Out of curiousity, was it only the early RX-8 builds that had magic exploding triangles?

Just like the topic says, did all year RX-8s have guaranteed-to-blow-up-by-80,000-miles engines or was this just an early build problem that stained the reputation of the RX-8 forever? If it was fixed, how and when did Mazda fix it?

I don't think they really ever fixed it, although as always the later years are better then early. All of the Renesis have the same potential of explosion/implosion. Biggest thing I see looking at the ads seem to be owner related, as in they liked the looks but clearly don't know how to maintain a rotary.

There were a number of initial issues with the 2004s (eg. ECU tunes, etc), but IMO it's difficult to say if they're truly worse than then other S1 (2004-2008) models. The S2s (2009+) do have some engine improvements which have lead people to suggest they are better. The number of S2s on the road is far fewer than the S1s, so outside of Mazda, I suspect it's difficult to know definitively.

Ranger50 wrote: I don't think they really ever fixed it, although as always the later years are better then early. All of the Renesis have the same potential of explosion/implosion. Biggest thing I see looking at the ads seem to be owner related, as in they liked the looks but clearly don't know how to maintain a rotary.

I'd say that there is the biggest cause of failure of any rotary engine, as well as not knowing how to drive them properly (i.e., rev the crap out of them every so often)...

Thanks. They have such a horrible reputation, but I really did wonder how much of it was rightfully earned vs. just not understanding roundy round. Keep looking at them because they're really cheap, actually have a usable and accessible back seat and by all reports are as fun to drive as anything out there.

This thread and the other recent one on the RX-8 has me more curious. I know the S1 generation had a well deserved horrible reputation, but interwebbies says the S2...given proper maintenance...cured the problems. They're thirsty...got it. They consume oil by design...check. Let them fully warm up...gotcha. Anything else? The other thread was more S1 focused. So anyone else have much input on the S2?

Not much, other than there are fewer parts available for the S2 - IIRC stuff like upgraded radiators, tunes etc seem to be mostly S1 only.