Hello. I have a question about an 89 Rx7 Convertible I am thinking about buying. The car has 169k total miles on it, with a rebuilt engine wit only 27k on it. THe car is in excellent shape, however there are two small tears in the convertible top on the rear on both the right and left side. The asking price is 7995, is this a fair price to pay?

 

wow! thats pretty spendy. not even a turboII goes for that much if i were you i would be patient and shop around for the best bargain.

but you cant beat a new engine

 

Have any ideas how much I should offer for it? I have no idea, but I am with you in that it is pretty pricey!!!!

 

is this going to be your primary car/daily driver? if so try to get one that has been rebuilt or has low miles. the last thing you want is to buy a pos that doesnt run when you need it too.

Mykl should reply soon he will tell you whats up, he has a vert

 

thanks for the replies!!! I Was planning on useing it for work/pleasure... Ill wait for Mykls reply! Thanks again.

 

I've got an 89 RX-7 convertible. As a point of reference, my car was stolen in August and was totalled (it was recovered). I decided to buy it back and fix it, so the insurance company ordered a market survey in the northern new jersey area to figure out how much the car was worth. The car, when stolen, was pristine - only one or two small rock chips in the front end. It had 24000 miles on it and had been stored from 1990 - 1999 (only driven a few hundred miles each summer). There were no tears in the top at all - everything was perfect on the exterior and the car was mechanically brand new.

Insurance wrote me a check for $8,900. That included about $300 in CDs that were stolen, making it $8,600 for the car alone. Therefore, given the miles on the car (even with a new engine), I would think you should be able to talk him down to $7000.

If you do decide to get it, just remember that the car is not very quick - it's very heavy compared to other RX-7s. But it is an extremely fun car to drive. Good luck!

Dave

 

I paid 8K for mine from my Dad who was the original owner of the car. It has NO dings and NO wear marks on the interior and the top is flawless. I am asked quite often if it is a new top. The compression on the original engine compares to when the car was purchased new. I wouldn't offer him anything over 5K if it has a torn top, since they can get pretty pricey alone if you ever want to replace it.

There are also a ton of other things that need to be replaced at that high of mileage. The suspension is shot at this point. New bushings are in order. Transmission is probably nearing the end of life if it is original. How is the interior? Also, what does the interior look like?


I would stay under 5K or look elsewhere.

 

shat i paid 2k for mine. i dunno bout my motor but it runs good and is pretty strong, the top has a few tears in it, and the interior was pretty beat up. also the car was repainted yellow. no rust on the whole car, underside is mint.

i would honestly say no more than like 6k... it is an 89 tho! which had the nice body style, and cooler features. its your call man, if is in super mint showroom shape try for like 6500. 8k is what a dealer would ask for that car, not a average person...

scott

 

8K is way too much for a 89 with that high of mileage on the body. I pay only 6K for my 91 with only 60K miles on it and it was in mint condition. As for the tears on the top, it can be pretty expensive to repair or replaces, depending on the material you want. I think it's somewhere around $700 to get it replace, at least that's how much shops in my area is asking for. If I were you, I'll look around first and be patient. Hell it look me almost a year and a half before I found my. Good luck.

 

If the tear is just behind the door opening, that is common and could possibly be repaired by your local auto upholstery shop and still look fairly good. A tip would be to ask the guy behind the local Mazda dealership parts counter who they send their cars to for upholstery work. That way at least you'll be dealing with someone that has some experience in this area. New, yeah about $700 is what it costs these days.

You're talking about $2K-$2.5k to have a shop (at least a good one) pull the engine, rebuild, and put back in. So having a 27k mileage engine is a big plus.

I agree with Dave, have the car put up in the air and poke around with a flashlight looking at anything that looks like rubber. Engine mounts are probably good, what with the newer engine. Tranny mounts and rear suspension/Differential mounts should be checked out.

For best reference, go to www.autotrader.com . Take a look around what Vert's are selling for in your area. I'd suggest expanding to the 200 mile range to get a decent selection of comparables. Information is power. :-) You'll not only get an idea what a good price would be, but you have amunition to take to deal the seller down.

My opinion, if everything else is at least cosmetically sound, then $6k would be a good final purchase price.

Good luck.

 

THAT'S INSANE!

I also feel a bit better about the deal I got on my car after hearing a couple of you other 'vert owners chime in on what you payed.

Mine had had ~125k on it, with a Mazda remanufactured engine, and clutch installed at ~100k. I recieved all maintenance records with reciepts. When it was in the shop for the engine it also recieved some body work and a paint job, so the car had no dings. Although, the paint job is rather cheap, orange peel everywhere and lots of little "scratches" you can see when the light reflects off of it in just the right way. Not so bad that I can't fix it with some polish, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. It also had a Racing Beat cat-back and a Mazdatrix strut tower bar. I also have the 'vert top boot and the slip to put the targa top in when you remove it.

On the negative side, the top was ripped in the normal spots, the seat skins need to be replaced, and the TPS was out of adjustment so it surged at idle. Otherwise it was a very very clean car, a perfect example of an old FC.

The guy originally wanted $6500 for the car, but settled for $4000 because it had sat around for about three months and he just wanted to get rid of it. When I had first seen it I decided that I was not going to pay any more than $5k for it. So I feel like I got a really sweet deal on it seeing as how trade in value is $4500 on it, with retail being closer to $7500.

If it's in absolute perfect shape, then go for it. But if it needs any work I'd try talking them down on it. There's no way in Hell I'd spend that much for one. I love my car, but it's not worth that much to me.