mryoshi

I purchased a Silver 05' RX-8 with 36K miles in early December.
Shortly after purchasing I took it to Galpin Mazda to have them change oil and checkthe car over, perform any recalls etc...
When I took it in I told them that the idle was pretty rough and that I felt like the power was not what it should be.
I was simpy told thats what they all do...BS! I asked that they look at it because I felt it was not normal. They refused to look at it under warranty and said they would charge me diagnostic fees to look at it, and that any repairs would not be covered under warranty.
They then told me that there were 3 recalls outstanding on my vehicle but hey would only perform the one.... a PCM reflash.

Upon picking it up, the idle and power were unchanged and on top of that it now had a very noticeable vibration at freeway speeds....
AVOID GALPIN MAZDA AT ALL COSTS!!!!!!!!!! THEY ARE HACKS!

I asked for advice here on the forums and was told coils,plugs and egine mounts were common to cause issues such as that. Well i was not trusting dealer very much at this point so I changed the spark plugs an air filter myself. It improved some but was definately not fixed. As a matter of fact it even felt like it was going to stall sitting at a light a few times. I also performed the 3rd gear 3,000rpm 30mph test to see if motor mount might be issue. It definately had all the symptoms described in the TSB.

So I called another dealer Star Mazda in Glendale.
They set an appointment for me to bring it in this morning.
I explained my concerns and what had transpired at Galpin to the service writer (Phil). He was quite shocked. He looked up my warranty history... The recall that Galpin claimed where not performed (4206f) showed that they had been completed in 9/2006... wtf I was thinking.
He said no worries they would be happy to check out the car at no charge to me.
I got a cal llater that afternoon. He said they had changed the ignitin coils, and all the motor mounts. He said they also performed a TSB that addressed the power complaint. He told me the car was running great and was in great shape.

Part of me was happy and excited... the other part was not ready to believe it until I had driven it for mself.

I picked up the car after work.
They had driven it about 80 miles.
First good sign! They actually verified my complaints!
I started it up and what do you know it was idling silky smooth! YAY!
OK I said to myslef lets see how it drives.
Gone was the hesitation it had. It felt crisp and clean.
Pulled smooth all the way to redline!
I tried the third gear 3000 rpm test, where it had a bad hesitation and lurch before. Nothing
Got on the freeway took it up to 75mph, felt great. 85 still good. at just under 100 I dd feel what I could call very minor vibration but I would bet that was me feeling the road through the suspension.

It feels Like a new car now. I could not be happier with it!
I was treated curteously and with respect.
I would recomend Star Mazda definately.

Now to save some $ and add some more power. Now that I now it is running tip top I wont feel bad modding thinking that I might have to spend a lot of money fixing driveability issues that were already there.