Help please 2004 rx8 231

Hi All i am new to this so hope this is in the correct forum!

My boyfriend bought a RX8 on Monday and today he had to be towed home by the AA!
He was sitting in neutral whilst at traffic lights and he pressed the clutch down to place into gear and the car stalled for no reason. After that it would not start for a couple of hours (hence him being towed home)
Tried to go out just now the car started fine (idle was a little rough) but as soon as he pushed the clutch down the car went juddery as if it was to stall again! There was also a strong petrol smell in the cabin

If it matters the car is 2004 RX8 231 with 49k and full mazda service history. The clutch was also replaced less than 500 miles ago approx 4 months

We have had a look through the paperwork and cannot find any record of the coils being changed - could this be the issue??

Any help is greatly appreciated!!

While coils are a common issue on the RX-8 (and with 50k on them it is definitely time to change them, along with wires and plugs) I don't think they would be related to this.

I would get under the dash and operate the clutch petal with my hand and see if there is any physical damage as these also have a long history of failure. Check the weld points for breaks and try to rock it side to side (left-right) it should not move much that way and if it does probably is broken somewhere. Also when you look at the petals they should be evenly spaced. If the clutch petal is overly close to the brake, or looks like it is at a weird angle it is probably damaged/broken. Another thing to look at would be the neutral position switch which is mounted on the petal assembly.

Also another thing I would consider is that with a relatively new clutch and clutch related failure, is there any chance it was installed incorrectly? Did you have it installed? Who put it in?

If you were having a problem with your coils to the point of having stalling issues you would most likely have a flashing CEL as well. As for gas smell in the cabin, I'm not really sure what that would be exactly. Are you used to driving an RX-8, as they are usually rather rich at startup until they get up to temp.