Evening folks,

I've been looking for a new car to replace my Fabia vRS with, I fancy something with a bit more go, and something that handles a bit nicer. I'm not looking to go on track days, or anything like that, just commuting a short distance (10 miles) and general pottering around. I've seen a few Mazda RX-8's advertised for what seems like a very good price (Around the 5k mark), and I was wondering if anyone knew much about them?

If so, are there any things to be aware of when looking at these cars? any common failure points, wear items, expenisve bits toreplace, bodged repairs etc?

Cheers
Andy

Fuel prices
i believe there heavy on fuel

Fab, but VERY heavy on fuel!

Expect sub 20's!

They dont like being stop started frequently, it floods engine

Biggest fault with all Wankel rotary engines is fuel consumption - the RX7 was a very smart sportscar, but, unfortunately, it averaged 17mpg.

Also many on Ebay with oil issues - recommended fix....A new engine!

loved my rx8 however had to sell due to change of job. main issues fuel - Ave 19 - 22 mpg also 400 notes tax as high c02 . loved that car though and recommend strata blue to turn a few heads.

loved my rx8 however had to sell due to change of job. main issues fuel - Ave 19 - 22 mpg also 400 notes tax as high c02 . loved that car though and recommend strata blue to turn a few heads.

google search for RX-8 low compression , or RX-8 Hot Start Problems

looked at these myself recently, and would stay very far away !!

hth

Ray

quote:

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Originally posted by rayward
google search for RX-8 low compression , or RX-8 Hot Start Problems

looked at these myself recently, and would stay very far away !!

hth

Ray

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if you don't do too many miles and can handle the tax get one as lovely car - push for sat nav, black leatheras red is not as good in my opinion, 231 bhp and American hoop spoiler if that's your thing -good car

as mentioned above, fuel is the main issue but by the sounds of it, you dont do many miles. They are a very good chassis and handle very well, better than the 3rd generation RX7 some say. Pretty much everything on the car is strong and can take abuse including track days, even in stock form.

The only issue you will have is the engine. Either look for a nice one with a dead engine at a cheap price, then take it to an engine builder like WGT, ReWorx etc and have it re built, that way you know you have a good engine with warranty. If you dont fancy that, try and get one with compression test results. Mazda will charge a lot for compression test but its cheaper than buying a dud. There are several tuners that have the proper mazda compression testing kit, it would be well worth taking a prospective purchase to one of them for a test.

Basic things to look at in the history are regular oil changes and a full set of coils (4) changed at least once. The coils are the main reason for the engines getting low compression prematurely. They can be bought for £50 each from Mazda Rotary Parts.

They are supposed to use oil, its injected from the sump into the combustion chamber, but mazda saw fit to fit a nice shallow sump to the rx8 to keep the engine low in the car, meaning they ran low on oil fairly quickly. If sellers have said that the oil light has come on a few times and they dont seem to know what they are talking about, steer clear.

If you pop onto the RX8 owners club forum, there are a good bunch of people on there and they will have more information to help you. There is a date that mazda put more oil injectors on the engine but i dont know what it is, this is supposed to be a longer lasting engine.

One good thing about them is they sold in big numbers and bits are cheap, including second hand engines, so as long as you dont go to Mazda, you wont be out of pocket too much should something go wrong, they are really simple to work on.

The best bit, buy a 231 bhp model and have 9500rpm and 6 gears to play with, although they wont have the torque you are used to.

i had one for about a year
a 231bhp version.
it was a great car to drive, good handling and decent acceleration. you have to rev the nuts off them though as they have no low down torque.

practical too as we used to go out in it 2 adults and 2 kids no problem.

issues:

heavy on fuel - average 18 mpg
not as bad on oil as we thought, used to top it up 1/2 a litre every 2 - 4 weeks
cold start problems, even with the mazda fix. dont ever start it cold move it out of the drive turn back on and then move back in then turn off. you will flood it.

starter motors dont last long........see above problem

the way to de flood them if the mazda recommended method doesnt work is to connect jump leads to another car then crank the poo out of it until it starts.

usually the starter motor doenst sound too good after that.

they are poo in the snow

set of spark plugs is £100 +

other than that great car, i do miss it but couldnt justify the fuel consumption