And sorry for the double post:

Alcoholic, it sounds to me like youa re getting defensive WAY too easily. Many of the members of this forum have ALOT of experience with these cars, and some have more total driving experience and mechanical experience combined then you will likely experience in your lifetime. Learn to respect the opinion of those who have already been there. These people have already modified what you want to modify, they have already broken what you will break, and they have seen more peaople learning to drive, with the pipedream of a super-fast sports car, destroy a car in their first years of driving.

Their concerns stem from something you dont have: Experience.

If you cant listen to experience, then why would you expect anyone to give you any genuine help?

I honestly wouldn't want someone that doesnt listen driving an FD. That's just a higher risk of someone destroying yet another out-of-production gem of a car, but even worse, it increases the risk of you getting in a accident that you wont be able to walk away from.

While learning, play it safe. I cant stress that more. You could be the coolest kid in the world, or the biggest douchebag, either way, i would still tell you to be safe. We dont want anyone hurt or killed because they got into a situation that they wern't ready to handle.

 

I'm 49 and when I was his age, all I wanted was a '67 Austin Healy. Do you think that was a safe reliable car? Hell no. It was a front heavy six cylinder with finicky dual stromberg carbs and a mostly aluminum body. Did I care that it had an electrical system from hell? No. Did it teach how to work on cars? Yes. Did I wreck it? Yes, although not my fault. Do I wish I still had it? Yes.
So if you are into sports cars and you want a 7, get it. **** the naysayers cause it don't mean a thing.

 

Ok.. everyone.. don't sell your car to this kid!! unless he's willing to pay top dollars.. LOL!!

I mean this is the reason, why I would hate to sell it to some punk kid who thinks he knows it all.

EtOHic, If some guy sells his FD to you (Hope they don't) and you wreck it, just remember what we told you.. Yes, you are special, unique high school drop out that will be responsible enough to take care of your very first car!! Lets take a vote and see how many of us acturally still own our very first car (who got their first car when they got their license and passed 5 years)... I bet maybe 10-20%... Also, lets take a vote and see how many of us never got in a wreck first 2-3 years of driving.. Also very few..

This is the kind of things insurance companies use to determine your rate.. Experience counts.. buy a ******* and learn how to drive.. Oh, do you even know how to drive a stick?? You do know that most rx7s are 5 speeds right?? unless you want an automatic??? Do you think riding with your mom and pop gave you enough experience to drive a 200+ RWHP stock FD?? Have you driven a car by yourself with that kind of power??? Do you know which direction rotary turns without looking at my avitar??

Come on.. We are trying to help!!! But if you want to go thru the mistakes yourself, do it.. I now see why you might of failed out of high school.. You just don't like to listen to those trying to help you..

and I also agree with Monkman33.. safety of you and others are very important..
high HP = speed = more damage and possible death.. My mother died because of automotive accident..

 

My first car still lives, but I got hit twice, and it has lots of issues. Technically not my fault, but knowing what I know now, I could have avoided the accidents. That car is now my dad's airport car. But my second car got totalled, again, not technically my fault, but if if it was the same situation this month, I would know how to avoid it.

I guess the lesson here is, even though the law may deem something not your fault, experience WILL help you avoid accidents all together.

With how defensive, and adament you are about using profanity and name-calling to try to stress points, I do not think you have the maturity to drive ANY vehicle safely. Start with a daewoo, since you're going to total it before you need to do any maintenence anyways.

PS: According to Aristotelian Logic (a college course *hint*) by insulting a person's intelligence, you do not invalidate their statements.

As such, your blatant insults and crude (and even poor) use of profanity on a public message board further strengthens my negative opinion towards your maturity.

Please change your mannerisms before gettign behind the wheel of a car, people like you cause road rage.

 

He fucked himself by assuming his old FD would hold up w/o a problem. If I get one, I'm going to rebuild it when I get it... if the motor went after that for some reason, then I'd be in his boat, pissed, and wishing I had taken the advice of everyone here while the car collected dust in my garage.



I think I was 14? I didn't know much about FD's when it came out, all I knew was what my friend told me.....him being four years older, biased like a ************ towards imports, teaching me ****. I knew it had a rotary, didn't know what the **** that was and didn't udnerstand when he explained, knew it handled good (from what he told me anyway), knew it looked good, and knew it had lots of potential and he also mentioned all the reliability issues......at that time, i wanted some stripped sown civic eg with an itr motor and all this **** blah blah blah and never really considered an FD as actually being something i would be able to own. f&f didn't change that.


but **** man, like I said, the car is no secret when you're looking for a fast import.


yes, i wrote it, and yes....you misconstrued it



you know, I really don't think it was hard to comprehend and YOU are the one that didn't comprehend it.


1) really?
2) asking about things that would be good to know FOR THE FUTURE before i get thousands and thousands of dollars into this.
3)...
4) yeah so i guess i really shouldn't try to find out more about whatever car i want before i get a license and buy it, right?
5) yes, actually. correct. i don't want a car with **** for power. it's not fun. there are not enough curves around this flat, boring area to have any fun with a slow nimble car like a miata.
6) i didn't exactly come here for other people to make decisions for me, did i?
7) i don't know anything about the teenagers that post on THIS forum, but i'm not like any of the ones i know in real life when it comes to cars.


i'm not expecting to buy the car and have no money to pay for upkeep and I won't be suprised at all if the engine is blown, I'm going to be buying the car, planning on rebuilding the damn thing anyway. like i said before, i'll only be fucked if i rebuild the engine then have it blow.

at least someone on here understands

really... I mean I'm a punk kid because I want a 7? why thank you, kind sir.

You don't know a god damn thing about me, my life, some of the really stupid decisions I made when I was 14 some of the extremely unfortunate **** I've had to deal with starting when I was 10, or my responsibility level. it has no bearing in this discussion, and you might possibly understand if i spent three hours explaining it, but it's none of your business in the first place.

i'm young, i've made some mistakes, i've had some really unfornutate hardships to deal with that have nothing to do with me making mistakes, but I've grown a lot from it and am better from it. i've learned a lot of **** the hard way and i'm not worried about a ******* car breaking. if it breaks, i fix it. if i wreck it, insurance covers it. if i'm a ******** and total it, oh well...lesson learned, move on. **** happens, that's life.

I'm human, I have made and will make mistakes, but I guess you've never made a mistake before in your life, huh?

yeah, it may sound very typical to you guys, yeah, i probably sound like an idiot to you guys, but i'm not worried about it.

most teens don't TOTAL their car anyway, though yes....most teens aren't driving rx7's.


I've only driven a stick a few times, I need some practice but for basic driving, it's nothing difficult. and no, i don't want an auto. i hate auto sports cars, an auto sports car is a paradox.
i've barely driven a stick, but driving a sports car without a clutch and shifter just wouldn't feel right.


fail out of highschool? you have serioulsy have got to either a) just not give a **** about school and have dreams of cutting my grass, or b) literally have a mental handicap to fail out of an american highschool. that ****'s easy as hell.

I think I can get through with this all right as long as I keep on top of my finances BEFORE buying the car, then be careful with it. If I end up learning another lesson, so be it. **** happens.

yeah.........umm, duh.

my dialect or style of posting if you will has nothing to do with **** in real life. **** **** **** **** **** ****, omg, look at me!!!1 1'|V| 1|V||V|47|_||23. leik omgz0rz wTf i r teh w1|\|4|2!!!1111

i'm not writing an assignment for school am i? i really don't give a ****, and i'm obviously not liked here allready.

as far as the rest of your post, i really don't have time to argue with you, or really care to have another person essentially just annoying me about this. i'm up too late and have to work tmw morning.

i'm about ready to just give up on this, make a new name, and not let you guys know **** about me. i allready have people leaving me rep points calling me a loser.......yay!

'night

 

I would like to hear about this hardship you have mentioned. You know what, please enlighten us and tell us about it in detail. Because we all have had to experience somesort of hardship some point in our lives.. Maybe mine was worse than yours?? So, lets see it! That would definitely shut me up and I would appologize to you if I it seems valid.

Good that you realized that you made some mistakes.. now think about it them, and see if those mistakes could be avoided and how?? Most of FD owners on here are enthuiasts that worried about teens distorying a rare amazing cars. Hence we are so avid about you understanding the value of these cars and what it means to us. We don't want to see another one gets distoried because attitude like yours... "if I wreck it, insurance covers it".

Point I was making to you and I believe others were doing the same.... We all made mistakes before and trying to help you by pointing you in the right direction.


Yes, you might be correct.. but a lot higher percentage of teens wreck and total their car vs old farts like me. Hence higher premium.


Oh God!!! Don't tell us that!! I was somewhat hoping that your parents were non-typical american family with all 5 speed manual sports cars..
My next question is: What 5 speed vehicle did you drive?? Have you driven an RX7?? How about Supra or NSX?? Have you been in Tampa rush hour traffic in a 5 speed and you were driving that 5 speed?? Tell us why 5 speed is better than auto, especially in track events or drag??


Hmm.. Yes, I dream about cutting your grass at your parents house.. LOL!
I don't think you would of survived my high school.. So, what happened if it is so easy as you said??



Oh come on!! why do you want to give up talking to us?? I'm starting to have respect for you for standing up to us. Keep it up!! Don't stop!! I respect you for being honest and not posting lies.... at least that what I think.. keep the name and prove to us why you are right!

I think at the end, you will learn;
1. Have better respect for the car, specifically for an FD.
2. You are more serious about owning an FD
3. You will take care of the car.
4. You realizing that you should start with something else to learn how to drive a 5speed and realizing that your likelyhood of wrecking this beautiful car is far greater as a beginner then with 2-3 years of experience.
5. You still don't give a **** and still going to go out and buy an FD to prove all of us wrong!!

I hope number 4 is to be the outcome.. but you know what, I think what ever decision you decide to make, at least you spent some time reading and acturally thought about it.. So, I think at least your decision was well thought of.. Me agreeing with that decision is a different story.

If you do buy an FD, let me know.. Next time I come down to Tampa/St. Pete area, I would like to take a look.

 

ive owned several cars before i got my 7...and most of the cars are maintenance free.
all i can say is.... time, love, and care
if you can provide those three for ANY car, you wont be dissappointed on what it gives back
the decision is soley up to you
if you think youre up to it(what most people think) then go for it
just done come back regretting what you did

 

The bottom line, is this is the wrong car for that goal. Yes it can be made fast, but it's a much more difficult and expensive road than with other cars. Just looking at the end result gives a skewed picture.

That's the biggest thing that I've learned - no matter what my intentions, or what steps I take to make things succeed, every responsibility I take on involves some risk I can't mitigate. No matter how I behave, some risks I can't control - and as a teenage driver (with 0 accidents, 0 close calls, 0 tickets as it turns out b/c my friends described me as 'too responsible') I know this car would have been an accident waiting to happen. I can't behave like a more experienced driver if I'm not experienced enough. And that's the point - responsibility is also making decisions that don't put you in a high risk situation that you can't afford to screw up in. No matter how you try to drive, you will be at a much higher risk of much more dangerous and expensive stakes if this is your first car.

Change your name, buy the car, whatever. Just don't kill anyone else when playing footsies with Darwin. There aren't many teens driving this car, but let me say the totalled cars and fatalities are most often teenagers.

Dave

 

If you dont have alot of manual experience, then you probably dont want to start on an RX-7. The handling characteristics are rewarding for an experienced driver that knows how to expoit them, but can be very detrimental to someone who is learning. Add to that the difficulty of learning manual on top of sports car handling, you have a VERy difficult time ahead of you.

You know, you could always get a $300 beater to learn manual on, and if you grind gears, you wont care. If you mess up am mis-shift, overrev it a bunch and blow something up, it's just 300 bucks in the whole car.

OR (and this is just as possible as the first thing)

you get the beater to learn on, drive it and get decently smooth with a manual. You get comfortable. Get to the point where you dont have to think about shifting, clutching, rev-matching, gear selection, etc.. and you get good. Then you get your RX-7 and you have so much more respect for it and ability to even drive it to any resemblance of its capabilities.

Either way, I really think you should learn manual on a beater first. It's a humbling, yet rewarding, experience.

No insults intended. I wish you the best. An RX-7 is not a car to learn on.

Sincerely,
Nathan

 

I agree with Nathan.. also you need to think about 5th gear syncho issue (your likelyhood to picking up an 93 fd is quite high, I've owned 5 FDs and all have been 93's (oh just incase.. No I have not wrecked or totalled any of those 5 Fds.. Just in case you are thinking something else.).. it takes one bad shift to ruin it.. and its not cheap to replace it unless you know how to.

Fd's arent the perfect daily.. So, be careful if you buy one as a daily.. i know it rains quite abit down there.. Good set of all season tires are a must.. Trust me, most FD owners probably had some sort of an issue when roads were wet. Light car and high HP doesn't do well.

 

And if you HAVE done that fix yourself, I think the motivation to not break it is stronger yet

Dave

 

I started replying to this part not long after you made this post...it got kinda long, messy, then just decided to go to sleep, then kinda stopped caring about this thread. if you really give a damn, maybe I'll go into more detail via PM or AIM, I just don't want to get to involved into it in a public place.

I don't have a problem with talking to anyone via AIM...


Trust me, the last thing I want to do is wreck it. Trust me (even though I'm sure you won't believe me), I'll take it nice and slow while I'm learning the car. The LAST thing I want to do is get into any sort of wreck; first and foremost because I don't want to injure myself or anyone else in the car, or damage the car.



I understand this, but all this BS gets frustrating.


Fact. Risk I'm willing to accept...

But I don't plan on driving fast, talking on the radio, and joking around with a passenger like most people are doing when they wreck.

Or stuff like my sister...late for school putting on makeup in the car and not realizing the light is red.....stupid...



Heh, I've only driven a jetta and an s10 manual (omg here comes more hate probably).

It's not difficult. I rarely drive through tampa, and most of it is cruising on i275 or i4 or heading to channelside at night. Seriously, I'm not gonna worry about having an extra pedal. It might be a pain in the *** at times, but I feel driving an auto is just.....missing something. It's boring. Manuals are better as far as performance anyway, and more fun.

Well bottom line, you have more controll over the car. Some things I know, a lot I don't.



Why wouldn't I have survived your highschool?

I was in a magnent program at gibbs and was gone 12 hours a day (bus rides to and from, + time at school), was getting 3 (insomnia) hours of sleep every night, and had minimum 3-4 hours of homework. Drugs didn't help either. I could barely stay awake in class.

Bus picked me up at 5:30am, dropped me off at popeyes on mcmullen booth and 590 at 5:15pm, I was home at 5:20-5:25pm...done with homework at 10:00pm (if I even did it, never got to it right away), then couldn't sleep til 2 or 2:30am.

I just decided to hell with it after 6 weeks, enrolled in online school (right around the time I was getting heavily involved with drugs), and a lot of bullshit ensues from there. Never got **** done. It's a long story from there on out and **** I'm not gonna get into here.



The reason why I'm about to give up talking and make a new name? Because now I feel that I'll get bothered, picked on/ridiculed anywhere I post. I haven't made a new name yet, after I stopped replying to this thread, for a while I didn't even come on here at all. It just feels like bullshit that I don't want to deal with.

I allready know that #4 is true, I'm not denying that.

#5 will probably be the case....I'll most likely get one and go from there. It's either this or an s2000, my main problem with the s2000 is that I don't fit into it half as well as I fit into an rx7. The rx7 (except the stock steering wheel) feels very well to me. I've never driven one, but sitting in the drivers seat, it fits me like a glove. In an s2000, the gas pedal feels too close, my left knee/thigh is right up against the door panel, my right thigh/knee feels to close to the shifter, and it just doesn't feel very good. There's no room to put anything anywhere inside. In the pre MY02 models, they don't even have a space on the door panel to put anything. It would be much harder to put up with on a daily basis, although I could do it. The s2k fits like a glove---one that's four sizes too small and barely, barely squeezes on.

The good thing about s2000's? Ermm...well to say the least, they're a million times more reliable, cheaper (I could get an s2k with much lower mileage), and they're a lot more gas efficient.

The car would be mostly stock aside from reliability mods, exhaust, maybe coilovers (or just a drop), some better tires, and maybe rims for a while.

I'm also going to buy with the idea that a rebuild might be coming soon because---you never know...

If I start getting boost problems and can't really deal with it, I may just run the stock twins in non-sequential. I'd rather try to fix it myself and learn, but we'll see when the time comes.

I probably will buy a cheap beater just to beat up on the transmission regardless of whether or not I get a seven. Heh, I grinded the gears in my friends s10 today just trying to shift too fast into 3rd and letting off the clutch too early. yeah I know, pathetic. I know I'm not a good driver, and I know I need practice.

but are the syncro issues really that bad where you have to rev match in order to not screw up the syncros? i don't know a whole lot about this stuff, but I know the syncros work to match the rpm to the car's speed in whatever gear you're shifting into.
or is it just important to rev match so as to not wear out the syncros while you're driving hard?

 

oh and herblenny, if I do get an FD... I look forward to meeting you.

As long as you don't want to just lecture me.

 

After reading your situation, I would have to agree with the people here, because they do know their stuff.

I'm 17 too, and no I don't own a FD, although I can get one. I've been lurkering these forums for a while, and I've been researching about the FD. I love the car, and I hope that to own one day, but just not now. I've been driving for over 2 years and I'm looking for my first car (sorta). My dad bought a brand new SUV right a week after I got my permit, so I couldn't pick out a car I want! So for these 2 years, I've been driving the SUV daily, he even calls it my car. I have also driven a sedan and a manual truck.

I've always been responsible, no accidents or tickets. After graduating at the top of my class, getting into a great university, and earning enough scholarships to pay for my first year of college, my dad says he's willing to get me the car I want. Of course my initial reaction was, FD!! I loved this car ever since my neighbor owned one and I would see him warming it up and driving to work everyday on my way to school (few years before F&F).

I realize that this car just isn't for teenagers like us, unless you're parents are really rich. The burden is just too much for a car like the FD at this point in life, you're priorieties should be elsewere. I know I will have to study my *** off next year, no more easy high school slacking. The last thing I want is knowing that I have to take my car to the shop later. I know that I need to save money in order for me to live away from my parents, and I can't have them picking up for minor/major work on a car here and there. (We are nowhere near rich, thank god UC's are relative bargains)

Anyways, I'm going to wait to see what sexy changes '06 will bring to the automotive world before I pick what I will get. These are just my opinions, you may feel differently. Whatever you pick is up to you, just don't complain about the outcome if it doesnt go you're way. Will I give up on my dream on someday owning a FD? No way, but I'll do it at a time where my life is stable enough to do so. Although the idea of getting an FD might just have a compete against a used 911 Turbo when I finish getting my PhD.

 

This really is not a car that you should be "learning" on. The FD's limits are so damn high, once you screw something up. Your really ******* screwed. I have owned a few DSM's when I was younger (and in Highschool), one that had more power than a stock FD does. But I will tell you this, a highpower turbo FWD car doesn't hold a candle to the car you want. Not just in speed and power, but in how it drives.

I got some good time behind my uncles old FD, on some of the mountain roads where I live. But not even my old DSM's could prepare me for it. Some over confidence combined with some nasty corners gave me a pretty scary wake up call (didn't wreck anything, but damn close).

Don't be a defensive dick to the other owners on this board. They offer sound advice because....guess what, they know their cars.

Even after being self employed with a good buisness, and going to college. I wouldn't consider myself sound to afford this car, nor would I consider myself sound to drive it to its potential.

So if I were you, i would look into something else. Maybe a S13 240/Silivia. Just to get a feel and some expierence with how a RWD car behaves.

When I buy my first FD, the first thing that will be done (besides the smart mods) is going to driving school. Even if you do get an FD, and don't listen to the community, I recomend you do the same (smart mods+driving school).

 

Holy Crap! This here is a truly smart and mature teenager! Good for you.