PaulieWalnuts

Chef or anyone else that has a new engine, did they tell you to do anything differently with the new engine? Like more frequent oil changes, etc.

Chef RX-8

They just told me to do the break in period again which kinda sucked at the time because I had 8000 miles on it when they replaced the engine.

UK BLACK

1. The car is a 2004, 6MT with 20,000 miles on it.
2. The car was not running that bad, I thought maybe the plugs were bad or air filter needed changing. It was still fast just 95% of where it was.

1 week now & I miss my car. What is the longest / shortest downtime anyone has had in this situation.

Thansk fir your responses.

zoom44

because then it wouldnt be this car. its still less than 1% and they are all hand assembled.

pcimino

If they used another motor, they would either lose the weight balance or a lot of horse power.

If the engine was unreliable, there wouldn't be so many people successfully putting turbos on their cars (see the horsepower threads).

tuj

I live there too. What are the details of your situation? MT or AT? Did you notice anything strange over time? Which Mazda dealer (Kings, Sweeney?)

PaulieWalnuts

VQ is a great engine. But drop it in an 8 and it would sit further forward and higher which would throw off the weight distribution and now you'd have a front heavy poor handling car. Then from an engineering stanpoint you'd need to make a ton of adjustments to achieve the same characteristics as the current 8. And for every adjustment, there would be a constraint (add a few inches to the wheelbase to acheive 50/50 weight, but now the car won;t handle as well, rigidity is reduced, and on and on). Try making a car that uses the G35 sedan platform but looks like a 350z.

alderran

Don't exagerrate the weight distribution on a G35 is 52/48 the engine for the most part is behind the front wheels. It's not a heavy engine. It wouldn't be the eighth wonder of the world to build a great handling sports car around it.

I actually think it would be pretty easy to make a G35 sedan platform but looks like a 350Z because they both happen to be built off the same platform.

Really they could have put a small 4 cylinder in it like the one in the S2000. I doubt that would change your weight distribution and it puts out more power and gets pretty good fuel economy.

I guess you have to give kudos to Mazda for trying new things. I wonder if the problems with this rendition of the rotory could spell it's end?

PaulieWalnuts

Yes the weight distribution in a G35 with a VQ is 52/48. I guarantee a VQ in an 8 with no modifications would sit much further forward and much higher than the rotary thus throwing off the 8's weight distribution by quite a bit. That's the whole point.

And you missed my point on the G35. Let me clarify. Try taking the comfortable 4 seat capacity of a G35 sedan and slap a 350Z type of body on it. Good luck keeping its back seats usable and also design it so it doesn't look funky.

alderran

And I am still missing your point. G35's and 350Z's are built off the same platform. Basically its' the same car.

pcimino

Yes but the G35 has back seats. I've sat in the back, they "recline", actually the seat slides out so the seat back can slip down and at an angle, gives you more head room, but not really anymore comfortable.

alderran

What are you talking about? They don't slide at all. It's the same as the front seat. The seat bottom doesn't move you pull a lever and the seat back angles back/forward. They don't recline much and I haven't sat in the back so level of comfort is subjective.

UK BLACK

Mazda just offered to pay my lease payments while the car is down. I just called Mazda Customer Service & complained about my car being down for so long & they said they would refund ALL lease payments while the car is down.

Makes me feel slightly better abouth the situation. I would recommend any RX8 owner in my situation (without ride for a month or more) do the same.

RexApex

There are two G35's.
1. Sedan
2. Coupe

The Coupe is the one built on the same platform as the 350Z, It has backseats, great legroom and no headroom in back (really none at all, the glass is at neck level.)
--R

Saint_Spinner

Actually the sedan shares the same platform as the Z and coupe. Just like the way an X5 shares the same platform as a 5-series....