How reliable is the rotary? I'm thinking about buying a 88 t2 for a daily driver car. It has 128k miles on it and is rough. Its still very fun to drive and has lots of power. A few concerns though. a. It wont idle. I'm not sure what the deal is, I'm going back to look at again in a few more weeks. I know some vaccum lines were not correct when i played with it a few years ago. b. it has been sitting for like 6 months or more. when we started it... it started right up. it ran at like 4k for 3 or 4 mins (to warm up?). then when it went to normal idle (well died). c. when it was cold and you reved it after letting off the gas it would put a some blue smoke out. was this because it was sitting? It seemed to blow less and less smoke as it warmed up. It almost went away at the end. is this a sign of the engine being basically worn or just from it sitting? I should also mention this car only had a glasspack for a muffler and no cats (too darn loud for me). so nothing is being hidden. d. how well do these cars start in the winter when its -20 degrees out? and how bad are these cars to drive in the winter (this would be my winter car!)? e. how hard are parts to get? how much does the engine cost to rebuild if I did all the work myself? How long do the turbos last? How much to replace? How can I tell what shape these items are in by driving it (limited field tests (compression perhaps)?).

The body look ok for an 88. Starting to get just a little rust above the rear wheel wells... nothing a few hundred bucks of body work couldnt fix though.

I'm interested in the car. I think it would be fun. I have always admired these cars and I can get this one for next to nothing... my question is... can I get it to be reliable for 1500 bucks? What should I look at before buying this machine? Thanks for any suggestions what so ever!

 

I use my 88TII as a daily driver, and so far I've been loving it!

The smoking may be the oil seals going out, it could lessen as the engine warms and the seals expand.

And a rotary isn't that much different than any other 16 year old car, it will need lots of care, most of it little stuff a lot of the time. That also depends on how well it was taken care of before you got it.

If you rebuilt the engine yourself, you could probably do it for less than 1,000.

How long a turbo lasts is dependant on how it was driven and maintained.

Turbo cars can be tricky to drive in snow/ice situations, since they don't have much low-end for starting out slowly, it can be tricky to get them to go from a stop until you get used to it.

Hope that helps a little bit!

 

How many miles do you have on your car MountainTurbo? How many miles do you put on it a year? What kind of gas milage can I expect if the car is running well?

 

I have an 88 NA... year round car. I know it won't match the Turbo in power, but it's fairly easy to control in low-traction conditions once you get the hang of it.


Gas mileage is as to be expected from such a sporty car.
17-23 city I believe is the norm.

My car has 120k and still going unbelievably strong.