Well I'll try to make this as short as I can..

Ever since I got the 8 my radio (actual FM reception) has been shotty at best. The reception would cut in and out as it wanted too. Well on 10/15 I took it to the dealer for the fourth time as well as to get the break squeek taken care of. Well, to cut down on the length, the car took 1 week to get the radio fixed, they supposedly tried 2 other radios other than my own before they decided to call the tech support line. It turned out that it was the module behind the radio (no clue what module it is and would like to figure it out). Anyway, that finally got done on Friday and they deliver my car to me with a free bra on it for the inconveiniece caused by all of this. Well.. I get in the car and notice this:


Needless to say, it wasn't there before and after dealing with the Service Director vs a manager, I was not very happy.. It also turns out that they replace my Bose headunit with the normal unit AND broke the passenger heated seat switch.. I have to talk to him again on Monday now to inform him of the other things and take my car there again for the 7th time since I got the car 3 months ago. Keep in mind of the 7 times, once was for the M flash and the second was to get the radio , everything else was their fault from damages to the car at pickup to incompetent managers who try to rip you off.. We'll see what I can get out of them this time.. Maybe a satelite radio instead of my Bose??

Car with the free bra installed:

 

sell the bra on ebay.

you don't want to see what happens to your paint if you keep the bra on.

 

Or use it for autoX.

 

Hmmm, I was thinking of getting the front mask for long road trips to protect the front from bugs and gravel. I wouldn't keep it on there on a regular basis (the car looks better without it and I'd be worried about dirt getting trapped underneath and rubbing against the paint). But do you think it's worth it for what I'm describing (long trips)?

By the way, this service department sounds like a bunch of knuckleheads. Are you sure you want to keep taking your 8 back there?

 

I would suggest you take the bra off to see what other damage they may be hiding underneath it. Just my paranoia.

And to the other posters regarding what the bra will do to the paint, I had a '96 Prelude that I had a bra on for 8 years and it didn't affect the paint at all. Ya just gotta keep it clean underneath.

Go48

 

go to another dealer .... or sue them for 59,000 so you get the RX8 for free and some fee to your lawyer.

 

judging by what they did to your dash surround I wouldn't be surprised if they put the bra on the car to hide something else they did. I would march back to the dealer and make them fix everything they screwed up. After they fix everything I would find a new dealer to work on my car.

 

I wouldn't let them touch my car again.

 

Detroit,
I am in the Det area as well, and got my Red RX just under 2 months ago. What dealer are you working with? I am pretty satisfied with Sterling Mazda, although when they switched out my single-CD unit for the 6-CD, they left the same mark on the plastic, albeit not nearly as bad as yours. I was disappointed about this, but I figured there are no real good alternatives here, because I wouldn't want them to mess with the trim any more than they have to. Did they attempt to fix yours? Anyways, if you are even remotely close, maybe try Sterling or a different place, and they might treat you better. BTW, not a fan of the bra... I would sell it too.

 

MI - I had Sterling Mazda order some remotes for my 8 about 2 months ago and they still have not got them in.. Not to mention there service department is incompetent.

 

What's up with the raingutter ridge over your doors and quarter glass windows?

 

Mazda of Clear Lake did the same type of damage to my 8. I can only imagine how "thorough" their training is for complicated repair jobs.

 

Wow that chip is why you got the free bra...

 

It's a shadow from when I took the pic.. Didn't even notice it until you said that :p


Thats about 5% of it.. I bought the car 3 months ago, it has been there 7 times now when it should have been there 2 times MAX. It all has to do with the utter incompetence of the dealership. One such example is my rim was damaged prior to delivery, they refused to replace the wheel and repainted it (after about a week of going back and forth with them) after I got it back when it was repained 2 weeks later the clearcoat was comming off the wheel. They then replaced the rim (after another week of back and forth) and when I get there the replacement rim was scratched (after the service manager said he would check it before I got there) so I had to go back home without a rim and wait another week before they finally got a good one in.. This is why I am only dealing with the Service Director for the entire dealership group (Suburban for anyone in MI).

Also, about the bra. It's only a winter thing. All of my previous cars have been seriously messed up by rock salt during the winter. It will be kept clean underneath and as soon as the snow melts in June it will be off

 

Sry to hear about your troubles....at least get the dealer to touch up that dash ding with some matching dark grey paint. Agreed with you on the bra, great for winter, lose it in the summer

 

Do you think Mz has some type of "Radio Removal 101" or something?

It's the basics you get trained on...the idiot that used a screwdriver to get your radio out does not need to be working on ANY car.


IMHO

 

haha! Well put! doesn't look like screwdriver damage tho...some other "tool" perhaps :p

 

I replaced the single CD unit in my car with the 6 disc myself. I don't understand how these dealers are messing it up. It appears they may be trying to remove the unit without taking out the "hidden" bolt described in the installation instructions. It's right behind where they are prying.

They probably destroyed the original unit trying to pry it out while still bolted. That's why they put in a new unit. If they read the instructions, or were trained, this type of damage should never happen.

I would not let these guys touch your car again. I switched dealers because of similar incompetence.

 

With the bra, you need to remove it once it gets wet(from rain snow, etc.), if you allow it to stay on the car while it is drying then you will have paint damage.

So please don't keep it on for the entire winter, in the end you might find it's more trouble then it's worth.

Also it is pretty obvious the mechanic who ripped your car apart did not take the time to be careful. I have taken some interior peices apart in my cars and am always very careful not to scratch them. Usually when using a screwdriver to take a piece off I put black electrical tape around the screwdriver to act as a cushion.

With that said the fix is very easy, they can order you new parts where the scratches are and replace them though this time around I hope they are more careful.
BTW this is one of the reasons why my 8 hasn't been back to the dealer even once and I've had it for 10 months ... I don't want them screwing up a perfectly good RX8. Hopefully mine stays problem free ...

 

Don't settle for dark grey paint! and definitely follow the advice from others and look under the bra if it was delivered with the bra on. I might even have a body shop check for damage behind the front end. Who knows they may have wrecked the car and had it fixed while it was in their shop.

 

I had the exact same thing happen to mine when Roger Beasley North in Austin put the MP3 stereo in mine. It looks exactly like they jammed a screw driver or other such object in to pry out the stereo.

The sad part is that I have told myself I'm going to have to live with it. Not only do I have to deal with them replacing it (not that big), but have you checked out the real-estate that the plastic piece takes up? It wraps all the way around the top and bottom of the steering wheel.

I'm going to have to live with it because, frankly, I'm afraid of all the other crap they will mess up and the noises that will invaribly come out of the now not-as-tight-as-it-used-to-be fit of the piece. Its a matter of trust (or not trust) that has driven me to a different dealership.

 

I guess I agree the part lead times are atrocious, so they are definitely not perfect. But all the work I've had done (for my 8 and my wife's MPV) has been done ok thus far, except for the radio trim issue. Actually, it was my salesperson who has been the best there. He made sure to constantly check on my parts and would call me periodically to let me know status.

I did visit Suburban when I was shopping around and I immediately knew this dealership did not have the competency level required to make a sale off me. The salesperson was totally unknowledgeable and had all the personality of a rock. Enough to make me turn around and run in fear. Plus they don't let you test drive without them in the car, and it is a very short route. Ridiculous.

 

"Radio Removal 101" would be the piece of paper that gives instructions on how to remove the center console. It's been available on this forum for a long time, and I expect every "certified" Mazda repair shop to have it.

Whether they use it or not is another matter...