Hi all. My name is Mark and I joined and intro'ed myself recently to get lots of warm responses. Thanks! Last month I purchased a brand new 07 GT, black with all the goodies. I now have 2k miles. No problems other than the clutch is touchy and I have stalled her a couple times. My fault apparently? I have never read so many conflicting reports on a car. Everyone seems to love them but then constant complaints about reliability and Mazda's customer service. I was told the 04's had many problems and recalls and engines, clutches ect ect....and then I read an consumer report giving it a 5 for 5 with few problems reported. WHAT!? I run into this type of conflict constantly when researching this car. I plan to follow Mazda's instruction to a T to avoid warranty issues and bought an extended to. Id like to hear from people who truly know this car and have experience with many miles under it. Not people who just bought it and have 10K and say everythings great...this is like dating that smoking hot chick for 2 months and being totally infatuated by the sex. I want to hear from someone who married this gal for the last 20 years. By and large, should this be a good mechanical car for thext 5 years and 100K miles like most other cars today??? Im hoping that at least 90% of the people who own them are enjoying them trouble free. Oh yeah and lastly...(sorry for the long post)....what differences are there in the 07's compared to the 04 and 05's that might make them better. I hear there are no more recalls. Thanks guys and happy driving!
Mark

 

Owner since Aug 2003, over 52k miles, no problems.

 

might read around a bit... i would look for the faq... brillo took the time to write a good one.


beers

 

I've never had any serious problems with mine, apart from a problem which could've been easily resolved by the dealer, which meant they had to pay for somethign to be fixed anyway.

I've done 70000km ... mine was first registered August '04

 

Bought mine in Jan 04, 49K miles on it. I brought it in for a hard start issue. They checked the cat and compression. The mechanic said cat and compression are like a new one. It was just a bad coil. I see no reason this car can't run over 200k miles on it like my RX-7s did. I have run premium fuel, synthetic oil, and high throttle on all of my rotaries including this one. I have been married to rotaries for 23 years.

John

 

hate to be the one to tell you this, but you need to search on this site.

From a personal experience, this is my first rotary, i drive a '05 GT. Brought the car brand new, currently have 49k on the clock and haven't had a single problem with this car. I was leery about rotary cars because of the horror stories but was always curious about there motors and how they worked. I had many RWD cars from muscle cars to sports cars but never a rotary powered car. I am a Z guy by nature and heart, but one test drive of the RX-8 and i was in love.

There good cars as long as you keep up with the maitnance, keep the oil topped off, do your oil changes,etc. '04 are problematic from what i seen on and off this board from what users have told me. '05 Mazda worked out the kinks and the cars are pretty reliable from '05 and up.

Also all the RX-8 are mechanically the same. The only diffrence are the colors available for each year. There is a special edition of the RX-8 which is called the SHINKA. It comes in Black Cherry and was available for '05 and part of '06. This car had camel colored leather and the beautiful black cherry paint job. Other than that , its the typical options like, stereo/speakers,Ipod intergration, Navigation, etc.The 6 speed has 232HP/ auto has 212HP.

It also seems like people who have problems with there RX-8 don't drive them enough. If your not screaming to 9k rpm on a regular basis the rotary will build up carbon deposits. Which inturn causes problems. One thing with the RX-8, you have to keep them moving and seek the redline frequently. This car loves high rpms, in this car you don't have to be afraid to take it to redline as our piston counterparts. (Unless its a S2000)

Oh and the RX-8 drinks gas ,its a sports car, so that is to be expected. If your looking to get one to SAVE gas, your looking at the wrong car.

Hope this helps you out.

 

Also remember the source, if you are searching the "Issues and Problems" section of the forum and not the whole forum your view will be skewed towards the negative. Some people have had serious problems, as I would expect has happened with nearly every mass produced vehicle ever manufactured. I don't think it would be safe to say that catastrophic problems are the norm, or even highly likely.

You say that you have already bought yours and you plan to maintain it, and you are researching / reading. I don't think you have a lot to worry about, follow through and do the things you said you will do and you will most likely have a very positive experience with your gorgeous new car!

 

Thanks for the response John. Heres another question that keeps coming up. I read over and over that folks are using syn or syn blend oils, diff weights ect....Mazda is very clear that no syn of any type should go into these engines. I asked my mazda tech at the dealership what he would change the oil with. He said, "5-20 syn blend". Then I show him the manual that says DONT use syn of any kind. The DVD I got from Mazda when I bought the car also flashes a warning, DONT use syn oils. He just looked at me with that country bumpkin expression like huh? I dont think hes ever worked on an RX8. I appreciate your experience though, thats what I wanted to hear from....Thanks

 

Thanks you guys for the responses so far. Im doing more reading and learing how to search the forum. This place is great....

Mark

 

1markc, your first post is filled with too many inaccuracies to address 1 by 1.
I have 95,000 miles on a 8 built 5/2003 and its been a great car. But I mantain all my cars very weel. I you treat this like a Honda and never check the oil things can go wrong. As for Mazda service it does suck but that has nothing to do with the 8.

 

I stick with what it say 5-20 , no syn blend for me. I know some of the other guys use the syn blend , but everyone has their choice.

By the way, a good % of us get the same expression from the, so called techs too.

Huuuuuuh???????

 

04 AT. 38,400 Miles so far.

It's still a a baby!!!

Bought it at, 35,380 Miles.

 

don't worry about what other people say. People hear "rotary engine" and think of un-reliability. The fact of the matter is if you take care of the car, break it in properly and do all the required maintainence chances are very good that the rotary will last even longer than a conventional piston engine would. The rotary has far fewer moving parts than a conventional engine, which means less things that can go wrong.