ok. heres my situation...I have 11k. im looking to buy an rx7 in about 6 months. i just got a job and i was looking to buy one at around 7-8k that way i have money left to do repairs which it will probably need. at around 13 k what do u think r my chances of getting it good to run as a daily driver just to school and out on dates n stuff

 

Might wanna use the search button regarding "new owners".

There's a good bit of information you need to review before you consider owning ANY FD.

 

trust me i am im reading as much as i can about fds and so far everythings going against me im hoping for some possitive feed back but i dont want no false hopes... im trying to keep my desire to get this car for my 18 b-day alive but so far its not looking good for the fd...maybe a 240 is a better option?

 

you are going to have a difficult time finding an FD in ca for 8k that would be good for a daily driver, even with 3k for repairs. IMO of course. i should know, i bought mine recently in southern california and paid 13 for it. that included an inspection from a reputable shop, passed smog and everything. i knew all issues with the car before i started. great deal. you'd be better off paying 13 for a solid car...it can be done if you are patient.

 

I hate you for asking

 

If you buy an FD for 8k, you'll be putting in 8k for repairs within the year, and you'll be stranded quite a lot.

If you buy one for 13k and put in 3k in maintenance within the year, you'll probably never get stranded.

And that is assuming no power mods.

I think you're steered toward an iceberg at this point.

Dave

 

don't do it!!!! like someone else already said, the FD you find for 8K will need another 8K in repairs. my suggestion would be to buy yourself a beater and then with the rest of the money buy a 1st gen and fix it up as a project car.

 

FD + (kids < 18 years of age) = trouble, accidents, abused FD, not running good FD, possibly totalled FD, which leads to 1 less FD on the road, which means mine becomes more rare. hmmmm, so I guess DO IT!!!

 

If you find a decent car for the money you have (which I don't think you will in CA but if you are patient you can find them in other parts of the country more likely) you simply need to figure out a budget. Even liability-only insurance might be prohibitively expensive to the tune of several hundred dollars a month. Some insurance companies won't even write a policy for a youngster on a FD (there IS a reason!). You have to ask yourself, "Do I REALLY want to spend ALL my money on this car?" because that is what it comes down to. Let me tell you, I've been there/done that when I was your age (and I am 45 now) and it gets REAL old REAL quick.
One of the hardest things for a young man to do is to put his "car dreams" on hold. Mine was always wanting a Jaguar XKE for instance. Had I gone thru and purchased the car I'd found at the time, I would probably be:
a.) dead
b.) bankrupt
c.) both of the above

My advice would be to purchase a good daily driver that will be super reliable (surely you can find a Toyota or Honda, etc for $2K - $3K or so), get a decent job, put back what you can towards your RX-7 purchase, evaluate what it really takes to work and maintain your daily driver (gas, insurance, tags, taxes, maintenance) and go from there. It is not like you are NOT going to be able to find one of these cars, someday. Yes, the price may climb and that DOES have an annoying tendency to JUST stay above what you can afford (for instance I make between $75K - $90K annually now and my XKE just keeps getting further and further out of my price range!) but it is pretty certain you will be able to get your RX-7 at some point.
This Forum is a wealth of information about real-world experiences with these cars, regardless of what generation. Take some time and carefully read a substantial number of posts, read BETWEEN the lines too, see the angst/anger/suffering most members go thru at some time or another. Just be prepared and make your decision based as much as you can on logic and reason.

 

I was going to say that, even though I don't hate you

Regardless of how much money you have, you should not buy an FD. You are too young, and do not have the experience to drive this car safely. Buy a nice 1st or 2nd gen (non turbo).

Don't hate me for answering

 

In 6 more months, you'll have more than 11k right? Cause just wait and save as much as you can. These cars are going down in value faster than ever. IM sure in 6 months you can get a decent running, hell even a 99 spec converted with a single FD for about 15k. Just wait man, our cars are turning into the honda craze, affordability wise.

 

i say work your way up to the FD, like u stated before why not a 240sx? i've owned 3 of them they are great cars, and a great way to learn the tendencies of rwd if you haven't owned one yet. you don't wanna be learning that with an FD. even if u want somthin thats pretty quick buy a stock swapped sr20det 240sx, you can definitly find one with the amount of money you have an will have money leftover. just my $.02

 

Get a 240SX, as you yourself suggested. They arent too hard to find, and their motors are fairly strong and so will last longer than an 13B. And on the plus side, if you DO manage to break something, theyre pretty cheap to fix.

Alot of tuning potential as well. You can either buy one of a few decent turbo kits for the KA24 (suggest a '91 or newer to get a KA24DE), or swap to a SR20DET for roughly the same price.

 

1) Forsaken please take that avtar off I wanna puke everytime I see it.

2) Don't buy an FD as a DD you will be very very disappointed. It took me 5 years before buying mine and let me tell you time is a good thing of these cars.

I am 20 let me tell you I own a 91 accord for winter a 2004 civic for DD and a 93 VR TRin for weekend or night rush.

That's the way to go beater everyday then Rx-7 when its REALLY REALLY NICE out.

 

soo not true i got a beautiful CYM 1993 rx7 at the age of 17.. and i turned 18 aug 21st and i only put in about 200$ into the car.. no accidents to trouble no all teenagers are like you think they are

 

All teenagers are inexperienced drivers. Most are immature. Putting them in an FD is a bad idea ............ Period!!! It's hard for me to understand how any caring parent could allow this to happen. I guess there are lots of bad/foolish parents out there.

 

Haters! lol kidding..though i generally agree with you two, i gotta say its not always true. I was 16 when I got my FD, 19 now...do all my own work(except for porting my reman, next time i will though ) and i take good care of her, so theres always exceptions. Give some of us youngins a break!

Edit:Im defending myself and some other guys i know who are pretty "young" but are responsable, this doesnt mean i want you to stop flaming this guy for posting that... haha

 

We know that many teenagers are irresponsible drivers. It's a fact. When was the last time any of them admitted it? They all claim to be good drivers. They just don't know any better.

 

Hmm, someones awfully 'ignant.
But really the best idea is to buy beater and save some money to have extra for the RX

 

I definitely admit it now that I was immature and inexperienced at 17. At that time, I thought my Accord was the **** lol and I'd rev it up and redline it when I can. When I think now, the 140 hp or whatever the accord has is more than enough for someone that young. Just glad that I pulled through w/o any accidents and such.

 

Yep. Once the kids get older they will realize how inexperienced and immature they were at that age. I thought I was too at that age.

Without lots of disposable income and disposable time... an FD is a bad idea. You said you've searched. Its true. They are queit possibly the most unreliable car made in the 90's.(and this is true of the entire car, not just the rotary engine. See: interior pieces breaking, rear suspension, diffs, trannys, thin cheap paint, ect ect) Unfortuanatly they are also the most bueatiful of the 90's. (or perhaps ever?)

You want a light weight 2 seat rwd car during college? Buy a miata. I'd had 3 of them. They are just as fun as the FD, look pretty good (though not as good) and are as reliable as civics.

 

Get a first gen miata. Theyre cheap. Easy to work on. Reliable as hell. And very fun to drive (still a rwd mazda). Plus with that kind of loot you can easily turbo or supercharge. They have a good online community as well. Plus you can then get into some autocrossing or track days if you wanted to.

 

excuse my language, if i made any spelling mistake or grammar. i'm 20, got my first FD couple months ago. owned 3 FC before getting a FD, 2 convertible and one TII.
its true that "most" are immature, but the point is. if the kid is immature(not saying anyone on here)doesn't matter what car he driving. i saw teenagers driving a civic doing 80+mph in a city,which limit is 45mph, they end up crashing.
parents can't do anything about it if the kids makes the money, so not really the parents fault. if the kid is immature, like what i said, they will end up the samething when driving a civic or whatever.

 

if u really want a FD, go for it man. but a 240 is a good option too, owned a 95 240 before, good car.