RX8 Daily Driver?
 

I figured some of you guys might have some first hand experience and wondered what you guys thought of an early RX8 for a daily? I keep seeing "good running" ~100k mile 6 speed cars for sale crazy cheap, like $2000-4000 range. Obviously it's a bit of a gamble, but it seems like most sane people are so scared of them that it's creating a real nice buyers market.

Obviously reliability sucks and gas mileage sucks, but that seems like a lot of car for the price. I've got a miata for a temporary backup if needed. Is it a crazy idea?

@Arca_ex is the only person that I know personally who is gay enough to have dailyed one for a while.

It is a lot of car for the money, but I would never recommend one for a daily driver. The two most important things in that category, most of the time, are fuel economy and reliability, both of which the RX8 is terrible at. The only thing I would consider buying an RX8 for, is either a weekend toy that is not your primary mode of transportation, or a dedicated track car that is a perfect motor swap candidate. The chassis was way ahead of its time and is very capable.

How in the universe are those two not deal breakers for you?
What it should say is: "seems like a lot of paperweight for the price".

I drove several extensively. I'd rather daily a corolla.

Yes they are just as bad as everyone seems to think they are. No there are no exceptions.

I've looked into this before too. I spoke with many people and the ones that have had the best luck are the ones that pre-mix the engine oil/fuel. most of them also say it makes for a reliable race car.

Maybe the term "daily driver" is not appropriate for my situation. I would like an enjoyable method of transportation when:

A. I break something on my miata
B. I'm hungover and want something quieter/more comfortable than my miata
C. I need to transport a family of 3 but don't want to drive my wife's crv.

This wouldn't be a sole method of transportation by any means.

You should go drive one, and put your family of 3 into it, and get on the freeway and try to accelerate in 6th............make sure to take a video too :giggle:

PS: make sure no semi trucks behind you or you'll die.

You probably asked the wrong forum honestly. Everyone here seems to hate them to the point of anger lol. I would recommend that you drive one if you haven't already and make sure you don't also hate it.

I almost bought one. Drove one for a couple days while I "diagnosed" it. Decided its not enough power for the amount of headache associated with it. I do love rotaries though and would kill for an FD (I happen to think LS swapped RX7s are blasphemous).

I would just completely ignore anyone who says "good running". If you buy an RX8 with more than 40k miles on it you should set aside some money for a rebuild right from the start for the inevitable day that you lose compression/it refuses to start. The one I drove almost left me stranded (low compression, ~60 psi on all faces). I also had to deflood one last week. That took about an hour of cranking. Just goes with the territory.

tl;dr pretty fun car, don't expect a good DD.

After doing the LFX swap in the miata, and looking at current NA prices (in my area, at least, are starting to rise), I think the RX8 would be a prime candidate for a swap - especially the LFX since it's a bit more economical than an v8 swap. Lots of decent bodies out there with apex seals that can't hold back a wet fart.

I think I'm probably one of the only ones on this forum that actually has one and daily drove and tracked it for about two years before it was starting to get low on compression and the front main seal failed. It's at that time I decided to buy a daily driver and do an engine rebuild but that project snowballed out of control as you can see in my build thread.

Don't get me wrong it's a fantastic car. For driving. But I would never suggest one as a daily driver or even something that you have to rely on as a backup if your primary vehicle is already modified and/or somewhat prone to being unreliable.

I have a sick desire to put a turbo 2.5L MZR into one.

If I did a piston engine swap it would have to be either a Honda K or F series, turbo at 500+whp, or just a full on lightly used NASCAR motor that goes to 9500 RPM and makes 800HP naturally aspirated.

The longer wheelbase and solid chassis seems completely capable of handling some serious power if you get a widebody and put some good sized tires under it, just haven't really seen anyone execute it well for a track application yet. Probably the best price to performance ratio of just about any chassis out there today when they can regularly be had for 1000 to 3000 dollars with say blown motor or slight cosmetic or interior damage.

I like the motor in the Rx-8, and the chassis is nice, but it needs to ditch the rear seats to lose weight and have a couple of turbos on it. Oh, and be all swoopy and curvy instead of angular. Of course, then it would be an FD.

http://www.codrus.com/cars/fd/fd-night-arista.jpg?

Seriously, though, if it's a third car and it's $3500, you haven't got much to lose. Where's the build thread? :)

--Ian

Turbos and the multi side port design don't really mix sooo, just buy an FD.

The renesis is terrible and has no potential, 13b-REW is the easiest swap, or just think of something else but it'll be a little tougher. Plenty of room for activities.

I have a friend who has spent the last few years dailying one in DC area traffic that they picked up at 80k miles. It is up to nearly 160k now with bo issues.

That said, it is an auto, so lower redline and less hooning. They got it for like 4k a few years ago because of auto and a salvage title and ugly. It hums along happily with no issues though.

I daily drove an RX-8 for 2.5 years. It was far more comfortable than my Miata. Reliability was fine in the 25K miles I drove it (80K to 105K), gas and oil changes only. Only sold it because I got tired of 15mpg and my wife needed a new car. I would buy one again if it had a turbo MZR or and LS swap.

RX-8
 

A friend at work has one, and has a love hate relationship with it. Lots of quirky problems that would make it a very annoying daily driver. Mileage sucks too. but he loves it for autocrossing.

I'd never own an RX8 as a daily with the Renesis. There is no such thing as a good running high mileage RX8. Mine started as a meticulously maintained one owner car original non-rebuilt engine, always maintained at the dealer with documentation (oil changes, coils, recalls etc.) When I got it at 104K miles the compression was within 1-2psi of failing, and couldn't outrun a stock 1.6 Miata from a stop light. The only way you'd guarantee any reliability is to do a complete rebuild from day one assuming the core isn't trash to begin with. Then you've got to address all the issues it has with the stuff like failing coils, a cat that tends to overheat and destroy the engine, motor mounts that like to fail, radiators that crack, coolant level sensor that likes to fail on, brittle wiring harness, etc.

I think the rotary engine let down a great car. If Mazda released the RX8 with the Mazdaspeed MZR engine instead of the Renesis it'd be one of the go to enthusiast car like the Miata or S2, but instead it's a car that'll always be known as wasted potential.

That being said I love my swapped RX8, it finally delivers all the promises plus a lot more.

The 13b is older yet better than the renesis. You don't want shitty fuel mileage and a log book of problems as a daily.

Been saying this for a decade.

One of the greatest automotive missed opportunities of modern times.