inthetwisties

Well, I am looking at an FD as a new Daily driver and I'm wanting to know what you all think of it being a DD. I had an rx8 before and it lost compression so we traded it in on an FJ Cruiser. Now, I'm selling the FJ. I live on campus atcollege and my car is parked in a garage. Also, my college is only 30 min from home so I won't be driving it too much. Ill be looking for a rebuilt motor so is thing a good idea or just stupid? Opinions needed
Thanks!

djseven

iTrader: (56)

All depends on the fd you buy and how you maintain. I have a bunch of customers who daily drive them and they make great daily drivers assuming you maintenance and follow a couple rules.

Never start the car up and move it 20 feet and shut it back off right away, never let it run for less than 5 minutes on a cold start. It will foul the plugs.

Change the plugs every 4-6k miles($24.00) and the oil about every 2k miles.

Understand it is a sports car but that doesnt mean you have to beat the living **** out of it every chance you get even though you will find that more tempting than you think.

Just use common sense, when you buy an fd spend a couple hundred bucks and replace all the coolant hoses on the car, upgrade to the FC thermo switch, delete/upgrade the ast and then enjoy the car.

Even though a lot of cars have dropped in price during this recession I still think it is the ultimate car under $15k.

oneniceride

iTrader: (3)

I daily drove my FD before i started investing my life savings into it. I followed about all the guidelines ^^^^

djseven

iTrader: (56)

The externals on the engine are no different than other cars. If one were to install a new wiring harness, new fpd, delete ast, clean injectors, and replace hoses the car should be extremely reliable Some people beat the **** out of the car and dont maintenance them properly or treat them properly and blame the issues on it being a rotary.

Flik

I have a 92 FD (I live in Japan) 130ish clicks original motor and daily drive the **** out of it in the Okinawan heat.... does it give me problems? Once in a while, but do I take care of it as well as I should? not quite... all in all, this is my first rotary, but even I can understand that probably 85% of problems with these cars are owner and Not quality. You should be fine. You get what you give, Especially with a rotary.

Flik

gracer7-rx7

iTrader: (16)

Buy a Miata. An FD is an older car and requires too much attention to DD. especially for a kid in school.

fosingwo

iTrader: (4)

go for the fd you'll never find a similar car like it

GoodfellaFD3S

iTrader: (213)

the problem is that as of late many of the FDs I see for sale are ragged out pieces of garbage that belong in the junk yard. Sad but true.......proceed with caution. If you buy the right FD, you'll be fine.

2RotorsNaDream

iTrader: (7)

I've been DD'ing mine for almost 2 years now and its been reliable as any car can be. Its only been down when I'm doing mods to it, no other reason. Just make sure you maintain it religiously and I'd recommend a PowerFC right away, its so important even for just keeping track of water and air temps. Its saved my *** twice when coolant hoses burst, which brings me to another point, as stated above, change out your coolant hoses when you get the car.

oo7arkman

iTrader: (2)

Like others have said it is a fine DD. But you HAVE to take care of it. Not just a get in and drive car like others. You already experienced this with your rx8. You prolly had an earlier 8 and it needed to be put on the highway (or revved high) every day to help battle carbon build up in the motor. For someone still in college I am not sure I reccomend this car. Get something else, then when you get out go look for a nice, well-taken care of one. BUT if you decide you need one now, heed the advice of the others on here and buy one in good shape. Too many have suffered recently and are bad apples and need a lot of TLC.

inthetwisties

cant fit lol, im 6'3" lol. But I know to maintain the car proper. All of the other things. I actually have learned alot about rotaries and rx7's in general over the past few years from my dad, friends and this forum. I can take car of one, I was seeing what you all thought about DD-ing one. Road manners, etc.
Yea, I had a EARLY 04. I got on the highway everyday to work instaed of being in stop and go city traffic, I always let it warm up and I always redlined once a day lol. I'm guessing it was the recall on the 04's? But thats all water under the bridge and I miss mazda lol. I' done with college in 2 years and afterwards I will be travelling alot, so If I can get one now (this spring), Im going to trylol

Thanks for the input everyone

inthetwisties

Also, I'm not looking to pull power out of one, If I can find one, The motor will remain stock (for the most part:intake, etc) and I am only wanting to do suspension/etc

oneniceride

iTrader: (3)

Im sure staying stock will help prevent alot of unnecessary problems also.

seems like everytime I modify a car different problems arise

twinsinside

iTrader: (34)

You mentioned you're getting a rebuilt motor right? So that eliminates a lot of potential issues right there. Just make sure you are around when it gets put in, and once it starts up get a proper compression test and make sure they pressure test the coolant system as well BEFORE you accept the car. DO NOT TAKE YOUR CAR TO A DEALERSHIP. It's like going to a veternarian for some brain surgery. Most dealerships do not have anyone competent enough to even open the hood of an FD. Learn to do as much of the work as you can yourself and really educated yourself on the car and all will be well.

I daily drive my FD, it just requires more attention to detail like others have mentioned. I would also throw in a good steam cleaning once a week or so to get rid of any carbon buildup, because DD'ing your FD doesn't give you much of a chance to redline it. Ironically you have to beat the crap out of the car occassionally to keep it running well. I know thats counterintuitive, but I think a lot of ppl that get frustrated with these cars and blow the engine is exactly because they drive them so mildly, carbon builds up, and there goes your engine.

Go through the reliability mods because even if you don't want to use aftermarket parts, you're going to want to replace those common failure items. Even if you're replacing them with stock parts, they'll last you a good 10-15 years. Radiator, AST, coolant hoses, etc. BOOST GAUGE.

Good luck

inthetwisties

Great information, thank you!!
I don't know which car I'm getting yetso I most likely wont be there to see the motor being rebuilt, but I will be looking for a FD that has already had the motor rebuilt. Is it out of the line to ask a buyer for a compression test? And yea, My parents thought I was crazy for runnning the **** out my RX8 every once in awhile, but I had to sit and explain to them why I did it

moconnor

iTrader: (14)

If you had asked this question two years ago you would have had to put on your flame suit because it was asked at least weekly. (Hint: search for 'daily driver'.)

With our wonderful economy and $3-$4 per gallon gas prices very few brave souls now ask if it makes sense to daily drive an almost twenty-year-old extremely temperamental sports car that gets 12-15 mpg.

Unless your commute involves twisty mountain roads there are better options.

inthetwisties

My bad, I didn't think to search. But as a matter of fact, my commute is nothing but twisty mountain roads lol. Gas here is around $2.18.
Guess I'm crazy?

moconnor

iTrader: (14)

Then go for it! But make sure you have a backup beater too.

staticguitar313

iTrader: (2)

I bought mine with the intention of daily driving it and i keep getting stuck on little projects and not so little projects. I bought mine in not so great shape but it came with a well built fresh motor and tons of supporting mods, so I believe I chose well. Take your time and look at different cars before to pick one. Don't buy tan interior >_>

inthetwisties

yea, i wont be picking a 7 up until winter is over, and once i get the 7, ill pick up a ek hatch my friend has
Projects as in break downs or ugrades? lol and i hate tan interior, we had it in a camaro and the car felt slower lol

Chris_V

iTrader: (6)

Get one if you have disposeable income.The car is a blast to drive but the cost of upkeeping and maintaining it will creep up on you.Start of right dont buy the first one you see. It will take time and you will go through a handful of them before you find the right one.Start of right and save yourself time, money and the headaches

djseven

iTrader: (56)

Take this for what it is worth, but I dont personally believe redlining the car all the time to remove carbon is going to prolong the life of your engine Pretty much every engine failure is due to detonation, I know that can get carbon locked but that is rare. 9/10 engines I tear down that are blown are due to detonation which is obvious due to the dents in the rotors. That heavy detonation is not caused by driving around casually and taking it easy. Just be careful what advice you choose to follow on this site.

zanthrax

Most stories about FD being unreliable are exaggerated.
Just take good care of it and don't mod it for more power, just do the standard reliability mods (read the FAQs on this board)

twinsinside

iTrader: (34)

How many of the cars you get in your shop are bone stock? I mean by their nature specialty shops have clients that tend to push the envelope. Most detonation problems I would think would be either a car with too many mods, or a serious problem with the fuel system.

Some people buy 7's and treat them like they're saturns or something lol.

I'm not suggesting redlining the car is a magic maintenance idea, but taking it out and running it hard every once in a while and steamcleaning the carbon out are pretty well documented ideas to keep the engine happy.

djseven

iTrader: (56)

Ive owned about 80 fds, worked on countless others and have no clue how many engines I have torn down but it is in the hundreds, I have seen one failure I can truly attribute to carbon buildup.

People dont understand that what they post on these forums is viewed by hundreds of people who will never post on this board and dont take the time to do their own research. I would recommend someone steam cleaning the engine over taking it out and flogging on it thinking they are doing more good than harm. You wont see a good healthy engine let go taking a nice cruise, however, some nice 3rd and 4th gear pulls with a most likely spiking or incorrectly working sequential system will put an engine on its death bed in a hurry.