I'm looking at buying a '95 7, auto (oh well ), it's got 29k original miles, clean background. I'm going to put on a lot (20k a year) of highway miles. Is the 7 a decent choice for this? I've checked the reliability and all that, but I couldn't test drive it on the highway. Also, I'd like to put on a new exhaust, but I want one that doesn't sound rice, more like a sports car. Who makes the best for this kind of sound?

 

For an automatic I have been told it's not bad. You can always do a manual swap down the road if you're not happy. It will be cheaper/easier to buy a manual FD than to convert, so if you're on the fence I'd spend some time behind the wheel of both before deciding.

I use my car as a daily driver and do at least 1 500 mile round trip each month with it. I think it's a great highway car: fast, comfortable seats, good visibility.

As for catbacks: Greddy SP or Racing Beat. The SP sounds better than the Racing Beat with a cat in place, but with a midpipe the volume level of the SP gets way out of my comfort zone.

Best,

Chris

 

1) Exhaust of choice: Racing Beat dual or single, or M2 muffler.

2) I have different experience than Chris on the highway thing. The seats are comfortable, but sit so low that fatigue is an issue. If I don't remove my wallet my right asscheek gets sore within 30min. (I have super-stiff GAB Super R shocks though, and that doesn't help). The car drinks gas (you may never see 20mpg), and dealing with the very low stance sucks in traffic and reduces visibility. There are no cupholders, and no room for luggage, etc. In some situations, this stuff doesn't matter, but to me I prefer a basic sedan 10:1 over the FD for long daily driving.

Finally, the reliability is in question - unless you have most of the reliability mods done right away, that many miles put you at risk for a breakdown. We can talk all day about exactly how reliable the car is, but everyone knows the coolant hoses, AST, radiator, etc are common failure points. If you have a junker car in case the FD needs a little attention, you'll be fine, but if you miss a major client meeting because your AST finally decided to pop, it's not fun.

Dave

 

I'm thinking about the non-sequential mod...is it easy to do myself, or should I have a mechanic do it? How much does it cost?

 

I'd definitely invest in reliability mods. Which are the most important ones, and which ones can wait a bit?

Almost forgot, what's a good way to get rid of the stupid looking Mazda emblem on the front and back? I'd rather just have it say RX-7

 

Look at the FAQ here for information on reliability mod order.

But.....I'd strongly recommend that you consider a different car. An FD is a really terrible choice if you're planning on putting 20k miles on the car per year. It's extremely impractical, gets awful mpg, and requires an inordinate amount of maintenance compared to "normal" cars. If you need a reliable daily driver but you MUST have an FD, I'd suggest you look at picking up an old Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla to serve as a "companion vehicle" for your RX-7.

 

http://www.scuderiaciriani.com/rx7/stages.html

 

I recommend leaving it sequential until something stops working.

Dave

 

Non-sequential on an essentially stock automatic? I think even the staunch non-seq guys will tell you that's a bad idea.