I'm posing this question because people always seemed surprised that I drive mine as a daily driver. I use it to drive to work everyday and the car is far far from being a "nice looking" FD as many of you have, but the gas mileage is not too terrible and I do change oil every 2k miles and do the normal checks for leaks and whatnot every other gas fill up. The motor is bone stock save for a few reliability mods and I plan on keeping it relatively stock. Am I crazy? Or is having a barely modded FD (motor wise) as a daily driver like playing Russian roulette?

Tell me I'm not alone on this.

 

I wouldn't do it without a contingency. But, then again I have before.
If it's a strong runner in good condition, it's no big deal.

 

I did until it blew up haha , but it was due to low oil pressure not rotary specific issue .

 

I been daily driving mine for the last 6 months. But at 70 bucks a week in gas I can't agree its good on gas. It was twin turbo bone stock until last month and it was costing me close to 60 bucks a week. But Single turbo, exhaust, smic, and ecu has been asking for more fuel. My fuel milege is crappy. Its nice driving a FD people always giving me the thumbs up and breaking their necks looking at my car. Its pretty funny!

 

Your not alone. I've been daily driving mine for 10+ years.

 

I did for a long time, but it kind of took the special feeling of driving it out. I have another daily now and every time I drive the FD now it's to romp on it...and it feels special every time I drive it.

 

My daily is an '08 MB C350, I also have an '04 Audi S4 Avant 6MT but it needs work. I drive the FD to work sometimes and weekends/nice days

 

I'm Daily Driving it.

Have daily driven it on and off over the course of owning the car for the last however many years I've owned it now (yes, I've forgotten). DD is fine if the car is working properly. Repairs obviously take advanced planning so the car really needs to be solid. Mine is.

The car just isn't happy in stop and go traffic though. I don't do much of that thankfully. The fuel mileage could be lot$ better but I don't feel like buying an econo car right now so I'll keep DD it until I decide what to do for a real DD that gets better MPG.


I definitely wouldn't DD it in a location where you get lots of snow and salt in the winter.

 

i daily drove a big single FD for about a month... then i popped it one saturday night.

i loved how the s366 spooled at 4k so i could drive "normally" and never spool the turbo.

but then again i only drive 3 miles to work

 

i daily drive mine most of the time.

 

Here ya go:

https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generati...en-rx7-889112/

 

From July 1992 through spring 2003 because I had covered parking at work here in Houston.
Then we moved to a building without covered parking. Then bought a 2002 Mazga Protege 5 as a go getter trash car.

 

Damn. I missed that. I didn't search and that's my fault. I'm usually keen on forum etiquette too. Thanks for pointing that out.

Back on topic: I'm considering buying a small hatchback or wagon for the sheer space I sometimes need. The FD doesn't have **** for space, but then, most sports cars don't. I've always had some sort of coupe that I drive because the few times I bought and DD a "normal" car, it bored me to death, and I think it takes a certain type of individual to endure the negative aspects of daily driving an FD and outweigh it with the pleasures of driving it. I was always told by some people that I would outgrow driving stiff sports cars and come to my senses when I got older, but I'm now 35 years old, and can't imagine driving anything other than these types of cars.

 

Car started out as a project for my son and I. Seven years later, he's driving a new Sonata Turbo and I'm in the RX7 as a daily driver. Still putting the miles on it, over 172,000 on the clock so far.

 

I can't imagine HAVING to do this. WANTING to, maybe. Not having to. Let's face it, every mile you put on a car hastens it towards its demise.

I think I've put 3000 miles on my car in the last 3 - 4 years...

 

Now that is sad. I put 5-7k miles a year on my FD. And I enjoy every mile. ~163k miles now.

 

I would be if it was up and running and did when it was. Simple fact of the matter is, I love my car and enjoy driving it all the time. Why get it if you're just going to store it away and not enjoy it?

 

I was using it as my daily driver and my motorcycle as my weekend warrior while living in Hawaii. I did this for 3 years and even used it as my surf-mobile since I didn't have any other choice. Now I have another DD and it makes driving the FD more enjoyable.

 

I enjoy every single drive in the FD . in the mornings my ride to work and ride back from work were something to look forward to .. I will daily my FD when I get it running again .

 

I've had my FD for 7 months now and I haven't been thru a single tank of gas but when the single conversion and other reliability mods are complete, I intend to daily it for one year and then return it to garage queen/autox car status.

 

There is no reason you "can't" it just sucks to do so, get a cheap beater and you'll enjoy the FD so much more.

 

No sorry I wasn't trying to be an ***. My reason for posting the link was so you would have more data for your question not to point out a repost.

As I said on that thread, I daily drove my FD for years averaging 60-80 miles a day. I had other cars and yet I still put 100k miles (the car had 54k miles when I got it) on it because I just enjoyed
driving it. In those100k miles the car only left me twice: when my engine seized (@ 108k) and when a radiator hose split. I never felt that reliability as far as leaving me stranded was a problem, since my car got me to my destination 99.9% of the time. But to be honest daily driving my FD took its tool as my car was hammered. From door dings, contant annoyances of things that malfuction due to constant use, such as window switch, pillow *****, 5th gear synchro, motor mounts, clutch wear, rat's nest issues (boost problems), turbos leaking oil, door dings, to actually getting hit a few times. So in 2007 I decided to revamp my car and bring it back to its former glory and since then I no longer daily it anymore. Again not because its unreliable I just don't want it beat up.


Im a big fan of honda civics/accords. Those thing are bullet proof and if I happed to totall it or run it into the ground no love lost

 

Mine is a daily. Really dislikes stop and go traffic though and Texas summer are pretty brutal. It can be a little tiring driving all the time, but if the roads are good the car is good.

I do plan to pick up a 1980s 3 series eventually, but I'm in the cross between single turbo conversion and BMW DD. It's hard to think of another car that I would want to drive. I would like a bit more comfort but it still has to entertain. I tried a '97 240 and it was neat, but the amount of money you have to spend on the suspension to get those things to do anything is ridiculous. It had way more issues than the 7 ever did though. Then I bought a 00 Lexus GS and while a very nice car....it was boring and got bad gas mileage (better than the FD) and was higher on insurance.

I wish I lived in a bit of a cooler environment though for the sake of the car.

 

Been dd my car since i pretty much had it, around 4-5 years, but then it slowed down after that and would take the family car out because gas was just to much.. but still take it if there isnt the family car to take. After i get my car back from its rebuild after finishing paying bills i will buy a real dd

 

I have daily driven mine since 2010. Thats three years straight, every day. Started at 79,000km, and now at 108,800km. On the original 1992 JDM engine and trans, no rebuilds, nothing. I continue to daily drive it, as it is the most reliable car I have ever owned.

I have a water temp gauge and a boost gauge. Without a combination of paranoid vigilance and the water temp gauge, my engine would have died last year when the radiator got torn open in a minor collision with an animal on the road. But I shut her off early and it didnt.

I cant stress enough, have a water temp gauge that you understand and look at frequently. Know the normal range of operating temps for your engine, and when it climbs higher than normal, shut it down, pull over, flat bed it if needed. Live to fight another day. Dont be a hero with overheating.

I change my oil every 3500km, change the coolant often, and run injector cleaner sometimes. I will run it to redline in 2nd gear sometimes. I gave it a water combustion chamber clean a year ago, but there was no discernible difference, so I never did that again. Opening my hood for any reason is a rare thing. I'll check the fluid levels often, and I'll look for oil leaks or staining or telltale signs of any issues, but I never find anything. I often walk outside, go to work on the car, and end up staring at it. Nothing needs doing. Check the fluids, wash it, vacuum it, and then I'm at a loss for anything else to do to it, so I go for a drive or go watch TV. I guess because I never have to fix anything, I end up cleaning the car more than a normal person would. I've taken a toothbrush to the entire engine bay before, and I keep everything detailed as clean as I can, because then I can see any leaks or problems that come along, but none ever do.

I started a "Build Thread" on here a while back, but it got repetitive because nothing ever required fixing or improvement.

I just went to Kmart at 10pm at night, (twice because I forgot something..) 40km each way on a Sunday to get some stuff. Drove home. Never a hassle. I'll drive the car once a day. I'll drive it tomorrow and the day after that too.
My fuel mileage is quite good. I get better fuel economy than the BMW E39 M5 I used to own, and then sold. The RX-7 does not cost much to run.
I dont consider it "roulette" to drive it daily, if you are observant and in tune to the health of your FD.

People that say the FD RX-7 and its rotary engine are "unreliable" either drive the car wrong, are too ignorant of it, or dont respect it. IE they act like a complete and utter noob around the car, and the FD RX-7 does not tolerate fools well in return.
Or they're slapping on monster turbochargers and aviation spec fuel systems and poor quality ECUs, and attempting to run before they learn how to walk.