Mazda RX8

[AkursedX]

So, in case any of you didn't know, I've sold my Fiero. Pete, (PBJ on Old Europe) is picking my Fiero up tomorrow. Surprisingly I haven't really had a bit of remorse about it yet. I just feel that it's time and I have known the buyer for a long time and he knows Fieros and has had a few different modded ones so I know it's going into an enthusiasts hands.


Anyways, after much debate about what I was going to do with the money from not buying another car and paying off the rest of my student loan and banking the rest to buying a brand-new car for the wife, I have decided that I'm going to buy a Mazda RX8. My wife told me that I needed to buy another car because she wasn't about to deal with me being miserable without having a fun car to drive around.

So, why the RX8? Well, I decided that I don't have time for a full-blown project. My son takes up most of my free-time, so anything that would have been a big project, like an LSx swap into something was out of play. I also need something with 4-seats. One shitty thing about the Fiero is that I couldn't drive as much as I wanted because I couldn't take my son anywhere in it. Even though I wanted a 4-seater, I wanted something fun, with a manual transmission that I could autox and take for a track-day or two. I have a maximum budget of roughly 14k.

So, I limited my choices to the RX8, LSx GTO, another MKV GTI, and an E36 M3. I know there were other options out there, but these were my main ones. The GTO is nice and powerful, but the back seats are a pain to get my son out of and even though I'm over 30, married, and with a kid, the insurance was still too high. After already having an MKV GTI, I really wanted to get something new, plus there's a lot of small issues with the tFSI engine. Finding a nice E36 4-door manual M3 has been near impossible and the maintenance costs are too much IMO.

So that leaves the RX8. Yeah, it's a rotary. A torqueless, gas-hungry, maintenance-heavy pig of an engine. They are very much a love/hate engine. Well me, I LOVE rotaries and have wanted one since before I bought my Fiero. I test-drove one today and I must say that the fun-to-drive factor is very high. Winding out to 9300rpms with an audible alarm telling you to shift while driving through curving roads is just so much fun. They have a very neutral balance and they feel very easy to drive hard. In a straight-line, they aren't the fastest thing out there, but it's far from a slug. The one I test drove had a bit of a misfire up high (They have terrible stock coils) and it still ran to 60mph at a reasonable pace.

The interior is ok. It's quite and roomy and the seats are very comfy. I like the gauge layout too. As for being a family man, the RX8 is a great choice. I can fit my son's Recaro seat behind me in the back, so even if we have another baby, I will be able to drive both of them around in it as I can put a rear-facing baby-seat behind the passenger seat.

For 10-12k you can find a 2004-2006 with under 60k miles all over the place. I know they have a bad rep and many engines have been replaced. But there is a lot you need to know about the Renesis rotary and if you treat them well, they treat you well.

When I buy one, I'm not going to do too many mods. Many things will be reliability mods. Aftermarket ignition coils, Cobb ACCESSPORT, oil metering pump adaptor. After that, some wheels and suspension/brake bits.


So yeah, that's about it. I wish I could afford a CTS-V, but they are out of my range, but I feel the RX8 will provide me with more than enough fun. When I buy it, I will post pics and probably start a build-thread here. I don't plan on leaving the Fiero world anytime soon.

[Shaun41178(2)]

I had no idea the back of an rx8 was easier to get a child out of then a gto. Doesn't an rx8 have the suicide style door though for the rear seats? I haven't looked at one in forever.

Congrats on selling your fiero. I am surprised pbj got it though.

[AkursedX]

I had no idea the back of an rx8 was easier to get a child out of then a gto. Doesn't an rx8 have the suicide style door though for the rear seats? I haven't looked at one in forever.

Congrats on selling your fiero. I am surprised pbj got it though.

Yeah, the RX8 has mini-suicide-doors on the rear. It's funny how when you become a parent how stupid things like that can influence a car-buying decision so easily.

Thanks on selling the Fiero. I was surprised PBJ bought it too. It was pretty much out of the blue, but I'm glad he's buying it as opposed to some of the other people who have contacted me. It helps that I've known him for a number of years and I know he's had modded Fieros before, so I feel like it's going to a good home.

I can't wait to have the cash in my hand though. There's a few nice RX8's in the area and I feel that I'm going to have one much sooner than later.

[crzyone]

Congrats on selling the fiero, and welcome to the world of Japanese performance cars.

There is nothing wrong with an RX-8. It's a perfect recipe if you think about it. 235hp, RWD, manual gearbox and 50/50 weight distribution. Nothing wrong there! Sure, you have to ring it's neck for max potential but that's normal for low torque/high hp Japanese engines.

There are a few downsides to an rx8 but not many. The motor does not respond well to mods, even turbocharging and it wasn't ment to. It's no RX7 in terms of performance but for a 4 seater daily it's awesome. I've pretty much convinced my GF to get an RX8 as her next car, we will both have rotaries.

I lucked out with having a local rotary specialist. For $3500 (big budger for a former fiero owner) I will have a bulletproof 13B. All the weak points have been built and taken care of. If you ever need a motor rebuild out of your warranty period, go to Rotary Aviation and buy their super seals with race springs. You will never have to worry about apex seals again.

If you want to watch an informative video on rebuilding a 13b, check this out. Makes you realize how easy to work on these engines are.

http://www.youtube.com/user/aaroncake#p ... 1MXfs_Srs4 Disassembly
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijJeUk_GqiI Rebuild

[AkursedX]

So, I thought I'd update this a bit. PBJ picked up the Fiero on Wednesday so I have a stack of cash in hand. I have wasted no time scouring the area test-driving as many RX8's as I can.

I've learned quite a bit driving so many different RX8's in a short bit of time. First off, I am 100% convinced that this is the car for me. I love how these cars handle and I think the lack of torque is a little bit overstated by some people. I seem to be able to make the car get up and go just fine. I also have found that there's not much difference between a 30k-mile car and a 60k-mile car. My top 2 choices right now are on both ends of the spectrum. One has 35k miles and one has 70k miles. The price difference between the two is only around 2k dollars.

I'm off Tuesday and Wednesday and I have about 3 more cars to scope out. From there, I'm going to evaluate my choices and try low-balling my top 2-3 choices. If no one wants to sell, I will start scoping out private-party cars further away.

[AkursedX]

Well I have an agreement to buy a silver '04 RX8 w/76k miles. It just had a brand-new engine installed alog with some other work so it's a solid runner.

Pics and a build-thread will be showing up soon.

[The Dark Side of Will]

Congrats!

Build plans?

[Shaun41178(2)]

sweet, can't wait to see it.