RX-7 TII Vs WRX?
 

Alright guys, recently I posted about an 87 RX-7 Turbo II I found for 4,000 bucks. Its in an incredible state of upkeep and condition and I think its personally a good deal.

However, before I waste 4 grand on a car... I want to know something about 2nd Gen RX-7's.

I own a 2002 Subaru WRX, AWD, Turbo, The works. I want to know if an 87 RX-7 TII will be of ANY comparison.

Keep in mind, the nice older gentlemen who happens to be a car collector, and actually had an 86 Porsche 928S sitting next to the RX-7... Has rebuilt the engine, put a larger turbo on it I believe he said, an all new "High-Flow" exhaust, and a manual boost controller of some sort, its purple/blue on the passenger side wheel well in the engine bay, with a vacuum hose hooked up to it. No experience whatsover with one of them... His explaination of the car is that is is "exceedingly fast." And that it is pushing around 10lbs of boost instead of 7. So he estimated about 70hp increase from stock. So I'm looking at about 250hp? From my esimation from the FAQ page atleast...

I want to know any ups and downs or anything about the RX-7, if its at all possible. And, do you think THIS setup is in any way comparible to the WRX that I have in terms of handling, accel, top ... well I know the top end is faster.... 160 Vs 140.

And, something curious... He said it doesn't have a blow-off valve... because I tried to give him a weird type of vibe about me trying to be inconspicous about cops. Cops LOVE WRX's.... :rolleyes: But... Yeah... Think this is a good buy?

Btw, I'm sellin the WRX because of insurance.... $350 car payment, $650 insurance bill... monthly.

Never underestimate the power of a rotary. :) the AWD may win of the line but the lighter rx would have a big advantage after that.

yes indeed...you must buy onoe for your self.. cuz it just can not be explane

yes indeed...you must buy one for your self.. cuz it just can not be explane

well lets put it this way, a stock wrx is what 20k. A nice stock T2 is 4k. Put 5k worth of mods on that TII and that wrx couldn't keep up past 3rd

edit: dude, $650 monthly insurance, thats a shitload even with full coverage. I'd be looking for a new insurance company. I don't have full coverage, pay $140 and I'm 18, I don't own a wrx but I own an rx7 which is just as "sporty". State Farm wanted $255 a month for normal coverage, yay right I'd pay them grubby money fiends.

the 7 is a hobby labor of love an obsession.

I have a 87 tII and I ran my friends 2003 wrx from a stop. it was even until I got through 3rd and pulled. Both cars were stock. The only thing about a 87 is the other things under the hood besides the engine are 17 years old. my engine was rebuild but i still ended up spending over $500 in the first 4 months of owning the car. You will run into problems with the TII. But other than that i love my 87 TII.

The vehicle's value is a big part of its insurance premium. You can't compare your premium to the premium of a car worth ten times as much.

Anything in the department of handling? I know AWD = Uber... but is it even remotely close?

I'm more of a "road-race" guy, I live in West Virginia and there are curvy roads everywhere, and I've grown to love them over "Circle-Tracks" and drag. But I do enjoy a good 0-100 dig to get the old heart pumpin.....

So anyway, now that the acceleration subject has been covered, what about Handling?

*BTW* I plan on upgrading the suspension anyway, 1987 technology Vs 2005 technology = Loser... So... I'm definately going to look at adjustable coilovers or... whatever would fit on the car.. I don't know much about Mazda's...



OR My buddy said I should invest in a Miata... But.. Don't know how that'd work.. a 13BT would definately get put into the Miata, but at any rate... I started rambling... HANDLING?

by the way.... carb or Fuel Injector...????

Here's a concept: Test drive the car.

yeh i also wanted to be 100% sure on which one it was? anyone?

The 2nd generation RX-7 is fuel injected stock. (I think that answers your question??)

It's a sickness as well....trust me on this one :)

IMHO, in comparison, on the pavement, RWD will always rule over AWD. AWD has this slight problem: It dosen't like to turn very easily on pavement when all 4 wheels have traction. RWD you can control and use to your advantage to get the rear end to step out and many other manuvers that would require much more aggresive driving with AWD. All in all, for a road race car, RWD will always be out on top for handling.

Sell the Subaru, get the '7, get a daily driver (older Civic or something) to drive when the '7 isn't running (or you don't want to take it out - snow/ice), mod the '7 (suspension, tires, etc) and you'll still be ahead.

-=Russ=-

I raced my buddies wrx, with about 30k in after market parts, in my '87 TII with maybe 1k worth of parts and I kicked his ass as soon as i hit three gear. He didn't have A CHANCE

Hey I'm in WVa to, ya ins here sucks ass I pay $150 on 2 cars ( my 7 and my bronco II ) I raced a WRX in my 87 GXL w/ dieing engine on the twestys and lost mainly becuse of old suspension was not up to it but I keeped up and never lost sight of the wrx. if that helps in any way.

Peace
Mage

Hmmmm, Well I think it may be settled then... I think Monday I might go down there, hand him a check for 4,000 and see if he bites...

I think you made the right choice... I own a bunch of 7's... and put it this way - there is a definite rx7 "niche", or at least there is around here... So random props from kansas :-D
now, i have an engine to pull LoL...

That is a gross (and inaccurate) generalisation. There are far too many other varibles to consider, and your theory can really only be applied to light, under-powered cars that have trouble breaking traction under power. 4WD requires a slow-in, fast-out approach compared to RWD, a style RWD proponents don't seen to understand. 4WD power-understeer can also be largely eliminated with an LSD. The fact that you can put more power down on exiting the corner means a powerful 4WD car will always be much, much quicker out of a corner (and hence quicker overall) than a similarly-powerful RWD car. Sideways isn't fast, not matter how much you enjoy it.

do a compression check on it before you buy it . see how often he changed his oil and what have you. $ 4000 on a clean TII with a upgraded turbo is a good deal , but beprepared to possible dump more money on it.

Here's the thing, the WRX is more fun as a daily and usable car. You can go skiing in it etc without any worries about it, it handles pretty well too. It will have much better low end response (acceleration from stop lights, etc) and notice how everyone is saying you'll pull past 3rd in the FC, but probably loose or maybe even before that. You're getting a pretty biased answer this being an RX7 Club, but I'd test drive and see what you think. Oh and FYI, the car has a compressor bypass (Blow Off) valve, it just isn't vented to the atmosphere to make a psssht noise, much like your WRX.

Rexes have nothing for steering feed back. You will miss that when going from your subaru to the mazda. In stock form they are scary to take high speed bend in because of the DTSS (DTS?) automatic-toe-adjusting-wannabe-4WS-system that makes the car a little bit unpredictable. Rx7's also drift like no other, so if that's your thing, you'll love the FC.

The DTSS can be and should be eliminated to make the car more predictable. I'm not sure what to do about the steering..I drove a manual rack TII and it was mute as well.

My .02 cents, I'm a curves man myself. Good luck on your new rex.

Ok thats pure bullshit..... maybe 30k in show related shit... anyways, as for a comparison between a wrx and rx7 go... there is none... first of all the rx7 is a pretty old car and at 17 y/o + alot of parts wear out... including interior, suspension and exterior parts...most turboII's out there for sale, are most likely ragged out by previouse owners, so be very carefull into wat you get yourself into.. now performance wise, an rx7 is very comparable to wrx, plus probably alot cheaper to upgrade certain parts... like other people have said, since this is an old car, there will be some down time... and w.e. shop you take it to will most likely charge a pretty penny to perform any work to it... just dont jump into something because you think its cheaper now, it might come out more expensive than you thought in the longrun...on the upside, rx7's are very fun cars to work on, and almost any performance upgrade will make you fall more and more inlove with it...