[caj767314922]

Always loving speed and cars, why not put those two together? Narrowed it down and these 3 cars are awesome to my customers OBDSTAR X-200 pro. But which is better in speed and other specifications? And how about those prices? The more info you have, the better.

 

[louisbosco]

rotary. just the sound of one is amazing. single turbo conversion. and bam! on the low side, maintenance will be key..

 

[mARCs]

I'd be looking at the 2014 Z purely because one would assume it would be in the best condition, I would stay away from the 2004 Rx8 as rotaries are expensive to fix, and aren't exactly what you'd call a reliable motor.

There are ample mods as well as it being relatively cheap to get noticeable gains from the Z.

 

[louisbosco]

well that's what rotaries are all about. most break down because people don't look after them well. but when you do take good care of it, that thing is rev happy all day long.

 

[mARCs]

To be fair, like most other car manufacturers, if the engine was reliable they'd use it across more of their vehicle range than one, and they'd be releasing variants to this day; but don't get me wrong, an FD RX7 will get my attention any time of the day, though I'd never own one

 

[louisbosco]

the rotary set up was never the most reliable set up anyways. an FD RX7 with a single turbo conversion.. i'll hear it before i see it. that said, on reliability, " if an engine set up was reliable, it'd be used across the range." however, there's a fair bit of discrepancy between a sports coupe rx7/8 and their cars across the range. you wouldn't see nissan putting a VR38 into a 370 or maxima nor bmw putting the s65 from the e90 m3 into the 320,325 variants.

 

[mARCs]

Let's take this back to my original point as I think it's fair to state that we both agree that the rotary motor is less reliable than the setups of the three cars mentioned.

Taking a random sample from carsales Australia:

New & Used Mazda RX-8 cars for sale in Australia - carsales.com.au

caj767314922 was asking peoples opinions on what they would choose from his selection, now looking at what would be available, would it be fair to say that it may not be viable to chose a car that has proven unreliability with a high number of kms on it, and then look at possibly modifying it further for additional gains?

As stated above, I'd choose the Z over the above due to perceived condition for age, and the availability of cheap bolt-ons to get further noticeable gains, you like the RX8, that's fine as it's what keeps the car scene interesting and diverse.

caj767314922 I found this rundown on an RX8 specific forum and looks to be pretty comprehensive: RX8 - FAQ for New Owners - RX8Club.com

Who knows, caj767314922 may have access to prince of Dubai money, in that case please buy one of each, and post dyno runs

 

[louisbosco]

yeah. fair point from you on choosing the Z over the others given the choice. maybe the OP would pick the GTI and that makes a fair discussion on the respective choices for each of us. so caj, what would be your choice then?

 

[pete_89t2]

Always loving speed and cars, why not put those two together? Narrowed it down and these 3 cars are awesome to my customers. But which is better in speed and other specifications? And how about those prices? The more info you have, the better.

Why a 2004 RX8 versus a 2011 RX8? Obviously if you can afford a 2014 Nissan 370z, you could afford the later RX8. Same logic applies to the GTI, why a 2010 when you can get a newer model?

In the case of the RX8, 2004 was the introduction year, so it had a few development bugs/TSBs/recalls that were solved in the later years. 2009 and up (series 2 RX8's) are the ones to get.

rotary. just the sound of one is amazing.

^This, especially if the exhaust is uncorked a bit.

I'd be looking at the 2014 Z purely because one would assume it would be in the best condition, I would stay away from the 2004 Rx8 as rotaries are expensive to fix, and aren't exactly what you'd call a reliable motor.

Nonsense - rotaries get an undeserved bad rep for reliability because of: (a) Clueless owners who are too damned lazy to read & heed the advice in the owner's manual, and (b) A less than competent service infrastructure being provided by Mazda dealerships - WAY too many RX8s and FDs had their engines unnecessarily replaced under warranty at dealerships simply because the Mazda techs didn't know what the hell they were doing.

well that's what rotaries are all about. most break down because people don't look after them well. but when you do take good care of it, that thing is rev happy all day long.

^This. The older rotaries (12A & 13B) N/A engines can often last well above 200K miles on average. A well-cared for turbo 13BT (FC, single turbo) or 13B-REW (FD, twin turbo) typically averages 100K~150K miles without need for a teardown. When a turbo motor dies, it's usually due to too much heat over time and/or being modded beyond the stock ECU/fuel system's ability to safely manage. The RX8 motor, although N/A, due to design changes to the ports, lube system and the fact that it runs a much higher compression than the older N/A rotaries is not as durable - they average about 150K miles before teardowns.