Hey I'm Shane I have an 03 Cobra and an 03 Ranger. I live in Illinois, so I had to get the 2nd car for when it snows. I'm tossing the idea around of replacing the Ranger with an rx8. How is the rx 8 in a little bit of snow?

What are they front wheel drive? Anyway I love my Cobra, I'm just thinking about getting something new. I dont know if I'd replace the cobra just yet... But im looking to get info on the 04 rx8. If I got one, I'd be interested in the stick.
Are they rated at 280 horse? Is there a basic and a gt package, or just one?

Does it come with an mp3 player?

What are some simple performance things you can do to them for under $1000?

What should I expect to pay for a used one? I like the red and black interior, what package is that?


What are the 04's going for used now? If I'm looking to spend under $20,000 can I still find a nice one that doesnt have too high miles? Here is a nice Red rx8 for under $20,000
Thanks much, Shane

 

238hp, about 180 or so at the rear wheels, great handeling car, low torque. Where in illinois do u live?

 

I live between Joliet and Naperville.

 

Oh and use the search feature, very helpful.

 

i live in buffalo grove.... quite a few RX8's around here. I dont own one tho.

 

From what I've read here, with a decent set of snow tires, the 8 is an excellent vehicle in the snow... not sure you would want to make a second rear wheel drive car a "winter" car though. It is a ton of fun and handles like a champ but why not an all-wheel drive car which would make more sense than a fwd or rwd car.

 

Shane...I think your Ranger would be better in the snow. The 8 is RWD. I would urge you do some surfing on this site prior to buying one. There is much to be learned. Under $20k is a great deal. What kind of miles are on the one you ar looking at?

Good luck.

- Irish

 

The one on his link has 16k miles and it looks like a sport package with sunroof. Pretty good deal there at around $20k however the package you are looking for is the GT package and you have to look for the red/black leather combo.

Test drive it and tell us what you think. It doesn't have the oomph of the cobra 12.9 1/4 but car and driver chose the RX8 over the Mustang Cobra and G35C(not that it says too much) :

http://www.caranddriver.com/article....&page_number=1 .

 

I've been driving mine in the snow & ice in Northern Illinois for two seasons now- with snow tires combined with traction & stability control and low torque, it's a great winter car. We're having an ice storm today in fact, and I was out this evening taking my wife & kids to dinner on the ice covered roads in the 8... I'd rather be in my RX-8 than our 4WD Explorer (with all seasons, no traction/stability control).

Nice Cobra BTW...

 

that is a pretty nice cobra....i to am thinking about an 8...granted i own one..but i just can't stop thinking about her....good thing i'm not married or the wife might think i'm being unfaithful hahaha

 

czr...I think thats a GT in the picture. It's got the heated seat buttons on the center tranny console. 16K miles for under $20k!! Thats a deal...now, whats the catch? GT's retail at $33k. (After '04 discounts $29k ish)!!

- Irish

 

thanks for the replies, ill see if I can get out and test drive one.

I dont know if I want to replace the Cobra or what. But I really like the rx8's. If I got one, i'd only want to spend around $18,000 can I get a nice one with the red and black interior and the gt package? If not, I'll just wait another year or so for the prices to go down. I've just been checking out the used ones.

The Cobra is a lot of fun, it's pushing around 15 pounds of boost, and it's got exhaust from the cats back. I havent putten it on the dyno, but it should dyno close to 500 at the wheels and run at least an 11.70 in the quarter. So I dont know for sure if I want to ditch the Ranger and the Cobra and get the rx8, but I want to do something. There isnt any sense in having both the Cobra and the rx8, I just think the rx8 is fun to drive too. What would you suggest?

thanks again, Shane

 

I hope you can't get one for $18,000, nothing personal, but I paid $30K for mine about 8 months ago.
But hey, there's nothing like it the humm of that rotary engine, or the buzz of taking an exit ramp marked "30 MPH" at 60 without straining a tire.

Just beware your RX-8 has an appetite. It will drink gas and oil like a stretched Rolls-Royce carrying the Saudi family and a trailer full of their favorite camels. And they'd have to take the towels off their heads to fit in the RX.

 

it would be some MASSIVE depreciation if you can get a used GT trim RX-8 for 18k, HIGHLY unlikely.

and keep the Cobra, heck, keep the Ranger, there's no point for you in getting this car, honestly :p

 

yeah I figured that one for $18,000 looked good, but something must be wrong with it. What would you guess they are worth now mid 20's used? Around $25k for a nice one?

I'd consider selling both my cars outrite and just getting the rx8 if I found a nice one and it was worth the money. I just want to learn more about them first.

What exactly is the rotary engine? I just know it doesnt have any pistons. It is a 1.3 L, and still considered a 4 cylender right? Are all mazda dealerships working on the rx8's now?

They aren't as good on gas as I'd assume?
What package has the red and black interior, a sun roof and the navigation?

 

Probably $24-25k for a low miles, clean GT... depending on the options (add more for Navigation system, appearance bits, etc). Hell, you can pick up a leftover '04 new for about that much, but I don't know if there are any GT's left.

 

I talked with the salesman about the car listed for $20,000. He said it was priced like that because it was declared a lemmon. I told him I didnt want a car that was a lemmon. what happened was mazda let the person out of the payment because they quoted the car with 250 horse and it only had 238??? It sounded kinda fishy, so I told him I wasnt interested in that car. But thats just like the car I want. red and black interior, 6 speed. I should expect to pay around $24,000?

 

Thats not a lemon if thats the reason. All the Rx8 at that time were rated to high on power, "they based the hp figure on the Japanese engine." The US one had to bide by US emission laws and has a low hp rating. :o

 

yeah that one is nice, its just in texas I think. when I first searched auto trader I didnt put a limit on miles.

 

You really need to drive one before you think about it any more. It's a gorgeous car IMO (why I own one) but I've driven Japanese 4 bangers since I started driving (Subaru GL, Datsun/Nissan Sentra, Honda Civic CRX, Honda Accord EX) and because of that I was completely satisfied with the lack of torque/high revving/moderate horse power (still the fastest car I've ever owned). I'm concerned that coming from a Cobra (possibly 500hp monster) you will be sorely disappointed by the Wankels performance.

The RX-8 is a very unique car in that it has struck an absolutely incredible balance of practicality, comfort, fun, and handling into a relatively affordable car.

The package you want is an 04 RX-8, Velocity Red, w Blk/Red leather interior. There aren't that many options on the RX-8. There is the sport package (no sunroof, no DSC [dynamic stability control]). Then there is the GT package (sunroof, DSC, and options for leather, mp3, and Nav).

All of the manual transmission 8s have the same power plant and come with a CF drive shaft stock. The hood and rear doors are aluminum. The car has a nearly perfect 50/50 weight distribution.

The Wankel engine is not the equivalent of a 4 cyl engine nor would I compare it to a 6 cyl engine. The peak power on the RX-8 is comparable to a V6 but you'll really need to drive one to understand the way the car must be driven (lots of shifting, very high revving, tons of fun).

There are others that can link you to the How stuff works thing for the Wankel.

In closing I have to say that I love my car and even though she ain't the fastest thing on the road she gets ogled by me on a daily basis and I typically get comments/questions/compliments on her at least once a week. I love my car.

 

Thank you very much for the reply. That is just what I was looking for. I know exactly what your saying, I am not going to be able to go in there, and trade my Cobra in for an rx8 end of story. If im going to do this, it'd be if i'm 100% sure that i want something different. I do need to drive one before I do any more thinking about getting one. First one I see on a lot, I'll try to make the time to test drive one and then tell you what I think of it. The cobra is a high rev car compared to my previous cars too, but the rx8 is up there at what 8 or 9k? That is way past my 6.5 - 7,000 dual overhead cam svt.
I will test drive one and let you know.
thanks again for the info, Shane

 

The shift beep starts at 8,500 rpm, redline is at 9,000 rpm and the rev limiter is somewhere around 9,300 to 9,500 rpm (I've bounced off it a couple of times but wasn't looking at the tach when it happened). See if you can find a used one to test drive (engine already broken in). The stock suspension is a little bit soft from a purely handling perspective (little bit of body roll during hard cornering) and I think this is currently where mod money would best be spent (although you will sacrifice some comfort). I think if you check the Performance section of the forum there are some aftermarket FI kits coming out but the prices are still too high for me. Ideally I think you'd be really lucky to have a Red 8 sitting next to that Cobra but from a practical view buying an RX-8 as a winter beater doesn't seem like a good idea as you'll need buy new tires for it right off the bat (possibly new wheels if you'd rather have 17"s for the snow).

Get a nice long test drive, I'd be curious to read your impressions.

 

The RX8 RedLines at 9500 rpm.

The engine is capable of 18000 RPM, but the other engine components can't handle that high of rotation, so they have a rev limiter at 9500 rpm. The HP curve is linear, so you get power out of RPM in almost direct relation.

The key to the power of the Rotary engine, is that the actual power of a car is the area under the curve, thus the RX8 runs similar 1/4 mile as the 350Z, which has 30 more HP.

There are a slew of Forced Induction upgrades to the car that are comming out. There are a few, that are already out, and they provide 50-60 RWHP for about 5 grand. By this time next year, we should have about 8 different tubo or supercharger options to choose from.

The best thing about the RX8 is its handling, not its power. You will really have to work hard to get an RX8 in the 11-12 second range, however you can make a very good track car out of it, with the right suspension upgrades, ECU, and Forced Induction or Nitrus.

The Car also excells in practicallity and curb appeal. about 20% of the owners are reporting very low 12-14 MPG fuel economy numbers. Many however get 18 without much trouble. At the drag strip the Cobra, will get much more respect. However at the restaurant, or club, the RX8 will get alot more smiles. (IMHO)

If you do test drive one, make sure to throw it into a turn to see how well it handles.

 

ShaneZam, the previous post explains a lot. I would think that anyone who gets 18 mpg does about half their driving on expressway-highway. I get 15 in my normal driving which is all stop and go suburbs/city.

To explain the wankel further, it consists of, in this case, two triangle-shaped "rotors" that spin within separate oval casings. The three "spaces" that the tips of the triangle create inside the casing are the combustion chambers, or what would normally be a cylinder on a regular engine. The "explosions" or combustion impels these two rotors to spin. In a piston engine, the combustion drives the pistons down. The ones going down force the just-combusted cylinders back up, and then they have combustion, and so on and yada yada yada.

The idea of the wankel is that it should perform better because the rotors are spinning in one direction, vs, the cylinders that reverse direction on every stroke. So the wankel should be more efficient. The end result is a silkier feel and better revving, but the gas mileage, for some reason, isn't so hot. Once you drive one, you will be hooked, even if you have to empty your wallet twice a week at the gas station. I agree with the above comments about great looks and awesome handling and all the pacticality in a sports car. The world hasn't seen anything like it since the Datsun 280Z 2+2...which wasn't as good, but it was a lot like the RX-8 in terms of size, style, etc.

 

thank you much for the explination of the rotary engine. I really like the way the rx8's look. They really catch my eye, and 238 horse is ALOT out of a 1.3 lieter.
Its just snowed here like 3-4 inches, so once the roads clear up, I'll try to get to a Mazda dealership and test drive a 6 speed rx8.