The S2 RX-8s are pretty damn nice the more I look at & drive them....... I briefly owned a BB 2009 R3 that I bought from a local doctor and fixed up a bit and sold to a buddy. Can post pics if anyone wants to see an 8 on this site

 

Yup... Took this pic about 12 years ago



And that's with changing coolant within the so called specified 15K mile interval. I'll tell you what though, that will never happening to me again.

 

I beleive the Fd will continue to raise in price. I am 47 years old and bought mine in 1998. I still own it and it is a great sports car. I have been blown away by its popularity. First was when I played gran tourismo, then the fast n furious movies and now GTA. Many of generations have grown to love these cars. With GTA, out a new generation is falling in love with the car. Just to think how much a kid that is currently playing GTA comes across some financial sucess he or she will be willing to pay good money for one with in 15 years. $$$$$.

 

Do you have a checklist or something that I can use if I'm gonna get a FD?

Thanks!

 

Let's see it!

 

Generalizing from the experience of a few is about 180 degrees from correct.

Buy any car that sat for decade and tell me it's any better when it overheats and cracks a block. When you labor things like coolant changes you communicate to the uninformed “Don’t buy one. They’re maintenance heavy.” That’s simply not true.

 

Alright .... They make RHD parts for sure .... Does this mean no LHD parts?

 

Sorry man, I don't know who you are or where you get your info but rotary engines run the green stuff from the factory. Part of the maintenance schedule is changing your coolant, period. Anyone looking to buy an FD in 2021 needs to be aware of what I've stated in this thread in order to be informed.

The experience of a few? I've been in the FD community since 1998 and have been partial owner of two FD specific rotary performance shops in that time. Ported and rebuilt 100s of 13B-REWs and been involved in building many FDs that are still driving around making 400+ rwhp today. Been around the block a bit. What are your qualifications?

I never said not to buy one ---- i said to be informed and not listen to poor advice like 'just change the oil and you're good.' If you consider flushing your coolant every two to three years maintenance heavy, then perhaps you're providing misinformation about the wrong car

 

This is what happens when an engine sits with coolant in it for years and the coolant seals leak. I don’t even want to open this engine up and see the inside. And I should mention, the engine won't even budge after putting a breaker bar on the main pulley.

 

I did exactly this when I was your age. I bought my first RX-7 nearly two decades later, but it was worth it.

With all due respect, this is not the sort of advice we should be giving prospective owners on this forum. The FD is certainly more solid than conventional wisdom may suggest, but FD ownership was never as simple as “just” changing the oil.

 

Well, the thing is, the prices on them are rising a lot these days. I'd rather get a FD as soon as possible instead of getting a overpriced clapped one at a auction. Sad thing is that it will probably happen that it'll sell in auctions and stuff...

For now, I might get a RX8 as my first car since I don't need to daily it. I'm probably mostly gonna do repair on it and learn as much as I can. Maybe then I'll be able to get a FD and be able to maintain it. Worst case, my friends dad had a FC back in.his days and he's a pretty good mechanique, so I might ask him to help me out. (He knows how to rebuild the engine)

I just hope that prices stay as it is or maybe even drop a bit so I could afford it

One more thing: Is there a YouTube channel, a guide or something that could help me learn about the FD before I get it and clap the car up?

Thanks again for everyone posting here!

 

Is there a way to prevent stuff like this for happen if your gonna store your car?
Winter and roads here are tough (Quebec, Canada), so I'm probably gonna Sunday drive my FD in the summer when I'll have the time.

Thanks!

 

By the way guys. I was looking for FD around my contry and found some under 20k CAD. I hope I could be able to get them in the futur for the same price.
I hope they're not scams. They seem to be posted not to long ago...





Y'all can get them If y'all want to.

 

If you want a pissing match, look somewhere else.

 

Here's the maintenance schedule for an FD. It's not special or significant; in fact, it's just like a Miata's.

This is a quote of what I originally said for the slow learners: The big maintenance items have nothing to do with RX-7's or rotary engines. You're looking at 25+ year old car. Alternators go bad, solenoids go bad, fluids should be changed, etc. You can teach yourself to diagnose and fix things if you need to.

 

-

 

Mod fight!
Where's my 10+ year rotor symbol?

 

If that's aggressive or ageist, I wonder how you'd handle a real insult.

I goofed on him for bringing PH strips to a used car purchase. This forum is full of extremely meticulous people. I like that.

 

Wasn't tommy kaira into Evo's? Do you even FD bro?

 

Thanks a lot! Also, is this the whole sheet or part of it? Also, is there a online version of the user Manuel online? If there is, can someone send it to me?

Thanks a lot!

Airman

 

Again, this is an oversimplification. Are you going to recommend that people take their cars to Mazda’s service department next?

The forum has multiple posts about the things a new FD owner should do. They don’t all have to do with the car being 25+ years old. Some of the most informative posts on this forum are a decade old or more.

What about reliability mods? What about premixing? Which oil weight? There has been a lot of institutional knowledge built up over the past 28 years that isn’t necessarily found in Mazda’s maintenance schedule. That is what makes this community so great. I think the community has learned a thing or two since these cars were on the showroom floor.

You have people like @GoodfellaFD3S who have walked the walk and can impart institutional knowledge to newbies.

They don’t have to though. @Airman there are multiple buyers guides online and threads about this topic on this very forum. My best advice to you is search, search, and search. Same advice I was given nearly two decades ago applies today.

 

i don't have a good example in front of me, but there are plenty of non handed parts where Mazda USA just made it NLA, but Japan still has them.

 

Alright, I'll search as much as I can about the car and try to learn the car in and out as much as I can.

Thanks a lot for the advice!

 

so the Rx8 is perfect for a car you don't drive every day (FD too), while the Rx8 is fully of good stuff (they were painfully close to something great) we haven't mentioned the Fatal Flaws of the Rx8.
1. the gas mileage is awful. you can expect about 18mpg. i've had 3 of them, and driven plenty more, my best tank ever was 23.9mpg. my friends F250 gets the same mileage... so if you don't drive it much, its fine. if you drive it every day, you go broke. the FD matches the Rx8's mileage. the FD gets a pass here cause its way older, and you don't really expect it to get good mileage.
2. the giant piece of black plastic that is the dash board acts like a heat sink, and the HVAC system uses about 90% of its capacity to heat/cool it. so if the dash is hot, you're hot. if the dash is cold you're cold. window tint helps a lot
3. the back seats hold normal size humans fairly comfortably, which is nice. however if one of these humans needs to throw up, the rear windows don't roll down, so the only opening is the rotor shaped hole in the seat in front of them....
4. not really a flaw, per say, but there are a ton of warning lights, and it can be a PITA to get them all out once you do though, the Rx8 can be quite reliable, i still have never done an engine.

the last thing is an apparent flaw, but it isn't what it looks like. all of the previous Rotary cars had enough space in the boot/trunk/hatch for the engine, but the Rx8 does not. looks like a big flaw, although it turns out that the part you need to transport most in the Rx8, the main cat actually does fit in the car. they called it a ski pass through, but its for the main cat, fits like its made to go there. Mazda is quite thorough.

 

Alright! Thanks a lot for telling me about the RX8! It looks quite interesting and I rly won't be driving that much on the car anyways cuz I rly don't have any work that needs to be done by getting there with a car. I'm gonna keep an eye on them until I learn how to drive Manuel, then I'm gonna decide whether I should get it or nah.

Once again, thanks a lot!

Airman