I've had my 8 for almost 4 years now and have been going to Gunther Mazda since I had a bad experience at Marlin when buying the car.

My old service manager no longer works for Gunther and honestly it just doesn't feel the same there... I've taken the car in for a problem only to get "We couldn't find anything" an hour later.

I noticed the other day that Marlin is gone and it's now Lehman Mazda.
I wondered if anyone has experience with thier service dept?

Sadly there are no other dealers nearby that I'm aware of (I Live in Pembroke) , and I don't think a normal mechanic knows enough about the 8 to take it there, even when the warrenty expires.

Does anyone have any experience, good or bad with Lehman? or have an alternate suggestion?

 

I recommend Classic Mazda in Orlando.

They give discounts to the clubs and are very good with RX8s. I used to live in Tampa and would drive there to have Kerry work on my car. Ask for him, he is a Master Tech and awesome. I work with them now as a Finance Mgr and coordinate their events. Top knotch place. We actually sell to the race teams in your area because they have the same feel about the dealerships down there.

Ask for Betsey if you come up and I will introduce you.

 

Lol sorry but I don't think a 4 hour drive each way to get my car serviced is going to be managable on my schedule. Perhaps if I needed something custom but that's just a little bit too far for my taste.

 

^ I just went and changed my oil and did the first 13,000 mile service at South Motors Mazda on US1/south dixie hwy and 180th. My old dealer went down or something and I went to this one. Really nice people and fast service. I don't know if they have good technicians there but the place seems great. And one the guys there even own an RX-8, from what he told me.. Forgot his name but you would think they know something..

 

used to go to gunther too, im not sure if you are talking of the same svc manager (mike yanick???) but last couple times i been there i didnt see him and noticed things are run completely different. theres this young guy there and he is a *****..doesnt know **** about anything and he has this smug attitude....i never get a return call if i leave messages...gunther is just a mess now. So now i go to lehman and i really dont like it there either. Very sloppy service dept. i had some work there and when i inspected the work afterwards i noticed they spilled coolant in the engine bay and didnt clean it so i have a dried green mess on the side of my engine...i had missing screws on my ecu cover, my coolant tank wasnt scred in tight...just very sloppy work. If you talk to anyone i recomend talking to Arturo, he is a pretty cool guy.

 

I've been going to Lehman Mazda since it was Marlin Mazda and never had problems. If you ever check mazda.com on the dealer coupons pages you'll notice that Eddie Accardi usually offers the best discount on oil changes. As long as you bring in the coupon the service manager at Lehman will usually match or come very close to their price, but keep that on the hush hush.

Gunther was always a rip off except for wheel alignment and tire rotation.

 

Coupons? Crap wish I knew about those for the last 4 years haha.

And to magikone69, no my service guy was Gordon Orr , he's been gone a while though, now I seem to get whomever is standing there.

I think I'll try Lehman once, making sure to check everything, I agree Gunther seems to have gone downhill. I don't even get those little 'full circle inspection' sheets anymore, which leads me to believe they don't even do that , even though they claim they do. (Of course I caught one of their techs lying on mine once when they didn't even check my fluids yet marked it as full. One of which was bone dry ).

Coupons aside, I'm not so concerned about oil changes, I found a Tire Kingdom nearby which will change it for me, and even put in 5w20 (I saw the empties hehe). I just don't want to pay 'dealer' prices if I can help it should something go wrong. Maybe it's time I invested in a set of Jack stands hehe.

 

Gordon left Gunther? That was the guy I would use whenever I went there over the years. Wow...

 

This is an older thread.. but just thought I'd give a small update.....

@MagikOne69 - I just found out I need my Coils/Wires replaced and guess who I spoke with.. your old service guy Mike Yanick, so he is still with them if you've not already found out. He seems quite knowledgeable and was very helpful.

Sadly, I tried to shop around to find a better price for Coils/Wires and no shops I contacted will even work on the Rotary. I guess I'm stuck with the $500 they are quoting me.

They also said I need an 'induction' service but I think I might wait on that one.

Oh well, if anyone's found a good mechanic.. especially if they are near the western part of Pembroke.. please supply a name/#

 

thanks for the update...i actually havent been to gunther in quite a while (luckily i havent had a need to go to the dealership thank god) glad to hear mike is still there.

as far as coils/plugs i def would buy them online and do it yourself. I actually spent around 2-250 for coils plugs and wires and my boi did it for me. took all but 1 hour. hook a member up on the board with 25 bux, or maybe some beer and food and they can prob hook you up man...save that money

 

I actually have the car next door at the body shop to repair damage someone did by rear ending me, and I just didn't want to wait, and was not looking forward to removing that air filter assembly.. going on 2 weeks to repair due to out of stock tail lamps

I got them to discount my oil change to 19.99 (same price as Lehman down the street), and took off an additional 10% from the coils/wires.... I spent a bit more than I wanted to, but at least it wasn't full retail. One of these days I keep telling myself I'm going to invest in a few ramps and Jacks so I can easily do all the maintenance myself.

I am missing my '8 so bad right now

 

i agree completely they are very nice people and have helped me out several times

 

so im the only one who don't trust mechanics and does their own maint?....

 

If you have to go to a dealer, I recommend Ocean Mazda as they have treated me very well with both of my 8's. If out of warranty, Service Auto, 7023 SW 46th Street, Miami. Telephone (305)666-2988. Small shop but very good. The mechanic Phillip owns a beautiful RX-7. They know rotaries. A bit of a drive for you.

 

I do my own maint. But sometimes you just have to go to the dealer, for example when my 1st rx8 had to get the engine replaced that's just way out of my league

 

tru tru guess it cant be helped sometimes

oh a friend of mine suggested a guy named luis over at dragon motorsports says he's the rotary go to guy..
anyways the number is 786 333 8415

 

Hah! It's funny you say that... I NEVER trust mechanics...which is why I'm one of those pesky people mechanics hate. I inspect everything, often asking for the old parts back (great way to make sure they actually did replace part-X).

I can't count the number of times a mechanic's messed up.. usually however not on purpose.. but IMO.. either do it right.. or don't do it at all.

Some examples of stupid things I've caught on various trips to a mechanic (not just with the RX8):

1) Tried to pick up car...wouldn't start... mechanic comes out, inspects under the hood and realizes no one reconnected the battery!

2) Top cover of Air Filter was MISSING! I Actually got home before I realized this one in my old Eagle Talon. Seems it was left on some shelf at the shop. I had to have them deliver it by hand that night as I told em I would not drive the vehicle again.

3) Mazda 'Full Circle Inspection' sheet shows everything in the green and checked properly.. I drive home and realize wiper fluid container must have a leak as it's toally empty, yet marked as full on the inspection sheet. After telling dealer over the phone and asking why they didn't notice it etc... it comes to light the mechanic never checked the fluid levels (any of them) , simply marked it off on the paper as being checked and OK. (Makes me never trust Full Circle crap again..) - Strangely now the sheets I get when I take my car in are either missing.. or in this last case just blank..

4) Previous car had alternator replaced due to Oil leaking from somewhere above it.. they called to tell me it was ready to be picked up.. when asked "So what exactly was done".. they only fixed the alternator.. forgetting to actually fix the LEAK! (I think they just wanted me to come back again later hopeing I wouldn't notice)

I could go on with various bodyshop mishaps/errors.. but you get the point

One of these days I keep telling myself I'm going to invest in a set of Ramps and a nice Jack, then doing simple things like Oil changes and whatnot wouldn't be such a pain.

 

i had the samething happen to me..

not a pain at all you can do the oil change w/o even jacking the car up just need a ratchet w/ a long extension

 

Without jacking the car up hmmm i atleast jack up the drivers side to make sure i get all that old oil out of there.... plus it makes it a hell of a lot easier to get down there