Can someone redpill me on the Mazda rx-8? I've always been interested in owning one, but I hear mixed things on them...

Not really, very easy shit to do

If you put a car into general circulation that requires you to redline the engine, premix oil, add oil that burns off and use oil that Mazda does not recommend just to keep the car in good working order

you are going to wind up with a bunch of cars out there that are fucked up

>use oil that Mazda does not recommend

mazda only recommended 5w20 to meet the minimum fuel mileage requirements.

In reality that thin shit will cause premature main bearing failure.

>car manufacturer tells you to do something to maintain the car they made
>you do it
>bearings fail

sounds like a solid business plan

You get a rx8 because you like the car or really like rotary engines. This is not a car that you simply put gas in and drive.
gives the general outline on what's needed to do. Also, there is a reason why Mazda has ditched the rotary engine, the technology is just too outdated.

>that is a retarded amount of shit for a street car
oil is easily changed, as are spark plugs, coolant doesnt have to be flushed 30k but its not a big task or anything
premix is annoying as hell, but not necessary if the oil metering pump works fine

basically... spend a single sunday morning doing easy maintenance on your car every few months or take it to a shop. how horrible

When the salesman sells an RX8 to a normie does he expain how the car must be premixed? That he must rev the engine to redline sometimes.. And that you can't follow Mazda's recommendation on oil weight?

or does he just sell the car?

because if he just sells the car you are going to wind up with a bunch of fucked up RX8s out there and a bad rep for the platform

>because if he just sells the car you are going to wind up with a bunch of fucked up RX8s out there and a bad rep for the platform
That's pretty much what happened.

>That's pretty much what happened.

I know

Shit engine

ur mom's a shit engine

owners should read the owners manual
the salesman... well bud they are all dirty kikes and will do whatever to sell a car

>owners should read the owners manual
>the salesman... well bud they are all dirty kikes and will do whatever to sell a car

regardless having this much shit to do to keep the engine from being ruined (hidden by the company) is not going to make for a successful automobile in the united states of america int he current year

If you aren't regularly checking your oil level even if you daily a 1.4L econoshitbox you don't belong on Veeky Forums.
OP if you live somewhere with cheap gas and you know how to maintain a car, go for it. Even if the engine is going bad after a while, who the fuck cares. RX-8's are dirt cheap and you can get 6 of them for the price of a new BRZ. The only reason I don't have one is because I'm saving up for a low mileage and well maintained FD.

>Even if the engine is going bad after a while, who the fuck cares.

Yeah why would I not want a car whose engine burns out all the fucking time

that's a benefit not a drawback, rite?

>engine burns out all the fucking time
what is that even supposed to mean. they lose compression over time, that's all. they don't explode.

they lose compression over time
Sounds like an awful investment.

99.999% of cars are awful investments.

Don't care if this is a mem-post, since these threads are made literally once per week. I'm going in.

>Redpill me

You can find an RX-8 for super cheap, but they WILL have a bad or dying motor. That being said, RX-8's are cheap to rebuild, ~3.5k for a reman. There are plenty of good rebuilders, find one based on your location.

If you want one that is already in good condition with a fresh motor be prepared to pay ~7-8k.

All this in mind, these cars are not cheap to maintain nor do they do well with owners on a strict budget.

Things to understand: you can absolutely daily drive these cars, but you have to keep up with maintaining it. These cars have absolutely terrible OEM ignition systems. This first thing you should do even if you have a fresh motor is replace the coil packs, plugs, wires, starter, and battery with something better, BHR has an overhaul kit for example.

Second, make absolutely sure that you use ethanol free 91+ octane gasoline with this motor NO FUCKING EXCEPTIONS. In addition to this premix your gas with a good 2-stroke oil. Idemitsu is preferred, 4-6 oz per full tank, more if you've just run zoom zoom cleaner or seafoam through your motor.

Make sure you drive this car every. single. day. Do not let these cars sit, because then they'll stay wherever you left them. They are prone to carbon buildup and love to be driven. There's a saying in the rotary community: "A redline per day keeps the mechanic away."

All that being said, never, ever, ever redline to 9k and then try to hold it there. You will blow your fucking motor so fast your head will spin.

Moreover, these cars cannot be cold started and then promptly raced. Never race the engine until you are within operating temperature. If you take my advice from before and upgrade your starter, preferably to the R3 starter, you will have less problems starting when hot after your motor starts to lose compression.

cont.

If you don't take my advice and stick with the OEM starter, specifically on a model before 2009, make sure that if you drive too short of a distance to get your car to operating temp you stick it in park, swap to neutral and rev to 3k for 10 seconds. Wait a minute and then do this again until the needle is near the center of the temperature gauge. This will prevent flooding and fouling your spark plugs.

Make absolutely sure that you keep your car below ~5k RPM when it's cold. The fuel system will even cut you off if you try to race the motor much higher before it warms up.

Never, under any circumstances, consider buying the A/T variant of any year RX-8. They are weaker, more unreliable, and have a slew of other issues I won't cover here. All manuals are 6 port engines. All A/T's are 4 port. If that doesn't convince you alone I don't know what will.

Finally, make sure to never overfill the oil on cars before 2009. The excess will wind up in your intake if you don't build yourself a catch can. Clean your MAF sensor every time you change your air filter.

If you aren't a dumbass, this will be one of the best cars you ever own. The engine can last well into 150k territory depending on what mileage you get the car and when you start taking care of it correctly. They drive like a dream, the handling is not a meme, they are my favorite thing to autocross by far.

If you do wind up having to do a rebuild it's worth mentioning that goopy seals are the way to go these days. They make future rebuilds much cheaper as they don't shatter and score the rotor/housings.

Hope this helps.

someone screen cap this repost it every time this stupid fucking question gets asked.

When putting in a new motor what kind of streetable horsepower can you make?

Depends on the type of port you have done. The seals won't really change your available power besides restoring compression to the point where your engine's spec'd horsepower is restored.

Porting will changing your air and exhaust ingress and egress and will completely alter your power bands as well as how much horsepower is available to you.

Streetable is a loaded question. Porting can make your engine last less long than OEM ports, depending on what you go for. You go in expecting this, hence the rise and popularity of goopy seals, which again can save the reusable parts of the motor from being destroyed.

You must understand that turbo-charged rotary engines, while great for motorsports and spirited driving, will not last as long as turbo-charged piston engines. Fullstop.

The thing is they are like 220hp and get 16mpg city, I fail to see the appeal of this car at that power level and maintenance level

what is the point

it looks to be a high 14second to even 15 second quarter mile car

>220hp and get 16mpg city,
kek that is shitty

If you fail to see the appeal of it, then don't get yourself into it. That's the point.

This car is not fast. It's much harder to modify than a civic si. It's not cheap to get horsepower gains. It's slower than most RX-7 variants and harder to mod.

Things that it is: amazing for spirited driving. The platform is impeccable for taking turns, the rotary itself allows for a low center of a gravity and is very forgiving during autocross. The car can accelerate, as most rotaries can, very quickly. Finally, for a rotary it's much more practical for daily driving and very day life.

If none of those points appeal to you and you just want to make horsepower for drag racing around your local high school, stop looking at RX-8's. Plain. and. simple.

16 is high for city. Most people get ~13. Gets worse as your compression goes.

22 is average for highway. Again, gets worse as your motor goes.

I will reiterate. Not cheap. Rotaries should be for those enthused about them and those enthused about them exclusively. They will disappoint all others.

>The car can accelerate, as most rotaries can, very quickly.

Motor Trend: 0-60 mph, sec, 6.4

I don't know man, it better handle REALLY FUCKING WELL to make up for being that slow and getting shitty gas mileage with a snowflake maintenance engine

>motor trend

What is power to weight ratio? What is displacement?

You seem underaged. I'm abandoning thread at this point, you have all the info you need.

>16 is high for city. Most people get ~13. Gets worse as your compression goes.

That's fucking insane, a 500hp vette gets better mileage

why fuck with these things

aside from you claiming they handle really well (their skidpad and slalom numbers are not that impressive) i don't see anything appealing about this car

>well don't buy one

fine i get that, but what is it other people see in them?

>snowflake maintenance engine
Rotaries are shit engines worshipped by fidget spinning autists. Rip that unreliable garbage out of the car, throw it on a trash heap where it belongs, and drop in an LS.

>What is power to weight ratio?
still weighs over 3000lbs and has 220hp what is your point

>What is displacement?
1.2 liters

does small displacement make it faster ?

Rotary engines slowly draw people into a cult, from which there is no escape

>Rotaries are shit engines worshipped by fidget spinning autists. Rip that unreliable garbage out of the car, throw it on a trash heap where it belongs, and drop in an LS.

I can normally see the appeal of oddball cars to niche groups given the specific context and explanation

but I am lost as to why people like these

Confirmed underaged autist.

Look, leave Veeky Forums for a while, go work on cars, and come back when you understand basic performance metrics.

This thread has been great, thanks for the Tuesday morning lads.

>just insults when presented with legitimate facts, performance numbers and questions

ok buddy thanks for the help

>but I am lost as to why people like these
Autists love them because you have to constantly fuck with them, which is they're like fidget spinners for car dorks. In reality, they're high maintenance garbage only useful for racing.

>hey bro your car gets horrible gas mileage, is not fast and you have to do a bunch of weird shit to it so it won't blow up, why do you like it so much

OMG UR UNDERAGE GO WORK ON CARS

>rotaryfags actually think this is logical

>Autists love them because you have to constantly fuck with them, which is they're like fidget spinners for car dorks. In reality, they're high maintenance garbage only useful for racing.

I know you are joking but this is literally the vibe I am getting, it's like he likes it because it's got horrible stats and needs constant maintenance

are they just in love with the idea of a rotary engine no matter how poorly implemented?

>babying a rotary
Surefire way to end in disaster. You absolutely cannot baby a rotary. You actually have to redline it every so often in order to get rid of carbon deposits, otherwise it will fuck your engine's shit right up. If you mean "baby" it by mixing the 2 stroke engine oil with it then yeah.

Also take out the oil injectors if you don't want to lose oil. They're useless anyways.

>I know you are joking but this is literally the vibe I am getting
I'm 100% serious, and your vibe isn't wrong. The magic triangle engine is a shit choice for production cars.

surprised the EPA let them put out an engine designed to burn oil

>I'm 100% serious, and your vibe isn't wrong. The magic triangle engine is a shit choice for production cars.

weird

I don't get it and I guess I'm not going to

Rotary engines are garbage and are not practical in anyway. If you seriously want an rx, go with the rx7 turbo.

It's fine, he's just being an autist

>The engine can last well into 150k territory
This is my biggest issue with rotaries. I can simply change my fluids every 6k miles and most non-rotary engines can easily do 150k. Honda and Toyota engines can easily hit 200k+. And all this is done by simply changing the fluids at regular intervals. The rotary requires much more work to get the engine to last. That being said though, I love my rx8.

>That being said though, I love my rx8.

What specifically do you love about it?

what kind of mileage do you get?

>Can someone redpill me on the Mazda rx-8?

the evolution of the rx7 that got uglier and with a more crappy version of the mazda meme engine

For those who don't get why people like the RX8 here's the deal.

Go look for them on ebay or craigslist, they are cheap as fuck.

So poorfags buy one for a few grand and learn to live with it, since they are poorfags they have never driven a fast car before and are super fucking impressed with 200hp and 13mpg and 0-60 in 7 seconds.

So they have a car they could not afford if it were not toxicly plagued by it's engine and enjoy the nice interior and low to the ground seating position (just like a real sports car!) and live with mixing oil into their gas and having to slam their balls in the door twice every time they get out so the rotors wont sieize up and convince themselves they have a nice car

but it's really just a failed experiment by a car company that left a bunch of cheap underpowered high maintenance cars out there with nice interiors for the poor to deal with.

It's the perfect car for a young Veeky Forums poster to marry

The problem with the RX-8 is that it is an enthusiast car in a normie package. As a result, you have a lot of people buying them who don't know fuck all (and more importantly don't care to know) about the intricacies of rotary engines. They don't premix, they don't re-up on oil, they don't do a fucking thing other than drive it until it explodes.

the problem is it has 220hp and gets 13mpg and would get smoked by a honda accord that gets 30mpg

Rotary a shit

>lot of people buying them who don't know fuck all
This.

OP if you're seriously considering buying an rx8, make sure the seller knows his shit about rotary engines. Compression test is an absolute must when buying an rx8. Take it to rotary mechanic, and if you can't find one most Mazda dealers will inspect it for you for a fee. Rx8s are still owned by a lot of normalfags so you need to make sure you are not buying an rx8 with low compression and apex seals that are almost dead. Most rx7s are owned by enthusiasts so you don't need to be as cautious.

For fuck sakes, there might as well be a sticky for rx8s and why there shit so we can avoid the daily "hurr should i an rx8, they're cheap and have meme wheel drive, so they're good rite guise?" Thread.

You're damn right I'm mad

It's either this or z06 vs GTR. At least in these threads we actually have some discussion.

How cheaply can you get a nice RX8?

I live in Phoenix and a good condition late 2000 model usually is around 8-9k, but most of the time it's a dealership that's selling it.

>How cheaply can you get a nice RX8?

You can find them for sale by owner with the car in good condition but the engine locked up or otherwise blown out for like $2000 all day long

>mfw people think "redpilling" is "Veeky Forums language and not /pol/ mega-autism

Newfags please go.

damn that rotaryfag really lost his shit in this thread

Yeah but the Honda won't win in a revving battle

>Second, make absolutely sure that you use ethanol free 91+ octane gasoline with this motor NO FUCKING EXCEPTIONS

In my state all gas stations carry 10% ethanol gas

what do?

usually that's only for 85 or 87.

I've never seen a 93 octane pump with added ethanol, which is all I ever fill it up with because we don't have 91 pumps here: they go E85/87, 89, 93

honestly, if you've got the time for it, you can just buy a blown rx8, then get yourself a 13BREW and slap the renesis faceplate on it.

Boom, you've got a turbo'd rx-8 with the sexy engine everyone loves and the aircon still works because you used the renesis faceplate.

>Veeky Forums language
>"/pol/ mega autism" aka language used on /pol/
>/pol/ is a board on Veeky Forums
>language used on /pol/ is also language used on Veeky Forums

Where did you get this mixed up? I am trying to help you.

>since they are poorfags they have never driven a fast car before and are super fucking impressed with 200hp and 13mpg and 0-60 in 7 seconds.

toppest

toppest of keks

>It's either this or z06 vs GTR

Do people actually argue about this?

The GTR basically dos not exist in the USA, I have never seen one. Why would people compare the two?

please stop

You don't seem to understand how automotive manufacturers seem to operate.

The tech is not outdated any more than DOHC is, it's simply in its last marketable form incompatible with laws restricting MPG's

The big three didn't give up on piston driven ICE's after the Oil crisis, they simply buckled down adopted what some European and jap car makers were doing and improved their own designs.

You seem to use seem too much in a sentence.

>The tech is not outdated any more than DOHC is, it's simply in its last marketable form incompatible with laws restricting MPG's

because a 1.3 liter engine in a 2900lb car should not get 13mpg

the whole thing is fucked up, hard to believe they even made this car considering it is designed to burn oil and on top of all it's drawbacks still has low hp and torque

The mpg of a 6.2 liter with a hot cam

the horsepower of a weak 2 liter

>winning

>The GTR basically dos not exist in the USA
I see them quite frequently, but I live in Scottsdale Arizona.

Total sales (US)[edit]
Calendar Year Sales
2008 1,730
2009 1,534
2010 877
2011 1,294
2012 1,188
2013 1,237
2014 1,436
2015 1,105
Total 10,400

yeah their totes everywhere

Well when you live in a city that's full of rich people you tend to see rare/expensive cars more frequently. If you go out on a Saturday night, it's not uncommon to see Ferraris and lambos. Last week a saw a GTR at Starbucks because that what people do in Scottsdale.

if mazda were smart they would have put the renisis in a miata sized chassis.

thats when you see the benefits of the rotary. the motor is super short, doesn't weigh a whole lot and in a light weight platform you don't need low rev torque.
the rx8 is unimpressive because mazda tried to make it do everything. it is the size and weight of the chassis that kill the idea. seriously mazda would have made a great car if it was just a hardtop miata that looked better and had the renisis.

all that said I'd still buy an rx8. there is something about the mechanical efficiency of a rotary thats really intriguing

The tech is absolutely outdated

its designed to burn oil, emissions are terrible because of it and all this combined means it gets ASS mpg.

Its a gimmick people like you try to uphold because you want something different from a traditional pistol engine and nothing more

>redline me

>thats when you see the benefits of the rotary. the motor is super short, doesn't weigh a whole lot and in a light weight platform you don't need low rev torque.
except it gets NONE of the benefits of a low weight car which is agility, mpg and efficiency. This car is highly inefficient.

>you don't need low rev torque
what are you talking about, without torque you have no power. Without torque you can't accelerate quickly, torque is literally the leg of power derivation that allows for quick acceleration.

>mechanical efficiency of a rotary thats really intriguing

I agree with everything else you said, but how is a 1.3 liter motor that gets 13 mpg, burns oil, and makes 220hp efficient?

You are burning the fuel used by 500horsepower V8s while making less than half the power and requiring more maintenance

that's inefficient

You get like 80k-100k per engine and they are $6,000 to replace, everything else is completely reliable as far as I know. It's a perfectly fine car to get as long as you are aware that you Will be replacing the engine.

I always wanted to take a rolling chassis and drop a J37 from the TL SH-AWD in one, shit would be so cash

You really don't seem to understand what's being discussed here, man. I think this convo is a little above your paygrade.

>no you just don't understand!
tell me how this design is efficient in any way at all outside of volume that doesn't really fucking matter anyway?

remember I said putting the engine in a miata sized package
In a sports car you start to worry less about mpg. agility would be better then nearly every car because of how compact, low and short the motor is. because of the reduced weight it would be a bit more efficient because the lack of low rev torque would be less apparent. thats what I think makes the car get such bad mileage.

>what are you talking about, without torque you have no power. Without torque you can't accelerate quickly, torque is literally the leg of power derivation that allows for quick acceleration.
I said low rev torque. A light car doesn't NEED low rev torque. sure you can argue that having it is better but I'm not saying that the rx8 is better then the corvette. I'm saying in a small light chassis the renisis would not seem as flawed as it is. and yes torque is what power derives from but renisis makes all its torque closer to the redline.
I said mechanical efficiency not general efficiency. something that constantly spins and simply changes speed is more mechanically efficient then lumps of metal that need to stop and start hundreds of times a second. I will never argue that in its current form that the rotary is in any other way more effiecient than other engines. It's not.

>J37 from the TL SH-AWD
what does this even mean

>remember I said putting the engine in a miata sized package
none of that would change the fact that the engine is extremely inefficient. That miata engine will go farther, do better and be far more usable and not burn ludicrous amounts of gas, oil and shit. Putting an LS1 would make more power and it would still get better gas mileage and not burn oil even if it was a lot heavier

>I said mechanical efficiency not general efficiency. something that constantly spins and simply changes speed is more mechanically efficient then lumps of metal that need to stop and start hundreds of times a second. I will never argue that in its current form that the rotary is in any other way more effiecient than other engines. It's not.

How do you differentiate mechanical efficiency from overall efficiency?

The spinning crank and flywheel on a piston motor would appear to be more mechanically efficient than the rotary

The V6 from the 2010+ Acura TL SH-AWD sedan that produced over 307hp while being SOHC and not having direct injection

you get one when your too retarded to realize the short wheelbase version is goat