Hello Everyone! I am new to the rotary community and have been doing some searching and reading the FAQ’s on the forums. I have been in love with the RX-7 since I first saw one in 1995. A friend of mines father had a brand new red one in his garage that he babied and hardly ever drove.

I am planning on joining the ranks of the rotary community sometime this year with the purchase of a 3rd gen RX7. The reason I am posting is to ask experienced members opinions on the car and if the RX-7 is the right car for me. I have read that the cars cost a a lot of money to fix and some have more problems with others and that the cars are maintenance intense. I understand this much, but I want to hear from people’s experiences with these cars (and others) so I can make an informed decision.

I want a car that I can follow a few friends around on road trips/rallys, a sort of touring car that I can work on at my own pace and upgrade parts when I have the cash to do so. I would like to make trips in the car to different states (I live in Arizona) namely Colorado and California. I also want to be able to smoke a mustang GT if the need arises ;p Reliability is important also, but more-so just to get me around on my trips. I know the RX-7 has plenty of “go” stock, I would be working on the “show” aspect of it more to make it look the way I want, then when I am more comfortable with my knowledge of the car, I would look to do engine upgrades.

My question to the community is that after reading the above, do you personally think that the RX-7 is the car for me? I would also like to hear about your experiences with the car, good and bad.

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

Id say get a supra.

 

An RX-7 is a terrible car for road trips, and even worse for rallys. Get an EVO or an STi.

 

rx7 speciality shops charge $80-$85 an hour for labor compared to the usual $50 an hour vertually anywhere else. how often it needs to be fixed is highly dependible on the milage, how it was treated, and if its still running on stock boost. i can almost gaurente you will end up with alot less problems if you buy an fd with less than 50k miles on chassis/motor, buy it from someone who kept recipts or proof of maintence, and who kept the boost stock.

might want to consider a real low milage touring model if your planning on taking road trips...


no need to worry..any stock fd will do that

if reliability is your main concern..then i really think this is not the car for you.

i hope you have deep pockets if your planning on making it look pretty. cosmeticly enhancing your fd is not cheap. prettying up your bay wont be as bad as body work though, you can color-coordinate alota stuff

i dont know why the hell not??

i have had mine for a little under a year, and i think its great. makes me mad depressed sometimes, cause of the dumb little things that go wrong, but when it runs correctly it makes for an enjoyable ride.
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here is an rx7 maintenance site i found a while back that should give you some ideas of what you will be spending, depending on the year of your car.

http://www.rotarygod.com/index.php?t...ne_Maintenance

hope this helps some...
-adam

 

4CN A1R, i'd like to have rotary shops around me that charge that cheap. shops around me charge $115+ for labor!

to the OP, if you maintain your car well, it will treat you well. There are other (newer) options out there that can be made into reliable street/track cars that won't give you as much grief as the 7 if you end up buying one that has been poorly taken care of.

 

While mine was working, I took trips from San Diego to Lake Tahoe every few months to see my dad, and through I am truly in love with my car, I'd have to say it sucks to be on a long road trip with! The seats are not comfortable after about 2 hours and forget about storage space if there are two of you.

Also remember with any car you get, the different locations you go to will make any turbo car run different. Being in AZ your elevation will be a lot different then the elevation in Colorado or places in Calif. My FD looses some kick up in Tahoe do to the fact that the air is thinner and my car is tuned for sea level. So don’t expect to have the same performance abilities out on the road as at home. However, if you leave it stock the elevations won’t affect it as much.

As far as smoking a mustang GT. I have a natural aspirated 90’ civic hatchback with only about $9k in performance parts (including blueprinted engine) in garage that breaks off GTs, boxers, Audi TTs, any others. So don’t worry about that one. It has high hp, but also high curb weight.

So…….no I don’t think you should get one at this time.

 

Oh and about the mustang thing, they are pretty fast if one gets fixed up, but the 7 never loses! (kind of)

 

60% of the time it wins all the time

 

Hence the "kind of" in the parentheses.

 

damn dude, thats outragous. thats about wat i get charged for dyno tuning

i dont think you can legally say that on this forum

 

Yeah its pretty crazy. That's why if i can do it myself id much prefer that.

and i take back the mustang thing.

 

 

This is definitely a YMMV thing. When I first bought my FD, I drove it almost 3000 miles in 3 1/2 days. I spent three days straight driving from 6:00 am to midnight. Despite the fact that I'm 6'2", almost 50 years old, and have a touring model that has very little headroom, it was a GREAT trip. I was very comfortable the entire time. Just plan on packing light.

 

man, that must have been great. i dread putting miles on my fd. i want it to last as long as possible. i havnt even drove mine over 1k miles yet

 

If you've got some common sense, have a 10 mm socket and wrench, and aren't scared to get your hands dirty. . .jump in!

The car is a real head turner, and a blast to drive, but they are all getting a little longer in the tooth, and things break. . . they weren't the most reliable beasts to begin with.

If you're willing to have it on the shelf at times while you're either having it fixed, or learning to fix it yourself it's the perfect car to have fun in.

If you need it for reliable transportation. . .get a Honda.