[_archon_]

Mazda shot themselves in the foot reliability-wise with the first generation RX-8 because they:

* Underspec'd the ignition coils

* Didn't do enough on-road reliability testing

* Lowered the oil pressure and removed OMP ports

* Designed the oil filler breather in a way that allowed oil into the intake

In '04, the first wave of RX8s were coming in to the dealerships after 30k with severe misfire from the coils going bad. Mazda didn't have this failure mode in their factory service manual, so the cars got replacement engines (poorly reman'd in Mexico, not made on the Mazda Japan line). These didn't last because of poor manufacturing. Once the coil issue was figured out, the 8 became much more predictable and reliable.

As noted by Busterarm, they fully got their act together with the series 2 update.

[I own an '04 RX8 with ~130k miles)