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In an RX8... although the RX7\'s recommend a thicker grade, leading to a debate over the reason why the RX8 is a thinner grade, (very thin in the US... 5w20!)... it may be an economy thing, and hence there is a school of thought that moving to the 10w40 would be best...   my personal opinion is that since the car is OK in the US running on 5w20, I will stick with the grade they recommend (5w30) until the engine has done 80-100K miles, then move to 10w40 to counter any wear in the engine... I\'m currently using a Semi-Synth which is not the Mazda Dexelia veriety, and I don\'t suppose I will change that... but then my warantee has expired, and it is a mineral oil that is made in the same way as the Dexelia...  Of course I am biased because I have a drum of it to use...

LOL, was my sarcasm a bit to subtle... mabe I\'ve had too much dealings with Mazda UK...

Actually I\'m less concearned with this than the way they handled other things...  

Clive, can you possible write a bit about what the corner seals that are giving the problem actually are... most people are familiar with the tip seals, and the oil control seals on the sides of the rotors, but I\'m not 100% sure about the corner ones, and I\'m sure others aren\'t either...

Also, do we thing the failures are resulting from carbon in the engines from using synthetic oils, or just a component failure?...

Interesting that orbist should comment about sooty exhausts... I notice that the amount of soot in my exhausts changes depending on the driving I\'ve been doing... a good long trip and some B road barnstorming and the soot virtually disappears, but town driving does make it build up...

Because of course, the engine is completely different in the UK isn\'t it....   Just like the aircon is different in the UK too... when that recall went out in the US.

> The RX-8 has an electric power steering system. If your RX-8 engine stalls for whatever reason (i.e. run out of fuel) then the electric power steering continues to operate allowing you to steer safely to the side of the road.

There must be some kind of interlock which stops it from operating before you start the engine, becuase it does not operate if you just switch on the ignition.

> The front seatbelts can be buckled into the rear seatbelt clasp but cannot be unclasped. DO NOT DO THIS.

How do people find this stuff out?

> The RX-8’s fuel tanks contain two roll-over valves that close and stop your charcoal canister from being contaminated with fuel in the unlikely event of an RX-8 rollover.

OK, I\'ll bite, what\'s a charcoal canister for?

> It is possible to disable the TCS/DSC completely on an RX-8 by pressing and holding the DSC switch until both indicator lights illuminate.

Both DSC indicators that is.

> The RX-8 Tire Pressure Monitor System has both a low pressure and a high pressure setting.

The UK RX8 does not have a TPMS system.

> The spare tire is not standard in US.

Or the UK

> Not tightening your gas cap correctly after fueling will cause a CEL (Check Engine Light).

This is because the evaporative emissions regulations require no fuel vapour to escape in normal operation, and so the fuel tank is maintained at a slight vacuum... if the cap is not tightened this cannot happen, and so the CEL code is related to a leak in the evaporative emissions or fuel system.

> The Shinka has water-repellent front glass, front door windows and door mirrors.

Shinka?  I use Rain-X, and with this whatever glass is used, and the aerodynamics, no wipers are needed at motorway speeds even in quite heavy rain.

> The RX-8 clutch pedal height is adjustable.

It is??  I\'m saved... does anyone know how to do this?

> The early RX-8’s had black windshield (windscreen) washer tanks, and later ones had opaque white so you can see contents without taking cap off.

And high power cars have larger tanks due to the headlamp washers which are only present on the high power cars (Due to the regulations for HID lights).  The large tank is sufficient to take an entire 5 litre refil once the warning light comes on.

> The 18″ (non-bright finish) OEM alloy wheels are painted and clear coated.

It seems that they are only coated on the front, leading to a corrosion problem around the edges of the coated section.

> “Zoom-Zoom-Zoom” is from a 1994 soundtrack CD “Only The Strong” & was written by a guy named Kao Rossman, performed by Serapis Bey.

It\'s a remix, or remake as I have that version and it\'s not the mazda version!...

> The clock on the NAV system is nearly perfectly accurate thanks to GPS.

Only the UK nav doesn\'t have a clock!

LOL, I looked at the posts and read the one about the 1st gen... that\'s what convinced me that it was OK. :Thumbs-up

I don\'t think it\'s bad to tell people when you got good service, as long as you\'re not involved with that company... that causes less upset than people saying they got bad service, LOL.

Alterboy,

Thanks for the info, the Moderators recieved a query about this post wondering if it was advertising (which isn\'t allowed)... I\'ve looked through your previous posts and it looks to me like you\'re just passing on info about a company who have helped you out... but it might be better in future if you make that clearer...  

Good luck tho!...

I\'ve had good service on "classic" nuts and bolts from Namrick, http://www.namrick.co.uk/ but I don\'t suppose that will help anyone here!

Don\'t get too excited, I\'ve got mine to do 320 miles on a 55 litre fillup.. that\'s 32MPG!

24 is pretty OK, but you\'ll find that as soon as you go over about 70, you\'ll be in a lower economy bracket, so A roads are actually more efficient if you stay in 6th for any length of time,...

The other weird thing, is that the engine seems to be more efficient the harder you drive it, so bursts of high power intermixed with coasting like you tend to do on a slightly twisty A road is pretty good also, even if you\'re really pressing on...

The 320 mile tank was following a friend home after he bought a classic car, he was crusing around 60-65 all the way on a motorway, and I wasn\'t able to use cruise (It\'s not perfect for economy driving) since he wasn\'t really going at a constant speed.  Since I could catch him easily, I wasn\'t worried about letting him get a little way ahead, so it was a 300 mile cruise taken gently at 60-65, probably in 5th rather than 6th for half of it...

Not that I really think about it these days, I just enjoy the car and normally get about 220-250 from a tank...

that is an early concept mockup... sorry, not real...

Wow...  I kinda viewed the S2K and the RX8 as along the same theme...  I came very close to buying the S2000, but I wasn\'t too keen on a convertable... I\'m single, so the rear seats aren\'t a big deal... but then they are handy somtimes... The cars look very similar too!

As for the car, well... it\'s very tame at low revs... and it\'s not exactly a rocketship... but it isn\'t slow either, and is really nice to drive... puts a smile on my face anyway.

I\'ll have it for a long time...

Not sure where this oil business comes from... I think the longest I went between checking was 1500 miles,  I like to keep it topped up, but mine will usually make 2000 miles before it reaches the minimum marker...  

I wonder what the actual reliability of the engine is compared to the S2000?... Fuel consumption isn\'t great, but it does get more competitive with other cars the more enthusiastically you drive... I was out with a friend in a BMW 325 coupe, and on the motorway, his consumption was way better than mine, but we got of onto a few country lanes, and he was working really hard to keep up, and almost evened out the consumption for the whole trip... since I was barely cruising...  Like zevans said... any corner, any speed... hahah.

And finally... who would mis the chance to be a member of MRC by having a Honda?

Again, they insist on comparing the RX8 and 350Z... LOL

People seem to have differing experiences with oil consumption... I did 1100 miles over last weekend and on return I checked the oil to find that it had used far less than 1/2 of the amount required to put it at the half way mark on the dip stick... (was only about 1/4 inches down from max)..

Mmmm a Mazda dealership did tell me that the origonal plan for the RX-8 was to have it limit at 14k revs - but I wold take no notice of this considering what hassle I had from them!

I\'ve certainly heard the 11K number, but I\'ve also heard that a 13B has a destructive resonance at 13K... so 14K seems unlikley, although what effect the RX8\'s lightened rotors have on this I do not know.

As for that V-Pro power upgrade... Could it be this:-

http://store.yahoo.com/sgpracing-store/hksfcvmaun.html

mm About my previous post, actually I DO understand the "leather" thing, but not for car seats! :-)))

IMO there\'s a simple reason... leather car seats are much longer lasting... and an aged leather seat looks better than an aged cloth one...   If you plan to keep the car for 3 years, it\'s not a concideration, but if you plan to keep it longer, then it might start to be.

Absolutely...  don\'t get me wrong, if it can be fixed... that\'s great.  but if it\'s caused by temperature changes and not water leaking into the clusters then I don\'t see how replacing them can help... unless the new ones are of a different material.

I know it\'s no consolation, but they ALL do that... it\'s not water leaking in, it\'s condensation caused by temperature differential... I\'m sure it\'s as a result of having plastic lenses... they do it on the front too...