Lvis

i cant answer this till i take it to the track first

hirev8

Let me begin by saying i ve had this car since 04 and although ive only got 30,000 km ( yes true only 30,000) it s been nothing short but a great experience driving it. it is my "pleasure vehicle" to say the least. Though when I drive her I don't hesitate to drive her in terms of what she's meant for. I've had no issues with thus far, it's been great. From time to time I get an ich and thought well maybe it's time to get rid of her but then in the same token, really what will i find to give me some of the same attributes the 8 has and won't break my bank. I'm 47 years of age I,ve owned alot of cars some inc Porsche's and got to honestly say there is very few and short a car that will give you a true driving experience and this car will. I think I'll still keep her!

BigCajun

iTrader: (1)

I have had my 04 for 8 months now.
2nd owner, bought with 18k miles.
Idle for nearly 3 months and have put 5k more
on it. I love it! I drive it every chance I get. I would say it's almost addictive. The most fun I ever had driving a car. My only complaint is not enough head room.

gwilliams6

Just three more payments to go to pay off my 2008 40th Anniversary Edition. I have 37,000 miles, yes just 37,000 miles ! ( I also owned a 2008 Mazdaspeed 3 GT, and used it a lot in the winter and when I needed to haul more equipment- I am a photographer. I sold the Speed 3 GT a while back, and now use the RX8 exclusively all year round). Slight mods, Mazdaspeed CAI, Racing Beat oil cooler and condenser screens, front matched mud flaps to go with my aero package, higher performance Nippon Denso sparkplugs ,and next month the BHR coils. I also drive on Continental Ultra Contact DWS All- Season High Performance Tires and love them in all kinds of weather. Great experience, love the car. This is my seventh RX since 1973: one RX3; two RX4s-both sedan and coupe; all three generations of RX7:1978 RX7 w/12A engine (later heavily race modified with Racing Beat built turbo 13B race-ported 450+ HP rotary (not really street legal, but I did enjoy blowing off Porsches and Vettes on the street) I owned that car for 13 years before selling it; 1990 Rx7 Turbo II w/ slight mods; and 1993 FD Rx7 twin turbo w/ slight mods. I will keep this 40th Anniversary Edition and wish I could have afforded to keep ALL my RXs. Then in 2017 when the new RX7 comes out with the 16X engine and rumored better fuel economy and 300 HP (NA) I will wait one year for the kinks to get out and then buy that one also. What can I say , I am a rotary addict. More than a million rotary miles driven on street and track since 1973.

DarkTower79

I've owned my '04 LY since 2005. It had 11k miles on it and the reason I went used is because they had just stopped producing it in yellow, and I had to have that color. At the time, I was driving a brand new Infiniti G35 coupe, which was a beautiful car, but it felt like driving a tank compared to the 8. Within a minute of test driving the 8 I knew I had to have it, so I traded in the Infiniti and took a huge loss. It was worth it! About 2 months after having the 8, it I had the dreaded flooding issue, but took it to the dealer under warranty. At that time they performed all the TSBs and since then the car has not seen the shop for a repair. I have 60K miles on it now and I drive it extremely hard. All maintenance has been performed by myself (except tires and alignments). I could not be happier with this car. I've owned multiple rotary cars in the past and this has by far been the most reliable (my very first car was a 1983 RX7 and I've been driving them ever since). I have very few performance mods to the vehicle, but have put some money into the styling. I have ADR M Classic wheels and the shine autobahn kit. I still love the way it looks after all these years; I just find it to be a beautiful work of art. There is truly no other car like it, and I get people asking me about it all the time. I live in the Denver area and I rarely see these on the road anymore. The longer I own it the more I love it.

DR. Victor Wankel

engine fragility is fine. It wouldn't cost that much to repair anyway, if you were in love with the car. Biggest complaints for me are mileage and Body damage is Expensive to repair. I loved my 8 until someone at work smashed into it. *******.

2009RX8R3

That should be an animated Gif ... Just saying

Sway

Best I could do....

5up3rRx8

sold my 8 because the gas cost was ridiculous. I'm getting 30 mpg in my new car

Posted From RX8Club.com Android App

Slidin8

Why did you buy a RX8 in the first place if you were concerned with gas mileage?

5up3rRx8

Had a need for speed.

Posted From RX8Club.com Android App

New Yorker

Wow. Most impressive.

New Yorker

I'm guessing you meant to say "Whilst it's annoying that the rotary must be properly maintained...". I haven't found the engine to be at all fragile. In fact, I suspect it's tougher than ordinary engines.

The need to perform routine maintenance is not the same as fragility, which suggests that a properly maintained rotary will for some reason fail in normal use; it won't.

gwilliams6

In all my rotary miles since 1973 I can honestly say they have NOT been fragile. Just the opposite ! The fact, whether you believe it or not, is that I have NEVER had a rotary engine failure of any kind in my street and race-prepared RXs, ever! Am I just lucky,maybe. But proper maintenance and the rotary's inherent durability have gone hand in hand. I know there were issues early on with the Renesis engine, but my 2008 has been bulletproof, just like my RX3, my two RX4s and all three of my RX7s.

DAMD

I have been highly satisfied with my RX8. Out of all the performance vehicles I've owned both rotary and non-rotary, MR2 Turbo, Impreza, S2000, 90 RX7 Turbo, 93 RX7 R1, and 2005 RX8, the RX8 still remains one of my favorites. Although the engine performance is not as high as some of the others and the chassis was not the "sportiest" of the bunch, driving the RX8 quickly was almost effortless compared to the others. The car has great neutral balanced handling to it and a power band that is smooth and without surprises, much like the chassis handling. Some stiffer anti-swaybars and wider tires are all this car needs to raise the performance envelope. The RX8 is surprisingly spacious. It is pretty fun to get to a ski area and people wondering how you fit 4 adults, snowboards, and other gear into a sports car. Unfortunately, mine was sold when I got a job with a non-Mazda race team and was commuting over 100 miles a day; a mistake I regret daily. I am definitely looking forward to Mazdas next rotary.

Many complain about unreliability, but I've been working in motorsports, predominantly on Mazda rotary engine race cars, and can say that they hold up much better than their piston driven counterparts in racing application. I've worked with everything from rotary based sports racers to historic Mazda GTPs to Star Mazdas to RX8 Grand Am GTs. Short of mechanical over revs or rads and oil coolers getting blocked up, engine failures are very rare, even during an endurance race. At the club racing level, rotary engines can be run very competitively for multiple seasons with no problems or measurable drops in performance. Hell many of them even run great on 87 octane. Really the only downsides I've seen of running a rotary is trying to shield everything from the high exhaust temps and the large mufflers required to meet sound regulations.

FNLR3

Been 18 months now with one of the last R3 available (at the time there were 9 at new dealers in the US). Just shy of 20k miles, and I am ever deeper in love. My job sucks, and my home life is miserable. The best moments of every day are in my RX-8.

Have never owned a car for fewer than three years or 100,000 miles (Used to drive a LOT more). You learn a lot about your car over 100,000 miles, and as none of them were particularly performance vehicles, with a few mods I got more performance and could thrash them around country roads within a razor's edge of what they were capable of.

I will own this car for as long as it takes for the 16X to get out and then a few more years. But even if I put 100,000 miles on her, I will never touch 75% of what she can do. So many times in a corner, or braking, or shifting at red-line, and I am amazed anew.

Having had substantial experience with the Renesis from the mechanical point of view, and from my own experience as a driver now, this is the best engine out there. Care for it as needed (mostly oil), don't shut the engine off cold, and worry not.

KingBonacci

Had my 04 titanium grey RX8 GT since mid 2010 and loving every minute driving it. It had about 33k miles on it when I bought it and I have it up to just under 85k now and she is still performing great. Upgraded to Borla cat back exhaust and put some aero flares on it, other than that she is all stock. I am constantly having people want to comment on it or talk to me about at gas stations and parking lots you name it, I'll also say it sometimes attracts racey type people around on the roads wanting to see what the RX8 has, sometimes I show them lol. Great driving experience all around and I will put money down to bet the 8's get more curiosity and talk than your audi's and bmw's and the like, just because they are truly a rare beast.

Mossless

iTrader: (1)

This is my second RX8 had an 04 but got rid of it because I was too young and foolish with it. The 06 I kind of stumbled across this one by accident, it was at a local used dealership and they were sitting on it for a while. We were shopping for a car for the gf. Just inquired about it and with some negotiations I ended up leaving with it and haven't looked back. She was given my car and I received a nice little surprise finding out that weird white interior was actually a special edition. You know you made a great decision when everyone around you says that this is the happiest they have ever seen you.

Other than a few maintenance issues and found out the battery blew with the past owner everything is solid. I have a used car thats 6 years old still with an engine warranty, cant beat that. After learning so much about it through this site, I invested in BHR ignition and couldn't be happier with it.

She may be high maintenance, she may be demanding for oil/gas, and at times temperamental, but this one has a soul, and you can't help at times to bond with it at 9.5k into some sweepers. I have raced motorcycles, and own one, this car is the closest thing to that experience without the risk and just as appealing.

This car has rekindled my love for mechanics, and I just switched my major from environmental engineering to mechanical. Its something about that rotary just brings a smile when you talk about it. Im actually taking a old 13b, rebuilding and modifying it for our 4th year project. Much better than just building a simple go kart or a rc plane.

Thanks to all the contributors to this awesome site, it really makes owning the RX8 that much better.
Cheers

youngsoldier777

HIGHLY SATISFIED! i love this car. rotary engines are awesome. Only thing that could improve is gas mileage. But I did my research before buying my 8 and knew what i was getting into.

RX8sold4EVO

Pros: Fantastic handling, sexy good looks.
Cons: Less torque than a Camry and half the mpg, close to 50% engine failure rate has caused Mazda to extend the warranty to cover all the inherent problems.

ASH8

The causal reason of Mazda in NA offering an extended warranty was because these failed engines will not pass any emission regulations test, ANY car maker in NA has to rectify @ up to 8 years of age from new.

MauiMazda2

Love driving this car but have had problem after problem after problem.

Had it for 18 months now - new ignition, new engine, replace flooding light gaket and one light that was cracked, problems with Grom Audio (they were useless), new throttle body (still low revs problem at some traffic lights) and about three other things as well. Oh and 15 MPG!

And now it has developed a serious misfire.

Not my most happy car experience :-(

Phil B

On Oct. 31 03' I bought an 04' RX8 (red velocity mica), probably the prettiest car I had ever set eyes on. The handling is impeccable. However after babying this car for 9yrs. the renesis 13B is out of operation due to worn apex seals. It is now a beautiful gorgeous piece of red metal sitting in my garage with 144,000 miles on it, and requires $4,000 dollars to repair. It just seems odd that a $31,000 dollar Mazda is completely useless in just 9 years of usage when Toyotas, and Hondas are just breaking in at the same mileage. Oh well zoom-zoom.

SourKraut

Phil, Sorry to here of your trouble with the RX8. I like to point out that you can not compare this car to any other at all because of difference in power train. No one else makes a rotary engine so I don't understand the comparison on that level, much, less any other. For example this is aSPORTSCAR not a family car, not a pick up truck,minivan, etc. You can only compare it to other sports cars. Face it it a poor mans Ferrari,Porsche,vette, you get the idea, and of those and more NO one makes a rotary engine, but, they are all EXTREMELY expensive to maintain much less repair on a regular basis.other than the Porsche and the vette you be very hard pressed to find those cars with 44k miles of the same vintage as yours. If you love the car fix the motor and get another 9 years and 144k miles+ out of it. If not get a Camry and quit complaining.

ASH8

And you do not think any other maker of cars has engine failures?

I would think that after 9 years and 144K miles is pretty good for a first of ALL new car...I agree spend the money and get a new reman engine...talk to RR here..
RotaryResurection...good luck