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Picking up a RX-8 on wednesday


srobrien

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..not mine, my brother in laws, he will be offshore when it gets delivered and he has asked me to check it over and give it a test drive. Does anyone have any experiences with these, is there anything in particular i should look for whilst checking it over.

 

Cheers

 

R

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As a Dr i always like to use bibliography to back my opinions up. Too long to express on a web post so just check Autocar Issue: 19th of August 2009, pg 82-83..... :thumbs::teeth:

 

Different, special and lovely car anyhow. :)

 

And I thought you just knocked people out and inflicted agonising pain to them with a big drill! :lol:

 

Anyway cheers lads very helpful who would have thought you would have found a buying guide for a Rex on a 350z forum, serious wealth of info on here :thumbs:

I'll let you know my opinions of it when I'm finished with it.

 

 

R

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Loved my Rex and still miss it but as they are so easy to drive and cost peanuts to buy the erm how shall i say granny brigade have adopted them :scare:

 

Dont believe the oil thirst stories i used mine for trip i do now 700 miles every week and used barely quarter of a tea cup in oil per month. It uses less after the second service. quality interior and well screwed together machine handles on rails rear doors work well boot is big but pain in the ass if yoi want to just move it..have to let it idle for a few mins or it may flood !!

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Loved my Rex and still miss it but as they are so easy to drive and cost peanuts to buy the erm how shall i say granny brigade have adopted them :scare:

 

Dont believe the oil thirst stories i used mine for trip i do now 700 miles every week and used barely quarter of a tea cup in oil per month. It uses less after the second service. quality interior and well screwed together machine handles on rails rear doors work well boot is big but pain in the ass if yoi want to just move it..have to let it idle for a few mins or it may flood !!

 

i know people say don't believe the stories, but a quater of a tea cup over 700 miles is still a hell of a lot between services if you add it all up. i haven't used any oil in 9000 miles.

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Loved my Rex and still miss it but as they are so easy to drive and cost peanuts to buy the erm how shall i say granny brigade have adopted them :scare:

 

Dont believe the oil thirst stories i used mine for trip i do now 700 miles every week and used barely quarter of a tea cup in oil per month. It uses less after the second service. quality interior and well screwed together machine handles on rails rear doors work well boot is big but pain in the ass if yoi want to just move it..have to let it idle for a few mins or it may flood !!

 

i know people say don't believe the stories, but a quater of a tea cup over 700 miles is still a hell of a lot between services if you add it all up. i haven't used any oil in 9000 miles.

 

 

Thats about 3000 miles per month on motorway and around town. I know what you mean about the Zed but its not the same engine tech - love to see the 350Z engine rev to 9000 without exploding! :lol: A small price to pay in oil for a decent motor - shame they did'nt do a soft top version of sorts or put the engine in an MX5 - it would really fly! B)

 

You wanna own a Beetle they drip oil every day :lol:

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i had an mr2 roadster which was VVTi and that revved to 8500. also been out in an S2000 which revs to 9000, neither of those blow up, or drain oil.

 

i understand the engineering differences, but i must admit i got bored of screamer engines, i like having torque and not needing to rag the car to the limits to get the most out of it.

 

i think the rx8 is a bi wankle engine set up. there was another model that mazda did back in the 90's which was either tri or quad wankle setup. it was menat to sound imense.

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Is it a brand new one? ie the R3 model?

Alot of the niggles of the older cars have been sorted.

 

If its 2nd hand, a few things to look for....

Engine mounts - had a habit of rusting through on older cars.

Oil cooling pipes, almost impossible to see from engine bay, but look for rust

drive over a few speed bumps, listen for banging from the rear arches - drop links had a habit of breaking.

Drop me a PM if you wanna know anything else :thumbs:

 

 

And as for the oil stories.

I am sick to bloody death of hearing stupidly exagerated claims of them drinking more oil than petrol etc etc.

A wankel engine if different to a convetional piston engine. Thus it requires more oil, so fecking what. I used on average 1 liter every 1000-1200 miles, and I drove it like I stole it.

Until people have actually owned a car themselves, I wish they would restrain from slating them using comments based on hearsay, and other people wild claims.

Im sure if people started making wild claims about owning a Zed you'd all be first to get your backs up.......

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I am sick to bloody death of hearing stupidly exagerated claims of them drinking more oil than petrol etc etc.

A wankel engine if different to a convetional piston engine. Thus it requires more oil, so fecking what. I used on average 1 liter every 1000-1200 miles, and I drove it like I stole it.

Until people have actually owned a car themselves, I wish they would restrain from slating them using comments based on hearsay, and other people wild claims.

Im sure if people started making wild claims about owning a Zed you'd all be first to get your backs up.......

 

You should try owning an Alfa mate... all you ever get is how unreliable they are and expensive and oil thirsty and blah blah blah. I did 240K miles in mine with NO breakdowns or faults ever (except when a stone went through the rad).

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I am sick to bloody death of hearing stupidly exagerated claims of them drinking more oil than petrol etc etc.

A wankel engine if different to a convetional piston engine. Thus it requires more oil, so fecking what. I used on average 1 liter every 1000-1200 miles, and I drove it like I stole it.

Until people have actually owned a car themselves, I wish they would restrain from slating them using comments based on hearsay, and other people wild claims.

Im sure if people started making wild claims about owning a Zed you'd all be first to get your backs up.......

 

You should try owning an Alfa mate... all you ever get is how unreliable they are and expensive and oil thirsty and blah blah blah. I did 240K miles in mine with NO breakdowns or faults ever (except when a stone went through the rad).

 

I feel for you. I had my Rex for 4 years, without any issues. EVERY time you tell someone you had one you get the "oh they drink oil like its going outta fashion, blah blah blah".

My gf used to have a GTV and had no probs AT ALL for the 14 months she owned it.

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i wasn't slating the rex, i was just stating a fact. someone said they don't use any oil, someone else who owned one said how much they used. i made a comparison blah blah blah.

 

just because they use oil doesn't make it a bad car. i love the wankle engine and think its a genius piece of engineering. i'm also impressed with the renesis engine that they seem to have fixed the old issue of the carbon tips wearing away and the engine needing a rebuild at 60,000 miles.

 

oil useage in a car is only an issue for someone who never checks their oil.

 

you need to stop being so touchey ;) they are a good car and everyone knows it. :thumbs: never heard anyone saying oh them rx8's are crap. all i hear is how they rev to 9000 and are great to drive.

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lets not fall out over this . I totally agree with Lexx. the Rex is a step forward . sure not everyones taste but when you live with it you how it piddles on so many premium cars . They used iron roter tips and a controlled oil squirt under hard acceleration to solve the tips issue.

Btw personally I think a lot of reviews like what car are needlessly harsh What can a motoring journalist say about a car after only a few hours useage ?

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Well love em or hate em, the RX8 was just as quick round the Top Gear track as the Zed.

(that episode was on Dave a few weeks ago....)

 

I really like the Rex, i just don't like how common they are in Edinburgh.

The price attracts me alot, but i've never been 100% in the know on the oil / Engine situation.

 

I have heard from a few places that they need rebuilt after around 90k

(or is that a complete lie?????)

 

Either way, very very nice cars.

(Didn't know they revved till 9k either!!!)

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Ok picked it up, first things first some pics:

 

IMG_3516.jpg

IMG_3518.jpg

IMG_3519.jpg

IMG_3517.jpg

IMG_3520.jpg

 

I really didn't think I would like it that much but i really did.

 

INTERIOR: Loved the red/black leather combo all be it slightly plasticy feeling. All the plastics were typical jap style not that great and a bit flimsy. Liked the gauges though, a nice blue glow.

 

ENIGINE BAY: Not impressed simply a big bit of black plastic covering a tiny wee rusty lump.

 

EXTERIOR: Love the look, the colour, the alloys were pretty bubbled but generally ok.

 

DRIVE: I was very impressed with this, takes a fair bit of revs to get started off, dont even think about moving off in second you will fail miserably. Its only the 190bhp version but it felt very quick up to 60 and kept on revving and revving it never seemed to stop. 5th gear was a bit of a let down though not much pick up at lower revs. One thing about the Rex you need to keep the revs high to get any kind of torque from the engine.

 

HANDLING: The Rex felt very tidy, nible and agile round the corners, the steering was light and I even managed to get the back end out at the roundabout.

 

VERDICT: I really liked the Rex I could definatly live with it if I had to swap the zed for something with more seats. I would miss the torque though and accelleration above 70mph.

 

 

I have to share a moment with the salesman that made me laugh though. He was one of these typical "know it all but knows nothing type", he was having a bit of banter with me about the zed, the converstation finished like this:

 

SALESMAN: "So Is everything in order under the hood of the RX-8" (kind of taking the **** and I recon he thought I was going through the tyre kicking motions)

 

SROBRIEN: "Yeah its fine, although the engines a bit small isn't it?" (jokingly)

 

SALEMAN: SNORT "I think you'll be surprised it will have a lot more power than the nissan"

 

SROBRIEN: "Hmmm I don't think so"

 

SALEMAN: "Emmm I think you'll find it does"

 

SROBRIEN: "Emmm I think you'll find it doesn't"

 

SALEMAN: "So what power is the nissan?"

 

SROBRIEN: "Just under 300"

 

SALESMAN: "Ah....ok your right then"

 

:lol:

 

I would have thought being a car sales person you might want to indulge in a bit of market research from time to time.

 

 

R

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glad you liked it..have The engine is tiny the sodding gearbox is bigger!!!

 

Loved the interior mine was red and black (see my memory lane thread its on there) pi***s on the zed as far as interior quality goes I think? I always thought the 190 was supposed to have more low down torque ? mine was the 230bhp and went like sh** off a .... remember the sound like a washing machine on super fast spin! :lol: love it..

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Ha ha, that salesman is a numpty....

 

To be honest I like these..... If the missus makes me sell the ZED in January when the baby comes I mite be tempted :dummy: . But I will prob get an M3 or RS4 as I am a sucker for torque, My subaru STI did my head in with all the gear changing and high revs so this will prob be the same :rant:

 

 

 

Im still working on keeping the zed though :drunk:

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