Red interiors on a black car are hot. Just my 2 cents.

 

Yea, the 84-85 interior is great. It reminds me of the interior of a 90's Saturn. Boxy, cheesy and ugly. lol

Sorry, I'm being a little sarcastic, and I know everyone has they're own idea of what beauty is. I just always figured that anyone who appreciates the exterior of a 1st gen would also appreciate the interior of the older 1st gens. But I guess I can understand some people wanting they're car to have the look of every other generic modern car that all look the same inside. (didn't really mean that last bit to sound sarcastic, but re reading it, it does come across that way. Basically I'm just saying I understand there are some people who like a retro look and some people that just want things to have a new modern look.)

 

I'm with you grandgarson. I think the series 3/84-85 interior is ugly too

I don't think it matches the rest of the car. Who wants a joystick in their car?

The only reason Mazda did it was to modernize the car to fill the gap until the 2nd gen came anyway. Which also has an ugly interior. I can say that because this is the 1st gen section, right?

Maybe we need a separate section for those weird 84-85 guys.

 

Terrh obviously has an excellent sense of the aesthetic. I am not suggesting that those of you who cannot see the obvious have no sense of aesthetics - but unless you have owned and driven examples of all three variations (79-80, 81-83, and 84-85), you cannot really have an unbiased opinion.

My partner and I rebuilt a lot these cars from wrecks back in the 1980s and early 90s, and we decided in about 1988 that we would not even bid on anything but the 84-85 cars because they are just so much nicer in every way. I have built numerous custom cars based on these, in some cases making one good car out of two wrecks, so I am pretty familiar with the way they are built. Mazda just did a better job on the later cars.

 

I don't think there's any such thing as an "unbiased opinion:" If you have an opinion, you are by-definition biased in support of your opinion. Otherwise, it's not really an opinion.

Of course, that's just my opinion.

 

We're not talking about how they drive here, we're talking about how they look. I haven't owned all three variations, but I have driven all three, and I still think the 84-85 interior is ugly. That's my opinion. And as far as how they drive, they started offering power steering in the newer ones which basically killed the whole idea of it being a sports car. Who wants a sports car that feels like it's starting to float when you get up to highway speeds? But again, this is about how it looks not how it drives. I've wanted an RX-7 since I was in high school, but then a couple of years after high school my sister got an 89 RX-7. I already knew that the 2nd gen was ugly (in my opinion) and I would never own one of them, but then I drove it and lost all interest in RX-7s for a long time because of the power steering. I'm glad that I eventually test drove the RX-7 that I now have (a 1980 without power steering and with the better looking interior in my opinion).

Again, all of these things are a matter of opinion, but we are not talking about how well the cars were built (especially since most all of these cars are only as good at the people that are rebuilding them since they are older cars), we are talking about our personal opinions on what looks better. There is no right or wrong answer, just our personal preferences.

 

I've had s3 and s1. S1 better imo, s3 still nice though just a bit rangy.


Does anyone know if all of first gen rx7's seat rails are the same/similar/nah?

 

I saw a thread a while back that was discussing seat rails. If I remember correctly the bolt pattern on the floor is the same for all 1st gens and also the same on 2nd gens, but the pattern that connects to the seats is different on 1st and 2nd gens, but the same on all 1st gens. I could be wrong about this, but that is how I remember it.

 

That's how I remember things being when I swapped my original SA seats for FBs, some years back. I had to keep the FB seats with the FB rails due to the hole pattern on the seats, but the rails bolted right onto the floor pan with no issues.

I would have preferred to use my SA rails, as the FB rails I ended up with are a little worn. They wobble a tiny bit. Not enough to be worth swapping as yet, though.