Okay so I am hunt now for my own RX-8. I've read up on the rotaries and so bear with me if any of this is wrong but here is what I'm reading:

1. The rotary tends to burn a bit of oil.. it's natural, so check oil like once every month or so.

2. Spark plugs wear out faster. 40k miles and use only OEM plugs.

3. It's strongly advised to not turn the car off before it's warmed up. This will prevent flooding that can easily occur when you just start it and stop it before it's fully warmed up.

4. Make sure that car is on the most current flash from the stealership.

Now, here are the ?'s I got:

1. I am assuming that S1 and S2 mean series 1 and series 2. From what I've read Series 1 is pre- '09. Like the first generation RX8. However, what's the major difference? I hear people talking about the first series being a maintenance prone series, and people rebuilding/replacing engines.. what's the deal with all that?

That's really it.. I don't want to buy a car that will haunt me with maintenance (my dad has a Mitsubishi 3000GT VR-4 that Originally would have been mine but there is so much maintenance to it I don't want it..) and need engine rebuilds..

I'm just worried that I'll buy one and then be screwed with repair after repair lol...

I've also not looked at any yet.. just getting information up at the moment so I'll start looking soon after...

 

You need to check the oil every other fill up which will be much more than once per month unless you hardly drive it. It doesn't just tend to burn oil, it is designed to inject oil to lubricate the rotors/apex seals(probably more, but that's just my basic knowledge of it).

As to your first question, https://www.rx8club.com/purchasing-financing-insurance-56/year-year-changes-143280/ its a sticky in the very forum you posted in.

The rx8 needs regular maintenance its not a car you want to neglect. If you don't plan on getting oil changes every 3k and watching the oil level and treating it as your baby this may not be the car for you. There is LOTS of reading you can do on this forum about problems people have or what they do to try and make sure they don't have problems(pre-mixing).

You might wanna just start here. https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-faq-9/

 

Every 2-3 changes. YOu'll burn about 1 quart per 1k miles. I wouldn't wait until a full quart is needed.

Series 1 is 03-08. Details of hte differences can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazda_RX-8

It's the same engine, just slightly different. Like any car, maintenance is key. Keep on top of hte oil. If ignition seems weak, do a tune-up. Drive it like you stole it. The usual stuff.

 

S2 has some exterior changes and the engine oil system is redesigned using 3 oil injectors each rotor unlike the 2 injector design on the S1. other than that not a huge change.

as for engine rebuilt you dont need to worry about it. you get free reman engines under engine core warranty up to 100k/8 years.

 

usually not let the engine running low than half quart low is a good habit.

 

Make sure to get an Auto

 

@ xexok:
-Will do on the oil. Probably should be a habit for me but my current car (Mazda MX-3) doesn't really need me to check it that much. It runs strong and leaked no oil prior to my engine swap (BP swapped and now dealing with a head gasket leak... I think it was a bad gasket I got)

-Didn't see the link of differences, thanks!!

-Now I understand the maintenance issues. The 3kGT vr-4 that me and my dad own is the same way. You can't ignore any maintenance. So I'm not worried about the usual maintenance like oil changes, coolant checks, etc... I was just worried about the "out of the ordinary" stuff.. and things I should look out for with the car.. I also read the FAQ already

@serial- Thanks!

@Jason- did NOT know about the 100k /8year warranty. That's awesome! And I never let my cars go low with oil. I make sure it's always topped off

@Razz- Why auto???

 

hes kidding, dont get an auto unless youre disabled.

 

Yea The car I had before this one didn't need to have the oil checked its hard to get into that habit when you haven't done it for so long.

He was kidding about the auto.

You really need to just go drive an rx8 and see what you think. When I was out looking for a car it caught my eye and I loved how it looked then when I drove it I was sold I couldn't of possibly got any other car.

The engine warranty isn't on all years of rx8s its only on 04-08. So you can either go with an 04-08 and have that comfort zone knowing you can get a new engine free or go with an 09+ with the improvements they added and hope that will be enough.
https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-discussion-3/8-years-100-000-mi-extended-warranty-147287/

 

Main difference between the series:

S1 - Sexy, defining sport-car esque front
S2 - Like any other mazda with a big smile front

 

09+ gets that warranty I checked.

 

@Jason- Hah ok

@ Xe- Might be hard at first but I know for sure I'll get used to it.

The thing is, as you've said, I love the way it looks. I think it's a beautiful car, and just a great looking ride. And my current Mazda is just fun to drive. So I can only imagine the joy in the RX series.

I'm leaning, also, more towards the S1 simply because I don't think I'd have the $$'s to afford an S2. S2's are like.... 15k and up.. don't have that much to get one lol.

And I'm guessing as long as I take care of the car, it will return the favor with me :P

 

That would be great news, I was just going off the post I quoted. I know its from 2008 but I figured in 2 years some updates may have been done to the post.

 

so doing a bit of searching.. found this:

2004 RX-8
blue exterior
black leather interior
manual
64,000 miles
garage kept
all scheduled maintenance done
custom wheels
no accidents
non-smoker



they want 11k but are open to offers.

 

You have two years and 36,000 miles to drive that car ^ till the engine warranty runs out.

 

Look at the for sale forums here, I was looking earlier and some people are getting pretty desperate to sell their car and are dropping their price pretty low. I don't know where your located but the first one I saw was in IA it is an 05 gt with 33k miles and they are asking 11k also.

 

I should update that heh.

Pittsburgh, PA is my location.

 

those wheels arent custom btw, just painted OEM ones. 11k is pricey for an 04...go check the for sale threads.

 

Hell, they don't even look painted, they look dirty

I'd skip that one for 11k.

 

Not to mention that if it is painted, he seemed to have only painted the front ones and not the rear lol

 

well I did not notice any of that =/. Then again, I didn't really know for sure what OEM rims were.

Ok then pass on that :P

Though I'll admit the OEM rims are sexy haha.

 

so I have a friend down in VA, and he lives near BrendenV... so I am possibly buying his RX8:

https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8s-sale-wanted-43/2005-rx8-fully-loaded-gt-modified-201852/

 

don't rush into just buying one; wait for THE ONE! Especially since you're buying it used;

I got so excited on getting my 8 that I was content with every 8 that I saw (BAD!)

Eventually, everything worked out for the best & picked up an '05 RX8 GT @ 40k mi for only $10k here @ RX8club!

don't rush too much :O

 

Yeah I don't want to fall into that category... but his RX8 is very nice.. it's a GT (which I wanted).. has the popup navigation which is nice (and is better then me using Streets and Trips like I do with my MX-3).. and has been somewhat modified.. not that the modifications are BIG deal.. but he's done some of the legwork that I would have done (exhaust and intake).

and quite frankly, I can tell it's been taken care of. He has the TSB's done, only has about 65k miles on it, has a body kit which I can sell for some $$'s, a carbon fiber hood which I somewhat like.... and even if I didn't like it I could sell it later on for some money...

so really with all the stuff he is throwing in it makes it a nice deal. In fact, the only thing that had me iffy was the fact that it's silver.. but then as I looked at pictures of sunlight silver RX8's.. it's not that bad.. the only colors I would like more is winning blue or titanium gray.

But yeah I think that it's a great deal.. I haven't seen many in my area.. and since my friend is off for vacation before leaving for Afghanistan, it makes for a perfect road trip for me to drive back to his place to get the RX8, and drive home the next morning after hanging out!