Greetings fellow G's-

I'll try to keep it simple; I want to buy another car that will see a lot of track time and hard driving. Hard driving a few nights per week, track driving maybe twice per month (possibly more). The car needs to be RWD, handle well, be able to withstand abuse, and have an LSD (A real one, none of that VLSD ****). I don't really care about speed, but the large catch is that I don't want to spend more than 4k on it. The only applicaple vehicles I can think of are FC's and 94+ Miatas (Edit: And I also considered SA/FB's, but outside of the fact that it's hard to find an LSD model, it seems the ones available are going for more than FC's!).

In order to go to track days so often, I'm going to have to travel a lot. I'm not a baller yet, so I can't afford to trailor the car (And I wouldn't want to even if I could). So the car will need to survive an assortment of road trips (sometimes as little as 2 hours, sometimes 12). So I ask you, NA FC owners, assuming your car is in tip-top maintained shape, would you trust it to go such lengths and back after it's been pushed all day?

I know the Miata can handle it no problem, and it actually gets ~50% better gas mileage, and it would in all ways probably be better suited for what I'm looking for. But for the bit of extra storage space I would have, for the fact I wouldn't have to pay for a rollbar and hardtop, because I can buy one for half the price of a good 94+ MX5, and also for the vanity factor, I'd love to own an FC. I like how Miatas look with a lip/drop/wheels, but an FC is just so much more menacing and aesthetically pleasing. And as much as I try to be function>form, seeing as I'll be driving this very often on the street, I'd like to be in love with what I'm driving. So I'm trying to see if I could swing it.

Thanks very much for any input and experienced opinions.

 

a properly tuned and running FC should be able to go all day at high speed on long distances without any issues

 

Mine has had a small coolant seal leak for about a month and I still drive/beat it daily.

 

No reason an FC would break down unless you drop a couple quarts of oil all of the sudden (meaning, all of it), leak out all your coolant, spew gasoline all over your exhaust manifold, or have a massive failure of the OMP/OMP lines...

 

yes.

the 1st gen GSL and GSL-SE's have LSD rear ends.
all of the N/A's i have owned have been good for long distance. when i was in college i didnt have very many problems driving 800 miles from houston,tx to huntsville,al in my 83 GSL. i drove my GSL-SE to murfreesboro,birmingham,deals gap and didnt have many problems. i trailored my FC to deals gap this year just in case anything happened i was able to have tools and spare parts, in 05 my alt. on the GSL-SE died and i got lucky because a friend had trailored his out there and loaned my an alt so i could drive home.

 

Absolutely. Back when my FC was my daily driver and fully maintained, I took it on some 1200 mile weekend trips.

You want to be sure you have tools for general maintenance in the car, but there are a lot of things that can fail without affecting your ability to get home. The only belt *needed* is the eshaft/water pump/alternator belt.

If you're in the midwest, I have a FC with a rebuilt motor for sale:
http://www.sevarg.net/rx7.html

-=Russ=-

 

I find this question odd... If a car is well maintained, ANY car should be suitable for a any length of trip the owner would want to take.

 

I've trusted a 1967 beetle cross country, so a rebuilt 7 I would trust without a 2nd thought

 

I went to Pocono's a couple of weeks ago, driving two and a half hours each way in addition to the track day that I did. Car went to and from without a hitch, I brought some extra oil and coolant just in case, but didn't really use any of it.

What's wrong with a VLSD anyway? I have one and use it on the track, I never light up the inside wheel upon cornering and I'm pretty flat on the throttle as soon as I pass the apex/clipping point. Works fine for me.

I just picked up another NA F/C, I started in California on Sunday and got to Indiana on Thursday night. After F1 weekend is over, I'm heading back to New York. Car's running pretty strong right now, no engine or tranny issues at all.

 

I commuted in an FC with a blown oil seal and a small coolant leak (no going over 4K rpm ever!) about 400+ miles a day and it held up for over a year before that seal let loose and I became smokey mcsmoke.

 

i drove my 120K miles FC 2 hours one way (Tyler, TX to Dallas, TX) 3 times a week WITH a hairline crack on the stock radiator and leaking exhaust. i didn't had any problems driving my 7 long distance since i do everything on the 7 myself, so i pretty much know what to do if something's wrong. I didn't go anywhere WITHOUT a gallon of coolant, 2 quarts of oil, my trusty toolbox and my Haynes Manual.

Of course, there were times that i hesitated but heck, i went anyways.

Now, i'm drive my car 1 hour 1 way every day (Tyler, TX to Laineville, TX) to work (with Koyo Radiator this time) and it's still pulling strong.

 

I would take mine from the east coast to the west coast and back again if I could afford the gas

 

I wouldn't. My right leg would be hurting so much I could barely apply the brakes after about 6 hours...

...I need cruise control... (a less crappy seat would probably help too)

 

i would never question my cars (87 rx7 and 85 rx7) i would take them anywere..
the only time i question them is when i bought them.lol.

:AA:

 

Amen to that! I took a few years for me to get everything straighten out on my car to allow me to say " I trust it".

 

Yeah I dont really understand unless you jsut bought the car I might be suspicious about things, but if it were mine for a while and I had worked out all the kinks I wouldnt hesitate to drive it cross country.

Even my TII I never mined taking it for long drives I maintained it I knew all of its nuances so I really didn't care how far I went, that is until I smelled gas.

 

Runs as good a my daily driver (Toyota 4 cylinder). Have driven it 75 miles without the slightest problem. Good cars IF you maintain them.

 

If it can go 100 miles without ANY trouble, it can go farther.

 

i trusted mine, it went for 9 hours 500 miles straight from one place to another just fine. that was my first drive in the car aswell LOL

 

I commuted 60 miles a day round trip to work for a while with a blown engine...I even drove the 2.5 hour trip to Karacks shop for a rebuild...with a blown engine. lol

 

Now that you've owned the car for a while I assume you've figured out how to release the parking brake.

 

proper maintainance alone makes most cars dependable, it's no different with an RX-7.
an NA RX-7 i think is pretty reliable IMO, and most problems are caused by improper upkeep.
i can drive my car to work, go to autocross, and make longer trips no problem. i've made a few 800+ mile trips no problem. i've had pratically no issues on the road. the biggest problems i can remember are blowing a fog light fuse and my cruise control stopped working. more annoyances than anything...

 

I wouldn't trust my n/a to drive a long distance any more than I can throw it....

that poor thing is leaking oil, bad compression, etc....poor thing.

 

Mine leaks oil so i have to put a quart in every 400 miles or so, but other than that i have no issues.

 

I've taken my na car on 7 hour trip (each way) a couple time for out-of-town autocrosses - and plan to drive it 11 hours to Vancouver later this summer to run in the Canadian Autoslalom Championship. It's a bit thirsty (and with the race springs a bit harsh-riding) to drive regularly on long trips, but has never given me the slightest trouble, other than the bolts on the downpipe/presilencer working slightly loose and causing an exhaust leak. It's easily the most reliable car I've ever had As other posters have said, it all comes down to maintenance - if it runs reliably around town, no reason to think otherwise on a long trip as long as there's no oil or coolant leaks.