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

 

I 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.

 

I've noticed that RX-8's are kinda black or white, I work at a Mazda dealership and an 05 came in last week with 134K miles and no problems whatso ever. Then theres some that seem to always have problems. All I can say, is if you bought yours new, drive it like it should be driven, and take care of it and service it on schedule and you shouldnt have to many problems. Good luck.

 

https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-discussion-3/whats-real-deal-car-120476/

 

That's the nature of on-line forums. Read a forum on any product, and you'll come to the conculsion that it's junk built by sociopaths as a hobby in between murdering children.

Just hang out here and read lots of posts - espcially the stickies. Get a feel for who's who, and filter the raw material accordingly. This is an excellent site with a lot of great people contributing.

The RX-8 is somewhat unusual, but that's one of the reasons for getting it. Would I recommend one to someone who wants basic transportation? No way! To someone who wants a great drive and does not want to be one more pea in a pod? Absolutely!


Ken

 

Hi Mark:

thanks for the nice post.

I'm 35,000 miles and 3 years in. It's great! Still love driving it, still turns heads like crazy, still goes like hell. Still uses oil, still gets crap gas mileage. Mine is an 04 and I've had a few "teething" issues but nothing catastrophic and nothing that didn't get fixed fairly expeditiously. My only major "can't fix this complaint" is not that something is broken, but instead is the quality of the interior materials and finishes - they seem very delicate and very plasticky. Not up to the standard set forth by the exterior build quality and drive train.

PM me with any questions you may have. Happy to answer any and all.

 

Well Mark, I can't say I meet the requirement to be able to reply, buuuuuuuuuut what I can say is that I've had mine for 10k miles-ish (I don't drive around a lot), for a little over a year, and I've had some problems with mine...Take it to the dealershup and get the same bad service as usual.

I can't say the car is bad, I love it a lot, even with all the little bugs that it has...As for the Mazda Dealership, it just depends on the area you're in. Some people are surrounded with good ones some aren't so fortunette. Mine is pretty good but some of the mechanics are just trained monkeys...

As for the car itself, like I said I can't say it's bad but it does have it's problems. If you don't mind going to the dealership every now and then for the recalls and for repeat visists for the same problem that they didn't fix the first time, or just gave you a BS excuse, and they finally get it right the second, or you'll just take it to a different dealership for the third visist, then it's not a bad car? That only applies primarily to the 04's and a little on the 05's. That's not to say ALL the cars in that year though. I've seen some people with 04's that haven't had problems. Others probably feel like setting fire to their 04 though. Who knows, you can't satisfy everyone, and everyone has different tastes in things and just how much stuff they can deal with. I'm a pretty relaxed person myself so all the little qwerks don't bother me.

As long as the car isn't falling apart piece by piece on the highway and I end up at the apartment with it blowing up in my face, then I'm happy.

 

Don't torture yourself; what does it matter? You already bought and own the car. Don't let what other people write dictate your own experience and satisfaction with the car. Just drive it and enjoy it.

 

enjoy the car....

 

I owned a 2005 didn't have 1 problem except I wrecked it on the track, fixed it but just wanted a new one, just bought a 2007 Black GT and added MSpeed exaust a CAI. I recommend this highly! I think the car is great and very reliable.

How many folks on this post have bought more than 1 RX8??

The 2007 is much improved (clutch/advanced keyless, sand lether and ride)

 

Haha....thats great. Thanks. I bought the car for both. Fun transportation and not to be just another pea....