I’m considering getting one of these a a weekend / leisure car and they’re pretty damn cheap for a ’05 – ’07 kinda aged car

I’m starting a new job that comes with a company van, my missus has her new company car on the way and we have her current car – Mk.6 Fiesta Zetec S TdCi – that I could use, I juts kinda fancy something a bit more sporty so to speak.

Does anyone have any experiences of the RX8, good or bad?

Won’t be doing many miles, other than carting the bike to rides and that’d be done on roof bars / some other kind of carrier.

Expensive to run, drink oil at the same rate as petrol, high C02 emissions, rebuild at 60K (I think).

MX-5 is a much better bet and would be more fun (pre Mk3 for my money) and get a Saris Bones to carry the bike.

The 60k thing is an urban myth, been checking out the R8 owners club.

Oil use is about 500ml per 1000miles so not bad

I don’t think you can fold the back seats – getting the bike in might be an issue?

MPG is shocking for the performance, hardly any torque, mega tax. There is a reason why they are so cheap.

Old mate owns one – 20mpg if you drive conservatively…

I was thinking of the RX-7 for the service actually, sorry.

Still think there are much better options, and I’m a Mazda fan. A friend has one (got it cheap funnily enough…) and it didn’t really do much for me.

What else is there for similar kind of money?

Mate had one and I got to drive a fair few times. Nice to drive but the performance didn’t happen until it was redlined. Needed topped up weekly with oil and the early models had a failure of sorts the meant an engine rebuild.

It was nice to have a shot of but I’d hate to own one and need to pay so much for it to stay on the drive…avoid.

Hmmm, might have to come up with something else

Nearly bought one 6 months ago, then spoke to a couple of owners and guys in the trade and realised they are possibly THE highest maintenance car you could own…As mention before, they’re cheap for a reason and performance doesnt match styling, avoid.

get yourself a nice RX7 and then the performance does match the styling !!

Might end up with an ITR now, VTEC YO

I test drove one and loved it. Then I spoke to a few mechanics I know, they put me right off with stories of expensive builds and high maintenece. I asked on Facebook if anyone had owned one and a lad I was at school with said his wife had and they struggled to get 18mpg. So I’ve brought a Celica…

Might end up with an ITR now, VTEC YO

Do it! Quick, a bit thirsty but super reliable. Awesome engine and handling too.

I got one about 12 weeks ago.
Pros:
A lot of car for the money! Mine is 57 plate ’08 sub 40k miles cost me £6250 (main dealer)
Similar money puts you in a similar age 1.6 focus.
Looks cool (I think)
Well specced leather Bose etc
RWD fun. Engaging drive. 8500 redline.
Wasn’t as steep to insure as I thought. About £150/yr more than my 1.7 puma

Cons:
Demands to be revved! Nothing much happens below 4000 rpm. Not a relaxing cruiser.
Getting 17-18 mpg to and from work.
£460 a year tax
Can’t get a bike in (seats don’t fold)
You need to top up the oil every now and then 500ml in first 1000 miles I had it.
It might snow soon.

If you need any sort of practicality or are in any way worried about running costs look elsewhere.
I will keep mine 2 yrs max, maybe just 1. It will cost me £2000 a year more to run. A similar age/style/performance “normal” car would have cost £5000+ more to buy.

I drove one of the pz pro drive ones on a freebie Mazda day out, got 139 and it was still pulling, super safe thro the corners and I enjoyed driving it! Not at all practical for me but enjoyed the track session! However on the same day I also drove the mx5, now they are so involved and fun to drive!!

celica ftw

STR, which Celica is that? Is it a TRD one? I like the bodykit, but not the boot spoiler. Picking mine up at the weekend can’t wait 🙂

GT

The GT kind of passed us by when it was launched in the summer, which is pretty remarkable given its, er, arresting looks. It’s based on the Celica T-Sport, which means it gets the top-spec VVT-i (variable valve timing with lift) 1.8-litre screamer that also does service in various Lotuses, a close-ratio six-speed ‘box, front-wheel drive and Toyota’s latest stability control (VSC) and traction control (TRC) systems. You also get different springs, which lower the ride height by 30mm, plus unique 17in alloys wearing asymmetric Pirelli PZeros. Oh yes, and that bodykit.

The rear aerofoil has a whiff of functionality about it, but there’s really no excuse for those sill-skirts. Obviously these things are subjective, but it’s unlikely to appeal to anyone who doesn’t subscribe to Max Power incorporating Big’n’Bouncy. And isn’t the point of the ‘maxing’ culture that you customise your car to express your individuality (even though, ironically, they all end up conforming to exactly the same aesthetic)? In which case a new set of skirts and spoilers would be top of your shopping list anyway…

Quick, jump inside. That’s better. The GT’s leather and Alcantara seats are excellent and the controls well placed (the pedals, for example, are so well matched for heeling and toeing that you’re soon doing it almost subconsciously) and everywhere there’s a slick precision to the way the Celica does its stuff. Actually, I’d forgotten just what a brilliant chassis this is, and in the GT it feels sharper than ever. There’s a wonderfully alert, living feel to it, and as you slice into corners you can feel the suspension working, bobbling around, not in an unsettling way but in a busy, involving fashion. Any electronic interventions are discreet, messages stream back from all four corners, and you feel right there, nice and low, at the centre of it all.

The engine, as ever, is a mixed blessing. The way it whips from 6500 to the 8000rpm red line is a hoot, but below six-five there’s really very little there, and unless you take it literally into the red, each upchange drops you back out of ‘the zone’. Like the looks, it’s definitely not for everyone, and together they deny the Celica the wider audience that its chassis deserves. Which is a shame, because in a few months’ time the Celica will have ceased to be, perhaps destined to be a ‘nearly’ car. So if you don’t mind the way it looks, grab one while you still can – just remember to tick the ‘thick skin’ option.

I had a Nemisis 192, I bloody loved that car. docrobster is mostly right, but I got my bike in the boot of mine with a little bit of dismantling.

For me the car is in its element going round corners, it just loves them but if on stock tyres they become shit scary in the wet. It’s one of those cars that you should always have had on your “owned” list, you can’t really appreciate it until you have and most of the non-owners comments/myths are bollocks. On the RX8 forum we used to have a 300 mile thread for those who could get over 300 on a full tank. I never made it mainly because I drove it like it should be driven, fast and at high revs.

It’s a great car for the money as long as you accept the running costs are not exactly Prius

What’s putting you oft an MX5?

Don’t listen to the doomsayers, RX8’s are great fun. Quick, wieldy, and that bit different.

If you want the same thing, but boring, get a TT.

I did 70,000 happy miles in mine in 2 years and it needed nothing except tyres and oil. It was the PZ, which is Prodrive tuned and handles every bend you throw at it.

I’d have another tomorrow, but I’ve got 3 kids now. Boo.

300 out of a tank!
Ridiculous. Fuel light came on at 192 miles again tonight!
To be honest I’ve not attempted to get a bike in yet. I assume davidB that it involves wheels and seat/post in the boot then the frame carefully placed across the back seats possibly with the front passenger seat flipped forward?
I did get 4 235/50x17s in though. 1 in the boot and 1 in each passenger seat.
Standard tyres do seem “interesting” in the wet. Very easy to get the back end out.

Amazing fun to drive, and as has already been said, it corners fantastically! You need to rev it but thats part of the fun. The LSD means that even if you do lose teh back end it is ridiculously easy to control. It’s a great car if you forget about the fuel economy and drive it hard.

BMW 6 series?

You’d get a 645i for about £8k now, and probably be a bit cheaper to run than the Mazda.

The thing that put me off was the flooding issue if it’s started up and then turned off too quickly. For instance moving it to let the wifes car off the drive. Heard they have to run for a minimum of 6 mins?

You just rev to 4000 then turn off the ignition to avoid the flooding. According to the salesman anyway.

Flooding issue never happened with me. I had an 07 and reckon Mazda had sorted software by then.

Just seem mad fuel/oil consumption for the relatively average performance. I chose a TT over one three years ago for precisely that reason – almost identical performance but double the fuel economy.

They do look nice though.

Honda Integra, Honda S2000
Nissan 350Z

those might be options?

Rev it up, switch it off? Bore wash??

Then again would that happen with the fangle rotary engine?

FunkyDunc – Member
What’s putting you oft an MX5?

They’re a bit erm, how do I put this without offending any hairdressers that might be looking at this thread, ahh, erm b****cks I already have 😀

I kinda fancy an ITR but they’re a bit long in the tooth now and good examples are hard to find, saying that I know the B18 VTEC engine & drive train inside out from years of modding EG & EK civics.

Celicas kind of interest me, but the engine isn’t quite a VTEC and that’d bug the hell outta me, oh yeah and the looks ain’t top notch.

BMW 6 series, sorry I ain’t got a chest hairy enough for one of them 😆

S2000 – would be nice but need to be able to get more than one other person in there.

350Z – haven’t considered them, but my budget is £5k max.

I’d rather buy a S2000. LOTS out there. RX8- lovely car. Made even lovelier by how cheap they are used. Just too many issues to look out for though.

Primary for me is if you start and make cold runs, shutting down the car before the engine has fully warmed it can damage the engine.

Considering alot are used this can happen if a dealer is moving stock around his pitch/dealership etc as well…

Pity. Really like it. Wish Mazda would make a new one …..in the shape of the RX7 though. That rump is stunning.

I’d rather have an S2000. My brother’s RX8 only just got through its MOT despite looking almost brand new and having done less than 30k mostly motorway miles – it failed the emissions test.

S2000 don’t seem that cheap to me especially from Honda dealers.

Didn’t the OP say they needed to fit more than one other person inside? So S2000 is off the list.

Puma then 8)