ok,
I will be driving everyday about 60 seconds to the post office.....turn off the car...go inside for 60 seconds....then drive home.
This will be everyday for my home based business.

I talked to my dealer and he told me "mabye its not the car for you".
He told me once i hit the post office, i need to sit in the car for 2 minutes before turning off the engine.
I don't want to have to sit in the parking lot of the post office everyday...waitng.
This just doesn't appeal to me. What do you guys think?

My only other main trip is to workout...which is .5 miles away...again only taking a few minutes to get there.

I WANT this car, BAD. But will i regret it in my situation?
what do you guys think?

 

First off, I've never had flooding problems.

But, short trips like that will be hell on gas milage and are not good for the engine, and will most likely increase your chance to flood.

Buy the car if you really love it. You will MAKE excues to drive it longer.

If you REALLY need to juut go to the post office and back home then walk, or get a bycicle.

 

Nevermind, I didnt realize you live so near the north pole

 

I agree with guy321. You will definitely want to drive more than 60 sec. Car is just way too fun to drive.
Take the long way to your stops.

 

Also,

What kind of car do you drive now? I don't think any car likes such short trips. Especially in the winter time.

 

Hello!

I live 3 minutes from work and I have never had a problem. The reason it takes 3 minutes is the couple of traffic signals. Actually, I wish I had a drive that was farther! This car is THAT much fun! :D
I've had no problems, and I now make sure I rev it to 3k rpms while turning it off.

I always warm it up a couple of minutes before I leave in the morning, but you want to do that with any car! I start the car and pull out of the garage, feed the outside wild kingdom (raccoons, cats, etc) and then I get in and leave. I was concerned prior and just after the purchase, but my 8 acts just like a piston engine in this regards.

 

doesnt your post office has a drive up place to drop your mail?

 

i sell jerseys on ebay for a living ( jerseys4u) , i bring in HUGE postal bags full of smaller bundles....around 80 pounds each bag.
I can't walk with them

I drive a 2000 Civiv si...i didn't realize such short drives are bad for cars.

Thanks for some of the input.

 

dont be so worried about flooding because it really seems to have been blown out of proportion a bit.

why dont you just leave the car running when you go inside?

 

Also, in colder regions, they say getting the hotter spark plugs helps.

Starting the car often just causes extra wear on any engine. It will probably shorten the life a little, but it wont nessecarily cause it to fail say within 20k miles or anything.

 

sorry pal....but it would be wise to consider something else....maybe something with pistons, cylinders, etc.

 

I remember someone said that when going to work in the morning, if they turn left, it takes a minute or so, if he turns right it takes 20 minutes. Which way do you think he always turns ?

 

Why not just let it warm up a few mins in your house?

 

I think if you start it up, then start loading in your goods, you'll get some warm up time in there.

Also, if you hold the engine to around 3000 RPM until the needle becoming steady (therefore all excess gas are burnt) before you shut off the engine, you shouldn't have any issues.

 

Thanks for all the relplies.

This thread is actually going to make me decide to get this amazing car or not.
All the insight is greatly appreciated and welcome more responses and thoughts.


I'm not liking Doug McGill's answer

 

I agree, there are ways to make the car work for Dustin4u, but they involve things to avoid flooding (idling, driving out of the way, etc) and they carry some costs. I think the dealer was right saying "maybe its not the car for you". When I told the dealer about my gotta-go long and short drives in the winter, he told me to buy a Mazda6. That all made perfect sense, and it would have been easier, but I wanted an RX-8.

I think the other points made above are good, especially the milage hit.

My commute is < 70 miles per week, yet somehow I am averaging > 300 miles per week.

 

Seriously, based on your expected usage, the Rx-8 is probably a very poor choice for you. You'll almost certainly get terrible mileage (12-14 MPG) doing so many short hops, and unless you're willing to tolerate some inconvenient idle times, you're a higher flooding risk too. I think the flooding hoopla is somewhat overblown, but still something to worry about, especially in Cananda and doing nothing but 1 minute drives.

If you really love the car those are things you can put up with, but you should know going in that they will be issues.

 

While I agree with the above, you did not say how many trips you make a day / week, or how many miles you put on your cars annually.

If you do the short hp to the Post Office just once per day, the low gas mileage will be insigificant compared to someone driving 40+ miles per day in city traffic.

 

Thanks for all the input guys.

True i don't drive much, so the bad fuel economy won't be much of a issue.

My 2000 Civic has 35,000 on it. Now that i moved 6 months ago...i will be driving half the distance on it also.
If i lived here 4 years ago then my civic would have roughly 20,000 on it.


I've talked to a few people and mentioned my situations ie. drive 60 seconds to my post office with a trunk load of goodies....they told me to bring a extra key with me.....get out of the car and leave it running, but lock it.....drive the 60 seconds home and i should be ok.....more then ok actually.


I guess my only cocern is spending so much on a car when i hardly drive it. My girlfriend wants me to get something like a RSX....which i like...not "love". But its so much cheaper.
She has a point.
I can invest for retirement ( no pension since i own my own business). I'm 27 and should actually put the money on my house or something smart.

You only live once i don't think the value will drop to much if/when i want to sell it in 5-7 years.


My biggest decision is the Red or the Silver...only i can choose that. I love them both.

I've also decided on the GS. Save myself a few grand. I've never had leather or seat warmers...so i won't miss it or regret it.

 

:D
OK then, here are some observations from the Great White North:

My engine hasn't flooded the very few times I've turned it off cold, but be aware that in the winter the engine takes a long time to warm up. You don't have to get it all the way up to full operating temperature to prevent flooding, but it takes a few minutes to even budge the needle in very cold weather. So your idea of leaving it locked and running is probably best. Personally I walk short distances like that in winter, but I won't argue about driving when the temperature gets down to "f'ing cold".

That does seem like a waste. Maybe you'll drive a lot more with an RX-8 though. The run up the Gatineau Parkway is fun if there's no traffic.
The seat warmers are nice (see above comment about warming up), and having traction control on a powerful RWD car is real nice in the winter. Not absolutely necessary though.

What is necessary are winter tires. The RX-8 does not come with all-season tires, so you can't drive on snow with the stock tires - you'll have to factor that cost into the price. And so far there are no cheap steel wheels that will fit so you have to get relatively expensive wheels unless you want to swap the tires on & off the stock rims every time.

 

Its OK Dustin, my biggest problem after 8 months of searching and decding on the 8 is the color choice red or silver as well. I went with the silver with red/blk int. because mainly Red is just too flashy for me, and I know I'll kck myself for getting noticed too too much----also the silver may appear to be a little bit more classy... But true-its all in your gut feeling, look at the colors in real time, standing there next to them, and then you'll know which one you think looks like its for you!!!!

 

Im still debating myself on what interior (red/black) or just black and trying to decide between silver and titanium

 

Yep, the silver looks sleek, but the red looks hot and makes people look over more

 

I feel for you. It's a tough decision.

Just keep one thing in mind. Unless it's a classic or a new car that is out of your price range (no offense...also out of mine), you shouldn't look at any car as an investment. The RX8 is not a collector's item. I think one of the editors of Car and Driver (could have been Road and Track) even remarked on this issue (and ironically used the RX8 and another car as an example) in this month's issue.

In 3 years, the $30K RX8 will likely be worth $15K. In 5-7 years expect it to resell for less than $10K.

-Eric

 

Very interesting. Has any RX8 owner tried installing a turbo timer? It automatically idles your car after you take the key out, so you can set the alarm and do your business. It was originally created to idle turbos, but is also made for high strung NA cars.