pflowers

Sold my wagon through scoobynet as I fancied a change.

Couldn't afford an STi so went for my second choice, an RX8

They don't have a great reputation for reliability but on reading a lot is down to how they have been looked after.

Managed to to get a 2006 231bho with one owner FMSH and 55k. It's absolutely mint and runs lovely, no sign of any starting issue. £3100

I bought from an independent dealer with a three month warranty so hopefully any immediate issues will be covered.

It's an absolute hoot to drive, doesn't feel that quick but it's deceiving as it redlines at 10k so you have to work it.

Nath_driftways

Treat it like a turbo
Turning over don't touch the throttle
Let it idle for abit
And don't just turn it off let it run down so the excess fuel burns
You'll be fine if you do that

dpb

Good luck

pflowers

Cheers, tbh if it's a night mare the worst i can lose is £3100, I've lost more than that driving out of a showroom before...

Nath_driftways

If you get troubles drop me a pm my mate builds performance rotary engines he will look after it for you

pflowers

That's brilliant, thank you.

Dave Y

iTrader: (52)

A mate of mine has one,he has trouble starting it when it is warm.Spent £900 still no better.��

scoobyc

iTrader: (2)

compression test peeps

Skoobie Dhu

iTrader: (3)

Had one 8 yrs now, reliability has been fine.
Never had a problem starting when warm, however flooded it twice when cold due to stupidity - got it going eventually but it takes lots of cranking to get rid of the fuel.
Now done 54k miles, only just changed the original brakes, still on original battery. Changed original exhaust last year, now running one of the £120 stainless ebay ones and at least it sounds sportier..
Handles well, quick but not as fast as they should be, and hard work to get the best out of the engine - under normal driving I hardly use 3rd or 5th.
Very good seats, stereo is astounding, any ice or snow requires snow tyres - I run a full set of snow tyres on 17" rims between Oct and April (N Scotland).
Some rust now appearing on bottom of front wings (no mudflaps) and bootlid around middle brake light.

Only hassle we've had was a corroded sump, luckily very easy to change and 2nd hand ones are available.

Coil packs are really a consumable item on these things, need doing around 45k, ours went about 48k and gave a misfire before failing completely - buy the genuine Mazda ones from MRP online.

Oil consumption isn't bad, ours goes through 4 litres or so a year for 6k miles, the harder they're driven the more oil they'll consume.

Fuel consumption is rubbish - 23 mpg or thereabouts whether standing still or towing a caravan.

RX8 forum is a good source of info, but they don't like the 8 being criticized - lol.

Looking to get shot of ours, got bored with it really, time for another legacy GTB.

SRSport

Unless the ABS fails and costs £1000. Then a week later the steering rack fails - £1000 then after all that the engine blows. That would be £5100, if you see what I mean...Im sure it will be fine though

pflowers

Thanks for the informative post, I've been through all the various starting checks and all appears ok, the coils wires and plugs were changed 5000 miles ago. Don't care about the economy as I only do around 6000 a year and work from home, it's just for weekends and fun.

I haven't done a compression test, i will risk it.

It would seem like luck of the draw really, you either get a good or a bad one - bit like any car I suppose.

SRSport

Are you still looking for a S4 now?

Matteeboy

A mate has the white special edition one (nice wheels, other bits) and it's a lovely looking car. Sounds like you need deep fuelling pockets but for the looks, balance and go, they're a bargain!

pflowers

No, i did look at a couple but they just didn't really do anything for me, didn't have that 'look back' factor if you know what I mean.

pflowers

Thanks, I think I should expect high teens / low 20's which is fine, we have a C4 grand picasso family car so it's just a second / fun car!

I doubt whether the oil consumption is much worse than a lot of modern cars, my mum had an Audi TDI 140 from new and that drank a litre of expensive oil every 1000 miles Apparently you can use a standard semi synthetic in the rx8 you don't need anything fancy.

XDevil666

Rebuild time

pflowers

Yeah, sounds like its low on compression.

thenewgalaxy

I've always loved the RX8.

My uncle picked a mint 2005 one with about 30k on the clock for something like £1200 back in May last year, he's still running it now.

Four of my friends have owned one too, it's a nice car to drive and be a passenger in. Not as quick as it should have been though.

Not much to add other than the oil and flooding issue. But bear in mind this story, one of my friends set off from London to South Cornwall for a meeting with the oil level topped up full before the journey - and the warning light managed to come on while they were about 3/4 of the journey back! He sold it soon after (wisely I would imagine!), but was even surprised himself.

Literally, check the oil every 250 miles!

wrx5343

I was looking at one of these before i got a scooby, I was put off by all the problems i had heard about with the engines failing

CrisPDuk

I guy I work with picked up a 230PS one for less than 2k a couple of years ago, we all gave him a bit of grief for it, but in those two years he's not had any issues with it, apart from the oil, the fuel consumption & rear tyres
I think it's the luck of the draw with them TBH, I've always liked them.
I never understood why they didn't just stick a conventional engine in when emissions regs killed it, because the chassis is superb

pflowers

A conventional engine would spoil the handling, the rotary unit is very compact and very light and is positioned quite far back to give a 50/50 weight distribution. This just wouldn't be possible with a standard engine.

thenewgalaxy

Would be a nice excuse to squeeze a nice low set boxer engine into one then

But then I would have thought these cars are very tunable, I went in an RX-7 when I was 18 that absolutely went like a ****.

domino46

Geat car , crap engine ,, keep oil handy lol ,, mine used more fuel than my 450bhp blob and I never drove it as hard as it was really the mrs car but I did like it over all just didn't like the engine ,,, if you only want to move the car a couple of feet and its cold tlet it warm up for a few me before turning it off or it will flood and mine only started with a tow around the block l

Skoobie Dhu

iTrader: (3)

Lol, I suggested that on the rx8 forum and got nothing but grief from the regulars who seem to think the car is some sort of holy grail. I suggested the H6 engine, but the engine bay is too narrow for the boxer without serious surgery.

Like someone on the forum said, it's got the looks and fuel consumption of a 350 hp car but without the performance....

Skoobie Dhu

iTrader: (3)

I check and top up with a litre every 2-3 months (1200 miles roughly), never had the oil light come - I guess you need to know your car, they all seem to be different, but many have said that if you drive them hard they'll use much more oil.

pflowers

Picking it up tomorrow afternoon, if I haven't posted by early evening you know it has broken down on the way back..

SRSport

Please post pics of it when you get it. As already mentioned they are a bit of a bargain for what you get. I would imagine its value would be much higher if it wasnt for the reliability scare issues. So the money you save on what it should be can be used towards fixing it if it ever does go wrong, so you still have a great car/£ regardless.

pflowers

That's my view, if the worst happens an engine job is about £2k with a two year warranty.

Worlasshasansti

There was a canny write up on a couple of rx8's with rx7 turbo motors a couple of months ago in banzai or jap performance ( can't remember which ), they are a bargain and would be an awesome car if they had a bit more go aswell as the looks, but the rx7 conversion sounded costly to day the least lol.

Mick

Maz

iTrader: (34)

I'm sure the Yanks have been sticking the LS7 units in place of the rotary in RX7s for years. The LS unit is smaller, lighter, simpler, more reliable and dare I say more economical than the rotary.