No. Next question.

 

HAHA had to, sorry.

The *actual* answer is... it depends, as with anything. Do they have finicky subsystems that break and cause countless hours of lost sleep to troubleshoot? No - mechanically it's hard to get simpler. With an FC3S (86-91) RX7 I could even pull, rebuild, and reinstall the motor in a day, if I had parts on hand.

However - even the newest rotary in the RX8 is getting long in the tooth - 2003-2012. That overlaps the various G models, for sure, and has similar problems - rubber/plastic parts degrading, wiring issues, general wear and tear. I'd not worry so much about the motor core going bad unless over 200k, but the ancillaries...
I had a 2005 RX8 and the motor was still going strong (and compression tested well) when I sold it. It was modded, but with an eye towards longevity first (bumped oil injection, changed temp setpoints, etc). What eventually killed it was a clutch failure so bad the trans input shaft bent - the trans was always marginal for handling that much power.

Re: brake pads - Mazda OEM pads are pretty aggressive, comparable IMHO to BMW stock pads. They give very good stopping performance for stock pads, but they're intended to be replaced frequently (in both marques). Good news is they are inexpensive and a very easy job for the home mechanic.

 

The AT in my 2.0 was a brute. I was still very 'green' when it came to my knowledge of cars and never serviced the AT in 125,xxx miles. It was starting to slip a bit at moderate to heavy throttle 1-2 but never let go; despite the neglect and pretty horrible abuse I put it through. I was 100% convinced it was a race car for the first 110k miles...

Second that - I don't have experience with the newest models but my '08 had pretty good stopping power all things considered.

 

CSB: So, for a while as a transitional car I had a used Mazda3 (over 210k miles) with the 2.0 and auto trans. Fun Fact: the transmission drain plug looks like an engine oil drain, and the engine oil drain looks like a trans/diff plug. First time we changed the oil, we drained all the transmission fluid out and doubled the engine oil. Drove to work the next day - it barely made it, trans wouldn't shift anymore (small wonder) and the engine oil got all foamed up and increase crankcrase pressure magnificently.

Got it home via tow, properly changed oil (at least I know I got all the dirty oil out), and refilled trans with proper fluid (Mazda fluid, or surprisingly, Walmart has a store brand ATF that is type MZ) to proper levels and the car just acted normally again. Like I'd been an idiot on a drunken night out and my friends decided to completely forget it ever happened.

Proceeded to drive Uber and Lyft in it for 2 years after with nary a problem.

Re: brakes, on the Mazda3 I had Hawk HP+ pads and the 18" wheels from the RX-7. It stopped well.

TL;DR: kinda bulletproof.

 

Fixed that for you

Also guilty of doubling the oil capacity. Car put on a smoke show...

 

Sigh. I *hated* working on that car (see: engine mounts), but thank goodness I didn't have to often.

 

Upgraded my mounts to the street unit racing mounts. Really helped keep all 118HP planted...

In order to prevent this thread from going too far off topic, lets not even get into the Vibrant race header install....

 

Ok then. That makes sense with the brakes. I'm pretty familiar with doing brakes.