Alrighty,

Soooooo, I have been a semi lurker here for a few years, and am now I think... FINALLY ready to take a plunge into the RX8 world. (and all that is rotary)

Back sotry for those interested, I am in a economic bind and am not able to afford to keep my 2007 Subaru Legacy GT. I have recently found at the Bimmer dealer from my work a 2005 (put in service in late 04) Mazda RX8, the little doomaflotchy CLAIMS "RX8/Shinka" however it is a silver with black/tan leather. It has sunroof, 6spd, nav, ipod adapter, and is fairly clean aside from the center console slider thing is not in the greatest shape.

I was curious if anyone had access to a Vin database to check if it has had any recall work done and/or updates, damage, other big asterisks to be weary of.

VIN: JM1FE173050146052

I drove it, it has 32k miles, pretty peppy, even compared to my LGT. heard weird noise though, I am PRETTY sure it is just the rotary (since I never owned one and last time drove one was ~3 years ago) handled well, clutch was a lot like my old RS4 setup in my old S4, as in firm, and quick to engage. I am not sure if that is a good bad or ugly thing. No white smoke, pulled hard, although when at a light it idled below 900rpm and FELT like it was vibrating. Dealer CLAIMS "everything was taken care of" buuut, it was a Bimmer dealer sooo, ya, if it runs, looks shiny and passes the 121 point, its good to them.

SOOoooo, I ask of you all, anyone with good knowledge, this sounds liek a decent car? anything glaringly wrong, all those that can run car histories and recall records know if its missing any?

Also, what factory warranties remain on it? recalls are recalls correct? if some werent performed then still be no charge for them to be even out of warranty correct?

Thanks for any insight you might have.
BTW, they are asking ~$17k for it. not great, but not horrible for the alaska scene.

 

2 owner, all recalls completed, was first registered 11/2004 so you have ~9 months of bumper-to-bumper warranty, and a year more for the powertrain (if it qualifies, which it should).

like you said, for an 05 with 32k on the clock, and a GT at that.. 17k is not a bad deal. try to lowball them a bit more and see what you can get.

edit: this "weird noise".. get it checked out... sure it may just be the rotary, but it may also be something else. try to convince the bmw dealer to let you take it in to a local Mazda dealer.

 

Thank you very much for that. Good to hear all recalls performed.

I have a friend here who is a rotarhead and has been building rotaries for a while, I might take it and have him check it out for me. I am almost PRETTY sure its the rotary, but having this weird feeling it might be rear bearings or something. These typically "bad" items?

 

I'd have them knock off some of the price due to the "shinka" bit. In '05 the shinka was black cherry with partchment white interior and could not come with nav from factory. May not want to mention that the nav was also quite a markup from the factory . They're trying to use it as a markup item I'm guessing. Some usefull information on what to look for as far as the shinka can be found in this thread.

https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-discussion-3/shinka-special-edition-not-120271/

Also, the price seems a tad steep to me for an 05 with that many miles but condition would play a part in the price I'm sure.

Good luck with getting her...You'll love it!

 

Thank you on the luck.

Yes in my years of lurking I knew a shinka was a black cherry, but noticed it odd when they listed it as such, I am guessing either a)they used carfax and it came up with all RX-8 models, or B) they tried pawning it off as one. I am leanign towards A for they said KBB claims it to be worth 24k. Although last week it was sitting at 19k, now 17k. I have a friend that works there that is trying to find out for me what they have into it.

Condition was overall fairly good and clean, the ONLY "bad" thing I saw was looked like someone leaned, rode, hit, etc the center console slider thingy, so it doesnt close as nice as if it were new (slightly out of whack if you will) otherwise rather clean.

 

Navigation was an option for an 04, along with otheres like a 6 CD changer spoiler and aero accents