First off Im new to this forum just want to say Hello to everyone.
ok now Im looking at a 2004 RX8 with 46k on it. I absolutly love these cars...I have since the first time I seen one and Ive always wanted one but a friend of mine supposidly talked to a mazda mechanic and he said that he sees them coming into the shop almost everyday, that they Burn oil, if its raining they wont start, and you have to let it warm to normal operating temperature before you can drive it or it'll shut off and not start again....I read a couple of posts on here already and seen others mention letting it warm up so I guess that question is already answered but as far as the other ones go are they true? To me it seems a little unreal that they actually Burn oil and wont start if the car is wet or its raining...I mean its not the 60 these cars arent carborated it dosent make sense to me.

Thanks for all your imput

 

u have to remmeber these cars have rotory engines in them and thus they come with a completely different set of maintnence procedures. I would actually stay away from an 04 rx-8 as that was the first year they were in production and thus most of the kinks werent worked out. Also u have to keep in mind ur buying a used sports car. meaning that the person who owned the care before you probably had a lead foot and beat the hell out of it. i would investigate it much further before u actually make the purchase.

 

Yea I realize that....Im going to take it for a test drive tomorrow...the car is at a carmax dealer...I talked to a sales rep today he and brought up mechanical issues and he assured me that every car they sell goes thru a 118 point inspection plus either a 30 or 45 day period after the sale of anything goes wrong they fix it for free. I dont know anything about the previous owner other then he/she wasnt a smoker n kept the car in pretty good condition appearance wise. Ill post tomorrow how the test drive went and how the car acted.

 

ask them about any extended powertrain warranties they offer. From what ive heard the 04 rx-8's tend to blow thier engines before 100k

 

on the face of it, if all I knew about RX8's were what i read in some forums, i might never have bought mine. i think some forums tend to exaggerate the seriousness of matters because it's where unhappy people tend to vent and complain. it's also a place where trolls come and, claiming they are new but want to buy an RX8...then proceed to list every exaggerated complaint they have ever heard about Mazda rotaries and ask if it is true. my 07 RX 8 has been flawless in the year i've had it, no recalls and no problems. my overall gas mileage the last time i checked was 18.7 mpg, combination mostly town short trips, some open country roads, a little freeway.

if i were looking at an 04, i'd want to know if it had an engine change, and if all the recalls and service bulletins have been done. they should have been, since they cost the owner nothing but inconvenience or time. you can find most of this out by doing a VIN check.

yes they use premium fuel and they have oil injectors and burn oil, it's what rotary engines do, they aren't the same as "boinger" engines.

your friend says a Mazda mechanic sees them coming in for service or repair almost every day, well duh he must work at a Mazda dealer...if he worked at a Chevy dealer he'd see more Corvettes, the same if he worked at a Porsche dealer, he'd see a hell of a lot of 911's in for repair or service, Ford dealers see more Mustangs in for repairs and service (compared to other brands of cars they might service)...get the point? it is a little hard for me to imagine that in your area there are so many RX8's on the road that a dealer will be getting in for repair 3 or 4 a week every week all year round. maybe he is exaggerating a little? one thing though you might do is go to an "RX 8 enthusiast" meeting and ask real people who like their cars what they think and what problems they might know about.

RX8's start in the rain or when wet as easily and well as any other modern auto! to say otherwise is a silly statement. it's not necessary, at least i don't let mine
fully warm up before driving off but a little bit is not a bad habit....that's true of all cars... maybe if you are just moving it to the driveway to wash it or something ok maybe you let it warm up a little longer in case you need to move it immediately afterwards, i did the same with all my other cars also, but sometimes the cars would be hard to restart after washing because the distributor or something else got wet during washing, that used to be common with any car long before there were RX'8's..

treat this purchase the same as any used car purchase...carefully, and be sure of what you are getting regarding warranties, is in writing, and without a lot of fine print. ask if it has an extended warranty, it should be transferable but you need to get a copy of the warranty, don't take the salesman's word for it...extended warranties are often 3rd party so the dealer might not know if there is one, but they can find out, i think.

but a used car, is a used car..... i've owned a few and they all had some sort of problems that showed up after the "honey moon" period was over. if they are minor you fix it and enjoy, if they are major, you bitch, moan, groan, and learn from the mistake. BTW did you ever solve the problem with your Suzuki?