RX8 > ?

Thats pretty much the main reason, with rising fuel prices (again) and them drinking oil with the tendancy to sometimes flood the engine if driven very short distances cold.

That is very low though, and a very VERY tempting price eh :)
 
Didn't realise these had dropped this cheap but a quick look on AT and seems to be the right price.

They are very thirsty and do drink a lot of oil and need to be serviced like clockwork to keep the engine healthy. A lot of people are put off by the power delivery too, you have to absolutely rag the nuts off it to get it to move with any feeling of urgency.

Great fun though :D
 
They have the running costs of much, much faster machinery so demand for them is very low. The prices they command now are the inevitable result of this.

A great yet deeply flawed car.
 
A car I very much like the look of, but due to the thirst, I'm not sure I could justify it. Mpg wise is probably similar to an M5 (17-23), though I suspect the m5 could probably get more than the rx8 on a long run.
 
Where might I find a sensible breakdown of average running costs for one? Is it likely to cost more than around a £1000 that would be sensible to put by for a similarly priced german saloon?
 
How serious is the engine flooding concern? As someone who drives 8k-10k a year of mostly 10min-30min journeys wouldn't that automatically make this car a non-option if I was looking for a car?
 
The flooding issue I believe is mainly a concern over extremely short trips, I.e. Moving the car off the drive, or driving 2 minutes to the shop. As long as the engine has time to start to get up to temperature then I think it's fine, I also remember there was an ecu update that helped with this problem. And if you do make a very short trip then there is a certain procedure for turning off which avoids the flooding (something like revving to 4/5k and holding when you turn off).
 
Peerzy said:
How serious is the engine flooding concern? As someone who drives 8k-10k a year of mostly 10min-30min journeys wouldn't that automatically make this car a non-option if I was looking for a car?
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don't be silly, thats normal driving, what use is a car that can't do that :confused:

It's more like when starting it up for just a few seconds to move it around your driveway or something.
 
When I had the one for a day last year the salesman said (as said above) just move it a short distance like I did from road to drive, just hold to 4k rpm and turn the key off and let it wind itself down. Also sounds lovely when it spins itself down :)
 
Mine never flooded and though most was trips to work (17 miles each way), I did plenty to the shops/to football, which is 2/3 miles away.

Anyone who buys one as a main car is a bit thick, unless you do small mileage and love high revs.
 
monkey_boy said:
Where might I find a sensible breakdown of average running costs for one? Is it likely to cost more than around a £1000 that would be sensible to put by for a similarly priced german saloon?
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But whats the point? You pay big money to run it but dont get big money car ownership experience. A Subaru Impreza would cost the same to run yet would absolutely run rings around it in almost every way..
 
monkey_boy said:
Where might I find a sensible breakdown of average running costs for one? Is it likely to cost more than around a £1000 that would be sensible to put by for a similarly priced german saloon?
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I wouldn't run one as a daily drive over a german saloon

It's listed as 24mpg but I'm be suprised if you managed that. A lot seem to be running at 15-20 on the average commute.

They use a lot of oil too. I've read around 1l per 1500miles and when it's 5w20 it doesn't come cheap. The oil filer/dipstick layout isn't very well thought out either considering how often you'll be using it
 
[TW]Fox;15977273 said:
But whats the point? You pay big money to run it but dont get big money car ownership experience. A Subaru Impreza would cost the same to run yet would absolutely run rings around it in almost every way..
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Curiosity? I won't be paying anything, as I'm not looking at buying one, just interested in how a seemingly decent car with decent power can be so cheap, so new, so few miles and not be a Rover/MG.

Would a Subaru Impreza be similar value for money in terms of age, mileage and condition? I'm not suggesting that the RX8 is a better car, but am trying to see whether some of it's redeeming factors might, possibly, make it a worthwhile bet for someone and if so, what sort of person that might be.

MikeHiow said:
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1450761.htm

£4000 and less miles, shame about the wheels though (Although inevitable given the state of most standard wheels on these cars).

I'd seriously consider one of these, its just a shame they are so underpowered for what they are.
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That car deserves to go to someone who cares about it as little as it's existing owner oviously does.

Also, why wouldn't you consider one? It makes more power than yours and only makes marginally worse MPG?
 
monkey_boy said:
Also, why wouldn't you consider one? It makes more power than yours and only makes marginally worse MPG?
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My friend does mostly longish motorway journeys at 70MPH (still in first two years of driving, won't risk speeding) and averages 18MPG in his 231. I average 27MPG on an Island, with the average journey being around 5 miles, no motorways or dual carriageways (bar a 1/2 mile stretch which was made for drag racing tbh :D ).

Whilst my car potentially makes a lot more power than an RX8 (albeit with a £200 remap), a Focus ST is a completely different car than an RX8, my ST is a daily driver, an RX8 would be a toy - how could I run a toy that was slower than my daily? :confused:

On top of those bits there is the reliability issues and various other things, such as the corroding wheels etc.
 
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ok a few things to make you aware of about the rx8.

For a start its a rotary which brings good points and bad points, ill list them

Good

Lightweight engine meaning better weight distribution which improves handling.
Rotary engine has no cams, rods, valves etc so very simple engines, revs to over 9k from factory.

Bad

Due to how a rotary engine works, there are little oil injectors that spray a fine mist of oil into the compression area to lubricate the seals.....thats why it uses oil more than most cars.

The housings have 2 thin strips of rubber that keep the water in there passages...bit like a head gasket. Since an engine is made to go through hot and cold procedures a lot the rubber gets brittle and then splits, sending water into the combustion chamber, the engine has to be taken apart to fix this.
Its not really how many miles it has done but more how many times its been driven, ie if it was a motorway car, you could easily get 100k out of it, if it was used to run to the shops everyday you will be happy to make it to 60k.

The flooding thing is an issue, to get over that either run hotter plugs can help if your letting the engine get to temperature, or what really you should do is this.....hold the revs to about 3krpm, as you turn the igntion off, place your foot flat to the floor, the throttle will open pulling in air and clearing any excess fuel out of the engine, helps massively with flooding problems and advisable to do whenever you use the car hot or cold engine
 
MikeHiow said:
My friend does mostly longish motorway journeys at 70MPH (still in first two years of driving, won't risk speeding) and averages 18MPG in his 231. I average 27MPG on an Island, with the average journey being around 5 miles, no motorways or dual carriageways (bar a 1/2 mile stretch which was made for drag racing tbh :D ).

Whilst my car potentially makes a lot more power than an RX8 (albeit with a £200 remap), a Focus ST is a completely different car than an RX8, my ST is a daily driver, an RX8 would be a toy - how could I run a toy that was slower than my daily? :confused:

On top of those bits there is the reliability issues and various other things, such as the corroding wheels etc.
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Wow that's pretty good. Most other posts I've seen about the ST have all said that it's a great car but you're lucky to average more than 22 mpg. Living on an island and it being winter and you still averaging 27 is great.

Is there any potential for tuning the rx8? I understand that the rx7 was quite good to tune but was that turbocharged?
 
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