MAZDA RX8 20W50 GTX

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[My 2004 RX8 with a recent (about 45k) rebuild. I premix 2 stroke oil and run a separate tank for the Metering Pump, so some 2 stroke oil gets blown by and ends up diluting the "crankcase" oil. I am pretty happy with these results. The last interval was peppered with some pretty heavy use, canyon type runs, some top speed runs and some constant high rpm running to test various changes I have made on the car. Usually I will only go about 2500 miles between changes, as this car retains about 35-40% of its oil in the oil coolers and plumbing, so an oil change is not really an oil change.

3-18 rx8 20w50.jpg
 
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Interesting!

Hello from a fellow sport compact car driving enthusiast!

Cool that you like to get the car out to the canyons and actually driving it and hitting the crooked roads. I'm sure this car excels at that.

How long have you owned the car? How did you acquire it? What made you choose this car over something else? Is it your first rotary?

Who rebuilt it?

Lots of questions, I know. But I've always been fascinated by the Mazda RX (well, really, by rotaries in general, but, the RX is, by far, the most successful car with this powerplant). Amazing, really, how long it held on. The things that interest me are, who bought these? Did the people who bought them realize all the idiosyncrasies of the engines? Did they know that these engines can need a rebuild in as few as 60,000 miles, and choose to buy the car anyway, out of a love for the rotary engine? Did they know how inefficient these engines are, and that they have zero low end torque?

Despite all the problems with the rotary engine, they have some strong points. Hated to see Mazda abandon the rotary engine after so long.
 
Originally Posted by john_pifer
The things that interest me are, who bought these? Did the people who bought them realize all the idiosyncrasies of the engines? Did they know that these engines can need a rebuild in as few as 60,000 miles, and choose to buy the car anyway, out of a love for the rotary engine? Did they know how inefficient these engines are, and that they have zero low end torque?

Former 2011 RX-8 R3 owner here. God, I miss that car.

AFAICT, the main reasons people bought RX-8s were:

1. Looks
2. Thinking it's fast
3. Thinking rotary engines are cool

A lot of the early adopters bailed once the realities set in. Didn't help that the early model years were especially problematic.

And who bought those cars when the first owners were done with them? More people who had no idea what they were getting into, but with less money. The cars got worse, their new owners fobbed them off again on people with even less wherewithal, and the cycle continued. Think German V12 luxury car, except with a much lower starting price.

The sales numbers peaked within a year of release and then declined 30-50 percent per year, every year, until the car went out of production. Mazda refreshed the car pretty thoroughly for MY2009+, addressing every known pain point and fixing a bunch of things people didn't even know were broke, and no one cared. The car had an awful rep and hadn't improved at all by the numbers while the competition had improved significantly. Sales figures from 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012 combined were roughly one-sixth the number sold in 2004 alone.

So, the vast majority of RX-8s on the road are from the early years -- which, again, were the most problematic -- and they just get passed around from one hapless/poor/uneducated owner to the next as they rot.

IMO, the real reason to buy an RX-8 is if you care so much about handling that you're willing to sacrifice basically everything else to get it -- but you still need back seats for some reason. That's why I bought mine. But almost no one has those values. And even if you do, it's a terrible car to buy at this point because good examples are insanely rare and, because the owner base is so low on resources and discernment, most of the knowledge base -- even among "experts" -- kind of sucks.

This really is one of the most horrible and excellent cars ever made, IMO.
 
Originally Posted by KEVINK0000
Usually I will only go about 2500 miles between changes, as this car retains about 35-40% of its oil in the oil coolers and plumbing, so an oil change is not really an oil change.

FWIW: I bought a Mityvac MV7300 and it really helped. You can pump most of the oil out with the car still on the ground, so you don't have to worry about lifting the car such that it's level. Then you can jack up one front corner (I forget which -- passenger's side, maybe?) and more oil drains from the coolers. I got more out of the car that way than I did by draining from the bottom, and made much less of a mess doing it.
 
I know that Mazda replaced many of the rotary engines in later model years. I had a 1980 RX-7 for many years that was a great car for me
 
Originally Posted by Lapham3
I know that Mazda replaced many of the rotary engines in later model years. I had a 1980 RX-7 for many years that was a great car for me

They extended the warranty on the engine to 8 years, 100k miles. Most of the replacements were in early model years, not late.

The thing that happened to the engine in later model years was an extensive revamp: cooling, lubrication, electronics, fueling, and some other stuff.
 
Around here corporate Mazda was replacing the engines on RX-8 cars. Quite a number for sale on the various, dealer, Craigs and other Internet sites would feature the engine change as a positive sales point. I never short tripped my 1980 car and no seal problems. We took a number of long road trips mostly in the western US. It took some getting used to seeing 4k rpm numbers, but that engine was designed to spin.
 
I have test driven many different vehicles and back in 2004 test drove a Mazda RX8 and my brother actually bought one- it was the most enjoyable car to drive on curvy roads....also felt was relatively comfortable for everyday use...Like a beautiful exotic woman what is enticing but also high maintenance unfortunately.
 
I actually own 2 of these. A 2007 and this 2004. The 2007 was purchased with broken engine, and the 2004 was rebuilt by a novice mechanic in his garage. He did an excellent job. I got a great deal on both of them. I daily drive the 2004, and enjoy it quite a lot. I haul 200lbs of horse feed in the trunk once week, so there is some practicality to the design. I am rebuilding the other rx8 engine now, and intend to make that car my daily driver. I have rebuilt many piston engines and used to make my living doing that. I owned a 1983 rx7, which was my favorite car until I started buying used BMWs. I used to hang out at a rotary race shop in New York in the 80s, and went and watched some of their guys race at Lime Rock, and hang out in the "pits". I have always liked rotaries quite a bit, and feel that the Rx8 is actually a very well done design, but piston engine development was really taking off by the time the rx8 was released, and when it came out it was about 5-7 years behind. It is not a slow car as some would say-If you use gear ratio properly. The torque curve is quite flat, and its amazing to get over 200hp from a 1.3l NA engine. Gas mileage is poor, but it really is a fun car, and worth finding one and getting it running properly. Other than a few rotary-specific things to be concerned about, it actually does not require more maintenance than other cars, in my opinion. But, no 10k OCIs please! There really is nothing else like it. rx8club.com has some good info, with some die hard rx8 guys on there who know their stuff. And lots of strong opinions--be warned!
 
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