I am highly considering purchase of an RX-8 in the next couple weeks. I have looked at this forum for a couple weeks to see if there are any major red flags to not buy it. It seems like flooding, gas mileage, are the main complaints. My concern is that I am not a mechanic (far from it) and have a couple questions....

1. What does "break in" the motor mean?
2. How common is flooding, and how long does it need to run to avoid it?
3. Has anyone had a car seat in the back and does it work?
4. Do I have to get snow tires? I live in Indiana.
5. Does anyone know what Mazda is doing with the 420 vehicles they bought back due to the horsepower discrepancy?

Any help is appreciated. I love the looks of the car and I loved driving it. My fear comes from the fact that I recently owned a 93 accord that I drove til it had 200,000 miles with no major problems. Should I wait til 05?

 

1.) keeping the revs low for the first 500-1000 miles in order to let everything in the engine seated properly. This is with any engine not just a rotary.

2.) Seems somewhat common and the concensus seems to be 5 min. running time.

3.) I've heard others talk about it, seems to work as well as any other backseat if not better :p

4.) If you value yours and others lives, yes.

5.) Seems they have been offered to the employees of Mazda, though some of the buybacks in Canada have been reported as being resold at dealers.

 

Thanks for the feedback. My best friends aunt works for Mazda in California and she is trying to get info on what will happen with the bought back vehicles in the states.

How much are snow tires? Do I need rims too? I read some post that said 18 inch snow tires are not worth it, but that is the size of rim I will have.

 

1) Engine break-in is common to all cars, and in fact break-in is common to all mechanical devices, not just automobiles. It means to get new components worn in to their operating tolerances and finishes. Piston rings and cylinders need a few hundred miles to get used to each other (you'll read about 'seating' new piston rings), bearings, gears, etc. all need a few hundred miles to get used to each other - slightly worn and matched. If you run an engine too hard before it's broken in, it can wear in improperly, and sometimes that means a shorter life, less power, higher oil consumption. Similarly, running an engine hard (high revs, full throttle) before it's warmed up is also damaging, because the operating tolerances of an engine are designed for it's normal operating temperature, and when the components are cold the parts will be at looser or tighter tolerances than when warmed up (engines always have different metals making up their components, like aluminum, steel, iron, titanium, etc., and different metals expand at different rates.)

2) Flooding is pretty uncommon, in fact. Out of 9000 RX-8s, I'd bet less than 100 have experienced it. There's a procedure listed in the owners manual telling how to avoid it, and it's basically let the engine run for 3 minutes or so, then rev to 4K rpm, hold the revs there, and turn off the ignition. IF people followed that procedure, they'd never flood the engine.

3) Quite a few of us use baby seats or booster seats. I use a booster seat for my 5 year old, and it's fine.

4) If you plan to move the car on snow/ice, you absolutely need winter tires. The car does very well with winter tires, but the OEM stock high-performance summer tires are downright treacherous on slick stuff. Even on cold pavement (<32F), they will not grip very well. If you were away from your house (work, restaurant, whatever) when snow hit, you should leave your RX-8 with summer tires parked where it sits and take a cab/bus/rental car. There are a bunch of threads in the Tires and Wheels section and in the Canada regional section that go into great detail discussing winter tires - please do a search in those for 'winter tire' and all your questions will be answered.

Regards,
Gordon

 

Thanks for the good info. I cant wait to get my 8. Just some of these posts scared me a bit. I guess that is probably true of any products "forums" as it seems like more negative people would be on those than positive folks. I will check out the winter tire search. Just hadnt figured that cost in.

 

3) I use boosters for my 4-yr olds and they fit and look great. Do they work? Well, gee, I haven't crashed my car yet, so I guess I'd have to get back to ya. lol. :D