I am very interested in getting an FD by next year and I love to go and drive long distances. I plan to use the car as a weekend warrior type vehicle but I might want to take the car driving almost cross country (13-14 hrs tops of driving).

Has anyone done this? Any tips? Should I bring anything extra? Did anyone experience any type of issues?

I'm thinking defenitley change my oil before I leave but anything else?

Thanks in advance

 

I feel like my car would have no problem making a long road trip, but I would never do it. After driving 3 hours, I'm ready to get the fudge out. They aren't the most comfortable roadtrip cars. It may partially be cuz I'm 6'4", and I have stock seats.

 

a small fortune to pay for all the gas.

 

lol I figured that much

 

Hmmm

Besides comfort (even though I appreciate the heads up), I'm mainly worried about the engine.

 

The engine isn't made of glass, it should be fine if everything is in good working order.

The wife and I are going to take it this summer to Jackpot, Nevada for a weekend of entertainment. I guarantee you though, that after 4 hours in that car, I will be wanting the **** out.

 

LOL Yeah...

Idk, people are making me paranoid about the whole rumors of Rotary engines and reliability. I know what makes them tick and what not but I was just curious as far as people who actually own the car.

 

its the owners that make these cars no reliable. If your engine is built right and you take care of it then you should have np. Why do you think that the 787b kept kicking *** in the 24hr races. Its a motor that can handle alot you just have to take maintain and it wont let you down.

 

Generally, the people who spread rumors are full of **** and have no first hand experiance.

Other than a FD not being the most luxury car for a road trip, I wouldn't think twice about doing it if I was given the opertunity. Oil change, spark plugs, soften up the coilovers and just enjoy the bond between man and machine.

I wouldn't worry about a thing as long as the maintenance is up to par. Enjoy the car. It was made to be driven.

 

Exactly.

It's like that for every engine and alot of times when there are "reliability issues" it's owner issues who don't know squat about the car, especially, forced inducted vehicles. I have a very good knowledge of how to maintain F/I vehicles...I'm even reading up on EMSs and the importance of them. People typically do things half assed and don't take the initiative to learn but would rather rush things instead of having quality.

Thank you guys for clarifying what I already figured.

One last thing, what's the typical period for the 13B-REW to have old changes (as far as miles)?

 

Thank You and once again, this is exactly what I figured.

I hope to get the car next year or so but I've done alot of research before hand about the 13BREW engines so I'm not jumping into a vehicle blindly.

 

Well I drove my FD from Georgia to New York City in about 9-10hours. Its not cross country but it was sure a hell of a drive!! No problems at all all the way home. People who aren't educated in how the rotary works or how to maintain a healthy rotary will always down talk mazda. I know quite a few Rotary guys including myself who build and tune rotarys. We have no problems with our motors once the car is tuned correctly and is in healthy shape. Anyone who tells you youre going to blow up in a week/month has never seen a healthy tuned FD. There is alot of reading you will need to do to get indept on what you need to buy and what goes bad on our 13+ year old cars. Reliabilty mods need to be addressed asap. All the info is on this forum, from rebuilding your motor, addressing simple problems to learning how to tune your standalone ecu if you choose to go that route.

Jay7..

 

The most I've driven my FD was about 7 hours, from Irvine to Santa Cruz. It wasn't so bad, but then again I'm a good fit for my car (skinny). One of these days I'm going to try to drive down most of the coast of California and then back up, so that would probably be around 10-12hrs. of driving...I'll probably post about it when I get back from the chiropractor's office.

 

I drive my FD on long trips every month or so and no problems! Nor do I think any are going to pop up! good luck.

Dennis,

 

Thanks again guys and especially Jay7

I'm actually from the New Jersey Tri-State area but now live in the Nashville, TN area now. I'd like to drive to New Jersey to see my son frequently, so yeah, I'm glad to hear the responses from you guys.

I've actually done alot of reading on what should be upgraded thanks to the stickies on this forum, so I have a good understanding of what needs to be changed asap.

I'm hopefully taking on a good job, so saving up is the plan for now and just being responsible with cashflow.

Hopefully, I can join the ranks of you fellow FD owners soon enough.

Peace.

 

I love taking the RX-7 on a road trip

I just check the oil when I am adding gas.

Mileage is respectable on the highway (around 26-28 mpg) on cruise control with intermittent spirited moments.


Just not much room for luggage.

 

ive driven from st. louis to lake forest, il (north of chicago) many times, about 650mi roundtrip. i like road trips in my car. it gets a little painful around 5 hrs or so but its so fun to get looks from other cars on the highway. besides i got about 27mpg @68mph using cruise control the last time i went. and that was before i started playing around with the vac cells on my pfc. im sure i will get better next time

 

I've done a 1,500 mile trip in mine with no problems. It seems like the car gets into a rthym and more fluid the farther you drive it. It's probably the tires getting really warmed up and some other things, although I admit, it could be just my subjective impression.

It's not the most comfortable car in the world, so a brief stop every 4 hrs. or so helps you go the distance. Packing all your and your passenger's stuff can be a problem. The rear package shelf can hold a fair amount, and taking out the cargo cover helps.

The car is perfect for darting in and out of holes in traffic. It can go where other cars fear to tread.

Don't forget to put a quart of oil in one of the bins and check your oil level at the end of each day's drive.

 

I've done 8 hours in my FD ,it wasnt the worst but certainly not the best car for a long trip i've been in. Good luck finding an

 

NJHK,

Highway cruising is about the easiest thing on the engine. You'll have constant rpms, constant airflow for the radiator and oil cooler(s). It doesn't get much easier on the engine than that.

 

nashville? you have plenty of people willing to help you make sure your fd is fit for any type of trip.

the motor in my fd has 30k miles on it. street port. . . single turbo. . . yada, yada, yada. it hasnt failed me yet. . . and shows no signs of it at all. i trust it enough to take it to wichita falls, tx in march. trust me/us. . . if the car you get was taken care of. . . then, you have no worries.

 

So if you drive long distances you don't need to tow a spare engine? Whew!!


I was concerned about long distant drives up to WA and stuff for when I get an FD..

though due to the high octane requirements if you plan on driving through the sticks, I would recommend bringing along some fuel additives/boosters for when you get stuck filling up on Joe Farmers back yard pump where 89 is their high octane.

I used to do a lot of road trips out int he sticks, and sometimes carried an octane booster for when an pump didn't carry a high enough octane level.

extra Oil/coolant can't hurt either. Especially if it's a long drive on a hot day.

~CYD

 

I drove my car to Edmonton for my girlfriend's Cousin. Her cousin was getting married and my Girlfriend's car had high k's (miles), so I thought, screw it, take the RX-7. So I did the usual tune ups, ahead of schedule and 1 week before we left (just in case I screwed something up and to double check my work). Did the oil/filter, fuel filter, coolant, tranny oil, diff oil, bleed brakes, power steering fluid change, air filter, checked tire pressures plus spare, washed inside and out.
1 day all the way to Edmonton, 13 hrs 15min. Lets just say it didn't take me that long but, that was a long dirve to do all by myself, the girlfriend can't drive standard, I was so tired.
On the way home, 14hrs and 25 min Starting in Edmonton (this time it took about this to get home), driving south to Calgary and West back home to Vancouver. This was 3 days after we arrived in Edmonton and its like my body didn't catch up on its rest over these 3 days so going home was very painful. I almost gave up numerous times because my legs, hips, back, neck, arms were sore from driving so long in a car that beats the tar out of you. I swear my kidneys hurt for days after cause of the rough ride. Oh, the total Miles are 1500. Oh yeah, like CYD said, octane booster is a good idea. I use 94 octane in vancouver but as soon as you cross the border between British Columbia and Alberta the highest octane is 91. I have never run the car with 91 so I purchased some booster and everything was fine.

 

I own a 93 touring and when i first bought it I rode for 9 hours to take it home. Im 6 feet tall and it was very comfortable. The worst part is the car came with no Intercooler duct so it was soaking hot air from the engine. No problems yet. I got the duct and everything is good now. I would just suggest that you change oil every 1500 to 2000 miles, keep a half of a quart or so on hand and check your oil level after long drives. Also make sure coolant and brake fluid and all that other stuff is in check and it would really help if you have a water temp guage seeing you can't rely on the stock one and a turbo timer so your oil can cool down. As long as you stay on top of things you should be fine. Good luck and have fun!

 

Longest drive i did was a 2 hour drive.

It was normal for me, i guess cause it wasnt really a long trip but when i did get out of the car, it felt like i just woke up. lol I need to stretch and whatnot.

And id like to add a +1 to the guy who said our engines arent made of glass.

It is true, i get into this arguement/friendly discussion with my friend all the time. Every once in a while we will talk about each others cars. He says man i want an rx7 one day, but i will need a crap load of money in the bank cause those cars are timebombs. I think i would be afraid to rev it. I was like lol ok man, just stick with your car then.