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Mazda responds to furious RX-8 owners
autoblog.com — Mazda RX-8 owners were pretty upset with Mazda over a video leaked that indicated surveys they completed on dealer service would not be counted. Autoblog managed to get an official response from Mazda and more details regarding the video, which should never have been leaked.
platosforms- 355 diggs
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- kuroaisu, on 10/12/2007, -7/+17It's really unfortunate that the Mazda rotaries continue to be held back by technical problems. The 3rd gen rx-7's were also difficult to care for and feed.
When in top form any rotary Mazda can provide the most fun you've ever had while behind the wheel of a car. When mechanical problems strike, they can provide the most frustration you've ever felt while under the hood of a car.
That Mazda guy really ducks the issue though. If I were an RX-8 owner I'd be ticked off.- epilonious, on 10/12/2007, -1/+18Check out the Technical Service Bulletins linked in the article... you would see that most of the problems with the RX-8 are with electrical systems and things like "squealing brakes". The "rotary engine" problems are few and far-between and the Renesis has the same failure ratio as the engine in a Mazda3. Also, the entire point of this article was "gosh, My Mazda RX-8 keeps getting crappy service at that dealership, and now it seems like Mazda wants to ignore my survey feedback so no-one will know that it's a bad service dealership". I see no reason for that to translate into "gosh, the rotary engine sure is crappy."
In addition, a Mazda guy going "that was not information meant for outside eyes" isn't really ducking the issue. What if they are planning to set up special service shops or separate ratings for the RX-8 in particular? What if they are planning on releasing an RX-7 coupe in the near future alongside retooled Wankel plants, what if they are upgrading the RX-8 and are doing something to the service departments that make these complaints moot? You don't know, and "the Mazda guy" is specifically barred from telling anybody. - Nougat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12I worked at a Mazda dealer way way back. There was a place called Rotary Dynamics (used to be in Geneva, IL, I think, now maybe in Bolingbrook, IL?) that would tear down and rebuild rotary engines, modifying them in such a way that they'd get insane amounts af horsepower. Like 1100 HP. I heard a story about a 700HP 1974 REPU. It was the only place anyone knew of that would rebuild a rotary engine besides Mazda, and this was a dealership.
- josegutz, on 10/12/2007, -20/+14"Mazda responds to furious RX-8 owners"
Yes.. but are they fast and furious? - NJank, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2since they were having mechanical problems, i'd guess 'not so fast'
- elroy, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1Inline-6 for the win, you bunch of wankels!
- pingviini, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@Nougat
Where exactly could I come in contact with this company?
That sounds awesome!
PS. a quick google search turned up nothing.
- epilonious, on 10/12/2007, -1/+18Check out the Technical Service Bulletins linked in the article... you would see that most of the problems with the RX-8 are with electrical systems and things like "squealing brakes". The "rotary engine" problems are few and far-between and the Renesis has the same failure ratio as the engine in a Mazda3. Also, the entire point of this article was "gosh, My Mazda RX-8 keeps getting crappy service at that dealership, and now it seems like Mazda wants to ignore my survey feedback so no-one will know that it's a bad service dealership". I see no reason for that to translate into "gosh, the rotary engine sure is crappy."
- bakshi, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Wow! It seems like Autoblog is trying to get Mazda's attention by posting this on high traffic sites. I hope Mazda fixes this and does as well as Toyota when it comes to web PR. But looking at Mazda's response so far, it seems they don't even recognize blogging and web communities as a place to vent opinions.
- KevinIsANoob, on 10/12/2007, -87/+4RX-8 is an ugly car. No digg. Marked as lame.
- nosnhojm, on 10/12/2007, -1/+17Man, you're just spouting worthless comments everywhere. I'd be willing to bet that you're just trying to build up your account so that you can use it to spam.
- Zipp425, on 10/12/2007, -1/+18The RX-8 is beautiful. You have bad taste.
Also, what does the appearance of the car have anything to do with the article being lame. - Menel, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10You guys shouldn't dig him down just because he's a jealous little 16 year old still stuck borrowing mommy's mini-van to get around.
- ScottMaximus, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4He wishes he could be as fast and as furious as an RX-8 Owner.
- brutimus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Menel: Hey, I had to borrow my mom's minivan to get around back in the day. :)
KevinsisaNoob: Yeah...don't make pointless comments, as previously said, the appearance has nothing to do with the article.
I was, however, looking an RX-8 awhile back and kind of still, but for one, I can't afford it, and now after seeing some of the problems they have, I'm kind of hesitant. - lozaning, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4dude i still drive around mom's minivan. if used correctly there is space for a cot, place for all you Lan stuff, hostages, place to put you dumpster diving loot, this of course is after yout ke all the seats out
make no mistake if used correctly minivans kick ass
- 350Zed, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4This speaks to Mazda's unspoken awareness of the RX-8's numerous issues that should have been worked out in the first year or two of production.
I've heard numerous accounts of RX-8's flooding easily, excessively (even for a rotary) consuming oil, excessively consuming fuel (reported "single-digit MPG in the city"), and other engine-related problems.
Mazda should, IMHO, give up on this engine and replace it with their well-reviewed 2.3L 4cyl turbo. Give what could be a great car a great motor and you've got a winner. Continue to turn a blind eye to a dud in the name of Marketing, and they will continue to run this model into oblivion.- cyclo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The "flooding" problem was pretty severe... I don't know if they fixed that already. You can't just start the RX8, move the car into the shade, then stop the engine or the it will get "flooded"... you basically have to go around the block before you turn off the ignition to avoid this flooding problem. Once the engine gets "flooded" the car won't start and needs to be towed to the shop.
- brufleth, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I suspect the 2.3L turbo wouldn't even in fit in the RX-8
- bytex64, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The flooding problem was a bug in the ECU dating back to the second-generation RX-7, and I thought they fixed it by the time the 3rd gens rolled around, so the RX-8 shouldn't have that problem. It happened to me a couple of times. The first time is educational, the other times were definetly a "D'oh" moment. Apparently the bug doesn't manifest until you start it up again, so pulling the ECU fuse after a short drive should reset it back to normal.
If this still happens on the RX-8s, which are some 20 years newer, then Mazda has some 'splaining to do. - bytex64, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2And putting a turbo four in a RX is just blasphemy. I'd rather they kill the car altogether rather than defile it with such a thing. There are people who swap small-block V8s into RX-7s, completely missing the reasoning behind the rotary in the first place. After they're done, they have a car with more power, more weight, a drastic forward weight bias, poor fuel economy, and whose only real ability is going fast in a straight line. GM already made a car like that, it's called the Camaro.
- smujeremy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2And don't forget the fiasco when the car was released. The engine was severely overrated HP/TQ wise. People were dyno'ing way lower than they should have.
- JEWigs, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7The RX-8 is pretty but can't hold a candle to the early 90's RX-7's. The (93) R-1 in particular was one of the fastest production cars I've ever had the pleasure of driving.
- samdu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I have no idea why you'd be dugg down for that statement. The RX-8 is not, was not, and will never be a replacement for the RX-7. Mazda even says so. Mazda simply hasn't re-entered the high performance sports car market in the US. So yeah, the RX-8, while a nice ride, shouldn't hold a candle to the 3rd Gen RX-7.
The third gen is the only RX-7 I've never owned. I look at them in ads from time to time, but they've simply held their value too much for me to consider one. I've had a '79 and two '88s and they were all incredibly fun cars to drive. For different reasons (same would hold for a third gen). For the first time since I bought my first car, I don't have a rotary rocket. And the MR2 I'm driving now is fun and all, but it just can't replicate the experience of driving a Wankel.
Please, Mazda... Bring the RX-7 back to the US!!!!!
- samdu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I have no idea why you'd be dugg down for that statement. The RX-8 is not, was not, and will never be a replacement for the RX-7. Mazda even says so. Mazda simply hasn't re-entered the high performance sports car market in the US. So yeah, the RX-8, while a nice ride, shouldn't hold a candle to the 3rd Gen RX-7.
- roberts1111, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Don't own a Mazda, but I have heard some bad things about Mazda's quality recently. They should really start to make quality and reliability their no.1 priority again - if they want to keep their customers.
The google link appear to be dead, anyone got another working link for the video?- GhostRidr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I had a '94 Mazda MX-6, with over 160K miles that I got rid of last year. It was a great car. Had no problems, other than regular maintenance and things that just wear out over that long of a haul (new alternator, oxygen sensors, etc.). I in turn bought a used 2004 RX-8. I've been driving that for over a year now and it's been a fine car. It has flooded on me once, but it was because I had a loose crank sensor. Easily fixed and hasn't happened since.
The RX-8 is not near as bad as some folks make it out to be. It is one of the most fun cars out there. Handles great, and has the convenience of a 4-door while resembling a 2-door. My only one complaint is gas-mileage. I'm getting about 17 in the city, and 22 on the highway (I drive an automatic).
- GhostRidr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I had a '94 Mazda MX-6, with over 160K miles that I got rid of last year. It was a great car. Had no problems, other than regular maintenance and things that just wear out over that long of a haul (new alternator, oxygen sensors, etc.). I in turn bought a used 2004 RX-8. I've been driving that for over a year now and it's been a fine car. It has flooded on me once, but it was because I had a loose crank sensor. Easily fixed and hasn't happened since.
- sgtawol, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Mazda had a huge problem with their Protege MP3 limited edition run in 2001 also. I owned one, and it took about 10 trips to the dealership to get rid of a huge clunking noise in the trunk. Mazda sucks at supporting their niche market, I'll never buy another one. If you want to make a really cool car, act like you want it to be cool.
"Here, check out the shiny thing, isnt it AWESOME?!" *run away and hide for 2 years*- theburningficus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I have a Protege5, bought it in 2001 (during post-9/11 fever) and there was a bad seal in the headlights that the dealership refused to fix. They said it wasn't there, but on humid days you could obviously see condensation in the headlight assemblies... now my headlight bulbs go out, pretty much every six months, because moisture gets inside the light fixture.
The car itself (aside from quite a bit of road noise when on the hwy) is great, but I'll never get a Mazda again. Terrible customer service after the sale (got plenty of coupons for oil changes - just $40 - through the dealership, though), and obviously no service when it comes to defects. Should've saved my $$$ and gotten the Subaru WRX that I'd originally wanted.
- theburningficus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I have a Protege5, bought it in 2001 (during post-9/11 fever) and there was a bad seal in the headlights that the dealership refused to fix. They said it wasn't there, but on humid days you could obviously see condensation in the headlight assemblies... now my headlight bulbs go out, pretty much every six months, because moisture gets inside the light fixture.
- tmanka, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Anyone have a copy of the video taken down by google? Would be great to get a copy.
- Hubris, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Not just to get a copy.....but to show that via the internet, consumers can't be ignored. Google will have yanked it because it was proprietary and the property owner requested it be removed.....but if it were to be hosted everywhere....become viral.....it would demonstrate that it isn't easy to coverup things on the internet. I'm sure somebody saved the video from Google...
- jfujita, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Anyone have a link to the video?
- phej, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Google took the video down. Anyone get it before it went?
- socbret, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I have a 2003 Protege5 and I love it. Too bad they stopped making them. (Technically the Mazda3 is the Protege5 but I don't think it looks near as nice)
- VinceNoir, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Well... that's why they're called LEAKS! Leaks were NEVER supposed to be... leaked! Pure genius, no?
- hypeiv, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Anyone who owns a rotary engine is a glutton for pain… like any sports car you have to pay to play… you can’t have your cake and eat it too.
- Hubris, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I call *****...wording like has been transcribed to the video (I didn't see it before it was yanked) isn't taken out of context....it means that some managers are getting rid of a problem by ignoring it, and they've been caught.
What will happen from this? A coverup.....an internal investigation to see who allowed the video to fall into the wrong hands....and severe warnings to any Mazda or dealer staff who allow internal information to be leaked in the future. Notice I don't mention anything about addressing the issues documented by the surveys by RX-8 owners.
My own employer used to do employee surveys. The first one showed employee dissatisfaction, and they promised to use the survey to improve things. The second showed even greater employee dissatisfaction....and they decided to stop conducting surveys. - keitho, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1i've had good luck getting service done on my RX8. i took the car in for a TSB about hard starts and they replaced the battery, starter and 2 plugs while flashing the ecu. they even covered a rental and topped off my tank all under warranty. i think thats above and beyond the call of duty. i just wish i got more than 18mpg out of the thing.
- eqoz1305, on 11/09/2008, -0/+0Mazda RX-8 Detailed review is can be seen at
http://carsnetwork.blogspot.com/2008/11/mazda-rx-8 ...
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