Docj78

Trying not to ramble on, here is my plight:

I have a 2005 Shinka with just under 34k on the car which I have owned since 21K miles.

I have every intention of grabbing a Pettit kit sooner than later for this car OR a 2008 40th AE for which I would trade mine for.

So, my dilemma is whether it's worthwhile to trade mine for a fresh and new 40th AE for which I'd be "willing" to put up and extra $11,000 and then SC it, or simply keep mine and do it up with mine. I really like the idea of a brand new powertrain to break in properly, and Supercharging with under 5-10k miles. Not to mention the other benefits of brand new overall...

The other distant but not out of the question possibility would be to trade mine in for a 2008 135i (possibly used). This would probably end up costing me roughly the same that the 40th AE + intended performance Mods would cost.

Can somebody offer some calrity on these choices. I'm all over the place with my rationale for each possibility.

Renesis07

iTrader: (1)

I would keep your car. Youll be buying inequity and putting yourself into a bigger hole by supercharging.

staticlag

Honestly, I say sell the 8 and buy a prius and a gsxr 1000.

Docj78

LOL.

Honestly though, I really love the style and features of the 8, despite its shortcomings (factory power COUPLED with bad gas mileage). That's why if i keep the 8--it will be SC'ed.

The 135i is a pretty sick car from what I've read, and I will probably test drive one pretty soon, which may make my decision a little easier. There is also the JB3 chip that makes the 135i plain retarded.

I'm at a point in my life where this may be my best opportunity to be able to make such a choice on something so trivial as a "cool car", as it won't be long before the kids and "other" obligations divert my fun money. To that end, I consider myself pretty lucky, but still want to make the best choice.

At this point, I feel like I'm leaning toward the trade in so long as I can get it done for ~$10-$11k. Tack on ~$10 for the Pettit/exhaust/supporting mods, etc and I'd have a pretty phenomenal car (in my eyes).

Not to mention the 4 doors for easy access to the car seat when the time comes-- Or so I tell my wife!

Renesis07

iTrader: (1)

dude, I really thing you should just keep your car now.

Your going to take a hit buying a new car THEN supercharging it. For what? differnet colored leather? not worth it.

I would keep your already depreciated RX8 that has low miles and is already broken in and sc it and enjoy it.

dshiznit1489

Buy the 135i.

lucifuge

Maybe these few points will help.

- Your decision to SC your current Rx8 sounds like it might be due to frustration in current power levels. If so, will you not be suffering the same frustrations if you buy a 2008 40th AE??? After all its basically the same car power-wise. Possibly you will be more frustrated than you are now because by that stage you would have shelled out more dough for the same power.

-The BMW idea is not a bad one from a balance of power and fuel economy. In both regards it will smash an Rx8. But at the end of the day they are apples and oranges. There's a lot more to an Rx8 than what a BMW could offer. How important are those unique Rx8 things to you? I guess what I'm saying is, if the Rx8 uniqueness is not so important then the BMW might be a very good idea for you.

- Mods will almost invariably be lost money. I'm guessing the SC cost isn't cheap, do you really want to lose this amount of money?

- From my experience in powering up cars, after 1 week you get used to the power and it's your new baseline. Point is you can never have enough to satisfy but it sure does burn the cash in the process. Personally I feel if you have to mod a car that much power-wise you should simply have a more powerful car stock, many would disagree

Teedat

Really good point there

the car loses alot of value in the first year, just take the $11,000 and supercharge the '05 instead. I mean, 34K is what? like 50-60k KM. (canada here). The car can still go alot more

05shinka

You have the best color ever... (i might be a little biased....) keep it and SC it!

04RX8man

I also say keep it and S/C it

heyarnold69

iTrader: (1)

SC makes engines happy

Docj78

All of these responses are very well taken and considered. I apologize for starting one those rhetorical and "never ending" threads. (although we'll try to keep it reasonable)

I really do love the 8's features, and see the point about getting nothing more than different leather in the 08. I do think that there is something to be said for EVERYTHING being brand new again--Even for the Non-powertrain portion of the warranty.

The 135i-- well for the price of the 08 plus all the mods I'd like to do with it, I'd be out roughly the same should I trade my 05 for a very low mileage 135i. There are guys with JUST tunes putting ~400 WHP and TQ to the ground. I can't even fathom that power.

Cheapest route would be to keep my Shinka, and do all of my mods to it. I need to check out the FI threads to see how many miles most people had PRIOR to going FI, and what preparing mods were made to get the car "ready".

BTW, I wonder if there are any others here at a similar "crossroads" of 8 ownership..?

blackenedwings

Either mod your current car or buy the Breadbox, don't blow money on a 40th Anniv. 8. You will be kicking yourself if you drop a lot of extra money to have essentially the same car you have now. If you are going to mod the car go ahead and mod it. Those are the "generic" answers not based off my personal taste, just common sense.

My personal taste answer is a little different. I absolutely loathe BMWs. I think they are steaming piles. Numbers on the 135i are great, and I'm sure plenty of people are happy with them, but I wouldn't be caught dead in one. I have a 2005 Shinka with only slightly less mileage (28-29k?) and I'm going FI myself. Get a compression test to make sure your motor is a good candidate and do some serious research before you go FI. It is NOT a minor step and if you don't go in with your eyes wide open you will regret it. Also, I would say do some research about the benefits/disadvantages of supercharging versus turbocharging. If you are unhappy with the current output of the car, a significant increase in torque is the only thing likely to change that. While opinions differ in which one is the best choice for the RX-8, there is a noticablely higher torque output from a turbo setup.

I am not trying to get in a SC/TC fight with anybody, just saying the OP needs to do his own research before making a decision. You should make the decision based off what you are looking to the car for, otherwise your expectation will not meet what you end up with and you will be unhappy. If you want a daily driver with some grunt while retaining high fuel economy and minimal mods get the BMW. The RX-8 is a totally different car that meets very different goals. If you want a unique experience that takes up a lot more investment in time and personal commitment, then mod your RX-8, slap a SC or Turbo in it and get a real connection to the car. I have never gotten so involved with a car before, both modding it and meeting other people who have the same fascination (read illness), but I love it. I've had fast cars before, but no other car has inspired me like the RX-8.

Best of luck making your decision.

Docj78

I actually have spent a pretty good deal of time reading the back and forth on the TC vs SC topic, and have ultimately decided that, for me, the SC is the more appropriate choice. That does include consideration of the numbers currently available.

The choice that I end up with does need to be a daily driver, so reliability is indeed a concern. Now obviously FI'ing the 8 will ultimately reduce its longevity, but hopefully I can refrain from beating the **** out of it every time I turn the key. I actually have considered the DNA procharger set-up for the very reason that it is "relatively" conservative in the low RPM's, and builds boost(and power and abuse) the more you get into. In fact surpassing the Pettit numbers on the DYNO thread. Although, the new puley and injector setup from pettit has once again changed the landscape.

However, the lack of procharged 8's out there, and subsequent lack of real world reports have swayed me toward the Pettit kit. It just seems to have a very high satisfaction rate. UNDERSTAND--I am not trying to provoke anyone. This is ourely MY take on things based on what I want from MY car.

As I posted earlier, reliabilty and peace of mind ARE considerations, and that is why I like the idea of NEW. The Bimmer seems to have all of the things that I'm ultimately looking for--but it just doesn't quite have the inexplicable "appeal" that the RX8 has. We all know what I'm talking about there.

blackenedwings

From these comments here I would recommend going for a test drive in the Bimmer. See if it gives you what you are looking for on the road.

Reliability and peace of mind are two things in VERY short supply with a FI RX-8. It has appeal, and is one hell of a lot better looking than the BMW, but worrying about blowing your motor sky high is not good for peace of mind. Even a bone stock RX-8 requires a lot more care than most other cars. Adding any type of forced induction to the equation makes it less reliable. Neither SC or turbo is going to be better for that despite arguments to the contrary. You need to make peace with the fact that you run a real risk of blowing your motor out of warranty before you pull the trigger to go FI.

If you are not excited about the experience of working on the car, getting into it's guts and dealing with it's problems you should run not walk away from making serious changes to it. The BMW gets ~30 MPG, tunes easily to 350-400 hp and would be covered by warranty. If you want a "point and shoot" daily driver you don't have to worry about just get the BMW. I say that in all seriousness despite the fact that I rather loathe that car.

For me, I enjoy the experience of making modifications to the car, seeing the little bits I've added and the community around it. For me that is the whole point of the thing. I could buy a C6 Corvette for hardly anything, and be a monster on the road or track, but its about the experience of working on it and the character of the RX-8 for me. The car isn't just transport to me, it's the best part of my day when I drive into work and drive home at night. The high pitched whine of the rotary engine and the gleam of lights on my carbon fiber hood make me smile and thats why I own it. Be honest with what you want out of the car you plan to drive. Reliable point and shoot daily driver, or unique rotary obsession.

Docj78

Damn Wings! That was actually a very visceral testament to the 8, and I have nothing but respect for your analysis. I do enjoy the concept of learning and tinkering with cars, but I wouldn't consider myself overly mechanically inclined either--which makes going FI seem counter intuitive. But then again, if the motor actually blows, the rebuild wouldn't be a project that I'd be undertaking anyway.

I'm not really looking for a "project" car, per se. So perhaps I would be making a mistake with FI. I don't mind maintaining my vehicles, and have gathered the impression that those with the Pettit 8's are having few additional issues above N/A in terms of upkeep and maintenace.

Still, I do believe that I will test drive the 135i and will be having a ride in at least 1 SC'ed 8. Thanks for the dialog.

dshiznit1489

SC Rotary, or Twin Turbo 6cyl?

heyarnold69

iTrader: (1)

could get your engine refreshed with some new seals, polish, water / oil pumps ... etc...

Mazurfer

Since it's all been covered already.....................I'll be brief.

Beamers are a dime a dozen..................SC the Shinka and be happy!

blackenedwings

Well that is definitely one of the things I don't like about BWMs, around where I live you can't walk to your car without tripping over them. I also HATE the way all BMWs look. My mom actually owns an M3 convertable and I don't mind how it looks as much, but it drives like a pig compared to an 8. There are a few brands that I just can't see myself ever buying, BMW and Merc are both on that list. They somehow manage to be both common and pretentious at the same time. Who knows though, until a few years ago I wouldn't have thought I would own an import car. I grew up loving and owning muscle cars, so driving around in a 1.3L rotary is a bit strange for me.

Doc, I'm not terribly mechanically inclined either... I'm a software engineer by trade and never got really comfortable wrenching on my own car over the years. That being said, I've never had an interest in doing it until the RX-8. I've found that the desire has pushed me to learn more about the car and rotaries in general than I thought I would ever know and do a lot of upgrades I wouldn't have thought myself capable of. I'm still in the process of my FI setup, and although I won't be doing the install solo I want to get my hands dirty as much as possible. Essentially I want the fun of working on the car without the stress of being scared as hell that I'm doing it wrong and it's going to explode in my face.

As far as going FI... I know a number of guys on this forum who have had positive experiences with their FI RX-8s, including some daily driven reasonably high boost examples like mysql. That being said, I was at an rx8club gtg a couple of weeks ago and one of the local guys (IamDanoMite) had his turboed Mazdaspeed 8grenade 2 feet from my car. He was running relatively low boost with the AccessPORT and wasn't flogging it, just accelerating to pass a bus. One gout of black smoke later and he was running on one rotor. Ironically he just bought a 135i as his daily driver so he doesn't have to rely on the RX-8. The fact is, even bone stock the RX-8 has a mixed history of reliability running NA. Cramming a sh*tload of extra air and fuel into it isn't going to increase that regardless of how you do it.

I have my own theories as to why there are less documented issues with the Pettit kit blowing up beyond the fact there are way more turbo guys than SC guys. A professional install by the people who designed the kit goes a long way towards reliability with a kit like this. Quality components and low boost don't hurt the equation either. People running terrible piggyback engine management (EManage ugh!) with undersized, low quality turbos with WAY too much boost accounts for a lot of the issues. Water/meth injection can make a big difference too regardless of the form of forced induction, but there is no one safe form of forced induction. Doing your research, getting a quality install with good components will go a long way and if you decide to SC your 8 and keep it, I think you will enjoy it. Just go in with your eyes open.

alfy28

i say keep the current car. no point of buying the same type of car with a bigger note.

04RX8man

S/C makes 8 drivers happy!!!!

kersh4w

iTrader: (3)

contact im_danomite on the difference between the 135i and the rx8. he owns both.

blackenedwings

Yeah, as I already mentioned, he has an FI RX-8 which he just blew the motor and a 135i which he got as a daily driver. I don't know how thrilled he is with his 8 now to be honest. He told me at the meet when it blew up that he hasn't had a lot of luck with his RX-8.

AJ's Shinka

This is the last rotary ever made, instant classic. You'll see...you'll see.