N/A rotary is very reliable and has much less moving parts that reciprioating engines.
And Mazda is extending this eight year/100,000 mile warranty retroactively to all RX-8s built between 2004 and 2008 so what's the concern? Blow one and get a new one swapped in for free.

i have an 04 blue for takeup lease, pm me for details if interested =)

Don't get an auto RX-8. The stick and auto version is quite different in specs.
And when I testdrove teh auto RX-8, it didn't impress me. Felt on par with the Mazda3 in the acceleration.

was it a rebuilt car or just rebuilt engine? completely different thing

If a 2004 car got an engine rebuilt, let alone a chassis rebuild, I'd STAY AWAY from it.

how hard do you have to drive it to justify an engine rebuild in 5 years?

not hard at all, if you only need to idle it with no engine oil for a few minutes

I would buy it as a fun weekend car. Nothing more, nothing less.

If you have to think twice about $7k, then you'll think three times about the gas, and four times at the maintenance headaches.