RX8 Owners Advice

aumz

aumz

aumz

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Joined
6 Feb 2003
Posts
751
Location
Sutton
I am looking to purchase a 2004 RX8 192 model. However after researching about these I have come across a lot of stories about the hot/cold start problems. Where the car does not start when hot or if it is turned off when cold it can flood the engine.

Also read up about how these engines can give a lot of trouble if they are not maintained thoroughly. Any owners if you can shed some light on these or other common problems as I am starting to steer away from these and back towards a BMW 3 Series...which I would have to be looking at older years.
 
I have one. A 2008 one which now has 45k miles on the clock. I look after it by keeping oil topped up and getting it serviced every year. No problems for me. You can flood it if you turn it on then off again quickly without letting the engine warm up. I did this once in the early days and had to get the RAC to recover it (from my garage lol). If you have to move it a short distance from cold, rev it up hard then switch off the engine while revving.

Mine was a pre-reg with 300 miles on the clock bought from a show room. I know it has been looked after as a result. I would be wary of buying an old one without a good service history. You don't know how badly even then it has been raked about by previous owners.

Lovely car to drive. Uses plenty of oil but I top it up once a month and that's fine for mine. Very comfortable inside too.
 
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The running costs aren't that bad are they?

I've wondered a few times about buying a broken one cheap and having the engine rebuilt, works out pretty cheap but it's just the risk of it buggering up. :/
 
godinman they are 2 of my mates got RX8s as those ware last descent jdm cars for good price.
Road tax 500 if you got old one then you are ok with 270
Car insurance depending on place but my mate from birmingham is paying 700/year 4 years NCB 32 years old
MPG dont look for more than 24 on motorway. Thats figure from my mate that drives from wales to nottingham every 2 weeks :P

Engine rebuild cost 2000+ every 60-70k miles
And adding bit of oil every petrol tank ofc.

For all that you get car that sound like nothing on the market. Is practical even tho boot is not massive but it can take 4 people for a trip no problems traveled 300miles on back seat and its beter than front of corsa or other crap like it :D
And as mentionet dont go 192 its slower and worse on petrol that 231
 
My old RX8

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Loved hitting that redline.

Loved the seating position

Loved the short gear lever

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Disliked the fact it drank so much oil and petrol. Unacceptable for a car that has very little torque and bhp.
 
had 2 both the 231 engines they use oil because it injects it in to the engine to lubricate the seals. they are not that bad on fuel. about 22mpg a lot less if you gun it like 18 ish. then need coil packs and engine rebuilds every 40 / 50 k miles 2k for a rebuild.
 
If you really really want one, pick up either a fresh rebuild or very cheap car and go in eyes open then why not I guess?

They're good fun to throw around - the whole torque issue is a little bit of a red herring really, if you're driving it as intended its a non issue ( if you want to trundle into work sedately every day it will be though).

Hilariously expensive to run over a few years and you need to know about the quirks of moving it on the drive etc, but everyone who buys one should know the pitfalls by now. You're picking up quite a new car for the money, there must be a catch....there is!
 
after my mate got stage 1 clutch with light flywheel he said its totally different car now :) He can almost keep up on str8 with my dc2 :P
Gr8 expensive car to drive. But when those came out petrol was at 50% of todays price :(
 
I have a 2004 192 in blue.
Lol at people who say it uses as much oil as fuel.

Mine is actually for sale if you are interested, trying to free up some cash to buy more bits for my mk1 golf
 
I'm a bit confused as to why people are surprised or complain about it using oil. The engine is designed to use up oil to function properly. If people find this unacceptable then don't buy a rotary engined car.
 
They are not a good car.

As has been said, they are hilariously expensive to maintain for what they are.

I think Rilot bought a new one when you actually could buy a new one and ended up getting rid quite quickly.

Lots of warranty and build quality issues if I remember.
 
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