Well, the more I read forums about the 8 and dig more information about the rotary engine, the more I get nervous and worried that my car will die before reaching 100k miles. That is very discouraging for me since I'll probably will still be paying it off.
A lot of thoughts around the apex seals and it's life expectancy, driving habbits, and overall car reliability make me wonder.... Should I sell my car before my nightmares start happening? Should I just enjoy my car and hope for the best? I would be extremely upset if my car dies... say at 50k miles..... No matter what engine it has..... who made it...... I think a car that lasts only 50k miles should not be sold, period.

Maybe I'm just worring to much........ I don't know what to do...

 

I think you're good. As long as you take care of your car with particular focus on rotary quirks (for example, checking oil levels and topping off when needed).

The rotary engine can run well over 200K if you take care of it.

 

put it this way, and this is what ive read on the forums, this engine only has 3 moving parts while yor normal piston 4-banger has prob 50-60 moving parts, more moving parts means more friciton n wear on the parts which decreases engine life, now im not sayin that piston engines will die off earlier than a rotary or vice versa, but this engine is still new, we still have to see how far things go, i thnk some guy named lambert on here already has 100k, u should send him a pm bout yor question, ive had mines for less than a year n i already have 19k on her, ne vehicle will last you a lifetime if you just stick with proper maintenance, as long as u dont mind checkin the oil level every now and then, the maintenance on this car is just the same as ne other car.

 

I understand your concern and do think about it myself. I worry that if something is going wrong Mazda will try to stonewall me and then blame me after the warranty is gone. I also do worry about the long term sealing issue. Even though it has few moving parts its compression seals are far more complicated then a piston engine. It may be worth paying for a compression test right before the warranty is out to document any issues.

That being said, I know of a few Rotaries with high mileage on them and have read about many more. We do read about a few engines with problems but these are out of how many cars sold to date. Also you will hear far more from one driver with a problem then 100 with out. Over all I feel the engine is pretty solid if maintained. Use good oil, done let it over heat. etc... I think the weakest link in this engine is Mazda. If they were better at stepping up to the plate to resolve issues instead of sweeping them under the rug we would all sleep better.

 

not this again. you need to stop listening to the fanbois on other forums that haven't the slightest clue about the rotary engine. really, this whole rotary stigma came about from the fd. don't get me wrong, the fd is an amazing car, it just had some issues. some of it was design, some of it was user error.

when the fd came out, it was chewing up and spitting out most everythign out there. so, all the people with their big v8s that kept getting their asses handed to them decided they would go out and get an fd. then they'd try and make it faster, and put a bunch of mods on it, and not address the fuel delivery, and would lean out the mix and grenade their engine. fd instantly gets a bad rep.

then for those that didn't instantly kill their engines, they found a design problem with the fd a little later in the car's life. with it's twin turbos, it was the hottest rotary engine to date. and because it was designed with a very sleek front end, it had very poor cooling ability, which led to the the premature (~80-100K) demise of the engine.

the heat also did bad things to the rats nest vacuum lines that controlled the turbos.

the previous versions of the rotary were well capable of reaching 300-400k miles, especially the NA rotary engines.

side story. when i first bought my 8, i went back to the dealership the following weekend to have them address a few small issues (like my extra keys which they couldn't find and the lock to the wheels which they also couldn't find). i started talking to a lady there that was having her 30k mile service done on her 8. turns out her previous car was an fc that had over 250k miles on it when the tranny died (engine was still good). and she loved the car, but she didn't want to spend the money to fix taht up, but she wanted another rotary powered car, so she got the rx8.

point being, the rotary engine isn't the unreliable POS that the haters make it out to be. its too early to say for sure how the renesis will hold up, but based off of previous NA rotary engine reliability, it should easily hit 200k miles with proper maintainence, if not more. keep your car.

 

Im worried about the life of the engine after I go FI here soon... but oh well.

 

No reason to worry about that if it is properly tuned and maintained. My 87 RX-7 Turbo had near 150K on the original engine before it needed to be replaced.

 

I think you should sell her! Get a Camry. Everybody loves the Camry. But then Camry has never won Lemans (the 24 hour one). My 86 RX7 only had 260k when we rebuilt it. The rotary isnt very reliable. Lots of people say so.

 

Hmmm... I am expecting more than 150k on mine...

 

Sometimes I don't know if people are serious or they are joking.... I noticed a little sarcasm in your quote...

 

More than 150K is asking a lot out of a boosted engine, whether it has rotors or pistons. Will you make it past 150K, only time will tell but selling your car won't!

 

its that Red Devil magic!

 

Oh...it's you. Don't make me start with you. When you pay your Evolv dues like everyone else has maybe then I'll acknowledge your posts. And I don't care what RSD says about you, you're out of the club until they're paid.

You want to discuss further, take it to PM with me or the Chicago Lounge.



I now return you to the topic of this thread and engine longevity.

 

150 k on a sports car *especially if driven like it was intended* is a pretty solid number. If you're driving like a granny, it may be reasonable to expect more miles, but then, you should have bought a Camry. "Drive it like it's stolen" is not a suggestion beee-aatch!!!!

 

I never had any Rotary experience before my 8 so I cant tell how good it was.

For my 8, I drive it like I stole it alot but I also baby her alot, changing oil every maybe 1.5K~2K miles, good oil filters. rear diff changed. :O

 

even 150k on your average "reliable" piston powered car is alot. The engine will probably get you around just fine, but it will be down on power and economy. Things wear out in 150k miles. It's just that a rebuild on a piston engine is a little more cost effective. Hell there are old NA rotaries and piston engines running around in the 200k's without a rebuild, but dyno one and see how much of the original power is still there. Less power means less efficiency which you'll notice in the mileage department. Needing a rebuild doesn't necessarily mean the engine's dead, just that it's old and worn out.

Several million revolutions occur over the course of 150k miles. Do that to your knees and see how you like it .

 

Jeez 150k miles is asking alot, especially from a sports car. My '99 Nissan Altima is hitting 125k miles and it feels like a dog.

 

Just picked up my car last week from the dealer here in San Jose due to some warrany work.. (A/C issues)...

Anyways I was talking to the service guy and there was another 8 in the garage for service work...so i asked... "waht's wrong with that car?"... He replied... "nothing... jut regular maintenance...especially since it has 126K miles on it"!!!!

I was like.. WTF??? 126K miles already? in 3 years??.... yeap.... main thing he does he brings the car here every month for maintenance...

AMEN.

Carlos

 

don't even get me going florida boy. The club is free, and I refuse to donate to your "turbonator" fund! Jerk

 

The club is free, unless you want to pay into some of the events. That's what I'm collecting for. Ask the President, she'll tell you. Oh, and she'll agree with me on this, who do you think she got her name from?

And I'm insulted by your Turbonator remark. I need to get the Tornado first for the Turbonator to work properly. And how is that fake hood scoop working for you?

 

fake hood scoop? bwhahahahahahhahah Thats a hot air induction system i'll have you know!

And, who says I can just attend the events? What are you gonna do? Throw shoes at me?


and this is what you are doing right now!

 

Damn that looks like Spice Boy!

No never sell the 8

 

fyi - unless its a project car, as a daily driver never drive a car not under warrenty

 

Huh? My daily driver Miata has been out of warranty for 10 years with nary a car payment. Miata reliability (and inbred cheapness) is the only reason I don't have an 8 yet. Cars thrive on regular maintenance, especially oil--8 just needs a little bit more attention to oil.