Well gang, I've made it through 52 months of Lightning Yellow fun in my 2004 GT and it's time to say good bye to it - I just made the final payment, the leasing company was here to inspect it today and I'll turn it in on October 10th. In that time, the car was decidely the car I've most enjoyed, and I'll sad to see it go in a lot of ways, but of course excited to be moving on to more/new automotive adventures.

In the past 52 months and 45000 miles since I picked it up, it consumed:

- About 3000 gallons of gas at an average price of $2.00 per - for $6000 in gas
- About 60 quarts of oil over 9 oil changes @ 5 quarts each plus a quart and a half in between
- 3 batteries
- 5 reflashes of the engine computer
- 2 1/2 sets of brake pads
- 2 1/4 sets of tires
- 3 sets of spark plugs
- 3 air filters
- 2 cabin air filters
- 8 cans of Stoner "More Shine" tire dressing
- 4 cans of Stoner "Invisible Glass"
- 1 pint of Malm's wax
- 1 pint of Malm's polish
- 8 Orbital buffer foam heads
- 8 orbital buffer microfiber heads
- 2 tire brushes and 4 wash mitts
- 1 wiring harness for the airbag system (the airbag warning light came on at month 14 - turns out they never had worked - the entire airbag wiring harness had to be replaced - 4 day warranty repair that further screwed up the car, that took them another 3 visits to sort out - more below)
- 1 passenger side airbag - in changing the airbag harness, the morons at the Mazda dealership accidentally fired off the passenger airbag, causing ...
- 1 passenger side dashboard skin assembly
- 1 windshield (when you fire the passenger airbag it generally cracks the windshield)
- 2 cans of Ozium trying to dissipate the damn airbag stink that finally went away after three months
- 1 driver seat - the mechanism in mine died - they replaced the entire seat

During the time I've had it, I ...
- Washed it every week from May through September, then every 2 weeks or so afterwards
- Changed the oil every 5000 miles
- Followed the owner's manual maintenance schedule, not the dealership's
- Autocrossed it 3 times
- Did one track day with it on someone else's tires.
- Did one GINORMOUS smokey burnout in front of 100 high school kids at my son's HS band car wash event at the request of a bunch of my friend's sons - this the day before I replaced my tires.
- NEVER STREET RACED IT
- Drove in four parades (hey, when you have a car this hot, especially in Lightning Yellow ...)
- Gave rides to any kid that ever wanted one
- Had a silly grin plastered on my face
- Looked at this site thousands of times. Made more than 2000 posts.
- Taught my sixteen year old son how to drive a manual transmission
- Probably got my son laid as he's been driving it on dates since he got his license (Dad really doesn't want to know!)

So, it's onto the next thing. My next car strategy has changed - with a sixteen year old son and two more coming, I changed my mind on what car I'm getting and cancelled my order for a Mercedes C350 Sport. I'm now looking at older vintage German sport coupes - BMWs, Audi, Mercedes, and other Euro brands (Saab for one) to find a car for about $5000 that I can enjoy for a few months and then hand off to #1 son in the spring.

Then, I'll head back out to a dealership and this time, instead of the Merc, I'll be getting a BMW 335ci. Oh so much fun.

At this point, the car still looks like new throughout and drives like new. The clutch is strong as ever, the engine pulls like hell - I think it's considerably quicker than when new - and I still love it. But all good things must come to an end.

Thanks all, it's been a hoot.

FYI, I am negotiating right now with my leasing company and may buy it to resell it. If you want a super-clean, very cherry, gently driven lightning yellow 2004 RX-8 MT GT, PM me.

Good luck all.

StewC625

 

I really love your write up! Nice.

 

How much to pay it off ? My lease will be over next year and I"ll owe 10,000 to keep it . I might as well do . If you keep it , make it you weekend car.

 

That's what I'm negotiating on - they say $13K but they will "take an offer".

If I can buy it for 10, I'll buy it and resell it.

 

Stew, great write up! We'll miss you around these parts, make sure to stop by from time to time.

 

hoho ~ great write up !

sad to see you leave, are you going to get another car?

 

nice write-up... were gunna miss you man!

 

buh bye. I'd keep it.

 

Hey Ross, NYC and Jedi - nice to hear from some old heads that have been around here.

Yeah, I'll keep my ID here - Ike has proven you don't need to be a member of the owner fraternity to hang around.

I damn near bought a car just now on eBay - was a sweet ride too - a 1991 BMW 325i convertible with the MTechnic body kit - 115K miles, all maintenance up to date. But, got sniped at the last moment. CRAP!

Although it was in the "triple white" look that was all the rage back then - this car just screamed "Hey the 90's just called and they want their car back" ...white leather, white paint, white wheel centers ... oy.

LOL

So much fun looking. Like going to a strip club.

The hassle is bringing one home. Maybe I'll just take the bus from now on! That way I can keep looking.

 

So you have a 16-yo and two more coming? Something broke?

 

Great writeup!
Thanks for sharing that.
Peace. Don't forget to keep posting even if you get another car.

 

cool epilogue for your rx8, at least you got what mazda set out to do with this car
and that was to have

FUN!!!

i am about 6 months away from settling my car finance, i will pay off the difference in a month or so, to try and cut down on interest payments. after that i'll be putting strakes, mud flaps etc on to customise a bit more.

the german vintage cars sound interesting, my dad owns a 1992 automatic w124 merc 300 diesel with a turbo kit put in. the straight diesel would not be that quick but with the turbo, it really makes a difference.

lovely car to drive and sit in, i also enjoyed my 1994 320i bmw e36, it was a black 4 door saloon, but very tidy for her age, the autobox got stuck in 3rd so had to go as too expensive to replace etc.

if you can make a profit on the rx8, then do so and get your bimmer as it sounds like a lovely car.

all the best and pop in and say hello now and again!

 

2 Dollars a gallon?!

 

Shoulda stopped here

 

LOL - you could definitely misconstrue that statement to think my wife is preggo with twins. Well, that occurred more than 13 years ago.

So the statement should read" have a new 16 year old driver in the house and two more will have their licenses soon two."

Quite funny!

 

Avg price over four years. My log says premium was $1.42 a gallon the week I bought it and gas didn't go over $2.00 a gallon until just after Hurricane Katrina, where it raced from $1.75 a gallon to more than $2.75. Then last summer it went above 3 and this summer, above four.

So, I'd say mostly the average was $2.00 a gallon over the four years.

 

sorry to see you leave stew. my lease is over in a year so i'll be in the same boat. just need to decide what i want to do when the time comes(buy the car or give it back)

 

Very good write up def don't hesitate to stopback in and say hello to us rotorheads