Most surely it is related to the new offerings out there. The mustang is a great car for the money - the GTO - the Cobalt, etc, etc. The market is getting flooded with little sporty cars. Also, whoever said that the 8 needs more power is also RIGHT ON. My neighbor is going to college right now and he was talking to me. He said that a lot of people like the 8's looks but understand that it is only a decent performer. He keeps squaking now about a shelby mustang coming soon.

It all depends on what you want. I sat in an S2000 in the showroom this week and noted the fantastic build quality. I also noticed that there was NO STORAGE! Yes, there was a little box that opens in the center console - TINY and a open box between the seats about the size of a Mac mini. There is also some tiny net store areas in the door but the height is pretty slim. All in all a VERY SMALL car. Our Miata has more storage. I guess that does not sound too important to some but when you are buying one car as a daily driver and all purpose - it is. That is what made me focus on the RX-8. SPACE and SPORT.

 

Have you even driven a new 05 gt mustang? The handling is greatly improved. Skid pad #'s are comparable to the 8.(they don't mean everything but that gives you an idea) You can allways take a shower after driving it if you feel dirty.


The rotary and it's downsides are what keep the 8 from selling big numbers. Us dumb ol "unwashed simple folk" prefer a car you can just drive and don't have to babysit. (oil consumption, flooding etc)

Oh and before you get bent out of shape, my wife drives an 8, I like the car, but the stereotypes some of you throw out when you get defensive about your decision to buy an 8 get old.

 

Mazda can stop production on the 8's now if they want too. I already have mine and intend on keeping it, so halting the production of new 8's, at least in the states, wouldn't harm me in the least.

 

I agree. I only hope that mazda revises its target numbers to reflect the competative reality in the U.S. rather than dumping cars on the market. Dumping will cause 2 problems, first it will impact the resale value, second, it will hurt the reputation of the car because many will be sold to more "average" buyers that will not understand the little particulars of a rotary, such as checking the oil regularly.

 

Agreed. It's nothing like the Mustangs of old. I really do NOT like muscle cars... yet I really liked the new Mustang. Shoppers for either car (RX-8 or Mustang) may not realize that they're competitors now, but they truly are.

 

I understand that the potential issues have kept some buyers away. I personally have never really had any of those issues come up with my car, but I know it scares alot of people off. When I was looking for a car, my four choices were Mini Cooper, lightly used 350Z, RX-8 and 2005 Mustang. I really liked the convertible Mini, but I decided that it probably wasn't a long term fit, because I have a very manly ego, and I thought I would eventually feel the car was too feminine looking for me. The 350Z's were just too expensive unless you got a stripped one, which I didn't want, because I am going to have this vehicle for awhile, and I would regret getting a car with no nice features. I really considered the Mustang for a long time. My brother has one, and I got alot of input from him. For the most part I liked the way they looked. But in the end I didn't get one because 1) They were very new, and people were paying above sticker for them, 2) The interior was much too spartan for me, and 3) I decided that it was just going to be too common of a car on the road. I was very leary about all of the issues with the RX-8 and had even ruled it out as a choice at one point, but after I drove it and saw those '04 incentives, I just decided to go for it and haven't regretted it.

 

Yea, when my wife was ready to buy there wheren't any 05 gt's around to test drive anyway. Ultimatley she decided the GT to have too much power for her and it was too "manly" LOL. We looked at the 350z also but no back seat or trunk and along with sticker price ruled that one out. so that left the 8.

 

ha with gas prices who would really justify buying one right now?

 

with my experience with all the dealers around here no freaking wonder they aren't moving them. they have a crapload of 05's ( 10-12 per dealer ) and even some used ones but they have them hidden on the lot. there's not one out front. they are behind the building.

Secondly, the salesmen know JACK about the car. They sit there and make **** up on the fly. They push the car for everything it isn't and just don't let it sell itself.

thirdly most of the mazda dealers here are **** poor with the sales experience. There's one salemen in the whole freaking place that is worth a damn and the rest just don't care. The F & I people are slime *****. the salesmen weren't too bad par for the course, but the f & I guys, and I went through both of them.. and pissed them both off and walked out on them, hell i even got kicked out of the store at midnight the first night. they just don't care. I told them after my little ordeal that if they had just given me what i wanted we'd have done the deal 2 days ago. Nope I had to wear their asses down and make them work for it. Average joe isn't going to do that. I almost didn't want to follow through with it. Only reason I ended up getting it in the end is that mazda usa called up the dealership and bitched them out on my behalf after I caught them in a lie. I was impressed by that.

 

I drove the gt. yeah it was peppy but the interior SUCKED. plus it's a ford. I'm done with american cars.. I used to like american trucks but after my last experience with them I'm done with them too. the gt felt cheap. it felt as though it would work for a year or two and turn to pieces.

the unwashed simple folk don't even understand what a rotary is. it's just a car. I personally know of noone who has had a flooding problem or a dramatic oil consumption problem. hell I've had my car for 2 months and 4,000 miles now and I've never had it flood even when I've stalled it accidently in traffic. It fired right up. I've also never had to add any oil. oil level is always right in the middle of the stick. I changed the oil @ 1500 miles since it was a leftover 04 and was never changed. Gas mileage for me is right on the money a good 22 mpg on 87. So far it's been the perfect car.

to me it's the people who railroad the rx8 into a basket full of problems when it's really minor rare occurances. I'll guarantee you the mustang gt will have FAR FAR more problems here shortly as the number increase and time goes on than the rx8 ever will.

 

I had a great experience when buying my protege5 but I had it all figured out in advance...

I found the model I wanted online, called the dealer and told them to hold it for me

Went there with a recent copy of my credit report and college diploma (for grad rebate) and S-Plan pin number

Drove out with 0% finance, $500 under S-plan price and $0 down... No haggle, no stress, just in, do paperwork, drive out

 

If you go and look at the Mazda website, there is some info that helps to sort some of this out. According to their numbers, RX-8 production was down 33% in March, but sales for the 8 in Japan were up 56%. Also, they didn't export any RX-8's in March. Probably because they were selling so well back home, why lose money on the export. The only other car that did as well was the Mazda Carol, it was up 240%.

And another thing. One thing they did ship alot of was Mazda 3's.
Jud

 

Exactly how many people do you know personally that have an 8? Going by the survey on this very site the amount of floods is about 30% so far, and that is with the type of folk visiting this site... (usually car nuts). Imagine what Joe America would do?

Wow!! 4k miles and no problems. Iv'e got 17k on my Mach1 so does that make it 3x more reliable? I also do not know anyone personally who has had a problem with their Mach1 so I therefore will never have a problem with mine. (disclaimer... I don't know anyone else that owns a Mach LOL.)

The engine is designed to use oil, if yours is not I'd suggest taking it in to get looked at. My wifes' has not used a lot, about 1 qt was added around 2500 miles or so. I'm one of the few "unwashed" that don't mind it but most of the masses would.

Yea, with my wifes 8 the defrost button was cracked when it was delivered, the AC **** cracked off also. Both documented problems with the high quality interior of the 8 :p

 

30?! I'd say more like 3-5%. Maybe.

There are 18,000 members here. And you think you've seen 6,000 members post about flooding?

There's always going to be bad ones. But there's little denying that, overall, the interior quality of the new Mustang is rather crappy. Even if it's perfect quality it still looks like ***, and is at least 50% of the reason I won't buy one. It's a design issue, not a quality control one.

 

I doubt that the "problems" are turning people away. I'd guess that only a small percentage of shoppers actually join our forums and do the research to learn about them beforehand.

If I'm any example, the problem is that the target demographic rarely considers the car in the first place. The silly "zoom zoom" and door hugging ads don't do much to explain the unusual blend of attributes which this car provides. I never considered it at all while shopping, even though it's exactly what I was looking for. I took a test drive on a whim, while there to actually drive the Mazda3 and 6.

The advertisements should be more along the lines of that famous "My Wish Come True" video, showing happy families and friends hopping in back, and how the generation that loved the RX-7 but now needs something more civil and practical can STILL have their sports car AND sedan (mostly) in a single car.

Otherwise, sedan shoppers ignore it, thinking it's a small sports car... and sports car shoppers ignore it thinking it's a clumsy sedan. No one is going to "get it" through telepathy... Mazda needs to put the message in huge glowing letters.

 

As I stated before, this is taken from the very website you are now on. Of the 600 or so responses 200 had flooded. Do the math.
You can do a search, but here is the link.

https://www.rx8club.com/poll.php?do=...lts&pollid=294

That's fine, everyone has their own taste in what is nice or not. I never said the fit and finish was the problem holding sales down for the 8 as it is a nice design inside and out. The rotary and it's quirks are the main reason most shy away, or at least that goes for us "unwashed" simple folk.

 

Its funny i found this tread today. I was driving to work this morning and a new 05' Mustang pulled up next to me. looking at it right next to me while driving it looked as big as an SUV! I dont like fords, however, the mustang HAD some great models. I wish Ford would have let the stang evolve naturaly. I agree also that alot of 8 sales will go to the new Mustang...even though the cars are VERY different. BUT, that makes me VERY happy, in a year or two Mustangs will be a dime a dozen and the 8 will still be unique!! I get looks EVERY DAY in my 8 and in a year or so the mustangs will be so common, they wont be that special...but the 8 will!!!

 

Do you have any idea how many trolls we have on here posting stuff like "I flooded my 8, this car sucks, bleah bleah bleah." Sure, people vote that in polls, but if you try to get those that actually HAVE flooded to verify it, only a few do so. This is the internet. People post stuff like that just to get a rise out of people. If it was THAT big of a deal, there would have been serious repercussions in the media for Mazda.

 

The poll is anything but scientific and horribly biased. People in the Problems Forum are much more likely to have a problem than the general populacee In addition, people with flooding issues are much more likely to answer the poll than those without. And, yes, I do statistics for a living, so I have some idea of what makes a poll a fair example.

Most of the people buying this car, if they even know the car has a rotary engine, don't know what that means. And they certainly don't know of its' "quirks".

 

I agree. We have way too many trolls on this site. The sad thing is they distort the perception of the RX-8 and new potential buyers coming to this site for information get scared off from buying the car. I really just don't get why there seem to be so many haters. Maybe people just can't stand the fact that all the US car mags love the RX-8 and pick it as the winner over their beloved car, so they come here to hate? Who knows...

Also, in a poll like that, those that have had their cars flooded are going to be much more vocal vs. those (like myself) who have not.

 

Well this is the first car I have ever owned that has a de-flooding procedure in the owners manual and recommends checking the oil every 2nd gas stop. Show that to Joe America and he's walking off the car lot more times than not. You know if Mazda whent through the trouble of putting that procedure in the manual there is a problem with the car flooding. Why put a problem in there that rarely if ever occurs? Why all these updated flashes and service bulletins for different plugs? I suppose they are trying to fix a problem that does not exist?

Throw in the no spare tire (WTF!) and forget about it.

Try searching Mustang forums for the term "flood" you'll only find water damage questions and issues.

 

No one ever said it didn't exist. It just doesn't affect 1/3 of consumers. The news reports wouldn't stop if that was the case. Instead, you rarely ever hear of it. Maybe it's some vast Mazda conspiracy to cover up the problems? Anyone ever hear about a rash of automotive and local investigative reporters turning up dead?

The Owner's Manual also shows how to open the trunk from the inside in case you're ever trapped in there (well, at least in others cars I've owned, I don't know about this one for sure, but likely so). Using your incredible deductive skills, one can assume that millions of people a year are trapped in their own trunks.

The Owner's Manual also says that I have to actually stay alert when using cruise control and that it won't drive the car automatically for me. Guess they're trying to avoid a problem that affects millions!

Owner's Manuals are written for the absolute lowest common denominator.

Yeah, but I could look up the term "IAC" or "Bad Idle" and find a whole sleu of posts. What's your point? I mean, hell, that's not even in the Owner's Manual. At least Mazda makes their "quirks" and how to fix them known (at least the flooding one anyhow). Ford's been unable to fix bad IAC valves across its' entire lineup for at least a decade. And I'm not hatin' on Ford, I've owned a few and I rather like them, but I understand they have more than their own share of problems too.

 

the spare tire was left out because most of us would have taken it out anyway to save weight. we dont need it. dont want it. easier to upsell it to the people who do want one then to go to the expense of putting them in every car only to be tossed.

 

In Shoafb's defense, I have seen the actual customer satisfaction data for the RX-8 launch last year, and the number of customers who reported severe drivability issues (this includes "no starts") is a lot higher than you might think, and definitely higher than a typical new model launch. Granted, the new PCM flashes helped alleviate some of the no-start/hard-start issues with the car, so the percentage of people with severe problems is much lower now. The fact remains that these unique issues, or quirks, of the rotary are definitely deterrents to potential buyers. To suggest that only "unwashed simple folk" are deterred by the quirks of this car is absurd. The vast majority of people just want a car that they can get in and drive while doing as little to maintain the car as possible.

 

Wow--the 06 model info thread gets closed because its al 'opinion' and 'internet b.s.' but we have this idiotic argument going on over here with this Mustang dude. gotta love the internet