For your first car PLEASE .... PLEASE PLEASE dont get an RX-7. There's already enough people that think they're rotary guru's driving around with sleepy eye mods drifting at the local Costco, we don't need any more.

In all honesty. You want something reliable as your first car and no matter how good a shape your RX is in, unless its an SA or FB you're gonna have problems. Stick to something 4cyl FWD first.

 

RX7's are just as reliable as anything else of that age. There's something different though. Rx7's are easy to work on...

 

hey, if you're parents are going to foot the bill for insurance on the RX-7, why not get it?

However if you have to be responsible and ny purchase the car yourself, but also pay for EVERYTHING associated with it.........buy a Jetta, they're great on fuel.

 

i gotta agree with most of the other guys on this, for a first car you need something cheap, reliable and most of all ugly, you dont know it yet but u got a few accidents coming your way. when you get into those accidents in a civic no one gets hurt, when you get into those accidents with a rx7, ur doing +30mph and theres the potential for injury.

just my thoughts, i had a 93 tempo gl 2 dr as a first car and i hit everything there was to hit (95% of the time it was on purpose) but you get my drift

 

I'm not ruling out rotaries in general, just avoid FC's and FD's as a first car. Anything with a 12a is pretty much indestructible as long as the cats and/or thermal reactor are removed and the cooling system is in good shape.

 

A rebuilt rotary can be just as good as a piston engine as long as the owner broke the engine in right and did proper maintence. They are easy to work on. We cant throw rods or anything like that so its not like we gotta worry about fixing internall **** unless the car overheats or boosts to high.

 

if your not loaded with money or cant do your own work DO NOT buy a rx-7
if you think you can get by. find the nicest condition 89-91 non turbo you can.

 

most ppl think that rx7s are hard to work on but they are wrong. they say that cuz they dont know **** about a rotary engine. if u just look up and search the forums and what not, ull find the solutions for ur problems easily. also, put it this way, if u get a civic, ull be a regular, but if u get a rx7, ur car will turn some heads

 

Quite alot of improvement in the rotary engine can be attributed to the advancement of the 12a.

Induction hardening of the side-housing

Gas soft-nitriding

REST

Pinpoint porous chrome plating technique improved trichoid and apex-seal lubrication

Crowned main seal body so it conforms to the trochoid under load

Apex seals were crystallized in the form of carbides by chill hardening under an electron beam

Corner seals were a new flexible design

Combustion recess' were modified to LDR (leading deep recess) with leading plugs moved ahead by 5mm.

Cumbustion cahmber helped speed up flame propagation by reducing squish effect

3mm apex seals

 

can hardly say that 3mm apex seals are an improvement...


Either way this thread has been pruned for mis-information and off topic posts.

Everyone here needs to stick to what the guy is asking instead of arguing the merits or dis-advantages of an entirly unrelated motor and unrelated model to the question posed by the thead starter.

or this thread will be shut down.

 

Lets just say the 3mm seal discussion will go down the same road as the PD/Banjo bolt.

 

Well you see thats really not up to me now is it. Lots of you drivers have cars that are a handfull to drive. But that doesn't stop them.

Think about the kids you went to high school with and the kind of cars they drove. Some little punk whos mommy and daddy bought him a vet or something.

Maybe he is mature enough to handle it. Maybe he is so immature that a kia would be leathal in his hands. I was just saying what he could afford.

 

yeah def isnt a first car kinda car cause i had mine for like 3 weeks before the apex inner and outer seals blew and had to come up with like 2gs to change em. but this wasnt my first car and i had a good job to get it goin now i upgrading everything . new battery platnum alternator new plugs the works but im always looking for other up keep things wanna keep my car runing good

 

Im only 16 and got an RX7. when i first bought it i dont know nothing but about a week later i learn alot about rotary engine. They are easy to fix. The only reason why they say is hard was that i dont know nothing about them and the reason their parts are expensive was because there are no other car beside the RX7 or other kind of RX that have rotary engine. Welp i still want to learn more about RX7 and still learning more and more each day. I also figure that when im out of high school im going to go a place where i can become a master at rotay engine and also piston too

 

JA! I bought mine for $300 with the engine broken, Im just gonna swap that **** and install a 13B thiwn turbo on it :P

 

hey, my rx7 is my first car and maintenance is just about doing your homework

read, read, read

lurk in the forums, learn how a rotary works, and stay on top of your oil changes

its a fun car, but make sure you can afford the gas

 

first of all i don't like the sleepy eyes at all.. i hate it so much , and second i just love the car that i would do any kind of racing. i just want a daily car that can go to school and go home
that's it

 

i don't like to get a civic ....
i wanna some challenging !!

 

more ppl that get rx7s, the more rotary heads in this world

 

to be honest, if i was u, id get the car that i would want.

who gives a **** about what other ppl say. they aint ur parents.

sure its risky to hav a rotary as a 1st car but who cares, juss because the engine blow doesnt mean its the end of the world. ull still gain knowledge when u rebuild the motor.

i had a ghetto eclipse and got the fc when i was like 17. i took good care of it but the engine still blew so im rebuilding it now. sure takin out the engine, goin through **** load of wire brushes, mineral solvents burning my hand was a bitch en all, but it didnt feel like a chore.

wut im simply saying is the decision is all up to u, not us.

PEACE OUT

 

when i bought my rx7 i was 16 years old, it was my 1st car and i recently had my drivers licence, and hell i didn't knew squad of what went wrong the times i had problems with my rex but i didn't care i just got familiar with the car and start doing the work myself, everyone should start with the car they want. ive been 3 years with my TII and it runs like a champ and right now i know much more than when i was 16 years old and start driving and doing every mechanic on the rotary engine. hell i was the only kid on the blog and maybe the entire area with an rx7. i still remember one day when a neighboor told me "hey man sweet car, is that a v6 '' so yea maybe now you know why i did all the work myself lol. good luck and whatever you do, keep it rotary style .

 

^ that scares me.

obviously he will get what he wants no matter what we say. might as well encourage him.


good luck on your find. my rx7 is my dream car. its my second car. i will never sell it. i will drive it till it blows and rebuild it till i pass it on to my kids. hope you have the same love.

 

that scared me. they posted before i got done...

 

hell yea bro, even if it blows i still fixed it and make it stronger, lol this guy is a true rotary head. thumbs up

 

This is the list of cars/trucks I've drove/owned since I was 15 (~1992):

- 1990 Nissan Maxima (auto.)
- '90s Nissan Pathfinder (auto.)
- 1992 Jeep Wrangler (5 spd.)
- '90s Acura Legend (auto.)
- 1989 BMW 535i (5 spd.)
- '90s Kawasaki Ninja EX500
- 1999 Honda CBR F4
- 2003 Yamaha R1
- 1988 Mazda RX-7 convertible (5 spd.)

I enjoyed them all