Hello forums..gbay here.

My lease is ending on my boring pontiac g6 (she has treated me well) and I am looking for something a little more fun. I've been reading into getting an 8 but I thought some real opinions would be nice.

I'm looking into getting an 04 GT with 1 owner off lease. 70k km on the car.
My biggest concern is reliability since I'm going to need a car that will last me a few years with not too many problems. I am willing to put the effort into maintaining a vehicle such as this but I am still not 100% sure.

I guess I'll just ask a few questions without making people read to much.

From all your expereiences would you say an rx8 is reliable enough for a daily driver? I do make lots of short stops. I live in Waterloo Ontario and everything is relativly close, about 1-3 km away.

Winter driving.. Canadian winters suck and I require a car that will get me around. Will I be able to get around? Aside from winter tires what other small mods would be useful? A winter beater really isnt an option.

I'm used to driving a 4 cylinder and as for gas I'm getting about 500km a tank (16 galons/60 liters I believe) Am I going to cry from gas? (I drive a decent amount, about 25k km a year)

Thanks ahead of time

btw this is the car I was specifically looking at if anyone cares
http://trader.ca/powerpage/details.a...0&adid=7443818

 

Yes, I love it as a daily driver. Very reliable if you care for it properly. Only potential problem is that you don't know how well it was maintained previously.

Good snow tires and experience with RWD dynamics and it is fine for winter driving.

Enter with your eyes wide open regarding gas mileage. It is OK for a sports car but many complain about mileage as a daily driver. It doesn't sound like you're getting great mileage now so maybe this won't be a problem for you. I average 19 mpg but many get considerable worse, especially if you do a lot of city driving.

 

I went from G6 to RX8 as well

<3 the change

I had the v6 model though, so torque was pretty good (200 hp 220TQ I think)

 

Welcome to the club!

I've only had my 8 for a week now, so I can't speak much from experience, only echo what was said to me.

For winter driving, get GOOD snows. It's really no different than driving a mustang or g35 in the snow.

Gas, I ran the numbers for me, (going form a 98 tiburon 550km per 60l tank) and driving 20k a year, I'll use an extra 12 tanks of gas per year. So 1 tank extra per month, plus using super instead of regular on top of that. I HATE it, but I can live with it.

For short trips you'll be ok, just make sure you let it warm up before you shut it off, or you'll flood it. And redline her daily, she'll love you for it

04 with 70k. I'd stay away, just because of the recalls and what not that were done after 04. Spend an extra 2-3k, and get an 05, or maybe an 06. I bought an 05 with 73k for 14900 just last week in Burlington.

 

I wish I was able to spend an extra 2-3k but thats out of my budget at the moment.

 

Don't be scared away by 04 models, I've had mine for year with no issues

 

Welcome Gbay, as an honest opinion from a fellow rx8 owner in Waterloo I deem it a terrible idea. Unless you are like myself and strickly use it for a joy vehicle (university student across the street from campus), the winters that Waterloo recieve, aka the snow belt are far to much for a low riding rear wheel driven RX-8. I myself only drive it now from late March to early October so its hardly reliable for a daily driver. I actually experienced a crash in October in Waterloo and blew my entire front right suspension because I hit a curb. (first accident in my life- just a voucher that it can happen to anyone) The natural low profile is not meant to be dealing with 6" inches of snow which is a daily occurance as you already know. Not to mention I couldn't get it up my driveway since october. (i guess it is kinda steep but a jetta and a corrolla do it) I've also noticed that anything below 5C creates some interesting times with the rx8.

In retrospect the RX8 is hands down the absolutely best car I have ever owned / driven but as for a daily driver and any winter you have to be on cocaine to do it. I would rather drive a 2001 sunfire in the winter at least repairs would be cheap.

I would highly reccommend against it, of course if you decide otherwise there are many ways to minimize risk.

GOODLUCK!

 

every single student has a sunfire :\
Thanks for your advice. I may have seen you driving around RIM recently lol. I guess I'm going to be looking into my other options. Versus the rx8 it will be a difficult choice. Any suggestions on cars? I've liked the gti, cobalt ss,, sentra SE r spec, or an old RHD evo or skyline. anyone have any personal expereience with these cars?

 

being from california, i tend to shy away from driving even then there's a tiny bit of snow on the road. we also have an 4wd explorer that's kinda our winter car. depends on what you do, bus in the snow is what i prefer. that said, many people have no problem w/ their 8 on snow tires. but if you're not comfortable w/ it, my preference of the cars on your list would be the cobalt ss (which is a pretty good sleeper, but i just can't get over its low-tech suspension, despite how good it is), gti, or your rhd evo or skyline. the sentra is a pretty crappy car. rhd evo/skyline would be awesome, if you have the $ to find a good mechanic for it if something major needs work. back in LA, that's easy; rhd silvias and skylines are fairly numerous, but i suspect that's not the case in ontario. gti is pretty nice, probably the best all around car on that list. i just don't really like vw's

 

Ok well, I've had my car for 2 weeks, and I can tell you for daily driving it's pretty good. People don't get it, in winter it's not always about the car, it's what is equipped with it... For example, if you slap on some bridgestone blizzaks I can guarantee you it will be as good as any other car.

I live in Quebec and I can say winter's here are pretty damn tough, the rx-8 i have is just as good as my mazda 6 and better than my civic and all these cars have survived past 8inches of snow.

@Spence, you have some pretty crap tires if you can't make it up your driveway, even if it's rwd it should be able to do it.

Also for gas mileage, don't do short stops with this car as #1 your mpg will go down the drain, #2 if you car isn't up (or close) to operating temp you MIGHT flood, but chances are very minimal now. I can get 400km's with 65/35 highway/city running on premix... don't know what you other's are getting.

Last, I think this car is a great daily driver as it's always fun to drive and since it has low torque, winter driving is easy. Everytime I get into this car, I never get fed up of looking at it.

 

Well thats good to know and bad to know. I do several short trips a day. Sounds like bad news

 

do not get an 04..

 

fair enough, I guess its just my opinion, ive always drove AWD cars in the winter. I guess the sunfire example was a little to far.

But at least the parts would be cheap!

 

if you do like 90% city driving, I bet you'll get like 300 km's to the tank, just because you'll drive it harder. But at the same time, if you only drive an average of 20 km's a day, 1 tank of fuel will last you 2 weeks, so who cares? On the flip side, I did 30/70 (city/highway) on a tank of fuel, and got 420kms, on 52l of fuel. Last tank was 20/80 (city/highway) and I added a 5.25oz bottle of lucas for premix, and i got 425kms, on 40l of fuel. Treat her right, and she'll treat you right!

Buying an 8 for a daily driver, even in ontario is fine, you just have to be prepared for what you're getting into (flooding, rwd, coil/plug/wire, bad gas mileage)

 

I am looking at purchasing an RX8 (I had an RX7 20 years ago) and have no concerns for RWD in NJ winters. I have had RWD Mercedes Benz cars since 1996 and have had no issues whatsoever.

I plan on getting mine as a daily driver for my 12 mi round trip daily commute and look very forward to doing some tasteful mods and some performance work.

gbay go get one and enjoy!

 

spence:

A lot of drive the RX8 as a daily driver and are not on cocaine.

And many have more snow than Waterloo, and do fine.

I make daily 6 km commutes to and from work, snow, sleet, hail, rain without problem. You need to invest in a decent set of dedicated snow tires with this car. Other than that, if you are a good winter driver, there isn't any "risk" to "minimize".

gbay:

If you want that particular '04, I would find out as much as possible about it. Carfax of course. All recalls done? Any TSBs addressed? Talk to the service manager at the dealership it was serviced at. Go over all the service records. Find out what kind of driver the owner was; did they baby the car and drive it like it was meant to be driven?

If it all checks out and the price works for you, go for it. You won't regret it.

Oh, and getting good mileage is overrated

 

Welcome Gbay, I must say that I disagree with alot of this. I've had my 8 for almost two years, drive it every day and have never worried about weather conditions. I love driving in the winter and i see just as much snow as waterloo if not more when I'm in Barrie. I've got a set of Blizzak snows on and I've never gotten into trouble. Anyone who even tries to drive on snow with summers will seriously regret that decision in a matter of seconds. Some people just can't handle winter driving conditions as well as others. If your one of these people get the sunfire, If not get the eight, enjoy the crappy gas mileage and ear to ear grin you'll get every time you drive 'er.

 

lol. I'm still looking into all of my options, I have a bit of time beforeI need a car still. In the winter I drive like a crazed midget. Drifting through each corner ;p (in my front wheel drive g6 with low tread left on the all season tires.. still i was able to get around even in 8+ inches)

 

Thers nothing wrong with the 04's

plenty of have them and they work great!

 

it's a sports car. If gas mileage is an issue, don't get a sportscar. What is the point??? Part of the fun with this car is driving it as it was meant and designed to be. It's pure ecstasy @ 9000rpm.

 

^^ Agreed. but as for what i'm getting with gas so far:

Running on premium fuel only, 280 km or so when the orange light comes on to let you know your tanks almost empty (approx 50 km more, or so i've been told) that was with 85/15 local/hwy

and just today when I went 100% hwy, I got 400km from my tank 60L.

I also noticed that the car runs MUCH smoother using 94 octane as opposed to 91 and also runs a lot smoother after a long run at high speeds =) (going 140 km/h or so for an hour and a half)

 

test drove on friday.
god it was sexy. nuff said.