Looking to buy an RX8 - Never owned one before

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justandy
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Looking to buy an RX8 - Never owned one before

Post by justandy »

Hi guys,

I am hoping that I can get some good advise from you on here. I am looking to purchase an RX8, around September time really. I am sending my BMW 5 Series Sport goes back in October, could have kept it for another 12 months however I am wanting to now concentrate on paying my mortgage off quicker so looking to get something cheaper and pay cash for it but at the same time, I do not want to buy a crap car either. Others have suggested get a Seat Leon or a Golf however I have always liked the RX8s for many years, I still think that they look really nice on the road even though they no longer produce them (which I feel is also a big shame.) I am thinking to spend up to around £7000.00 on a car and hoping that I should be able to get a good example for this price do you think? As this is not a car that I have ever owned before I am wanting to find out what I need to look out for, any common faults/problems etc. Really hoping to be able to find a good example RX8 that I can then keep for a few years and really look after it myself, keep it looking really smart on the road. I would appreciate any help that you guys can give me please?

Many thanks,

Andy
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Looking to buy an RX8 - Never owned one before

Post by GreySilver Beast »

Hi Andy & :welcome: to the RX-8OC :thumleft:

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Re: Looking to buy an RX8 - Never owned one before

Post by Ollie »

Hi Andy, first things first. Figure out what version of the car you like! Theres the Series 1 (with a few special editions, Prodrive Z, Evolve, Nemesis and 40th anniversary) or the Series 2 (R3). With the amount of money you're looking to spend you can't really go wrong. Personally I'd find a good conditioned body special edition for less than you're looking to spend. And use the remainder on having your engine rebuilt (if it needs it, it may not!). Though I will say you will never get your value back if that makes sense.
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Re: Looking to buy an RX8 - Never owned one before

Post by GraemeC »

You will be able to pick up a mint, low mileage example with no rust for your budget!
Have a read through the buyers guide and good luck with your search!

viewtopic.php?f=25&t=24047
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Re: Looking to buy an RX8 - Never owned one before

Post by V8 Power »

You should be able to get the best of the best for that budget and afford to be extremely fussy. Or buy one for less then customise/modify to your hearts content.
I sold my 2010 R3 recently for £5,500 and that was pretty immaculate and standard. It had done approx 53k miles so maybe go higher for one with lower mileage.
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Re: Looking to buy an RX8 - Never owned one before

Post by 350matt »

I'd say to be honest there's no need to spend that much to get a good car

decide 1st if you want an S1 or R3 and budget at least £3.5K for a good S1 and 6K for an R3
(bear in mind R3's are a lot rarer so harder to find and in my mind at least are not twice the car of the S1, but they are nice)

then start shopping and look carefully for rust around the rear arches and sills , check the headlamp levelling works and the engine compression is also good
for that money you should be able to find an S1 with a recent rebuild or you buy a car you like and pay 2.5K to have the engine rebuilt and then get a warrenty

for example
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MAZDA-RX8-23 ... SwEU5e9E8m
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Re: Looking to buy an RX8 - Never owned one before

Post by Shagrington »

Hi and :welcome: justandy. :D As has already been said, you should be able to get something really special within your budget. Have a read through the Buyers Guide GraemeC has linked.

You can find details of all the versions, special editions etc here viewtopic.php?f=25&t=10895
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Re: Looking to buy an RX8 - Never owned one before

Post by GraemeC »

Lots of good advice and I would echo Shagrington's comments about being able to get something really special

I paid £5k for my PZ four years ago - right at the top of the market

However, it was a one owner (club member from day 1) car, only used as a weekend car, only driven in the dry, always garaged, serviced annually regardless of mileage covered and only had 23k miles on the clock (average 2,300 per year!)

I was buying a weekend car which would also be garaged and only used in the dry etc. so paying more for an immaculate, low mileage vehicle made sense to me (still bloody immaculate now having only covered about 3k in the last 4 years!)
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Re: Looking to buy an RX8 - Never owned one before

Post by TheJDMStereotype »

I would say the same, in that price range you basically have any RX8 in the UK to choose from :lol:

I paid 7k for my R3 with 28k miles on the clock and high compression, probably a bit overpriced but still a brilliant car for the money.
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Re: Looking to buy an RX8 - Never owned one before

Post by *thomas* »

That's a great budget when looking for an 8. You could consider buying a car with a broken engine and have it stripped/rebuild...

Have a drive in an couple of cars (192bhp s1, 231bhp s1, R3) and see which one you fancy most.
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Re: Looking to buy an RX8 - Never owned one before

Post by kopite72 »

For that budget I'd buy an R3 in good shape with a dead engine. Take it to a specialist and get it rebuilt with a full bridge port and you'll have a great car but with the power that the stock engine lacks.

Just me here and I'll get slaughtered but I wouldn't even consider a S1, the R3 is better, it just is. Lovely Recaro seats, 19" BBS lightweight alloys that look awesome, extra oil injector in the engine and a few other bits and bobs plus you won't have to worry about rust in the way you would with a S1.

I owned an R3 for nigh in seven years and loved it,absolutely cracking car to drive but what you need to be aware of with these cars is they are expensive to run and maintain so factor that in with any decision you might make
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Re: Looking to buy an RX8 - Never owned one before

Post by Ollie »

Just a shame the r3s styling isn't everyone's taste. Id have one if it looked like an S1.
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Re: Looking to buy an RX8 - Never owned one before

Post by nightfire10 »

40th best

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warpc0il (Wed Jul 01, 2020 6:06 pm) • ChrisHolmes (Fri Jul 03, 2020 8:55 pm)
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Re: Looking to buy an RX8 - Never owned one before

Post by untakenname »

I've seen rusted R3's I think it's just the slightly newer age of them that means it's less likely.

I'd always look at getting a compression test done even if it has low mileage.
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Re: Looking to buy an RX8 - Never owned one before

Post by justandy »

GraemeC wrote:
Tue Jun 30, 2020 3:59 pm
You will be able to pick up a mint, low mileage example with no rust for your budget!
Have a read through the buyers guide and good luck with your search!

viewtopic.php?f=25&t=24047
Great thanks a lot will do 👍
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Re: Looking to buy an RX8 - Never owned one before

Post by justandy »

Hi everyone, thanks so much for all your replies. There is so much information it is overwhelming, I really am not much of petrol head so a lot of it simply goes right over my head. Looking on auto trader there is only 28 available on there now, so does not look like there are going to be many to filter through are there? It is a car that I really like the look of, I will keep looking weekly to see what is about between now and September, I really hope I can get one, could do with test driving a couple as advised to get the feel of them as never drove one before
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Re: Looking to buy an RX8 - Never owned one before

Post by warpc0il »

Social distancing makes it difficult but I would recommend that you make contact with members in your area.

This would give you the opportunity to experience how a well sorted RX-8 should drive like and, potentially, have someone experienced to join you in looking at possible purchases.

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Re: Looking to buy an RX8 - Never owned one before

Post by justandy »

warpc0il wrote:
Wed Jul 01, 2020 6:10 pm
Social distancing makes it difficult but I would recommend that you make contact with members in your area.

This would give you the opportunity to experience how a well sorted RX-8 should drive like and, potentially, have someone experienced to join you in looking at possible purchases.

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Great thanks I will do, just does not seem to be many to look at though, so unsure I will find anything locally to me 😬
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Re: Looking to buy an RX8 - Never owned one before

Post by nightfire10 »

Sometimes it's best to travel! Don't wait for a local one only
My first one was 5mins away (didn't last long) 2nd one 2.5hrs away

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just oil lines to fit at some stage ( had them a while too) :P

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Re: Looking to buy an RX8 - Never owned one before

Post by Petros »

For £7k I may consider selling mine 2004 17,500 miles.
I lost the use of the garage I stored it in a couple of weeks ago and need to decide whether I should sell it, use it or find somewhere else to store it.
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Re: Looking to buy an RX8 - Never owned one before

Post by justandy »

Petros wrote:
Wed Jul 01, 2020 8:03 pm
For £7k I may consider selling mine 2004 17,500 miles.
I lost the use of the garage I stored it in a couple of weeks ago and need to decide whether I should sell it, use it or find somewhere else to store it.
Hey, any pictures at all please? Cheers
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Re: Looking to buy an RX8 - Never owned one before

Post by warpc0il »

@Petros As an ex-member you're not permitted to advertise a car for sale on this forum.

I recognise that your post was in response to a request from a forum guest, rather than an advert, though any follow-up correspondence must be via PM/email/phone directly with justandy, rather than in open discussion.

If you later decide that you want to advertise on the forum then either renew your membership or send myself or Shagrington a PM and we can provide details of a special scheme for ex-members.
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Re: Looking to buy an RX8 - Never owned one before

Post by Petros »

No problem, still not sure if I am going to sell.
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Re: Looking to buy an RX8 - Never owned one before

Post by Honkytonk »

Hey Andy,

Just to echo others on here really;

- 5.5k will get you a very nice example with money left over for a rebuild; you could even pre-empt all the worries by buying one with a solid body but dead engine and getting it immediately rebuilt. And you'd still have change left over!
- Look for an R3 or a low mileage special edition with absolutely zero issues (rust being the big one)
- Don't let geography dictate your choice; these are becoming relatively rare cars (or at least the ones in good nick are) and the good ones are not going to be close by necessarily.

I'm sure members on here who are local to wherever the car you want to look at is will be happy to come give it a once over with you.

Good luck with it, you won't regret it!
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Re: Looking to buy an RX8 - Never owned one before

Post by GraemeC »

warpc0il wrote:
Wed Jul 01, 2020 6:10 pm
This would give you the opportunity to experience how a well sorted RX-8 should drive like and, potentially, have someone experienced to join you in looking at possible purchases.
I think this is really good advice - RX8's have to be driven differently to normal cars, especially if you are used to a diesel.
You need a lower gear than normal, keep the revs around 4k for good acceleration and take it all the way to the red line (dont worry, the rotary likes to be thrashed!)
Also, because the acceleration is very linear, it may not feel as fast as other cars - the speedo will keep you honest!
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