Finally declared a Lemon!
Hey all....I was on here a year or so ago trying to get information on the RX8 flooding issue and talked with a few of you then.

The good news is that Mazda actually came through for me and repurchased my 2005 under the Lemon Law!

Anyone that would like info from me about my experience, feel free to contact me. I used a Law Office advocate (no cost to me) and had my check within 3 months from the first contact.

While some of you are RX8 lovers despite the quirks, some of us were not made aware of the "characteristics" at the time of purchase and need to be able to rely on our cars every day.

Good luck to everyone!

Teri
ofarrells4@comcast.net

 

You should re-size so people don't get seizures trying to read this!

 

Wow, just wow. Expect a lot of hate for this (and you deserve it). Also you might want to quit spamming this in other people's threads.

 

Let me guess. YOU DID NOT READ THE OWNER'S MANUAL If you had you would have understood about preventing flooding and oil consumption. If you did not like the car you should have taken it back and/or trade it in and get something else. But we live in a "Hey let's SUE" society and instead of taking responsiblility for purchasing a car you obviously did not research you followed the lemmings off the cliff...

okbyethx.....

 

funny,

I drive my 8 everyday for the past 5 almost 6 years never failed? Even when the compression test for the engine fails it still starts everytime I want it to.

hmm, I guess you either a moron, or you really got a lemon, which can happen to every single line of cars out there. Stop making it like Rx-8 has issue. the issue its you or your luck.

 

aka - you didn't do your homework and now you're making someone else pay for your ignorance.

 

never experienced what he said "characteristics."
it runs just like a normal engine, except much more awesome.

 

I think you are all being overly harsh. It's NOT like every other car, especially in the 2003-2005 period. It needed a little extra attention and care, including doing things that people just dont have to do with other cars.

If you take your heads out of the rotary enthusiast bubble, you'd agree. You buy a simple reliable japanese 4-banger, and you can start it whenever you want (hot or cold), put any normal gas in it, change the oil every 15,000 miles, and not bother reading the owners manual and it's ok, because it acts like most cars should. True, they're not major issues, but they definitely have/had quirks that most everyday cars dont have. Especially if the dealer didnt know about or mention those things, and sold it as a carefree daily driver, I completely understand why the OP wrote what he did.

If you buy a g35, you might need to read the manual to figure out how to work the GPS, but you sure as hell don't have to if you just want it to start and run properly.

 

I don't understand where you are coming from on the hot and cold start thing. Unless something is very wrong with your engine it starts just like any other car. The reason you can't go 15k miles between oil changes is because your not supposed to use synthetic in this car......... non synthetic oil does not really last that long so it needs to be changed more often.

All you have to do with this car that is different from any other is that you are "required" to check and add oil every 400 miles or so, and not shut it off cold.


I dont see how taking 20 seconds to look at the manual is a gigantic drawback to owning an RX8. I always look at the manual for a car that I am going to be driving a lot.

 

 

With the vast majority of other moden cars, you don't ever need to check the oil level unless the dummy light goes on. Just change it at the proper intervals.

And the early model years, before the flashes and updates and upgraded battery and upgraded starter and MSP-16 (the list goes on and on), DID flood a lot.

I LOVE the rotary, don't get me wrong, but that's because i understand and accept the quirks of it (which are not as bad of an issue now).

I think getting it bought back by a lemon-law is overkill, i would have been more reasonable to just let the dealer do all the fixes, but even those took YEARS for them to finally take care of the issues. I can't blame a guy one bit for getting fed up with it.

Seriously, you guys are bordering on serious fanboy-ism. The fact that you're here, posting on rx8club.com, means you are probably an enthusiast. You can't even understand that 95% of rx8 drivers have never even HEARD of rx8club.com. You're in a bubble and you don't even know it.

 

Almost all cars have one issue for another it is not unique to the RX8. My 89 Taurus had a recall where the engine mounts can fail and the engine can fall out. (not kidding). My parents 98 explorer had a recall where the cruise control could randomly set the car on fire and the tires that came with it had a problem where they can come apart and flip the car over.

I just dont see how checking the oil every 400 miles makes this car terrible. I mean my 3000GT burns more oil than my RX8.

 

The OP didnt say it was terrible. And I didn't either. All he said was that it had some reliability issues due to flooding, which is undeniable, and that this was unexpected. And i just thought it was weird and fanboy-like for you all to be jumping on his back for stating the truth.

And the explorer tire thing triggered a MASSIVE involuntary recall. Madza, on the other hand, just put out TSBs about the issue. You only got a new starter and battery if you brought in a flooded car, or clearly had starting problems. Anyone who's had to pay for a replacement starter out of pocket (like me) is still pissed about that, because they all should have been better from the start.

 

15K miles oil change?

Im not sure what kind of oil you are using but ... Even tho it might still work but ... who would wait 15K miles to change their oil these days. seriously.

most of the time they change it every 3-5 K, anything over that 99% of the time they just "forgot", or be as stupid as one of my friend, he never changed his oil and wonder why the check engine light turns on and his Sienna is slower and slower, he was saying Toyota sucks that time too I was like wtf?

I got my car since 05 I didn't pay too much attention to it. it works, even when the engine failed compression test.

one thing to remember is that people love to blame others for their **** ups, in this case, "Rotary" is perfect.

Lemon happens all the time but of course OP will still blame the machine, not his "bad luck"

Flooding? I probably have some super luck or something cuz I shut my car off cold, like 15 degrees cold, no issue. even before the 4206f flash. hmm ?

 

If you wait 15k to do an oil change in your Camry, you will have tar in the sump, and a ruined engine, with NO buyback.

Check the Toyota forums for the stories of woe.....

 

Wow this is sad. I have had my 8 for over 7yrs now. (Wow it's been that long) The only times I've had problems starting it is in the dead of winter when it's well below freezing. It takes a bit longer to start but it does. Heck a few weeks ago I started it when it was well below zero. Let it run for like 2 minutes and shut it off. A week later it started right up no problem.

If you don't want a car you have to maintain don't buy a ANY sports car. Stick with a honda.

And for the guy that goes 15k miles without an oil change good luck to you. I won't even let my mom go that long before getting an oil change done.

 

they use different oil and filtering system for that long oil change intervals. also theres requirement if you want to go that long something like changing the filter halfway. it says something in the manual I believe.
most European cars come with full synthetic oil and extra large filter than can go over 10k miles between oil changes.
RX8's 5K interval is not short either being only using dino oil.

 

I wonder if the OP is related to the lady who sued Mcdonalds cause the coffee she spilt on herself was hot.

 

If the OP had constant floods, whether hot or cold, long or short start / shutdown intervals, I could see why they would take it in as a lemon. But if it's just because they kept shutting it down cold... That's pretty lame.

 

Who gives a ****. See ya later.

Thank you for pulling your posts from other threads. I only needed to read it once.

 

 

Agreed. I've done many 8k-10k oil changes on Chevy's in my family with no bad effects. You just need to use the right oil and filter for it (We used Mobil 1 Products). None of them had "sludge" build up, or burned oil (but we did check it ever 3k miles or so), and they all past 100k easily, some made it past 200k like this before selling. We only used their built in "Oil life Monitoring System" which is based off how you drive the car/truck. Out of the 7 vehicles only one engine failed so far, mine @108k miles and 4 years old, not from oil problems but from a common issues with 3X00 series engines, Head Gasket failure, combined with a unknown broken coolant level sensor, which pretty much destroyed the heads.

I personally wouldn't go past 3k miles for a oil change on a Rotary engine though.


To the OP,
Like said before you should have done your homework before buying any car. You made Mazda pay for your stupidity.

 

Irony:
My 8's engine has lasted 81,000 miles.
My Corolla's engine only lasted 72,000 miles.


Mazda > Toyota for reliability


Edit: More proof?

91 Corolla: 60,000 miles to ~70,000 miles, engine died when an SUV landed on it. Should be a warranty against that
91 Corolla: 31,000 miles to 119,000 miles, engine was fine
02 Corolla: 19 miles to 72,000 miles, engine died, 72,000 to 93,000 on rebuilt engine and transmission dies
03 Protege5: 44,000 miles to 108,000 miles, perfectly fine
06 Mazda5: 4 miles to 55,000 miles, still no issues (still own)
05 RX-8: 8,600 miles to 81,000 miles, no issues (still own)
99 Miata: 103,000 miles to 109,000 miles, no issues (still own)

So yeah, Mazda > Toyota for reliability.

 

I'm sorry but that is just stupid arrogance, you should never just assume the oil is there because its suppose to be. ESPECIALLY with Idiot lights....