http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...g=1&cardist=32

I bought this car recently, has a few dings on the front bumper and the front left fender was slightly a bit bent. Car ran good, turbo spools good, pulls hard. Out the door price ended up being 9,740.00. I believe this is an R-1, i was in a hurry to get a car because my s14 was stolen and i'm getting a check for about $20,000. I had nothing to drive this seemed like a good deal so I got it. I'm taking delivery after work today, please comment, let me know what you think!

 

Stock engine?

 

yea everythings stock except shift ****, bumper, lights, and rims

 

If the turbos are good and the motor puts out good compression numbers, I would say that was a pretty good deal.

 

LOL Good luck purchasing a new engine soon.

I hate to spring up the bad news but im assuming you know what you were getting into when you bought an FD?

And the funny part of it all is that you have no car to drive so you rush to get a car that needs more maintenance and attention than the normal car?

Do you really wanna blow all that 20 grand right away?

I hope im wrong but jeez, this is risky. Congrats and good luck either way.

 

Definetly looks to be an R1, by the seats din pocket and no sunroof , plus spoiler. Does it have a factory strut tower bar in the front, also how about duel oil coolers. Seems like a good deal, Definetly sock some money away for repairs though.

 

You should check compression before you buy it. Otherwise, it looks real purty

You hate rotaries, don't you?

 

compression check if you want...if you need a new engine, that is still a good deal on a clean FD.

front to aggressive for that wing, IMO

good luck with the car.

buy a beater as well...you won't be disappointed.

 

High mileage FDs are nearly always a bad deal IMHO. Given the high miles and unknown engine and turbo history it is probably reasonably safe to assume that you will spend $5-$7k in the next year or so on a new engine and turbos (probably closer to $7 given the age of the car and the number of things that will need to be replaced). I'd be concerned about bushings too - figure another $1k for parts and another $1k for labour here. Throw in another thousand or two for incidental items that will be needed for a 13-year-old car with these miles and you may eat up your entire $20k. And even then the car will never be worth more than $9k or so because of the high miles.

If I were you, I'd sell this immediately and spend $15k-$18k on an FD with 100k fewer miles and a recent engine and used the spare cash for maintenance and reliability modifications.

 

LOL i love that response from those type of posts i just gave.

How is it hate when its a fact?

Do you guys just hate to confront the facts? Or you just wanna be blinded?

Ok let me rephrase my previous post then.

"Damn man, thats hell of a steal for that FD, you're gonna love it, its gonna run awesome, slap a single turbo and go nuts, the car will be fine".

Sounds better to your likings?

 

I was just thinking that.

 

I would say its seems to be a good buy, looks good. Even if the engine is bad I would say its worth it. Just be careful with it, I would get it inspected thouroughly by a rotary specialist in your area just to be aware of anything worn or could get worse in the future. I would buy a cheap beater on the side also, your not going to want to drive it everyday. I have a Ranger, FC, and FD. I drive the Ranger the most, the FC for fun, and the FD is just a joy on a nice day with some punch...

 

If that motor is ok, then you got a good deal. If not, you just purchased yourself a 10k headache. If I were you, I would spend some time going through the FAQ.


John

 

Well how exactly do you blow $20k in the first place? At the very worst, he'll have to replace/rebuild the engine if it's got a bad coolant/apex seal. We'll say $6k for that, again, at the worst. Another $300 for a new radiator, $130 for an AST, $450ish if it needs a tranny. But this is all worst case scenario, he might've gotten a car that's actually pretty good.

 

IMO, if you already paid for the car, what does it matter now if it was a good deal or not?

Get a compression test then do the normal maintenance on it:

spark plugs (wires if needed)
oil and filter change
fuel filter change
O2 sensor change
Tranny and diff flush
Coolant flush

Make sure the tires and brake pads have meat on them and then enjoy the car.

 

He may have a pretty good car, but given the 156k miles and how fragile these cars are, what are the odds? Bushings (both pillowball and rubber) if not recent will cost $1k; used turbos $400; what about belts, coolant hoses, vacuum hoses, etc. And all of this ignoring labour - how many new FD owners can replace a transmission, the turbos, or the bushings? Throw in another $2k for those.

The worst thing is that even after spending this $20k, the car will still have a residual value of under $10k because of the miles on the chassis. 50-60k mile FDs with recent engines can be had for $15-$16k or so and in two or three years will probably not be worth much less. Which is why I recommended selling.

Why does almost everybody (except buyers and financial institutions) ignore chassis miles?

 

Wise words IMO

 

You always have to expect the worse. Especially with these cars.

Thats why there are soo many purhcase and sell in a 3 month span cause owners cant keep up.

Lets say he did get a good car, who thinks he wont go ahead and get more mods?

Then after those mods, something major happens and have to cough up alot of $$ to fix.

You cant just go ahead and throw thousands of dollars on tap. You have to plan, you have to think.

No wonder the youth is very poor nowadays.

 

I bought my fd with 140k on it did all tests before I purchased it, now after two years I half to replace the turbos, not to bad I think.And no I am not that new to rx's been reasearching for years. and a motor does not run 6k seeing you do all the work yourself, your looking at 3k anaway don't be discouraged just treat her the best you can I love mine even though it has been sitting for a while cant wait to get her running again.

 

Speaking of chassis miles, how fresh is the chassis really at 150,000 miles which is 240,000kms. The chassis might be showing signs of loss of regidity by then and will need some re-enforcing? Correct me if i'm wrong.

 

looks good to me

welcome to the rotary world

 

+1 Here.
Who cares what other people think anyway? Do you think it's a good Deal? If so, then it is.
I agree about the miles though. If this is a daily driver, take good care of it!

 

Answer is who knows? Get it checked to find out what you have and condition. More miles means more cost. It looks like your in Kent WA, find out who worked on it and what was done-are there that many red FD's in your area?

 

Nice car, goodluck with it.

 

As always!