j9fd3s

well so far so good, all of em have passed. we've done about 15 cars... so this is good news

93RX7R1

That's good to hear. I am REALLY hoping that this doesn't kill the rotaries. I don't own a RX-8, but I am a rotary fan and don't want to see them die.

neil

Well I'm the parts guy at our place and we have done a couple motors early on (Before the recall) and a few cats, mine was one of them. My 8 was a Demo off the lot before we bought it ,so lots of short drives. Recently, my car came through the vac test fine and had all the earlier changes already. So seems ok. Wifey is a lead foot so it gets excercised regularly.



My non scientific observation has been this...

People that have bought the cars as a semi exotic and caterered to it's unique needs.. ie: not shutting down cold often, revving the motor to where it likes to live, and spirited driving, haven't seemed to have to much trouble, even those of us with occaisional track forays or radar detector induced speeds.



People that bought it as something cooler than an Accord or a Camry, but still lug the motor, have no idea what the other 5000 rpms are for,, shut it down cold on short trips all the time, and generally are clueless to what sort of beast it is, do seem to have more problems. Now part of this is Mazda's fault as we wanted to sell it against all these other cars, but maybe we don't emphasise that it is Zoom zoom, and requires respect as such. I must say this is a personal opinion, as I do get a little frustrated when I meet someone that probably should have bought a Mazda6 sedan, or even a Speed6.



There is the other extreme semi knowledgeable but not wise enough not to thrash it, or modify at every new magazine idea, before it's proven. Not alot of sympathy for them.



Race applications, I am not directly working with anyone locally, but have discussed the Seals and port design with a couple knowledgable folks and wonder what it would take to be good in sprint road races. It has shown well in endurance racing, but heat problems have reared it's head in ALMS P2 I believe in some extremes..(3 rotor motor) Haven't kept up on it I am sure I will get quickly corrected!



Again I am no expert, I know enough to be dangerous, and often forget the Mark Twain advice "It is better to remain silent and thought a fool, than to speak up and remove all doubt."



That being said, I still love the car, it's great for Road trips and fun to use as the Pace car for local races occassionally.



Neil Parts Manager

j9fd3s

yeah the ones that go to the track are the ones that dont have problems

Node

awesome info ito and crispeed.

I've heard of some problems from the RX-8 rotors, but this is even more stuff that I haven't heard of yet.

-Ben Martin

herblenny

Crispeed, Great inside scoop on the 8 rotors. I personally haven't seen the inside of one but I've also hear some stuff about renesis from other rotorhead guru's that wasn't so positive either.

herblenny

I think you might be stereotyping a little. I personally don't think it really matters who builds. Even Toyota builds shitty engines. Late 90s to Early 2000 model had oil Sludge problems and engines were failing prematurely.



I hate to say it but all these manufactures care about spending less on building and making most when they sell it... to make the stock holders happy

Sukai94

sucks for Mazda

TrackJunkie

It really is too bad that the 8 has gotten such a bad rep, especially with other rotary owners. Engine problems, as mentioned, are almost all cases of someone who does not drive the car like it needs to be driven. It is also the first production car for the Renesis, some of us are willing to put up with a few development issues to have the car.



The car is very competent, and does not deserve the bad press it gets. It is a niche market car, and should have been viewed that way by Mazda from the onset, but for some reason people think it is a failure because it does not sell in numbers like an Accord or a Camry. I am glad I don't see one on every corner, I kinda like driving a car that you dont' see all over tha place.



My two cents, I just hate seeing how much people talk bad about the 8, it is a shame.

Phreakdout

In light of the potential recall and such, has anyone been holding off on installing aftermarket parts in an effort to avoid conflicts on the warranty? While we know they don't directly cause issues, I don't want the dealer to assume I abuse or race my 8 because I've added coilovers or performance exhaust.



I'm familar with the Magnuson-Moss Act and how it protects the consumer who installs aftermarket parts. My concern is that Mazda doesn't have a firm grasp on the root cause of the failure and that the fix is a financial nightmare for them. I suspect they will do everything they can to avoid costly warranty repairs.



Any thoughts on this? I hope I'm just paranoid.