It seems that everyone I speak to about getting a 3rd Gen rotary is that it's not worth it because they always break and they are expensive to fix. Are they really so bad? I have a golden oppurtunity here to sell my 2000 Mitsubishi Eclipse (yuk) and buy a FD with the money I make off it, should I do it?

 

as long as its in good shape mechanically and you have some money set aside for emergency fixes Id do it.

 

Keep in mind, only the people who post here, have issues with their FD. If someone's FD is running perfectly fine their not going to post, don't know about the site. . . . . . or don't know and assume the car runs that way (you'd be surprised how often this happens).

I personally haven't had too many issues with my FD other than the silicone hoses for the twins ::crosses fingers::

Although, as everyone always says, keep some money aside for a rainy day.

 

Yup......
If your capable of reading and learning, then the FD isnt that bad....

Also, this isnt a great daily driver if you need to get to work everyday, as problems with these cars are fixable they do require some time to trouble shoot...

 

The main reason I'm a little apprehensive about it is because my Mom told me not to, normally this sort of statement from a mother would be discarded and ignored almost immediately. However, my mother owns a repair shop that specializes in Mazda's, particularly RX-7's. Now, she could be saying it just so that I don't get a high performance monster like the FD. But maybe she really knows how much of a headache they can be? But her head mechanic at the shop owns a 1993 R1 since day one and knows just about everything there is to know about them so he should be able to help me out with everything I need. BTW is anyone selling a black FD??

 

dude, if your family is connected to an rx7 shop, Id go for it....if they can help you trouble shoot and get you a discount on labor you are set. But also realize that while the car may not be as bad as people say, expect some downtme if something big goes (ie engine). Sounds like you have the right hook ups for the car.

 

Yeah I know all about the down time LOL. The head tech I mentioned has blown his motor quite a few times, 11 years one RX-7 thousands of dollars in mods and engines and sometimes weeks with no car =P

 

car is not bad like how people talk about it here....as long as you dont abuse the car too much it will run fine...

 

well said, just respect your car and give it the essentials !!

You could buy a brand new piston engine car, beat the **** of it and guess what is going to happen ??

 

Right. Just change your oil regularly, and you'll be fine.

 

That's pretty naive, don't you think? There are plenty of people on this site who haven't lost an engine yet. There are plenty of people posting in the dyno and timesheet forum whose cars are running perfectly.

Thanks to those of us who paid the dues for the rotary community by modifying our cars heavily early on, the general level of knowledge and quality of products for the FD are much better these days than they were 5+ years ago. To be honest, the FD is -- or at least can be -- more reliable today.

Those of us "old-timers" who share our opinions, however, may be somewhat biased by not being late adopters. Losing your first engine at ~6,000 miles with all the proper modifications and losing the second at ~8,500 miles might tend to sour a person on the rotary just a little.

 

you will find out that most of your time it's your fault for breaking something. not that all of a sudden the car just break on you.

 

Its like any other car with a turbo making alot of horse power out of a little motor. Put a turbo on a honda and boost 10lbs and abuse it you will probably have more problems them the fd.

 

Like any machine , you have to know how to operate it. I would suggest getting a non-'93 as many of the first year difficulties were eliminated in later years, just like most Mazdas I've had over 32 years.
My '95 has almost 50,000 miles and It has been to the dealer three times for routine checks. I have replaced the tires once, radiator ,cracked, my fault, plug wires once, plugs twice, filters as usual and other than that not much of interest. Oh, two radio ***** too. Desert heat is hell on plastic, even in the shade.
I will need brakes in the next 10K miles and a clutch before 100K I imagine but it has been ultra reliable and I have never been stuck anywhere or had a breakdown on the road. I have worked on turbine engines for 27 years and know the well trained owner/operator is the key to sound economics.

 

Care to sell that 95?

 

you just have to pay attention to the car and make sure every little thing is working. the car is very sensitive to random things not working. there are some very informative links in the faq about the common reliability issues.

it just requires dedication, lots of reading on this site, and upgrading the car is pretty expensive.