I brought it in to get that stuff replaced (not cheap), the sun visor split.

On the way home after the shock and battery transplants, it started to misfire. Not running well when I got home. Brought it back to the dealer...scary drive as it ran worse and worse, barely running as I coasted into the service bay. Two coils had gone (yes - I should have listened to everyone and replaced them by now) and the rear rotor was not firing at all. Took out the 02 sensor and cat. Cat was under warranty, and the dealer (did I mention he was a very good one?) comped the coils and a set of wires...but still not cheap.

Am I disappointed with my 8? Not really. Disappointed that all this happened, but huge feeling of relief as I (and my lighter wallet) drove off with the new coils and cat. Hit a favorite corner, got in a couple of beeps. Still keeping it, still enjoying it.

If this had been a Mazda 3, though, I'd really be pissed. Those are supposed to be reliable, like Hondas and Toyotas. Although I'd hate to tell you how much money we've been dumping into my wife's Camry recently.

Ken

 

^ good post.

i see 'troll' thrown around here more than you hear 'socialism' on fox news.

in the same vein, maybe you don't know what a troll really is...

 

Every car out there is going to have it's problems. I'm sure if you went to any car forum you'll see posts like this. I'm not disappointed in my 8 at all, but part of that may be because I was fully aware of what I was buying when I bought it.

 

I think lot of people don't know what troll means, but in their ignorance think it's cool to accuse people of being trolls. On what it is - the original definition was "Trolling for newbies." But pretty quickly the pranksters discovered that even non-newbies could be sucked in. There is an art to it. I've only seen artistry-level trolling here a couple of times, and those were April Fools posts.

Red's not a troll. Just an 8 owner with a bad experience. His post was very reasonable, especially compared to the typical fed-up-with-the-8 ranter.

Ken