well i would say if ur determined go for it.....i bought mine at 19 and 2 yrs later i replaced the motr twice.....at stock boost levels....u jjsut never know....its just the love of the car that will make u keep it when it breaks on u. u might have to work harder or extra hrs to keep it in good cond....also im in college full toime and work fulltime...trust me it can be hard.....i dont have a 2nd car but i can drive another if somethjoing happens and i have alot o rotary mechanics in my area so i guess its a lil diff........my advise to u is keep the car STOCK!! and have money aside!!....good luck

 

twice in 2 years! how many miles where on the engine..did you have any reliablity mods?

 

I'll share some of my personal experience here. I purchased my first FD in 1999 and I had that RX-7 all through the Marines and up into college. I can tell you from experience that you will need a beater to get by. Consider your RX-7 a hobby, because you might regularly find yourself in some precarious situations if you rely solely on the FD for transportation.

I've been through 3 rotaries, and they always seem to pop at the worste possible moment. First engine blew the first week I had the car. The second rotary blew on my last day of leave before I was due to drive back to my duty station in NC a coolant seal melted on me. You can imagine how much of a PIA that was.

Best of luck

 

i find it hard to understand...on a car thats stock w/ a 30k miles on the engine it can just blow up all of a sudden no racing or reving high just plain daily driving u can have engine internal problems?

 

perhaps I missed it....how much is the car?

 

i bought mine and due to lack of listening to others advise, I cracked a seal 8 days after owning it. Now I have to save up 4k to get a new shortblock. But man let me tell you. That car looks ******* hot sitting in my driveway!!!!!

 

lol....classic post

this car is so beautiful I literally find myself staring at it in the garage....I think it's a form of idolatry

 

My car has 76k on body, about 2200 miles on rebuilt motor...

 

Dont worry Farhan, it'll be back up. Im makin a lot more money at this new job, so it allow's me to get more muahahahaaa

 

The question is not whether it will croak on you but rather, "Do you have what it takes to handle the situation IF it does?"

And most people here will agree that you probably won't, not because you're young, but because you'll have your mind and finances preoccupied with college. That's all.

It's a nice car but if you have your priorities in the right place (becoming successful is priority #1) then you will delay this purchase.

Why else would a whole bunch of FD owners try to talk you out of buying a car they feel is one of the coolest cars in the world?

 

What do you guys do to your cars? A motor a year is insane, I'm highly doubting that you had NOTHING to do with that. Either you put some serious load on the car or you need a new mechanic.

 

Well I dunno who your talkin to but in my situation its been narrowed down to heat related short in a coil sooo...??

 

That's a major problem. How will you pay for fuel, much less deal with a maintenance issue? Do you work on the car yourself, or will a garage be doubling the cost due to labor?

Dave

 

If you are driving Mrs. Daisy your chances of blowing a seal are reduced, but you are not in the clear by any means. I blew my motors during reasonable spirited driving. By spirited I don't mean powersliding around corners and doing 9k burnouts in suburbia. Simply driving the car with a little more enthusiasm than I would drive my 4-Runner, but definitely within the realm of responsible driving.

On the flip side, a buddy of mine has a T78 powered FD that still runs strong on its first engine. It's hit or miss I guess, but mostly hit.

 

Like going 47 in a 45 or what? Im curious what spirited is for you guys. Im not picking on you Im asking everyone...My spirited driving is normally WOT 1-3 once or twice then home to pop the hood and let her cool in the garage.

 

finish school first,these cars are too damn addicting.you need to focus on more important things,like a college degree.

 

Just accelerating to desired speeds instead of creeping up to them like I would normally do in my DD. Maybe a lil WOT on the entrance ramp to the interstate, nothing that every other sports car owner doesn't intend to do after purchase a car like this.

If money is tight, you may want to hold off until your cash flow increases.

 

to be honest i thinmk its really bout cash flow and patience w an fd

 

I'll add my experience. The only reason I bought an FD was because I thought I deserved a reward starting a corporation that became successful and I thought I needed to drive a car suitable of a CEO. I found out too late after I was already completely addicted how many problems can come up. Turns out my supposedly mint cond FD with only 42K orig miles at purchase had a number of hidden problems that gradually became apparent over a 2 yr period. Luckily I had the bucks to be able to fix them one by one and now have a pretty nice toy. But it is a toy. I drive it only occasionally and have another "family" vehicle that sees most of the miles. These are not good daily drivers on average and not the car I would like to have my son or daughter drive while in college. The chorus of owners here speak the truth. In fact I've had mine awhile and now have it for sale so I can buy something a little less high maintenance. I've got a deposit on a Pontiac Solstice GXP 2007 model Convertible (Direct Injection, Dual Scroll 20 PSi turbo, Dual cam phasing, and dual exhaust. Its a four cylinder that puts out the power of a V-8). Still love my 7 though and will find it hard to part with.

 

Well, I love chiming in on these things. I'm 18, the car was a graduation present from my amazing parents.

I am going to start college in the fall and I have a 100% free ride to any school in Florida. My parents cover cost of living(food and rent) and the rest is up to me. I have a decent job making money, but I don't plan on modding my car while I attend school. I don't pay for insurance so basically all of my income can go towards whatever I need it to, I have no financial burdens what-so-ever.

So, its a lot easier for me since every penny I make can go into my car if I want it to. This doesn't mean it doesn, but I am setting money aside in anticipation of the unforseen. I have budgeted my car breaking even though I have roughly 3k miles on the motor. I know sooner or later my turbos will stop boosting and I'll have to replace them. I KNOW that I am going to have to fix it sooner or later, and I plan on that. Thus, I know I am prepared when it goes wrong.

Don't get me wrong, I want a car that does 0-60 in 3.7 seconds. I would love to take my car to the strip or a racetrack, but I'm not going to. I daily my car, and I NEVER beat on it in that daily drive. I creep to speeds, I **** early and stay out of boost. I still go out and give it a touch, but its only a little touch with long cool down times and monitoring the boost and temp as best I can as I do it.

I spent over a year looking for my car, and I am beyond happy with what I have. I have two parents that are very supportive and I have a place to work on my car, and I have rotary mechanics near by to give me a hand if its something I can't handle. I do plan on buying a beater when I move away in a year or two to attend University of Florida(long story but I'm going to a local college until then.).

I don't know your full situation, but I would have NEVER asked for an FD if I had ANY financial burdens of ANY kind. So think LONG and HARD before purchasing this car, it WILL break and the cost can be a whole lot.

 

Hey Sean, was this a typo or a Freudian slip?

 

get the car if it's nice and proves to be solid. learn about the car a lot. people here often give advice about, but sometimes it's not correct. I daily drive my slightyly moded FD. Everyday everywhere for well over "3-6 months". What will make this car last is simple. Keep it maintained by checking it often and getting it checked and serviced, slightly more than a normal car yes. When you drive it on a daily basis, do not tear around everywhere you go. Don't rev up the RPMs in every gear. Enjoy driving it around, but don't race it everyplace you go and it will last for a long long time. It's a good car, check it out first and buy it, if it is worthy.

 

Guys, Monsterbox is in the best State to own a RX-7. Alabama has some of the best rotary builders and THE LS1 builder/swap guy in Brian Hinson in Huntsville if he chooses to do a swap. He's close to Brian at BNR near B'ham, Garfinkel in TN, Kevin at Rotary Resurrection in TN, and some "secret" rotary builders to, that I can't mention their names, but I have discussed this with Monsterbox already. There are plenty of Huntsville and B'ham guys that can help him out and guide him....the only thing we don't do is hand out money

 

You are correct, it WILL likely give you several years of service with NO problems at all. Look, it is not like an FD engine is a ticking time bomb waiting to explode. Most people got anywhere from 70K to 110K miles on their original engine, which is about normal for a highly stressed high-output/small CID engine. Most engines die due to one of two things: broken apex/side seals or coolant 'O' rings that fail. A rotary with 100K + miles simply has weaker and weaker seals and seal springs as time goes on. Failure IS inevitable. Original equipment engines were a veritable hot-house due to the stock pre-cat, so coolant system failures are/were common.
Now take an engine that has been rebuilt and had the basic "reliability mods" done, such as putting on a down pipe in place of the pre-cat, upgrading the cooling system, etc and it is likely to EASILY outlast an orginal engine from Mazda......PROVIDED it was rebuilt expertly.
And also provided the car is tuned right to NOT lean out. Lean is bad, bad, bad on these engines and basically ANY 'knock' or 'ping' has the potential to destroy your apex/side seals.

At the crux of the issue of young and potentially underfinanced owners is what happens when/if something DOES go wrong, as someone else suggested. It does you NO good to have a car you can't afford to fix. This is why people usually suggest to purchase some hyper-reliable car like a Camry or Accord, the type of cars that go 300,000 miles and never have to have a wrench put on them. And if they do, there are 1000 mechanics in a 25 mile radius who can fix them for relative pennies.
You MIGHT get an FD that runs forever...it HAS happened. Or you might get one that just does nothing but eat you alive. THAT has happened too.

We just hate to see both of these things: a.) an enthusiast for these incredible cars get burnt out and aggravated, and b.) another FD just sit and rot away in a back yard some where...where good intentions meet reality and nothing gets fixed and the car ends up scrapped out somewhere. Remember....there are less than 5000 of these things left on the roads. Very rare cars indeed.

 

people have a hard time understanding because they are used to the fuel efficient, and reliable piston engines manufacturers have been producing for years. you are dealing with something different altogether. listen to those that have been there, and save yourself from a bad situation. buy one when you have a decent daily driver, a garage with tools, and the knowledge to make repairs yourself.

btw, have you looked into the 2nd gen's? the N/A version is fairly reliable (at least thats what Ive heard), and much less complicated than the 3rd gen. Might be a good introduction to the rotary.....