"Cé hé sin" (michael-m-mouse)
05/27/2020 at 14:39 • Filed to: Mazda RX-8 | 0 | 35 |
I saw an RX8 in just about this shade today looking rather sorry for itself
Which got me thinking. I haven’t seen one on the road for ages and they used to be quite common.
There’s a reason of course and if you look for RX8s for sale you soon see why. They’re all non runners with the same issue of a rotary, or rather now non rotary, engine.
The Wankel must have seemed such a good idea once.
ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability
> Cé hé sin
05/27/2020 at 14:46 | 0 |
Mazda is apparently making new engines for those that cost around USD 3000 and are supposed to be more reliable. This is what a friend told me to take it with a grain of salt.
E90M3
> Cé hé sin
05/27/2020 at 14:48 | 0 |
Seems like they’re disappearing in the UK.
I know you’re not in the UK.
Cé hé sin
> ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability
05/27/2020 at 14:49 | 3 |
I’d take it with about a kilo of salt....
It’s also a lot of money to put into an old car which is still going to guzzle fuel and
oil like there’s no tomorrow!
punkgoose17
> Cé hé sin
05/27/2020 at 14:50 | 0 |
No one seems to MZR or LS swap these?
Cé hé sin
> E90M3
05/27/2020 at 14:51 | 1 |
Yes, that’s quite the decline!
themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
> Cé hé sin
05/27/2020 at 14:52 | 1 |
Man, I wanted an RX-8 R3 so bad when they launched..... Especially in the limited edition stripe/decal kit you could get for them.
Cé hé sin
> punkgoose17
05/27/2020 at 14:53 | 0 |
Well, not here! No idea what an
MZR is and no LSs here, but they’re just scrapped rather than put more money in them.
dogisbadob
> Cé hé sin
05/27/2020 at 14:54 | 0 |
they all rusted to pieces :(
This is what we'll show whenever you publish anything on Kinja:
> Cé hé sin
05/27/2020 at 14:54 | 0 |
If they had turbo’d them people would probably care a bit more . The NA rotary was a letdown. The looks were a letdown too , compared to the FD anyway.
They just need to bring the FD back. Probably wouldn’t need to change anything, except maybe better cooling. They’d sell like hotcakes.
jminer
> Cé hé sin
05/27/2020 at 14:56 | 0 |
I seriously mulled around the idea of buying one of these recently and came to my sense but it still would be fun I think.
nerd_racing
> Cé hé sin
05/27/2020 at 14:56 | 0 |
I saw 3 of them today when I drove to get my chinese takeout for lunch. They are around and they are runners. Just gotta know how to take care of them. When you do it right, they are amazing engines.
Highlander-Datsuns are Forever
> Cé hé sin
05/27/2020 at 14:59 | 0 |
Yeah death by Doritos . It’s sad these are great looking cars.
415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°)
> Cé hé sin
05/27/2020 at 14:59 | 1 |
I see them in CA I guess but they were never in large numbers as far as I saw. I have no desire to get a rotary engine. I don’t like how they sound either, I’ll take a straight 6.
themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
> punkgoose17
05/27/2020 at 15:00 | 1 |
Th e RX-8 has electric steering and an engine bay designed around a rotary. New motor often means a new wiring loom which often means you lose the electric steering and instrument panel. I’ve seen a few LS swaps but they’re costly. Now, back in 2010-2015 when you oculd pick up a blown RX-8 for a grand or two, the fab time and cost could come out as a positive. But damn, these things went back up in price recently....
CobraJoe
> Cé hé sin
05/27/2020 at 15:02 | 1 |
I think that body looks like one of the most useful sports cars ever built. I think it’d be perfect for my 2 kid family, but I got a feeling I’d prefer a V8 over the Wankel.
WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAnowbacktoGTI
> Cé hé sin
05/27/2020 at 15:05 | 0 |
I always thought the R3 version was cool. But when a stock GTI has 100 more lb feet........ tough sell.
Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle
> punkgoose17
05/27/2020 at 15:05 | 1 |
Last time I searched the MZR wasn’t as straight forward as you would think it should be. I seem to recall firewall trimming, swapping front subframes for a Miata, custom driveshafts, and further electronic issues. But that is purely from memory. And I think if it we a straight drop in it would be awesome but if your going through all that trouble then other cars and engines make sense.
CalzoneGolem
> Cé hé sin
05/27/2020 at 15:07 | 0 |
Yeah but it is a beautiful thing to waste money on.
jimz
> Cé hé sin
05/27/2020 at 15:07 | 0 |
“Sorry?” it rather looks like it’s about to go for your neck.
Chinny Raccoon
> E90M3
05/27/2020 at 15:14 | 1 |
Mazda rust issues didn’t help, as well as our heavy depreciation . Virtually all of them are sub £3000 now, once cars get to that stage they don’t tend to get looked after.
Nothing
> Cé hé sin
05/27/2020 at 15:17 | 0 |
I liked my ‘04 quite a bit, I wonder whatever happened to it. I’d take another one!
E90M3
> Chinny Raccoon
05/27/2020 at 15:19 | 0 |
It seems cars depreciate a lot faster over there, is there an overlying factor?
I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker
> Cé hé sin
05/27/2020 at 15:24 | 1 |
There’s a guy at my office with one. Daily drives it, even in the winter. Never heard it run, so I don’t know if it’s still got a rotary.
A friend used to have one. When his parents sold it, it had something like 150k miles on it. He said as long as you rev it out when you turn it off, the apex seals aren’t as crazy as commonly believed.
There’s also another guy in town with one. He bought it with a blown up motor and sold all the drivetrain bits and LS swapped it- if I remember right, he broke even on the whole thing, and essentially had the car for free after selling the transmission and such.
Chinny Raccoon
> E90M3
05/27/2020 at 15:41 | 1 |
A combination of things. No easy export to the rest of europe, some go to other RHD markets but the shipping costs are prohibitive . There used to be strong supply of used cars coming from company car schemes that were un loaded after 2-3 years, now a lot of ex lease cars. Older cars being more difficult to get through the yearly test- rust being a major killer with the climate and heavy salting in the winters.
There’s also a degree of snobbery, with older cars being looked down on. Having the year the car was registered in big numbers on every car probably doesn’t help with this. This goes in hand with the easy lease and finance deals available. You can be driving a new BMW for £25 0 a month, why would you want to be in an old car?
My MR2 is from 2002 and is an old car compared with most of what’s on the road. I’m not complaining about the market as there’s all sorts of interesting cars available for a fraction of what they cost elsewhere. The bottom of the curve is a good place to be if you can work on stuff yourself. Can’t argue with a £500 sport car.
Chariotoflove
> themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
05/27/2020 at 15:41 | 0 |
I pulled up alongside a swapped one a few years ago. Abomination!
Chariotoflove
> ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability
05/27/2020 at 15:42 | 0 |
Suuuuure they are. Double that at least for a new crate engine.
Chariotoflove
> Cé hé sin
05/27/2020 at 15:45 | 0 |
They were a great idea back in the days when piston engines weren’t so efficient on gas and size and the rotary could shine on performance and packaging.
The Renesis is notorious for its problems, but its predecessors were more reliable.
E90M3
> Chinny Raccoon
05/27/2020 at 15:52 | 0 |
Watching Top Gear all those years ago, I couldn’t believe how cheap they were able to get some cars. Given all that, it makes more sense. It’s a much different market over here in the US.
I wonder if we had the same prices here if I wouldn’t be tempted to run some beater all the time and replace it yearly.
MiniGTI - now with XJ6
> Cé hé sin
05/27/2020 at 16:15 | 0 |
I saw the first Mk6 GTI I’ve seen in ages today, and that’s a car half the age.
punkgoose17
> Cé hé sin
05/27/2020 at 16:16 | 0 |
MZR is the Miata engine, apparently it is not a straight forward swap though.
Spanfeller is a twat
> Cé hé sin
05/27/2020 at 16:46 | 0 |
I saw one in December (in Mexico City, no less I don’t think Mazda ever sold em here. ) and it was quite beat up too. In red, I wanted to take a picture but I couldn’t
Cé hé sin
> nerd_racing
05/27/2020 at 17:05 | 0 |
The rust is a big issue too though.
feather-throttle-not-hair
> Cé hé sin
05/27/2020 at 23:00 | 0 |
i almost bought one new back in the day. I ended up going with a 350Z instead though, which i drove for over a decade. In retrospect, i’m not sad about my choice since the Z was very reliable, but I do think i missed out on some awesome handling.
feather-throttle-not-hair
> Chinny Raccoon
05/27/2020 at 23:02 | 0 |
Wheeler Dealers makes so much more sense now....
nerd_racing
> Cé hé sin
05/28/2020 at 08:18 | 0 |
As it is with almost any vehicle. I live near Buffalo NY. We have rust on EVERYTHING. Your post inferred that it was mostly due to the engine and I was simply posting my experience. Now a days they are mainly weekend fun cars around here, not really daily drivers, unfortunately.