appreciate just how fast an fd is
 

after letting some friends drive my car and after reading bajaman's post below, i just thought about how fast these cars actually are in any state of tune. the friends i refer to above were two guys that i know and see at the local autocross, one who has an sti and one who has an evo, both of which have more than basic modifications.
within the last two weeks, both of those guys drove my car and were surprised how hard the turbos hit, how fast the car was, how tight it felt and how good the brakes were. each agreed that my car was definitely faster than their own by a good margin.
it didn't strike me until today, but i started to think about the fact that my almost ten year old car with mostly bolt on mods will drive past 99% of the cars on the road (at least around here). i considered pre-ordering a lotus elise, but i could put another $4k into my car and still have less than half of the price of the lotus into it including the cost of the car--and the 7 would drive circles around the lotus.
just a reminder from a happy fd owner, with a decent buzz, that these cars are incredible in every aspect of performance and are still able to best most new sports cars.
just a thought.

oh yeah,

94 pep white, m2 wrapped d.p., racing beat dual tip, pettit intake, racing beat 9.5lb flywheel, act s/s clutch, koyo, silicone hoses, brembo rotos, ebc greens, stainless lines, synthetics everywhere, daws device boost controler, poor man's non-seq.

Yep, the FD is STILL just an incredible machine. Every now and then a car company gets things just right, and that was certainly the case with Mazda and the RX-7s, regardless of models, but the FD culminated automotive perfection in a lot of ways.
I remember how happy I was with my FC, it was SO cool, yet its ~130 mph top end left me wanting more.
With the FD, it is like.....'okay driver....I'll go as fast as you have balls to take me!"
There is one road I take that is just sweeper after sweeper, posted 40 mph but you can take them at twice that speed.....some are even off-camber but the FD just eats them up.
These cars are just ridiculously fast, quick and nimble.
Even seasoned enthusists are like..."Oh FUCK!" after a ride. :cool:

I will always love my FD, even when the day comes that other cars may be faster. It will be a classic then.

"Our collective opinion: This is the best hardcore sports car in its price range, maybe in any price range".

Motor Trend, 1992.

(Of couse, they were PAID to say that...)

Wow, twin threads of different mothers.

what else can i say about the FD "drop a gear and disappear" ;)

ALI

And we are all very lucky to own one aren't we....:D

I had my brother literally shaking for 15 minutes after a ride. I am reminded of the story on the Rob Robinette site about the lady pissing herself during a ride. I won't even give some people a good run in it cause they will think I am going to kill them. Most people won't even compare it to other cars, they just go right to motorcycles for a point of reference. These cars are sick IMO. The other thing that freaks people out is the braking, passengers kind of expect to go fast, but many don't expect to be stopped that quickly. I always laugh when I go from 90 or so to 0 in no time on country roads and then rip back to 70 as quickly as I can. The look on the passengers face is always priceless.

I haven't pushed my car too hard yet, still tuning, but the fd is the sweetest car I have ever seen. It is amazing to me that in 1991 or 92 a car was designed that is copied in 1998 when the new body style of the Corvette came out. Just look at the Corvette, it looks like a little bigger version of the RX7. Same roof lines, same pop up head lights, same styling on the front quarter panels behind the wheels. Just crazy how good the fd still looks compared to other cars. And that is just the looks. With just a few mods this car makes 40K cars look just plain stupid. Gotta love the fd.

It's funny this was brought up. The other day I got my Road & Track and was reading the stats on the new Ford GT. I thought to my self for half the money spent on the GT's 150000 price tag, I could build my FD to beat it in every category. And they were so impressed how it was doing better than the Ferrari for the same price. :)

The only other person that has driven my FD besides me is my brother. He absolutely loves it and always wants to borrow it. I have given my friends rides and they love it and think its fast. But what would they know about being fast if they drive fuckin hondas. My girlfriend loves my car and is not jealous that she comes second to my car.
The rotary engine is the most amazing machine despite its bad reputation. My first car was a 2nd gen and ever since have owned 2 other rx7's and trust me I wouldn't drive anything else. Now I have owned my FD 2 years and wouldn't trade anything in the world for it.

1993 FD

I notice they didn't say "forever"... although some people seem to believe that anything said about the RX-7 is indefinitely true... :)

"The new RX-7 R1 blitzed the Bang portion of Bang for the Buck III. [...] The RX-7's performance was like having an MIT grad student, as a prank, enroll in Calculus I at a junior college. For instance, in lateral acceleration, its advantage over second place equaled second place's advantage over 15th place. [...] Our editors' notes sound like a movie ad: "Spectacular... the best... fabulous in all areas", said one editor before coming down from an adrenaline high. "By far the best track car here, maybe of all time", said another. [...] The RX-7 didn't just win the numbers game, it humiliated the field [...] Its stats read like a sports car's wish list [...] It was also rated first in Fun Factor, with an almost perfect 99.57 score" - Motor Trend 9/92


"The RX-7 can do almost anything the best sports cars can do, but better--it accelerates quicker, stops shorter, corners harder, and is faster around a racetrack than almost anything this side of $50,000, and a whole lot of things on the far side of that. As one tester put it, "It sticks to the road like tar on a rocker panel." - Motor Trend 8/92


"The only cars that get around Sears Point International Raceway hill loop much faster have numbers on their doors. [...] The RX-7 may be a performance high-water mark for years to come. [...] The RX-7's performance is awe-inspiring: It's within 1 foot of being the shortest-stopping street car we've ever tested; [...] and grips the road harder than the best race cars of only a few years ago. [...] This is the best hardcore sports car in its price range, maybe in any price range. [...] The RX-7 redefines road manners for its class; the handling feels nimble and natural [...] No sports car in its price range delivers the same level of sensory gratification for the enthusiast driver." - Motor Trend 2/93 naming the Mazda RX-7 1993 Import Car of the Year


"Over the road and on the track, the RX-7 has few peers. During our March 1992 best-handling cars' track test, Danny Sullivan was quickest in the RX-7. lapping the streets of Willow Circuit in 1 minute 05.64 sec., clipping his own time in the second-quickest car, Porsche's 911 Turbo." - Road & Track 4/92.

It's a good design. I really don't think Corvette "copied" though.. :)

I gave my brother in law a ride in my car about a month ago. He says he wont ever get in my car again unless he can drive.
I showed him what its like to ride in a car that hits 125 in fourth gear and pulls well past 150 in the top end.

Just for the record I havent been above 168.




yet.

Better start calling it a classic.

I sparked a heated debate on the RX-7 mailing list by remarking that an FD had to be heavily modified to beat a stock Z06. Of course, everyone and their brother took offense... even though I was right.

It seemed that their definition of "heavily modified" differed from mine, and I never could get anyone to agree that upping boost by 4-5 psi, requiring at a minimum the reprogramming of the stock computer, an upgraded intercooler, and sabotaging the emissions equipment by replacing the entire exhaust system constituted "heavily modified". Apparently the accepted definition has changed, and these days only applies to either a single turbo upgrade or a 20B swap. The modifications I listed above are now just routine, it appears, and so is the $5,000 or more they would cost.

Regardless, the fact remains that an FD has to be extensively modified to hang with either a stock Z06 Corvette or Viper GTS, let alone beat one, yet people are so proud of their rotary performance. Well, what if the same money was spent on modifications for either of those two cars? Oh no, that's unfair... they cost more to begin with. It appears that a "fair" comparison will never be possible (or allowed) and some will never admit that their 3rd generation RX-7 might have shortcomings -- or stop making any number of excuses for them.

As the FD's heyday is left farther and farther in the past, and newer sports cars get faster and faster (485+ horsepower '06-'07 Z06 anyone?), I suppose that eventually even single turbos and 20B swaps will become just routine upgrades and will be justified by the decreasing cost of the FD and therefore the increasing "bang for the buck", a factor people like to extol when they can't afford the cars they're trying to prove theirs is better than, in my experience.

Oh well, you can't win 'em all. Enjoy your classic. :)

The thing I look at is the price new. FD.. 30Kish, Zo6..Viper.... 80Kish. I like to compare if I spent up to that much on the car plus mods. Even a brand new FD + 30K in mods= 60Kish. Then compare that, which would win? FD's, more bang for the buck.

I don't see that as a valid argument... you can spend a lot of money (eh, 30k) on virtually anything and make it more badass than a Viper or Z06... that doesn't mean it has more bang for buck... it just means you dumped a lot of money into your car.

Also, since when did a Z06 go for 80k? I always thought they retailed for under 60k.

Actually, my 1995 PEP was $37.5k new and my 2002 Z06 was $48.5k new. With inflation, the RX-7 would have been roughly $44k, so the difference is not as much as you think.

as much as i hate to admit it jimlab is right is his arguments. for the avg. joe that has 40k to spends on a sports car at the time the FD was one of the best performing cars at the time if you calculate in flation and price of sports car today the FD would not win. you cannot compare used car prices to new cars. granted a 20k FD with another 20k into will out preform a lot of new cars today you have to take into account that the FD isnt stock anymore and in some states isnt streel legal.

Just do us ALL a favor and sell rolling bucket of bolts that will never run under its own power. (Your post to actual progress ratio is about 443,212:1)

Then you can hang out on the z06 and corvette forums, or better yet start your own blog (which is essentially what your 5,000 thread post is)

I never understood why you have so much despise for the FD and gladly take any opportunity to bash it.

I don't think Jim *despies* FD's, rather, he just dislikes the Rotary.

you could spend $6000 have an 8 sec funny CRX. it'll beat a viper but its still a piece of shit...

but the FD definitely is better than any other car. its why i got it.

The fd is just a car, Every sports car out there has its ups and downs, No question it is beautiful. But so is a viper, a zo6, a ws6, hell even a stock vette is hot.

Our cars are rare, and the fact that they are rotary powered makes them even more unique. They have high power potentials just like every other car on the road. For the price I have spent on my single turbo kit I could have easily turbocharged (or supercharged) any other car and made 500+whp.

Dont get me wrong, im not downplaying the fd any. But it will never be classified as a "supercar" except for in our minds.


oh, and the first time my girlfriend road in my car i made her cry :D

I'm making 400 the wheels, and outaccelerating the likes of the SRT-10 and Murcielago *while on pump gas.* I don't think these other fictional 500 (f?)whp cars will do that.

:bigthumb: