Valuation · Mazda · SE3P · 2003-11
Mazda RX-8 GT
1.3L twin-rotor · 170 kW / 211 Nm · 6sp manual · RWD
AVOIDRated within the under $30k band · 46 of 46 at this money
Model value
$15,500
Must gain each year to break even
+22.6%
The projection does not clear it, and nor does most of the library.
CarQuant score
24/100
Scored against the under $30k band, not the whole library
Evidence grade
Thin
One to three recorded Australian sales
$15,500
$11,355 lowhigh $20,779
Modelled estimate
No recorded Australian sale stands behind this figure. Treat the level as indicative and the structure as the analysis.
Looking at an RX-8 for sale?
Put in the asking price and the odometer reading. You will see what this model should make at that reading.
Should make, typical example
$15,500
At about 130,000 km. Enter an asking price to compare.
Odometer only. Colour, options, history, condition and the photographs move it further, and that is what the report reads.
A person reads the advertisement and its photographs. Usually back within 48 hours. Read a real listing report
Price history
Today $15,500 · modelled median at five years $17,245
Solid line: the value this library has carriedDashed from 2026: modelled · even money $14,147 to $19,104
The green band is the even-money range and the one to plan on: half of outcomes land inside it. The pale band behind it bounds eight in ten ($11,355 to $20,779). The path is this model's own: it starts along the momentum of its recorded history and bends toward its projected median as the horizon lengthens, so no two cars share a future curve.
The verdict
The numbers argue against it. Scores 24/100, ranking 46 of 46 in the under $30k band. Risk resilience is the strongest input, ownership economics the weakest.
Running it costs about $4,990 a year (32.2% of value), which is what the economics score measures. All in, including the projected value change, it is $4,895 a year.
The model's five year median is $17,245, a +11.3% move, with the tenth percentile at $11,355.
Value calibrated to a thin record. Treat the level as provisional.
Evidence
Thin2 recorded sales
Off its peak
at peak
Value band
wide
No external evidence. A modelled estimate whose structure is more useful than its level.
Scored against every recent Australian sale this library holds, half its values land within 11.2 per cent of the price paid and the rest miss by more, in either direction. Projections are therefore damped toward flat in proportion to how little is known, and the plausible band is never narrower than the error the model is known to make.
Short term (1-5 years)$4,895 a year all in, +11.3% median value move
Long term (10-15 years)Scarcity case already formed
Negotiate from$15,500
Recorded sales
Every recorded observation, and when
3 rows on record$18k$12k$6k
20222023202420252026
the value this record published, year by yearnow $16kwhat the model expects across 95k–145k kmsoldcontext, excluded1 row sits off this scale. Open the list below to see them.
Every row, with its price and note (3) ↓
Library value against the sold record
2 sales · median $12,000Value $15,500
$7,400$16,600
2026Collecting Cars$26,251Context, excluded
SOLD. 8 Jul 2026, Kings Park NSW, 115,197km. SPIRIT R, the final special edition and NOT the car this record describes. Context for the gap, not used to set the value
Sep 2024Collecting Cars$16,600Sold
SOLD. 11 Sep 2024, Bondi Junction NSW, 94,729km. 2005, Velocity Red Mica over black and red leather, three owners from new and four years with the seller, BELIEVED TO RETAIN ITS ORIGINAL PAINT with no signs of previous accidents. Limited-slip differential, sunroof, Bose, factory half skirts. Nine dated entries from 1,430km in February 2006 to 94,429km in January 2022 - then little use, though the seller states it was started regularly and restarts easily hot or cold
Nov 2021Collecting Cars$7,400Sold
SOLD. 8 Nov 2021, Perth WA, 145,394km. 2005, silver over black leather, ORIGINAL AND UNMODIFIED - increasingly rare on an RX-8 - with the full book pack. A noticeable crack in the passenger side of the dashboard, polished-looking seats, wear on the gear knob and wheel. Passed a WA Department of Transport inspection the month before the sale, with a rear tyre needed inside 5,000km. Serviced at 145,245km by a rotary specialist. The cheapest result in the set and the highest distance in it
2 completed Australian sales of 3 rows. Rows marked asking, no sale, or context are shown for honesty but do not count toward the evidence grade: an ask is not a transaction, a pass-in is a refusal, and a provenance or overseas result does not price the ordinary local car. The badge on every row is computed by the same rule as the grade, so the two cannot drift apart.
Score breakdown
Against the under $30k band median
46 cars in band · ink tick marks the medianOwnership economics30% of total
0/100-35
Scarcity25% of total
26/100-15
Demand durability20% of total
27/100-29
Liquidity15% of total
47/100-12
Risk resilience10% of total
52/100+15
Sub-scores run 0-100 before weighting; the weighted total is 24/100. Medians are computed live from the 46 cars currently in the under $30k band, so this picture moves when the library does.
The working behind each factor: baseline and drivers ↓
Ownership economics30% weight
0/100Baseline80 pts
− 32.2% of value a year to run-80 pts
Sub-score (baseline plus drivers, clamped 0-100)0 pts
Scarcity25% weight
26/100Baseline10 pts
+ 2,600 survivors, engines failing+16 pts
Sub-score (baseline plus drivers, clamped 0-100)26 pts
Demand durability20% weight
27/100Baseline15 pts
+ Rotary cult following+16 pts
− Bought as project cars, not keepers-4 pts
Sub-score (baseline plus drivers, clamped 0-100)27 pts
Liquidity15% weight
47/100Baseline5 pts
+ 74 days on market+24 pts
+ 380 sales a year+18 pts
Sub-score (baseline plus drivers, clamped 0-100)47 pts
Risk resilience10% weight
52/100Baseline90 pts
− Rebuild odds near 50% in a 5 year hold-38 pts
Sub-score (baseline plus drivers, clamped 0-100)52 pts
Model output, not advice or a valuation. Verify independently before acting.
What it costs to own · about 6,842 km a year
Annual cost of access, excl. fuel
$4,990a year
Share of value per year
32.2%
Scheduled servicing$98020%
Tyres, annualised$64013%
Registration and CTP$75015%
Insurance$72014%
Sinking fund (failure table)$1,90038%
All-in annualised (a different number)
Purchase (model value plus duty)$16,120
Running costs × 5 years$24,950
Median exit, net of selling cost$16,595
All-in annualised over 5 years$4,895/yr
Share of value per year31.6%
Cost of access is what the car costs to run. All-in annualised adds depreciation, duty and selling costs across a five year hold. They answer different questions and are labelled separately for that reason.
Break-even appreciation, 5 year hold
22.6%a year, only to get the money back
This library projects
+2.2%a year
The projection falls 20.4 points a year short of the hurdle. On these assumptions this car is a cost, not an asset, which can be an entirely rational thing to buy but should be bought knowing it.
Purchase$15,500
Stamp duty$620
Running costs x 5 years$24,950
Selling cost at exit, 4.2% of the salescales with price
Sale price needed at +5 years$42,868
Storage
Bought at
No forecast is used to compute the hurdle. It is the purchase, the duty, any premium and 5 years of running cost, grossed up for the cost of selling and spread back over the hold. The projection it is measured against is the weakest number in this product and is drawn that way in the chart above. Transport, finance and any restoration spend sit outside it.
Specification
Engine1.3L twin-rotor
Power / torque170 kW / 211 Nm
0-100 km/h6.4 s
Transmission6sp manual
DriveRWD
Kerb weight1,310 kg
Built worldwide192,000
Delivered to Australia6,700
Effective AU survivors2,600
Australian sales / year380
Typical days on market74 days
Launch price$56,710
What moves the price on this model
Colour hierarchy
Velocity Red+3%
Titanium Grey0%
Galaxy Grey-2%
Options
Compression test in writing+5%
Rebuilt engine with Mazda or specialist receipts+10%
GT leather trim+2%
Odometer sensitivity±1.3% per 10,000 km vs 130,000 km
Applied on top of these
Condition, history, originality, ownership, delivery and modification multipliers apply to every car in the library. They are applied automatically when an advertisement is analysed, and the schedule is set out once, on the analyser page.
Projected value in five years
Projected value at five years
$17,245
+11.3% on today
The model's figure. Today it is $15,500.
Even odds it lands between $14,147 and $19,104.
$11,355 lowhigh $20,779
The shaded range is even money and 35% wide; the outer figures bound eight outcomes in ten. Band width follows the evidence - a model with a tight measured record carries a tight band.
A stronger five year outlook than 62% of the library.
-26.6% weakest projected move in the librarystrongest +73.1%
Five-year cost of ownership
Value change alone: +$1,745 across five years.
Running costs over the same period: $24,950.
Duty and expected selling costs: $1,270.
Net cost of five years of ownership: $24,475, or $4,895 a year.
The projected value rise offsets part of the running cost. It does not make the car free to own.
The case for and against
The case for
The last production rotary. A compression-tested, rebuilt-engine car has genuine long-term collector logic.
The case against
Engine rebuild risk dominates every other number. The sinking fund alone is 13.6% of the car value per year.
Known faults and risks
Risk 1Apex seal failure
Risk 2Flooded starts killing engines
Risk 3Few rotary specialists remain
Rotary rebuild$8,500
Ignition coils and plugs$700
Similar cars, and what they cost to run
Evidence behind this valueThin · 2 recorded sales
Carried value
$15,500
Historical price
2016 · $11,5002026 · $15,500
Thin
No external evidence. A modelled estimate whose structure is more useful than its level.
Two Australian results on ordinary cars and one on a variant this record does not cover
The ordinary pair: $16,600 at 94,729km in Bondi Junction, September 2024, and $7,400 at 145,394km in Perth, November 2021. They are 51,000 kilometres and three years apart, so distance and time are confounded and no slope is fitted from two points. The value moves $14,000 to $15,500 on the 2024 result taken out to the distance this record expects.
Read the rest of the evidence notes (1 more)
The Spirit R is a gap
A 2012 Spirit R manual with 115,197 kilometres made $26,251 at Kings Park, New South Wales in July 2026 - fifty-nine per cent above the ordinary car at higher distance. The Spirit R is the final special edition and it is plainly its own market, exactly as the MX-5 SP and the STI S207 are elsewhere in this library. That figure is held below as context and does not set the value here. SOURCING: aggregator-surfaced auction results, not confirmed against the auction house, the weakest evidence grade in this library.
This page prices the model.
The report prices the car in the advertisement.
The report prices the car in the advertisement.
Send the link. A person reads the advertisement and its photographs and sends back what that Mazda RX-8 GT is worth, what to offer and when to walk away, with five years of costs at the distance you drive.
The evidence on this model is thin and the report says so on its cover. Read a complete one on a real car first. Seventeen sections, no account, nothing to pay.
This model, today$15,500
Half of sales are further out than$1,733
The report$249
7×
the price of the report: what half of real sales of this model sit further from this page's number than, on this car
Watch this model
Told when the next one is called.
One line of email when this desk publishes a call on a Mazda RX-8 GT, or records a new Australian sale of one. Nothing else, no schedule, and on a quiet model you may hear nothing for months, which is itself worth knowing about a car you are chasing.
Free. One address, one model, and no account.
Japan · 2003 onwards