jayrob33

hey everyone, next week i am taking the 8 on a 1500 mile round trip and was just wondering of anything that i should check or do before leaving. i have an 04' with just below 10,000 miles on it if you all were wondering.
let me know please with any suggestions

thx

expo1

2 quarts of oil, money for the frequent stops for fuel, good tunes and sunglasses. That’s about it.

KYLiquid

I took a trip up to Indy for the F1 race in the 8, the car had 2K miles on it when I left and 5k when i got back...lol anyway the car is a GREAT road trip car, perfect for sucking up miles and spitting them out the back. Just sit back, fire up some tunes, turn on the ac, set the cruise control and enjoy!

Things I do with any car on a road trip:
*Top off all fluids (brake/clutch, window washer, oil, coolant, ect)
*if the oil in the car isnt pretty new, do an oil/filter change
Pack a gallon of coolant (i buy the 50/50 pre-mixed stuff for this, but you could get a gallon of coolant and a gallon of distilled water and mix some up yourself.
*Pack a small bottle of brake fluid
*Pack atleast a quart of oil more doesnt hurt.
*make sure the tires had good tread, maby get them rotated
*make sure tire press. is good and correct and pack a tire press gauge in the car.
*pack a simple first aid kit (bandaids,antiseptic ect), you most likely with not use it, but if you have to fix something on the car (tire, ect.) you might need a band aid.
*a small tool kit, simple tools, i usualy take a socket set, screwdrivers and flashlight.

thats all the things I can think of at the moment, basicaly just try to make yourself ready for any situation. It might sound like a lot of stuff, but if you pack it right it can all fit in a normal size backpack.

Things I found specific to the RX8 on a road trip.
*pack 1 quart of oil per 1000 miles youll be driving (ie 1500 miles each way = 3000 miles = 3qts)
*dont follow other cars to close, the oil coolers and radiator/ac can take a beating from small rocks and bugs at high speeds, plus its a little easyer on the car when you have 'clean' air coming in.
*the best speed IMO to cruise at that will get you there quickly AND get you 'good' MPG is 72MPH.
*look at your map (or triptix, ect) and plan to stop for gas around ever 300 miles (for me) and make an X on the map at these spots, so as your going...you can see where youll be when you need gas and can start looking for stations or signs that say NO GAS NEXT 50 miles ect.
*check the oil when you stop for gas, it will be using the oil up faster on the freeway than in the city.

thats really all I can think of for now.

just think of all that could go wrong and prepare for it (within reason) hopefully you wont need to use any of the stuff and when you get home you can just pack it away for your next trip.

good luck and safe motoring!

Brice-RX8

You really won't use that much oil if all you are doing is cruising down the highway. I took my 8 on a trip to the beach recently and I used roughly 1/3 a quart of oil the whole time, but used like $90 worth of gas. Here is how it went down.

1. Before I left checked the oil and made sure there was a little more than full in there, slightly above the line, won't hurt anything.
2. 250 miles to the beach, cruising
3. Cruised the beach and what not while I was down there, a lot of sitting in traffic and then some wide open driving probably did around 250 miles while I was down there
4. 250 miles back home, cruising.
5. Checked oil and it was slighly below full if not right at it, gave it just a small drink of oil, nothing major.

The car really doesn't use all that much oil. I used roughly 1/3 of a quart in 750 miles, granted I always have 1 quart in the trunk but it has never been used. My car now has 20k miles on it. I say put a quart in the trunk, make sure it is slighly over full when you leave and just check it when you get to the destination, add any that is needed, and then check it when you get home. Have fun.

therm8

I use way more oil on the highway than anywhere else. But I'm also on an older flash (L).