1QWIK7

iTrader: (33)

i didnt say it cant be daily drivers, i meant that its not practical to have a sports car for your own car or DD..

reason being, high insurance, gas mileage (most sports cars cant break 17mpg in the city, MOST i said), lack of room and risk of losing interest in it.. and so on and so on..

with that being said, its just not practical..

Gamezilla

Ive been daily driving mine since I bought it. If you keep up on maintanence and fix stuff thats about to break before you let it break its not bad. My biggest complaint is gas mileage. That kills me. I dont even drive that much and Im having a hell of a hard time keeping it under $100 a month. Right now my gas bill is more than my damn insurance! 850cc primaries dont help that though

EMPi71

Up until this past week, I only had to drive mine for a modest 7 mile commute. Now I'm driving 70 miles roundtrip. Gas milage sucks so I'm looking for a more economical car for my DD, but I wouldn't want another car for the backroad driving I get everyday. I just don't like the idea of driving a Civic & having my FD sitting at home all week.

lookingforrx7

Fd makes a poor driver anytime
unless your driving 20 miles a week

blown engines, blown turbos, smoking
just an everyday thing with an FD

friend tried cant be done, unless you got time and a wad of cash to throw down the toilet

marix1521

daily driven CYM for a year and 4 months. it's broken down about 3 times on the road... i'd say that's pretty good for a 72K mile stock car... (and yes... i do need a rebuild soon )

Juan

iTrader: (28)

My FD has been a daily driver for a year and a half now. A leaky injector (external leak) has been the only problem I've had to this day. Downtime was less than a week because of parts not being in stock. Lucky for me, I have access to another car in case of an emergency. The FD isnt the best choice for a daily driver (gas mileage sux) but atleast it's fun to drive.

cloead

Hard time keeping it under $100 a month? I have a hard time keeping it under $300 a month when I DD the FD. I tend to drive it every day, when it runs. And the only reason it doesn't run now was that I was really get bored of it, and a bunch of little things have been bugging me, so I took it all apart to fix it. (Leaky waterpump, oil pressure gauge not working, 99 spec front end, etc etc.)

rynberg

Why don't you quit trolling our forum? How sad a life do you have? You've never even owned an FD, let alone a well-maintained one, so STFU.

Lil Red 7

well i drive mine everyday, it gets better gas mileage than any of my modded mustangs that i have owned, so far it hasnt not started for me or stranded me once,(knocking on wood while typing)

Fun car hands down, gets lots of looks, one of my favs so far of my list of cars i have owned

Thomas

jeffrored92

I've been daily driving mine since I got it last October. No problems so far. I am, however, in the market for a cheap beater. I sold my 1986 Corolla when I bought my RX-7, which was perhaps one of the stupidest things I've done. Looking for another, hoping to pick up a decent one this weekend.

seoulfulracing

I drive my FD everyday even though my *** hurts from my hard suspension setting..

POS7

I daily my car for almost 2 years now with no major problems. My engine is not blown, my turbos are not blown, and my car does not smoke. Maintenance is a must.



Haha, guess he didn't learn he isn't wanted from his original
"looking for an rx7, decided to buy a corvette, and come back to the rx7 forum to call 7 owners dumbasses" thread.



https://www.rx7club.com/automotive-news-lounge-22/rx7-why-426446/

Kas

I've daily driven my fd for about 2 years and spend about $90-$130 a week in gas.Avoid bad weather though my fd has been down about 6months cause I was driving in hard rain and it died .

Corbic

You guys have completely turned me off from the RX-7. While the car is simply awsome, I just can't understand how it comes out so "shoddy". I would hardly expect this amount of problems from a Ferrari, let alone a Mazda.









I don't see an FD in my future.

BobfisH

Corbic, they arent a bad car, they are just finnicky.

Look after them, they look after you. They are a high maintainance car, simple as that. Keep ontop of it and it will treat you good.

rynberg

Better you learn now than later....but if you think there's a high performance car out there that has the ownership costs of a Civic, you are seriously deluded. EVERY high performance car has high maintenance costs, whether it's a Corvette or a Ferrari or a Mazda.

BTW, you think turbo-charged rotaries are bad, have you seen the mileage-before-rebuild for Ferraris and Porsches? Have you seen the costs for said rebuild? Makes rotary ownership look pretty reasonable I can tell you that...

noon

I've daily driven my FD for three years, about 15,000 miles a year. It has never once not started for me. The only problem I've ever had (until 3 weeks ago) was a coolant hose that popped off because it wasn't clamped. Through the years it has seen a couple of modifications, too. Now, at 95,000 miles, my original turbos finally went out and I just ordered a replacement set to be installed (by me).

Gas prices are similar to any other sports car, I spend about $40 a week. I'm broke (not because of the car) and 19 years old and I can do it, you can too

dohc-vtec_eg

i jus got an FD not to long ago, i was planing on useing it as my DD. majority of people that posted, said they aint doin so bad. hope my FD lasts

scotty305

iTrader: (2)

I've owned a beater, and it's convenient for short trips or if you're just wanting to save money on gas and insurance. I got lazy on maintaining my beater, and it broke because I didn't change the oil often enough.


When my beater broke, I learned how much fun the RX-7 can be as a daily driver, provided you keep up with maintenance. Every freeway onramp is a good time in a sportscar, and you sometimes find excuses to take the 'fun road' home. If you're looking for attention, the 3rd Gen gets plenty.


I just recently bought another beater, and it's a nice feeling knowing that I'm getting MPG numbers that don't end in "-teen" anymore, as well as being a quieter, more comfortable ride with space for friends. If you've got the space for another car, and can remember to keep both maintained well, a daily-driver is a good idea. You will save money. If you don't have the space, an RX-7 with sensible mods is good enough to drive every day.


-s-

importrx7

I daily drive mine in the warmer months but as of yesterday i don't since something broke in the drivetrain. Its always good to have a beater to have as back up with a FD or you'll be screwed someday!!!

Corbic

No, I wouldn't expect an Corvette, Evo, STI, Camaro, Firebird, GTO, Supra, GSX, VR-4, 350Z, Z3, M3 et al. would be as inexpensive as a Civic/Focus/Whatever. However I would expect to have some reason of confidents that I could drive the car daily, put miles on it and not find my self shelling out money for rebuilds, new turbos and being stranded on the road side or with out a car for weeks on end. Yes, sports cars need frequient fuild changes, brakes changes, tires and general look overs to make sure nothing is wrong..

I don't think a sports car should have a compete tear down and rebuild before 50k miles. I also have almost no confidence now that any previous owner I would be buying from had properly maintained the car seeing it doesnt follow the normal rules of maintence with its quirks.

rynberg

Like I said, better you understand now.

The FD is a hard-core sports car for the true enthusiast. It was never meant to be owned by high school or college kids or the casual owner. Part of what gives the FD a bad reliability rep is that these cars are being bought with 60k+ miles on them and are over 10 years old. Well guess what? A lot of **** will need to be replaced - bushings, alternators, wiring, radiators, turbos, etc.

It's true that you aren't typically replacing the motor on a Vette at <100k miles. But then a Vette doesn't feel like an FD either. None of the other cars on your list do either. The FD is a hard-core sports cars, one of the last great ones -- without a lot of excess fat or electronic nannies. It is most certainly not for everyone.

Juan

iTrader: (28)

I drove my FD 1,300 miles home the day I bought it. I was worried about it leaving me stranded a few states from home but the car got very good gas mileage and gave me no problems at all. That was a year and a half ago. Since then I've driven it every single day, taken it to the track (drag and road course) many times and it has never left me stranded. Just keep up with regular maintenance and you/your car will be happy.

The only reason I would get another daily driver would be for more room. Sometimes having a two seater sucks but other times its a life saver. Every sports car has problems. Some have more than the FD while others have less.

Corbic

I don't know how its any more "hard-core" then some of the cars I listed, granted a few are beasts of a different nature, but others are direct competitors.

So assuming I did all the "reliability" mods, and kept the car stock (I'm not a big performance modifier) could I assume the car would "handle" 20k a year being pampered?

Also, how "dangerous" are they in the snow/rain with proper tires and maybe added weight?

Mahjik

iTrader: (1)

Snow? I'd suggest not even trying it unless you purchase snow tires (not All Seasons).