Hi :]





New to car forums soo yea. Dont kill me. Im a nub at cars too.






Totaled my first car, and my uncle offered me his fd rx7. I was completely retarded and didnt ask for the mileage and hes prob asleep so cant find out till 2m. I know the rumors and stories about the engines reliability issues. My main question is how reliable is the engine if i DONT plan on racing it or anything hardcore. Im talking like...50 mph city and 75 mph highway and THATS IT. Just to commute around. Yea yea i know its a total waste of a rx7 but my parents dont think i deserve a new car and they will only buy used cars off ppl they trust. Sooo would that essentially make the engine live much longer? Just commuting with it?






Thx :]

 

well, welcome to the forum.

it would be best to(cause of your history) get used to the car first. the rwd aspect and your driving skills in general; since your prob young.

with the whole keeping it at a "safe speed". its a bunch of bullshit. sooner or later your goona wanta know what it feels like to stomp on it and before you know it your doin 120+ down the freeway or your flyin off the road. its pretty much just a general rule of thumb: use good judgement and try to be safe.

about reliability....there are a few things that can be done to assist with minor complications. y-pipe, downpipe, vac hoses, ect.....

check the FAQ. that will be your best source of useful information. its near the top of the 3rd gen section. we also have a search key that works on occation.

 

First off, name your threads appropriately (I renamed this one for you). On car forums, the way to get people to ignore your thread is using "Help Me!", "I Need Help Now!", or anything along those lines.

Second, read through the FAQ thread:

https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generation-specific-1993-2002-16/faq-3rd-gen-other-useful-links-68640/

It has all the information you'll need to get started.

Good luck.

 

If you follow the faqs keep searching on the forum you have a good shot of getting some good miles out of the engine. This is a car that you have to keep on top of though any minor thing could happen and you need to fix it right away IMO.

 

So you totaled your first car and your uncle is offering up his FD to you...He either a: Wants you to die or b: really hates RX-7s.

Either way, I'd reccomend a nice FWD car for any beginning driver. My first car was a Mustang, and I almost killed myself and my passangers on several occasions before I got the hang of RWD. You'd probably be a lot happier with a teg or protege or something compairable. A RWD high maintnence, poor gas mileage car can only hold you back at your age.

There are a few people on here who will tell you the FD is a fine first car, but the truth is they were lucky to not have encountered any serious problems or total the car/themselves.

 

Not to beat a dead horse but..

I was 21 when when I got my FD and all the promsises in the world mean nothing until you sit in it and drive it. As 4CN A1R said, you will step on it and you go faster than you think. The big question is, can you afford the upkeep both time and money. These cars are getting older and need a lot of TLC. I did all the upgrades for reliability plus a few more, nothing crazy, I read a lot and always warmed it up before boost and cooled it down before shut off and I still blew a coolant seal at 60k So if this is your daily driver, you need to think about all of the "what if's" and whether or not you can not only afford this but are mature enough to handle it. Looking back I was very lucky with mine, and my dad is in to cars so I had a lot of support. Read the faq's, utilize this forum and the people like mahjik and some of the others who give great advice and set aside some extra money every month just in case. Good luck, these are more than cars, they are a passion!!

 

Very well put, especially the last part. With these cars, like every car, sooner or later something will break. Unfortunately due to the nature of the engine, that something is usually very labor intesive to replace. I too have been lucky to this point and I'm almost to 90k miles on mine.

 

+1. get a honduh

 

^Whats with the hood bra?

 

paint fade, unfortunately, and hard water spots, it's off now and getting buffed out as best I can.

 

damn old lady previous owner didn't know how to care for the beauty.

 

LOL

he could get an FB and develop some tech skills

 

that would be wise, but we all know how teenagers take to wisdom...

 

Im not the one that did the 'toasting'. Some white college girl didnt have her eyes on the road and rammed my fender straight in while i was making a left turn. Battery acid pretty much killed everything under the hood so we scrapped it.








Ive driven my friends m3 and my other friends WRX. Not exactly the same as a rx7, but i think ill manage. Like i said i dont plan on doing any 2fast2furious manuevers, so i dont think im going to die in this vehicle. Of course im going to floor it now and then, but i doubt im going to encounter any questionable turns on the highway.







Oh yea my uncles rx7 is as follows: 1994 / 69k miles / hes was selling it for 18k but since im family hes saying 13k-15k. Worth it?







On the other hand, he managed to find me a n/a 1995 supra with 78k miles on it. 100% bone stock. I know this is a rx7 forum, but considering the mileages and the prices, what would be a better choice?

 

Do it. **** everyone else. as nietche says what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. If your uncle is gonna sell it to you. If your parents are going to buy it for you. Get it! Yes, the FD is NOT for beginners. Yes the car is unreliable but if you love it. I don't have a wife. I don't have a girl friend. I live with my parents, I go to college and I own an FD. The rest of it can go to hell.

 

the supra will (perhaps) prove to be more reliable.

My FD has been my DD since i was 16 (now 19). there are many aspects you have to consider when obtaining an FD that I did not when i was younger.

1) The car eats gas in a ridiculous fashion. I know that this may not be a problem to some, but my own ambitiousness and preference to drive my car EVERYWHERE have made me somewhat BROKE. College has not helped one bit.

2) The driving characteristics of the car make it a true sports car, but this may also hinder safety while driving on STREET roads. tracks are well maintained, DRY most of the time, and well taken car of. this is not the case on regular streets. The back end WILL kick out if you aren't careful.

3) The maintenance on this car is more than some JGTC cars (haha joke, but its pretty damn close). nothing at all can be overlooked, even running oil in it for too long can be a costly mistake.

4) Things break unexpectedly, and if you don't mentally prepare yourself for this, you will be punching holes in walls quite often. These cars are old, and parts are rare and expensive. even worse if you dont know s**t about cars or lack mechanical skill. Luckily I've managed to fix about half of my problems myself.

now after saying all of that, i do not regret choosing this car at all. i hope my 19 yr old "wisdom" will help you in making the right decision, or at least prepare you for your mistake.

 

I love this comment!!!

I am just as new to these forum as you. I Finally got my FD last month on my birthday actually and I almost got one 2years before that. but I did all the research about the car with it issues and everything. And face it a 93 is now 15years old and they will in my opinion be a timeless car, because people like us are still drooling over them now. I know after I missed my chance 2years ago that I wish I had gotten one, and back in june I started to look for one again. this time I found her. I know we have all seen those old geezer with there Porsche Hats and new 911 or Boxsters but trust me when they come up to you and ask you what you are driving? Is it new? you can just smile and say it a 15 year old Mazda. Then watch them scratch their head like WTF!!! Or my favor is explaining that it is a rotary and has no piston. People are so confused

 

Two things I'd like to point out here. First and foremost, M3s and WRXs are very modern cars with traction control and safety/handling luxuries that the 7 will not afford you. They are very easy to control, the car does most of the driving for you. The RX-7 will react how you react. If you goose the throttle going into a curve, the back end will kick out and send you into a spin. If you aren't cautious on wet roads, you're in for a spin. You get my point here. Not that you care or will listen, but atleast you can't say nobody warned you.

Second, the funny thing about rotaries...If you granny them, they will die on you. They are very inefficient motors and they leave a lot of unburnt carbon deposits. So even though you claim today that you'll be a responsible driver--which is easy to do when you've never been behind the wheel-- you will have trouble down the line if you don't redline the car every so often, especially if you DD the car.

Get the Supra if you really must inflate your dick, but supraforums won't be any nicer to you. Seriously, get a nice FWD car or a cheap AWD car if you can find one. I speak from experience here. There's nothing quite like driving up a hill in light snow just to have the back end kick out and spin your way back down to the bottom.
Hands down, the Supra will be more reliable and by far easier to drive on the streets for a young driver. I'm only 22, but you know as well as I do what years of FD ownership will do to you.
I just love when new owners start flaunting some self righteous crap like these guys. They've been involved for all of 2 months and suddenly know everything there is to know. You guys will have your day where you'll eat these words. I'd put money on both of you having a major mental shift or selling within 2 years.

I'm not trying to say I've been around forever, or have half the experience of some of the other guys on this forum, but in the time that I've owned my FD I have seen a lot of clowns like you come and go. I've spent a lot, and learned a lot more. I can't imagine what I'll be thinking 10 years down the road.

 

SLOASFK you seem to make it sound as bad as possible while still being truthful. I like that. I guess im not cut out for rotaries yet. Im not putting down the engine, but i guess there had to be a legit reason for the cheap rx8's ive been seeing. Yes the engine can run for hundreds and thousands of miles IF you MAINTAIN it. Thats like saying "my ipod can run forever IF i keep charging it" Bottom line, itll cost more and take more time to keep the rotary running than it will a regular engine.










Are rx8's the same story? Or are they much more reliable and safe? Feel free to tell me to STFU as i understand this is a rx7 forum :]

 

[QUOTE=edddddy;8471494]SLOASFK you seem to make it sound as bad as possible while still being truthful...Bottom line, itll cost more and take more time to keep the rotary running than it will a regular engine.
Sometimes people will only listen to horror stories. Granted what I've been through is a bit extreme, but every RX-7 out there has the potential to put anyone through the same. And yes, no matter how you slice it, a turbo rotary will cost more to run than a piston motor. They always get worse gas mileage, they are very fickle, and even when you do everything perfect, things break..
RX-8s seem to be a toss up. It seems that most of the 05+s are fine, and the 04s had their engines recalled. They do run a big cooler than the older rotaries that you'll find in RX-7s, and they are N/A so they don't have a lot of the same problems that FDs and TII FCs have.

RX-8s don't hold their value for the same reason S2000s and 350zs don't hold their value. There are a metric **** ton of them on the road.

 

unless you live in Nebraska

 

in a state with a population of about 200, everything's rare in Nebraska

 

um...i'm pretty sure that you would be cited as "at fault" in this situation unless she ran a red light. who did accident report cite for being at fault? i'm guessing you.

anytime you are making a left turn, oncoming traffic has the right of way.

i know several people who have gotten into accidents this way, and they always blame it on the "other guy who wasn't looking" even though the "other guy" had the right of way.

 

more like 2 million, on a good day, but that's true, i have one of about 15 FD's in the state! and the only one I know of without the LS swap in Lincoln, there are 4 of them.

 

Those comparisons aren't really accurate. Any car will start to deteriorate with improper care, the only real difference is you can limp most piston motors MANY miles before you're either just dumping to much money into things keeping it alive or something fails. When it comes to rotaries they are a bit more finicky, if somethings wrong the chances of being able to limp it around for thousands of miles are not that great, but the same potential for failure is there. Everyone loves to hate on the rotary and a lot of ill taught owners themselves seem to perpetuate these rumors because they are frustrated they can't get the car to run correctly, but there are many FD's out there running beautifully without any issues for many thousands of miles, and there are plenty of other sports cars around blowing motors left and right, it all comes down to the owner and their competence. Now being a more finicky motor when you start trying to squeeze more power out of it the margin for error naturally starts to decrease and things are more prone to going wrong more frequently, but if heavy modifications are not something your interested in then that is a path that doesn't need to be gone down.

RX8's are different, they don't have a lot of the heat issues the FD had, and being N/A they aren't as prone to pooping out apex seals because of a bad tune. They are without a doubt VERY fun sports cars and every RX8 owner I've ever talked to has so many good things to say about the car that they must simply forget any bad .

Good luck with whatever you choose to go with, the best advice anyone can give you is to simply research whatever you get and take good care of it, regardless of what car it is you should always strive to know as much about it as possible and make sure it's operating correctly at all times.