this is one damn sexy car :D

but I think it's because I've never been able to drive a rotary that has me concerned about a few things as this will be my daily driver. Should it be used as a daily driver? lol

Does it have the same potential reliability problems as the old RX-7? I've heard horror stories of the valves (or something along that) on the old FD being notorious for breaking. And how difficult would it be to fix an RX-8 at a local garage, as it is a rotary and all would it need to be sent to specific areas suited to fixing rotary engined cars?

I think these two are my biggest concerns, whether or not if it will break often and how easily is it fixed say I'm stranded on a long road trip nowhere near a mazda dealer.

what are some of the car's advantages over a Subaru WRX (something I've been thinking about) as there both in a very similiar price range.

Lastly (more out of curiosity), what are some potential solutions/modifications for the car's lack of mid-range power?

any suggestions would be great as I can't really put my foot completely down on getting one.

 

reliability? Well we'll realy have to wait and see. But the old Rx-7 problems were almost 100% down to the Turbo overheating the engin causing seal problems.

Non Turbo Rotarties are usualy very reliable with 150k miles + easy.

"what are some of the car's advantages over a Subaru WRX (something I've been thinking about) as there both in a very similiar price range."

Theres lots of threads comparing the 8 to the STI or Evo. Personaly I think the main points are (a)looks (b) RWD/AWD (c) purpose build lightweight sports car vs turbo'd up econobox.


"Lastly (more out of curiosity), what are some potential solutions/modifications for the car's lack of mid-range power?"

Forced induction (turbo/supercharger). But honestly, the cars about the free/high reving engine, if you want torque go get something with a V8....

 

i'm new to rotaries too and also have my concerns. But look at Mazda reliability on all their other cars. As a student I owned a 323 and it just didn't stop. Like the old Beetle almost. I'm confident reliability will be good. At the price, there may be some interior packaging and materials issues. The car looks great and is very practical for the performance it offers.

Also, don't forget, the owners (Ford) are determined to make Mazda work and be successful. Japanese car makers are renowned for reliability and durability and I see no reason why Mazda won't fit this profile.

 

Yep!, that's the basic size of it... this is a new, and more powerful engine, but there's lot's of people with NA RX7's that have done 200K+

Just change the oil religeously and you're set.
I'd add that those cars are trying for all out performance, the people I know who own them say that they can be somwhat harrowing on long trips... never relaxed.

Hear Hear... Infact that's not a very helpful answer I suppose... The answer is that the setup is unique and although on paper it has very low torque, that is offset conciderably by the extra RPM... somone on the forum did the maths and concluded that it will have similar performance to a BMW 330ci.

 

http://www.rx8forum.com/showthread.p...ht=reliability


http://www.rx8forum.com/showthread.p...ht=reliability

 

you are like the link-king