Just started college and I came close to purchasing a 2000 Lude today, but something prevented me from doing this. I have always love FD's but I really need help on deciding which car will suit me better. I will have about 4k extra money after buying of either car. If I purchase an FD it will definitely have a rebuilt engine or a replacement and all the reliable mods. The car will be daily driver from college to my house about 10 miles away.

I also have two questions that I been pondering for a while now.

1. What's the advantage/disadvantage with rear wheel over front wheel. How will weather conditions affect the FD?(rain)

2. What's the clutch point on THE FD...don't know how to explain this but it's the point where your car creeps forward. EXAMPLE (a VR-4 is early, a Civic is about 50%)

THX

 

The Prelude will probably be more reliable, but the RX-7's reputation of not being reliable comes mostly from owners that neglect proper maintenance or mod their cars for power (carefully or not so carefully). There are a number of people that use the RX-7 for daily driving without any problems. Mine has never stranded me, but I also have another car to use when the RX-7 is apart or broken.

1. Rear wheel drive does a better job of distributing the work load over the tires. Front wheel drive cars overload the front tires when driven hard. Launching is also better with rear wheel drive because the weight is transferred to the drive wheels. With front wheel drive, the load is transferred off the drive wheels. Front wheel drive is safer in the rain. Lots of people have crashed their RX-7s in the rain or snow. But, I have driven front wheel and rear wheel drive cars (including two turbo RX-7s) in the rain and snow and I don't really get what the problem is. I haven't crashed or gotten stuck when using a RWD car in low traction situations. If the choice is available for the cars I am considering, I much prefer RWD -- it just feels right.

2. The clutch's friction point is adjustable at the pedal. But generally, it is a little closer to the floor than you would get in a Honda. It isn't right off the floor like you describe the VR-4 to be.

-Max

 

You'll be a lot happier with a rear wheel drive car.... have you driven either car? Try driving them then comparing them, its a lot easier to choose that way BTW what part of sacramento do you live in?

 

Antelope, i was going to drive my buddy's FD but his turbo manifold cracked.

 

Seriously drive the car first before even contemplating getting one....

 

I have driven a lot of cars similar to an FD: S2000, Porsche Boxer, 95 TT supra. I'm sure I can handle an FD.

 

do not get the fd while in college, i think u will be a lot happier with the prelude. you will find teh fd just a bunch of pain in teh *** in college.


my .02 cents

 

Driving in the rain with a FD is freaking scary (personnaly I never go over 45mph-50mph in the rain), the power out put from a FD (on a well running FD) is more then enuf to spin your tires in the dry in a corner. I guess it's ok in the rain, just don't get on it or your gonna be going side ways mighty quick. I think a lot of the problem people get in to is that their tires are crap, my Nitto 450's totally suck in the rain and in the dry might I add. Get some S-03's and you should be ok (they do cost about 200+ bucks apeice but well worth it I think, unless you like sliding around)

BTW: The advantage with rear wheel over front wheel is that you oversteer in a corner rather then understeer which is what I would prefer. FWD kinda forces you to drive saftly since you really don't wanna be comming in to a corner too fast and not beable to turn. On the other hand, rwd may get you into trouble, especially when you try to start drifting/controlled crashing hehe

I have driven many FD's and all of them have different clutch points. This really should not be an issue when picking out a FD though since you can easily adjust the clutch engagement point.

The best advice I could give you is to drive a lot of them, there are quite a bit of lemons I have gone thru before deciding on mines (Note: Even though some of them were lemons, all were very fun to drive!) Make sure to get in to the upper RPM range but only after warming up the car to at least 180 F. Also, go thru all the gears multipul times and have fun. If the owner does not let you do that, he might be hiding some defects... then again, top of 4th gear is 140mph and 5th is ???

BTW: If you spend about 4k on a new engine and possibly turbo/s if you do it yourself, your gonna have one smoking fast and relible FD Just don't forget fuel and engine managment

Good luck

 

nothing wrong with gettin a FD during college. i'm a 2nd year student and i just recently bought an FD.

the one thing with FD is that your gonna learn a lot more about cars (the FD especially). if you own a prelude you wont have maintenance issues like the FD would. but you should DEFINETLY test drive all the cars out there. choose what you like.

 

do you have a consistant income? or did you save a while to get a nice car...if you have a good reliable source of income (i olny ask b/c most students don't) get the fd...if not go for the lude...but before you buy either...drive them both...by taking a 10 min. test drive you will see (feel) the diff. of rear & front wheel drive...

the insurance on the fd is going to be a bitch...and if it's a daily driver you will have to put more money into it to keep it on the road...then you would a prelude...they are not cheap cars to maintain...it would really suck if you buy an fd and have to sell it in a few months b/c you can't afford it....then not being able to buy a lude...

if at all pos. you don't want to drive an fd in the rain....it's frustrating and very scary...you can't go over 50 safely....really depends alot on tires, though...

 

i know alot of you are going to hate to hear this...

....but if you have an extra 4k why don't you look into a supra and leave it stock for awhile?...it's more reliable...

 

The only problem I've had with driveability in weather is when your coming around the corner and at the apex the turbos kick in. That can be a little too much fun . Also, be sure to call your ins. agent and get a quote for the FD. It may be a LOT higher than you expected, especially if you're driving record isn't perfect. I've heard of FD's driven in the snow with no problems, just get some studded Blizzaks and keep your foot out of it.

Also bear in mind that the thin skin on an FD is VERY EASY TO DENT.

You'll get more door dings than you know what to do with if you park it in a campus lot. Those are my biggest concerns for you and the safety or car & driver. Other than that, there is no reason why you shouldn't be able to drive an FD daily, in any weather.

 

How to not crash in the rain: don't mash the throttle. If you accidentally invoke the boost machines, lessen your pressure on the throttle and recover the car.

I drove my T2 in the snow for 3 years, and I drove my FD in the snow for a year. It isn't that tricky -- these cars actually work fine in low traction conditions. I have also driven a Mustang in the snow and it was actually scary (no weight on the rear tires, and the rear brakes lock up too soon -- spin city). RX-7s are fine, though, if driven sensibly.

-Max

 

only car, lude.

second car, FD.

 

RWD vs. FWD, do you want a sports car or an econo car?

-Charlie

 

Hold up, Where are you getting Supras for that cheap??? Last I checked, Supras went for 20+K and those were the N/A auto Supras which are crap. Are you talking about 3rd gen Supras, the ones that look like 240's?

 

Everybody's situation is different (refering to college life), but if you are the typical college student you are better off with the Prelude. If you are comfortably secure (mommy) or have a well paying college job, and/or plan to attend part-time, then having an FD in your life should be ok. Don't count on the extra $4000 you've got to last you thru the next 4-5 years of college life though.

If money is even a tiny bit of concern, the FD is simply not appropriate at this moment. You really need to focus on your school work and given enough time, and FD will suck your resources (time, money, etc) dry. There will always be FDs (and potentially FEs, etc) to buy later, and restore if need be.Best of luck.

 

if you're only going to have one car, you will want the prelude, for insurance and maintenance reasons... if you could find a beater daily driver, i would definitely look into gettin an FD, that way you can insure the beater as your 'daily' car and the FD as your 'pleasure' or 'weekend' car... insurance will be cheaper, and most companies offer a discount for 2 or more insured vehicles.

go out and test drive a few ludes and 3rd gens, go home, grab a snack, get on the forum, have some fun in the lounge (hehehe), go test drive a few more ludes and FDs, then you should be able to make your decision.

if you do decide that you want... wait, rather 'need' like all the rest of us ... a 7, don't get scared away by the horror stories. like Cooper said, most, if not all, of the blown engines happened because:
a) previous owner(s) not doing routine maintenance
2) overheating (kinda falls under number 'a')
tres) stupid mechanics or improper modding

and you don't have to worry about not knowing what to do when a problem arises. sure, you'll feel like there's nothing else to do except sell the car, but you have a great resource at your disposal: the rx7club. just get on the forum, search and ask around and if you are precise and accurate in your descriptions, someone will be there (usually more than one person) to help you thru it.

sorry for the long post and good luck with your decision. i am very pleased with the one i made

jimmy

 

I had a 99 Lude with all the regular bolt ons, and it still only ran 14s. What a turd that car was. Spent all winter building it, ran a 14.x, next weekend traded it on my 93 R-1. Never looked back.

 

I just wanted to add that front wheel drive has nothing to do with understeer and rear wheel drive has nothing to do with oversteer.

go drive a '75 cadillac (RWD) and see if you can get the tail end around in a corner without powersliding... then go hop in a new beetle (FWD), do a quick turn-in and watch the back end zip out.

oversteer/understeer has to do with weight distribution and suspension setup.

also, I'll add that FWD cars are prone to torque-steer (where the wheel turns a bit when you really get on it) which just plain sucks.

that said, get the prelude & have a worry free car while you're in school.

 

I recently had to drive my FD daily for awhile and I noticed if I just drive it like a normal car, its much more reliable and gets pretty decent gas mileage (20mpg). When I only drive it kamakazi up and down mountain roads then it seems like I'm replacing stuff every month. Too bad I can't resist doing this, but I'd say this kind of driving wears parts out 10X faster per mile than just driving in a straight line and not accelerating. I bet if I drove my mom's camry like I do my FD I would be replacing parts all the time too. Despite this, bottom line is, when stuff breaks, its expensive and it can take forever to fix if you have someone else do it. Hell it takes forever when I do it myself but at least its cheaper. If you can spare a parking space or have decent street parking, maybe you can take $2000-$3000 of that extra money and buy a beater to go with it?

 

skunks....

...maybe in hawaii...back here on the main land you can get a tt supra in decent shape for around 20k...and if your looking for a low milage fd with a fresh engine and reliability mods. you'll pay an easy 16k....

...however, i am VERY jealous that you live in hawaii...i'm stuck on the shitty eastcoast for now.....