Ford has controlling shares in mazda, but mazda operates independently of ford and most cars are still built in hiroshima. The 1st year rx8 had some minor issues that were fixed via chip update. Now reliability is as good as any other similar car. Also, there is no oil consumption issue. Rotery engines USE oil by design to lubricate the seals. Just like any other car, if you change the oil at regular intravals, you'll never have to worry about it. This is all so far off topic though, that's all I'll say. If you wanna learn more, there are rx-8 forums. The best forum though, is miata.net. Tons of knowledgable people there.