NewCarPlease

Hi all.
I'm in the market to buy a car, and I've narrowed it down to 3.
My choices are:
95 Stealth TT 42000 kilometers, $29000CDN
98 Camaro Z28 44000 kilometers, $19,000CDN
93 RX-7 TT, 59000 kilometers, $19999CDN

I've wanted a Stealth BADLY for a while now, and the one I found is MINT, but thats pretty expensive considering I'm still in college. I've also always been partial to Z28's, and one for that price with such low mileage is pretty rare.
RX-7's have never been something I've looked into getting, but to me that seems like a great deal. I know the probs associated with the other two, but I'd like your opinions on this car.
Is there a typical mileage these motors last? What are major problems? Reliability issues? High maintenance?
Any help would be GREATLY appreciated, as I am going to the bank in 5 hours for my loan application.

Thanks!
Chris

EunosFD

Hey Chris...I gather that you don't know a lot about 3rd gen RX7's. While they're great cars they do require a lot of maintenence and their reliability is questionable. Yeah, you'll have some folks tell you that if you do reliability mods that you'll be fine, but all that does is prolong the inevitable. Since you're in school and probably won't have much extra cash to save up and whatnot I'd say the 7 and the Stealth (transmission issues) aren't good choices. Trust me I know first hand how it is...trying to make payments on the car, fix it, and go to school full time is a pain in the *** thus the reason I'm selling mine. School is a bit more important than some car that can be easily replaced. Anyway, if you do decide on the 7 definately check out www.scuderiaciriani.com for tons of info about 'em plus he has a Buyer's Guide on there somewhere too. Hope this was of some help

NewCarPlease

Yes it was helpful thank you, but I guess I'd like to be a bit more specific. . .
Though I am in school, I'm in a coop program so I can say this ..
monthly, after taxes I'm getting $2400cdn, (the car+ insurance will be 550/mth) and I'll be in coop until january, then a semester for 4 months, then coop again at a slightly higher pay, then shcool, then coop again, then school then I graduate.
To me this seems like I'm in a more financially stable situation than most students. I definately plan on doing the following if I did get it:
New vaccuum hoses, complete tune-up every spring, new plugs every spring, oil cange every 2000 kilometers, and I have a winter beater.
With that being said, and the fact that it has only 59000k on it, does my sit. look better? Can I expect problems on it with such few kilometers and is there a certain point that I CAN expect them?
I fully intend to keep on top of preventative maintenance.

Chris

Dimcorner

you have to remember one thing...

A car is a car to most people, it might be fun to have the 3rd gen now, but you have to be dedicated to it and not give up like i almost did because you have to remember that it is a specialty vehicle. It's no longer in production here and it also hasn't been for a while so parts are NOT cheap. Once you get it thou you will be in a whole new area of uniqueness so long as you are willing to put up with it.

Dragueur

sup newcar......
im a college student...workin...and got me a 95tt like 2 months ago....already got a tune up.....bov....clutch is slippin so i gotta get that and a dp.....so far so good...im glad i got it...it had 53K miles on it.......best decision on buyin a car i ever did....atleast i think it was...

Nathan Kwok

If you don't go crazy on the mods, owning an RX-7 isn't THAT expensive. The average person here on the forum probably spends 4 times as much money on mods as on actually maintaining the car. I think the bigger issue is you need a backup car or just be able to go without it for extended periods of time. You'll want to take it to a rotary shop if anything breaks, and rotary shops often take awhile. Its not like a Camaro where as soon something goes wrong, you drop it off at the dealer down the street, they give you a loaner car, and the next day you have your car back. With an RX-7, something small breaks, you take it into a rotary shop, 2 weeks of riding the bus and you have your car back. Or you can take it to the local Mazda dealer and risk trading one small problem for some big problems...

NewCarPlease

Well, as far as shops are concerned, I guess I'm pretty lucky, becuase I have 1 RX-7 expert about 5 minutes away and another one about 20 minutes away, so finding a reputable mechanic to work on it won't be a problem.

Jordan

I am a univ. student too, I paid off my 95 when I buy it, I was thinking about I was in stable situation like you thought, but I gradually found out it's not easy to do the work on rx7. Plus now you are not paying off the car, you think 500 around per month is not a problem NOW, but I guess you will find out *something* later on.
Just my opinion.

Jordan

If you like both z28 and rx7, then get the z28, it's more realiable than rx7s for most of cases. I am a FD owner and I love my car, but you have to really taking care of your car, then you car can run well.

regarding to the engine, most ppl are saying the motor is gonna blow when the mileage is getting 100K. but there are also ppl who got more than that.

NewCarPlease

do you mean they tend to blow at 100000kilometers or 100000miles?

nycRedRex

they blow around 100K miles, mine blew at 96K miles. i would even suggest buying a rex with a blown engine and having a rebuild with Mazda reman done at the start with all reliability mods. That way all is good and you know what to expect.

annarborman76

Seems like anywhere from 60 to 100 thousand miles is the normal lifespan for the engine.