Buying an RX8 - what do I need to know?

[johnnyboy]

Hi Guys.
 
I am an interloper from the RX7 1st gen forum looking for some advice.
 
My younger son is considering buying an RX8. I have told him that this is a move to the "dark side" and that he should stick with the family tradition and get an FB that is slightly older than he is, but you know what it is like with kids these days....
 
He is not much of a car enthusiast and just wants something nice for his daily 10 mile commute.
 
The recent compression of prices on RX8s is actually making his choice more difficult! He he has too many to choose from!
 
Should he go for low milage? or newer rather than older? I know about the rotor tip "two oiling points vs. three oiling points" issues, but when was the changeover? and does it really matter? I think there were some facelifts, but when? what were they?  What should he look for on the test drive?
 
Trouble is, he expects me to know everything (I have trained him into that idea over the years...) but when it comes to RX8\'s I really don\'t know much other than they look nice, drive nice and go like *****!.
 
All help welcome!
 
John

[clive]

My younger son is considering buying an RX8. I have told him that this is a move to the "dark side" and that he should stick with the family tradition and get an FB that is slightly older than he is, but you know what it is like with kids these days....
 
John

Nah, far from a move to the dark side as the engine is more closely related to the FB than you would think, indeed if it were me I would be pleased that one of my kids at least has an interest in a car from the same family  :cool

As somebody with both old and new Rotarys I know all the same rules as running an FE as an FB apply , i.e. starts when hot, indicating good engine compression,  let it warm up at least a little before turning off, keep an eye on the oil level especially if driving hard,

Also don\'t look at the recommended Mazda oil service intervals, look at treating it like an older Rotary and change the oil more frequently as some RX-8 suffer injector and metering pipe blockages and bearing failures unseen on older rotarys which I\'m sure it most cases is down to leaving the oil in an RX-8 engine for far too long.



Biggest Achilles heel on the RX-8 is the coils and next up the plug leads that are poor and can progress into many many related problems so the best advise I can give is if it\'s over 45K on the mileage hopefully these have been changed but either way cost coils, leads and plugs into purchasing an RX-8 to ensure that it stays running nice and healthy.



Hope this helps

[Will66]

All Clive has said is good stuff, might also be worth looking at //www.rx8ownersclub.co.uk.  Lots of stuff there too!  Maybe even a secondhand one.

[johnnyboy]

Sadly, No. 2 son fought off Rotaryness and bought an MGF. What can you say.... Kids these days....
 
Basically he decided he was happier with head gasket failures than rotor tip failures, and of course the soft top with summer coming....
 
THanks for your input anyway.
 
John

[AMH]

Should he go for low milage? or newer rather than older? I know about the rotor tip "two oiling points vs. three oiling points" issues, but when was the changeover? and does it really matter? I think there were some facelifts, but when? what were they?

I\'m sure someone will correct me if I get this wrong but there were originally two RX-8\'s - 192bhp and 231bhp. You can tell the 231\'s as they have Xenon headlights and washers. They did a few special editions but these were just cosmetic. The first sort of facelift was the PZ - a 231 that had the Prodrive treatment. Then the three oiling rotor, proper facelift that you\'re refering to is the R3 which came out in 2008. It\'s a 231 with some re-styling and modificatons, including the engine.

I had a 2005 192 and now I\'ve got an R3 - I\'ve loved both. You can pick up some real bargins - not sure what the secondhand market is like for the R3\'s but a better option if he can afford it IMHO.