Doctorr

Well, my one year anniversary is in a week or so, and I know that lots of other folks got their cars around this time last year - so how about a brief review of your year when your 'car's birthday' rolls around?

The good :D , the bad , the just plain surprising .....
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doc

RX22

well doc, how 'bout yours?

bigmack000

i would like to knwo how everything is as well. what you liek what you didn't and so on . i am looking into gettign a 8 to replace my daily driver.
joel

Magnesium

One year in review:

Everything is great, except for:

1. Inside rattles. I have about 3 rattles that are driving me insane. One is to be fixed this week when the part comes in. The others will continue to be a work in process.
2. I have been to the dealership more with this car than any other car I have owned. I have owned about 8 different cars over the past 20 years. Reasons for delearship visits include A/C amplifier, two safety recalls, oil pan replacement, ECM reflashes.
3. Paint seems weak on the front. I have alot of chips where they were hit with something. Most every car gets them, but this car seems to attract them.
4. Small trunk opening. I felt I could live with it, but is becoming increasingly irritating.

Positives:
1. Great handling from day one.
2. Still turns heads.
3. Comfortable to sit in for long periods.
4. Continues to want me to rev it up.

Will have had this car one year on the 24th of July.

Genom

I may be jumping the gun a bit, but I'll have had mine a year in just under a month. Overall it has been a very good experience. I have raved before about how much I like the car so I'll keep that aprt low key.

The bad parts? Well, there has been some minor defects, such as my temp **** breaking, my sidepanel on the door coming unglued (and after being replaced twice, I just dont care about it anymore) and the heat from the center console. I am trying to get the AC amplifier put in on the next service. And thats my main beef about the car. Dealerships here in SoFla are lacking in customer service big time. So far been to 3 dealers and I have had 1 problem or another at each one. But it's dealer related issues. They just need to learn how to treat a customer properly, and one day I'll find a dealer that does so. All of my major failures except for that mysterios windsheild pockmark have been related to my tinkering (cz stage1 burned out 2 sets of coils, busted LCD when I installed the XM radio) and none have left me stranded. Havent had to use the spare tire yet, nor call Mazda for a tow due to any ot them.

Otherwise the car has been a blast. Flashes have happened while in for services and I have noticed a definite MPG improvement (from an average of about 16MPG to a bit over 18MPG now) and power overall seems to feel better. I have a single rattle in the cabin that is not a big deal, and I can usually ignore it if the music is loud enough :D I dont have major issues with scratching the inside plastic panels, but the front of the car does seem much more chip prone than any other car I've had.

Basically I still like driving it like I stole it and dont plan on selling it anytime soon.

rxeightr

Later this week will be my 1 year anniversary, and what a blast it has been with my ride. She will roll over 20,000 miles this week, and is an absolute dream to drive.

She gets pampered most every weekend with a good cleaning, but any other time she is driven hard, which still nets me 21-22 mpg consistantly. The tires are close to worn, and should be replaced soon as they hydroplane easily in the rain.

Had a CEL P0420 code twice, which the 'L' reflash took care of. I have not had the 'M' reflash, but assume when she goes in for the 20,000 oil change, the dealer will take care of it.

Issues I have are short. I like to drive using the bottom part of the steering wheel, so a 4 spoke design where the bottom is open works better for me. The moonroof is small & sits back farther than I care for, and would prefer the option to have leather without having the moonroof. No rattles, no hard starts, nothing breaking. I had an invisible bra installed early on, so the front has stayed chip-free, for the most part.

Kudos to the engineering team for designing a car with a nice, firm ride, and yet handles incredibly well. This is the RX-8's greatest asset. Next has to be the linear power delivery the RENESIS gives us, all the way until that damned rev limiter says no more. Almost every time that ignition switch is turned on, before she is shut off it has been sent to redline. I have never done that with such regularity in any other vehicle I've owned in 30 years of driving.

The above were found out after I pre-ordered, just based upon pictures. Most agree, pictures do not give her the beauty she has in person. Just like a beautiful women, the first thing that attracted me to the RX-8 was her gorgeous exterior. Then the inside layout was quite appealing. I still enjoy any waking moment to let her take me to ectasy, some of the most fun I can have with my clothes on. I still look back at her after parking. Still !

Will I get rid of her? Perhaps, if something better comes along. The MazdaSpeed RX-8 may do it, or the new RX-7, if it becomes reality. But right now, there is no other vehicle that can match what my Sports Car can do for me. Heck, I have one the ultimate Sports Cars sitting in my garage, a rare 1964 Red Corvette Stingray convertible, which is a driver, not a show car. I would average 2,000 miles a year driving the Vette. Know how many miles I drove the Vette in the past year?

523 miles.

I think that pretty much says it all.

Squidward

Almost 25,000 miles on this puppy, and only about a month left before her birthday..

Ownership has been relatively trouble free. The car is still gorgeous as ever and a blast to drive.

Issues to date:

1. Oil cooler line leak, promptly fixed with a new pressure washer-ring fitting. Took a couple of days.

2. The recalls--taken care of with my regularly scheduled oil change.

3. Whining/chirping clutch, they fixed with a new pressure plate. shortly afterwards the sound came back slightly. Won't bother with it until it starts
bothering me. Took a week for part to come in, a day to fix.

4. Most recent: Noticed coolant escaping through upper hose down the side between battery and air filter compartment. I topped off coolant. Everything seems okay.. Will keep in eye on it and have it looked at on my next oil.

TALAN7

My one year anniversary's here as well. I have close to 19,000 miles and get this. I don't even drive my car to work. I take the bus. I knew I loved driving this car but this surprises even me. Just recently drove from NJ to Detroit. See thread entitled "89 in a 65."

My thoughts on the 8. Still looks as good as day one. I too have a few rattles but I also had new speakers and a sub placed in so I'm sure that may be the cause. Surprisingly, the car is more comfortable than I would have imagined for long drives. Seats are great. Fit and finish is very good.

Now for my performance critiques. As much as I love the performance I still find myself daydreaming about the perfect torque/horsepower combination for this vehicle. I have landed on this. 30 more lbs of torque and 20 more horsepower would make this car perfect. I wish this engine was a little bigger, say 1.6 liters or so. I don't need turbos or sc's. They cost too much and I definitely wouldn't add one until my warranty expired. As far as handling is concerned, I would like just a bit less body roll but am willing to upgrade my suspension myself.

Interior; leave it alone except for the air conditioner. I hate it. Give me auto climate control.

That's my one year long-term test update.

Speed Racer

This last year has been rather eventful as far as my RX-8 is concerned. On 7/16/03 I got lucky and was able to pick up one of the first cars on the East coast. The purchasing experience was one of the best I have ever had and I left feeling really good about the dealership. The drive home from Boston was also rather entertaining because I literally had other cars circling around me trying to get a better look at this beautiful car.

Then came the horsepower fiasco and a few sleepless nights. I bought a Gtech to get a better idea of how the car performed and I was surprised to see that I was able to match the 0-60 MPH and 1/4 mile times that had been reported in Road & Track and that is when I made up my mind to keep the car and take the $500 & free maintenance.

I was so enthralled by the car that I decided to take it to Pocono Raceway to see what it could really do. The car was so incredibly balanced and easy to control at speed that it got me hooked on track days.

Then at 7,500 miles tragedy struck and I had to bring the car in for an unscheduled service because I was having problems disengaging the clutch. The experience at the dealership was worse than awful but I won't get into it here. In the end Mazda arranged to have the car towed to another dealership and covered the work under warranty.

As winter approached and temperatures dropped I found the car harder to start but it never flooded. On really cold mornings I would end up with a huge cloying cloud of white smoke rolling out of the exhaust that smelled like fuel. These problems went away when I installed my CanZoomer Stage 1 which leaned out the fuel maps.

At 10,000 miles I noticed a lot of shuddering while braking. The car was brought in for service and it was noted that the front rotors were worn beyond spec but the brake pads were fine. Mazda replaced the rotors under warranty and I had to pay for the new pads. I have also had to push back on the dealer fairly hard to get some of the TSBs done.

Right now I'm at 22,000 miles and my car is going to be parked for a while due to circumstances that were beyond my control. About a week ago (7/1/04) someone was rushing to get through an intersection and plowed right into the front of my car. The front bumper, hood, and quite a few things under the hood need to be replaced. The estimate for parts, paint, and labor was $10,700 and I'll be lucky if the car is back on the road in a month.

rxeightr

Today is the Anniversary day.

One year ago I took ownership. This has been one fast year.

Sure am glad I did not take Mazda up on their buy-back offer. The $500 helped pay for christmas, and yesterday the dealership gave me a free 20,000 mile service.

Taking her for a long drive today to celebrate. She will enjoy being out & about, as she always does.

8_wannabe

Today is also my anniversary. It was soooo cool being among the first to get this car; it was about 5 months till I saw another on the road other than some rallies we did here in San Diego.

I'm lovin' this car just like from day one. No rattles, not much oil consumption; gas mileage sux but I made peace with myself about that some time ago (I get about 16.5 mpg no matter how I drive or what I put in the tank.) I've got the L mod, and will probably get the M soon. One thing: I used to have the cycling a/c problem (blowing cool, then warm) esp since I had the car all last summer. I've never gotten a fix for this unless the L is supposed to fix it, but it doesn't seem to cycle anymore. AC is nice and cold now. There is nothing I don't like.

I take pride that I am the originator of The Little Things thread, one of the best loved and sometimes stickied threads in this forum. If you read it through, you will sense all the reasons why I love the '8, which is mostly for the small touches that make it so special. I just posted a few more there the other day, so the list keeps growing. Thank you to the Mazda designers and engineers for taking such care to bring us a wonderful car!

mikeb

well
my one year is gonna be july 27th, 2004

I love this car
when the buyback option came I didn't even think twice about it
I was already hooked
I love driving, washing, and looking at this car along with talking about it.
the people on this site are very nice and informative
I have learned alot and my complaints are few and far between


this is a pic of when I got the car