Hi guys! RX8 Query

[AMH]

Hi Matt,

Don\'t worry about it - as Clive says there\'s no such thing as a stupid question.

And yes you do need to red line (hit the beep) regularly :chat  I had an RX-8 for five years, drove it properly and beeped it most journeys. It was a 192 and managed to do over 130mph through Enfield whilst being chased by the police no problem!

I\'ve just got an R3 as replacement and to answer your question about why the rotary engine isn\'t more common - they can\'t get the emissions down to hit the EU requirements. New RX-8\'s are just not in demand because of this and the tax on mine is £405.

[Matt Shepherd]

After the thousands of years man has been destroying the earth, they wait until i decide to buy the most beautifull car ive ever seen in which to cut back on it! charming

thanks very much! any details on the red lining, as in for how long should i be red lining it for, any specific gears?

is the mixing 2 stroke oil recomended btw? i dont want to open up another war of opinions or anything but is it something you should do and if so, any specific kind of 2 stroke? alsooo since im here lol, recomendations for oils? and what sort of thickness.

ok ok i think thats the lot

ahh how much will 4 tyres set me back!

done!

[AMH]

In each gear when you get upto the \'red line\' a beep goes off - a lot of the guys say that\'s when you get ready to change gears. :chat You can\'t over-rev an RX-8 so as long as it\'s warmed up you can do it as much as you like. I used to do it in 2nd/3rd in my 192 as you\'re getting to high speeds in 4th - still getting used to it in my R3 as it\'s a 6 speed.

There\'s a thread somewhere on mixing oil - I don\'t know enough about it to recormend it or not.

The standard tyres on the old RX-8 were Bridgestone REO40\'s but I put REO50A\'s on mine and they were much better in the wet - and that\'s what the R3 now has. Not brought a set for a while so not sure how much they cost now.

[Casey]

Hi Matt

On tyre cost, I\'ve been using Vredestein Ultrac Sessantas, 245/40/18\'s (instead of the OEM 225/45/18 - almost same rolling radius) and those tryes cost £400 a set, delivered, if you shop around. Fitting typically £10 a corner.

I recommend the Vredesteins, but the other popular option (and I\'ve used them too - they are very good) is the Bridgestone RE050A - as AMH said. In 225/45/18 size you\'ll be looking at ~£540 for a set delivered.

If you rotate your tyres then you might get around 16,000-20,000 on a set, if you are lucky. Depends on your driving style! You may only get around 12,000 if you like to have fun around corners :Giggle

[countzero1971]

You may only get around 12,000 if you like to have fun around corners :Giggle

or lots of trackdays :3gears-rh

I\'m currently running Toyo Proxes 4 but will be looking to replace with Toyo T1R

[Will66]

I\'ve got 20,000 miles out of my Falken FK452s.  I use Toyo Proxy R888s for tracks now!

[Matt Shepherd]

Awesome guys thank you!
 
One final question, am i better going for an older model (54) with like 21k miles, or a 56 with like 33k miles?
 
also, the imported versions are really lovely and about 2-3k cheaper, what are the drawbacks with buying them?
 
thanks once again

[Casey]

Mileage/age question. A tough one to answer. Personally, it\'s more about how the car has been looked after and driven that matters most to the health of the engine, so I\'d be looking for a car that is in good condition externally, and would want to know the car has a FSH. Ideally though, talk to previous owners to see how thaey have cared for the car. If it\'s low mileage and the owner has used it only for short journies to the local shops and never beeped the engine, then walk away. If the owner had no idea it had a rotary engine (yes, we know they exist!) then I suggest you look eleswhere as they probably haven\'t been driving it like it should be driven. We know the engine is capable of 100k+ as there are examples out there, if looked after and driven hard on a regular basis.

How the car drives is very important (does it pick up revs VERY quickly and smoothly, without ANY hesitation anywhere), as is the crucial hot starting performance. If it takes more than a couple of seconds to start when hot then walk away as it could be a sign of low compression - it could be something more straightforward, but not worth the risk. Lots of other advice on pre-buying checks can be had if you look around this forum and the RX8 Owners Club forum.

Imports - if I remember correctly, the two main differences are that the car is 210hp and the speed is limited to 110mph (no good if you want to do trackdays). I also recall many of the imports have an automatic gearbox? You won\'t get the best enjoyment form an RX-8 which an auto box!

Hopefully some other people who are more knowledgeable on imports might chip in...........

[AMH]

Yes I think imports are automatic - got smaller wheels I think?

There\'s a very nice RX-8 for sale on Ebay - my old one that was stolen! Worth a look if you\'re after a bargain.

[Matt Shepherd]

Hi guys!
 
Well after a few months of saving nearly all of my pennys im about ready to finallyyyyy buy this dream car of mine!
 
Ive been ogeling them on a very near daily basis on auto trader, but now im about ready to buy one! I could have been buying this month but a nasty gym pass and holiday with friends setting me back.
 
Ive found myself drawn even more so to the even sexier r3\'s.... that i just cant afford, well not unless i want to save for another year (which i dont, i want one yesterday!) However the nicest part of the r3\'s apart from the more racing / angry look about them, is the spoiler. I was wondering how much i would be to get me a spoiler fitted to a standard 192? Nothing over the top, the r3 spoilers just finish what i think is a slightly naked rear end, perfectly.
 
Also guys, it seems nearly all of the rx8\'s on auto trader have had "1 previous female owner" which no doubt is a lot of ......, but it seems sellers have no idea of the need to red line these wonderful machines. So how am i to know if the engine is in good nick or not? In reguards to the engine seals i mean.
 
 
Thanks once again!

[Test Drives Unlimited]

Hi Matt,sorry can\'t help on the Engine side :2Rolleyes,but if this helps regarding the Spoiler ,I believe Clive has the R3 Spoiler on the back of his Yellow RX-8 :cool
 
Glad you can finaly afford your RX-8 though :driving & look forward to seeing the Photos of your New Car in due course

[Matt Shepherd]

Well ive started browsing for 1 of these beauty!
 
Though i stumbled across this
 
 
http://www.mazdarotaryclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=54786
 
What is the likelyhood of these things (all 4) dieing? And will this sort of thing be picked up in a mazda service? Seems such a small thing to replace to save your entire engine ><

[AMH]

What is the likelyhood of these things (all 4) dieing? And will this sort of thing be picked up in a mazda service? Seems such a small thing to replace to save your entire engine ><

I\'m no expert but I don\'t think all four have to go to potentially damage your engine - and I believe there have been examples where Mazda servicing has not picked up the problem (not sure if it can be picked up?)

Anyway I had mine replaced with a set from MRPs - can\'t really comment on weather it improved the performance as two weeks later it was half-hiched! But it was clocked at 130mph by the police helicopter so it was doing well for a 5 year old 192! :Giggle

As you say it\'s not a lot of money to potentially save an expensive engine re-build.

[Matt Shepherd]

Any idea how much your looking at for them replaced and fitted? And a mazda garage is your best bet to get it done?

[marcusd666]

I had the coils changed on the wife\'s RX8 by WGT for uprated ones was told by Pip that mazda europe have loads of the original one that fail after 30k in stock and they will just replace like for like and charge the earth. The coils we had was totally shot poor starting and no power at all when they was changed we did not know how back the car was before the make over.