Looking into buying an FD...
 

I currently own a 97 Infiniti QX4, and i'm looking for a fun sport car. I love the looks of the FD's and I know they can b made to be fast, handle well, etc. But I've also heard about them being unreliable, having to be rebuilt every 25k miles or so. So I'd appreciate any info on them. Which years (if any) should I avoid? How much time/money/work should I expect to be putting into the car? How likely is it to break/blow up on me? Thanks guys...

-Dan

welcome to the forum

Yeah, they can be made to be fast, just like any car, but these cars are already pretty damn fast and just handle like a dream.

the price/time you would need to spend on the car basically depends on what you want to do with it, how you drive it, etc.

Yeah, rotary engines can be unreliable, if you don't maintain it, just like any type of engine. They are very powerful engines and if you do take care of it and pay alot of attention to everything then you will be very pleased with it.

about the years, the 93's had bad paint from the factory.
94's are usually pretty good, and 95's are better but more money because they're younger cars

good luck

Triple J

Only last about 25k miles is a joke. I bet someone told you this and he or she has never owned an RX-7 or been inside of one. These cars can last over 100k miles, it comes down to properly modifying the RX-7, tuning, and maintenance. If you do all these correctly you shouldn't have problems. Also, these cars are extremely expensive. If you don't have money, I suggest getting another type of sports car.

All 3rd gen RX-7 (93-95) are great. Don't worry about avoiding any year. It really comes down to the extra features that were available for the different models.

Before purchasing an FD get a compression test and make sure the boost runs 10-8-10. The compression test only cost $45 and is really the only way to tell if the engine is still healthy. It can only be done at Mazda Dealerships and a Rotary specialist.

Here are some states for you on a bone stock RX-7 with street tires.
1/4 mile: 13.8 is average, some have done 13.5
lateral (g): .99

Wow, thanks man. That's pretty impressive.. What do you mean when you say expensive though? To buy or to maintain? thanks!!

http://www.rx7turboturbo.com/robrobinette/

Read the Buying a Used Rx-7 section on this site. Expensive is a relative term. They're getting down right cheap to buy. Maintenance and repair may be higher than average, but 3rd Generation RX-7's aren't Porsche and Ferrari expensive to keep on the road.