I'm temporarily in San Diego, and I need to take my car in for service and a couple warranty issues. What dealers are any good? Or which ones should I avoid?

The ones I found are
Thanks.

 

this is a lot like choosing between two pairs of dirty underwear ...

I have heard bad things from my friends in the Miata Club about Mazda of Escondido.

I take mine to John Hine in Mission Valley - having said that, they are pretty clueless about the RX8 in general. They used to be a Pontiac and Mazda dealer so they don't have the specialized knowledge of the rotary engines that you would really want. Recently, they closed their Pontiac sales floor and so they are working much harder to make the Mazda customers happy. That is a good thing.

Taking it in for service is one of those situations where your knowledge of the car will really come in handy. For example, when the service writer called me saying I needed new engine mounts, I asked him how many mounts did the car have and how many needed replacing (just to be an ***), and he didn't know the answer. I knew I had to really watch these guys. They did quality work on the spark plugs, coils and mounts though. I haven't had to go back with any follow up issues.

As far as warranty stuff, I guess they would be just fine.

I'm sure the other locals have a story or two about the "stealerships."

 

I may have a 2nd gen "7", but I'll give you my input. After all, it's a rotary, too.


Recommend Westcott in National City. They have been taking care of my RX-7 for well over 10 years. Same mechanic / technician, too. The Service Manager, Tony, used to be my Service Advisor. Fidel is the guy who always works on my car. I live north of I-8 so it is about a 25 mile drive down there. Worth it.

We'vee got a good enough relationship that I am usually in the work bay talking to Fidel directly.. There are usually other rotary cars in the shop also.


John Laiche
1988 Arctic Silver GTU

 

Ha! That is a great way to put.

I'll try them.

Thanks for the advice.

 

John Hine is full of idiots. The end.

 

^ Jesus Has Spoken.

 

whodatRX7 registered here just to write that post about Westcott. I always regard such posts with suspicion but then I'm a cynic.

Nevermind. The post counts are broken.

 

Sorry, Bro, try another excuse. Yes, it's true that I don't have an RX-8. So what; I've got a rotary. I know a good mechanic / technician, so I was passing the information along. Use him or not, I get nothing out of it. Other than knowing that a good rotary mechanic is gainfully employed.

Myself and others (RX-8 owners) have been working for a few years to invite other 8's out for meets and drives. Not too many takers. Although, there is a nice little core of interested folks, which is great!. UrbanOcho is one of them these days. If you search past threads you'll find that these invites have been extended for quite some time. First Saturday of the month is the regular meet.

I understand the desire for separate model meets, but the Mazda line-up is not that large. We're trying to bring all the San Diego rotary crowd together. Come on out some time; you might just want to return the next month. We'll also likely be having a drive in May. Stay tuned.


As an aside, check out the following link.
http://where-yat.net/sdrxc/RX8-Show040508/index.htm
This is an event from a few years back that John Hine sponsored. Hine invited us, the RX-7's, to join in. We brough about as big a crew as the "8" community. Several of our guys own both models. Don't worry, we didn't walk off with any raffled RX-8 parts; but, we ended up with a few ball caps and a 20% discount on parts.

Strange, it's been almost 6 years since this event. Any more of these planned?


Stop being cynical and come on out!