2004 Mazda RX8 Touring review from North America

ON THE THIRD ENGINE BY 23K MILES!!

Second transmission.

Tail lights fog over (no big deal)

Control for A/C-Heater malfunction (entire dash taken apart by dealer to fix this)

Sure Mazda (ford) paid for the new engines, but it was still a junker!

If the temperature ever drops below 25 degrees, you will need to do the following before leaving your house:

1) Call Mazda roadside assistance and have them bring the tow truck.

2) Call your local dealership and have them book your rental.

3) Plan on spending the next 3-4 days driving some atrocious PT Cruiser or Ford Taurus/Focus.

I had this process down so well that I personally knew service department at Bob Moore Mazda in Oklahoma City (Veronica Martinez is great) AND the staff at Enterprise rental car so well that I was greeted by first name every week or so. I was in a rental more often than in my own piece of "Winning Blue" junk.

I will say that this car was probably one of the most aggressive looking and simply beautiful vehicles that you will see on the back of a tow truck today!

I now own a new Mitsubishi Eclipse with a great warranty and I am happy to say that I have since never been back to a rental (or a Mazda). I look forward to driving this car well beyond 150k miles, like My father-in-law has on his 2001 Eclipse (all problem free).

Good Luck trading in the RX8, all of the dealerships know about the problems... It's like finding someone to adopt a leper.