Oh yeah, the first time I test drove an 8, a few months ago, the sales guy, probably in his mid-twenties, gave me the "We don't like to allow test drives at all with these cars due to their high performance nature. We don't want to sell a car that's had a lot of hard test drives..."

Apparently, the kid thought I was going to thrash the thing. First of all, I never abuse a car. Especially one I don't own. Guess I look a little younger than my 39 years...

So anyway, the guy pulls the car around, and since he has to drive it off the lot, I get in the passenger seat, buckle up, and get ready to go. He then revs to 5 or 6 grand and drops the clutch! Then, after pulling out of the lot, he flies up thru first, second, and third gears, each time dumping the clutch on the upshift, chirping the tires. This was just to get the car a quarter mile down the road and then pull off to let me drive it!

I immediately thought I would never buy a car from this idiot. However, I was really impressed with the robustness of the drivetrain. That powerplant subframe stuff really does feel stout....

The dealership: The Mazda place out by Cary Crossroads in Cary, NC....

 

When I had my test drive , the car was in the showroom.

When the salesman got in the car to move it out of the showroom he reved it and hit the gas and the mats the car was sitting on went flying through the air and landed about 7 feet away - it must have scared him because he stalled the car.

I guess it had a little more power than the cars he was used to pulling out of the showroom. It was pretty funny.

 

It's funny how we have been served by most Mazda Dealers. Experiences so far NOT very impressed.

Here is a message for MAZDA.

HEY MAZDA, THE 8 IS A GREAT CAR BUT WE NEED BETTER CUSTOMER SERVICE FROM YOUR DEALERS. ALSO YOUR SERVICE DEPARTMENT EXPERIENCES HAVE BEEN VERY DISAPPOINTING.

 

Here's another one:

Hey Mazda, If you guys are going to sell your flagship model at close to 30k, then it might be nice if you got some salesmen that at least knew their head from their asses! Your manual says to not overfill the oil in the engines, but I and a few others got ours about a quart over!

 

Someone should start a thread specifically for Mazda North America! Do you know if Mazda actually access this forum to hear their customers feed back (good and bad)? It would be beneficial for Mazda I think!

 

Yeah, my sales guy did something similar... but I didn't mind too much, 'cause I knew the car we were taking for a test drive wasn't going to be the one I got. Frankly, it kinda impressed me... not so much his driving, but more that the car just FLEW. First impressions and all that :D and the rest is history!

 

The sales guy at the first dealership told me that they only let "qualified" people drive the 8. I laughed at him and left.

The salesman at the second dealership trashed the car during the test drive.

The guy at the third place had owned two RX-7s in the past. He told me a bunch of stuff about rotary engines. He put no pressure on me whatsoever. He let the car warm up for a few seconds before the test drive. During the test drive, he told me to avoid revving the engine too high while it was still cold.

Can you guess which of these three people I bought my 8 from?

 

3rd guy

 

OK, I'll play 'Lets Bash Mazda Dealers'.....

I'm booked for an oil change...."Harry", about 55 years old, is my service guy, and asks-
What car it's for?...
"RX-8".....
What year?
(well o.k. he might not know there is only one answer to that)
"2004"
er....thats the V-6, right?
"ah, no, it's two rotors, like it's the rotary Mazda engine?"
Oh,...yeah.....
.
.
.
doc

 

better keep a close eye on that oil change.

 

Better make sure your tranny fluid isn't over and your engine oil is low...

 

New guy here just want to let you guys know on about the saleman most of them don't know hou to drive a stick or good at it that is why most of them revs the engine so high and about the service guy "Harry" I not suprise most older tech are not in to the whole Rotary thing, that because I used to work in a Nissan dealership and that how most of the salemans there drive the new 350Z I feel bad for those guys that are going to buy the car.

 

What a way to burn the clutch. Well, at least you know what it can do.

 

my test drive was quite different from some of yours, the sales guy was very timid, almost like he was afraid to drive the rotary beast. when i got behind the wheel it was all over...hehehe.

ducked a few corners pretty hard, did a few 4-5k clutch drops, everything that i do not do to my own RX8. i believe that a test drive should be exactly that.......a test.

(i feel bad for the guy that ended up with my 'guinea pig')