txturbogs

I'm going to get crucified here but I will say it anyway. I had $20,000 and I ditched the rotary and bought an LS1/FD from one of the fellows at torquecentral.com. 400 reliable horses at my command. No apex seals to worry about, no turbos that smoke. *puts his fire proof uniform* LOL

SiKoPaThX

iTrader: (2)

At normal speeds, and normal conditions, potholes and divits or anything short of deers and asteroids do not make cars lose control and break the rear end loose. Sorry, you were either going too fast, or it was wet, or your tires were bald and coated in dial soap.

How about you don't get an FD?

I'm surprised to hear everyone saying how a nearly 11-13 year old car is more insurance than a brand new nearly $30,000 dollar car.

xurotaryrocket

Like I stated before..... I have both an FD and an RX-8. The insurance on the 8 is not that bad (think.... 4 seats, airbags out the wazoo, etc etc)

Also, I have to ask something...... did you have a Grand Touring Package on your 8 ???

'85GSL-SE

iTrader: (2)

When I first started driving my '78 RX-7 it was $80 a month. I switched to my FD and it was $34.06 a month?

Oh well

pianoprodigy

If I were you, I'd look into getting a Fixed Roof Coupe Corvette. They were the predecessor to the Z06 (same body style) but only had the LS1 (350 crank hp). Insurance on a Vette is not nearly as bad as you would think. Honestly, I would bet that insuring a new Rx-8 is just as bad if not worse.

adam c

iTrader: (2)

Yep!!

XSTransAm

the rx7 is in the highest possible bracket for insurance. It would be hard to find a brand new car under 50,000$ that cost more to insure than an fd.

my insurance on the car when i was 20, with a PERFECT (no accidents ever, no points ever) driving record was well over 300$ a month.

and yeah, if you totalled a rx8 in a corner cause the back "got loose" then your no where close to ready for a rx7.

dclin

iTrader: (4)

Get a WRX, very fun little car, one of the best bangs for the buck. AWD makes things a little safer (relatively), and gets ok gas mileage (if you can stay off boost). The '06s get a .5 liter bump (2.0->2.5), and dyno runs are showing them to have alot more the 3hp gain that Subaru claims. I'm thinking of replacing my '02 bugeye with one, as soon as I can figure out a fix for the hideous new grill.

Oh, and I love the boxer exhaust note!

Chigliakus

I second the WRX, that's what I have for my dd. It's a fun car, quite capable, much easier to handle than the FD, and easier to make power with. Around $500-1k for a turbo-back exhuast and around $500 for EM and mine dyno'd at 234/232 to the wheels. The butt dyno says it's about as fast as my stock FD (although I haven't run either in the 1/4).

I was prepared for my FD to be a money pit, and I do all the work on it myself. It would be about the worst choice possible for a poor college student due to lack of time (to work on it) and funds. Go read some of the FAQs and do some searches to get an idea of what FD ownership entails. Good luck with whatever you choose, and try to set a few hundred bucks aside for driving school. I got addicted to the track my first time at the local driving school, and the car control I learned on my first day was worth many times what I paid for the course.

eclipseaudio1530

hmm, i dont understand how some ppl dont respect the performance limits of sports cars and crash them. not to knock u in anyway but u must have been goin damn fast around some bend in the road to loose control of an 8. those things feel like there literally stuck to the road. and i wouldnt just assume its because he is a teenager, i am 18 and got my 87 t2 when i was 16. sure it wasnt in great condition and needed some work but i was still always a little afraid of the car which i think helped me to not kill myself or get into any accidents. i am thinkin it is time to step up to an fd, hehehe. but i think i great car to get would be a turbo fc, with that kind of money u can find a nice one and do some reliability mods and be set.

HardHitter

iTrader: (4)

I understand all of you, but I really don't believe it was my fault for this crash. The bend was seriously almost just straight, it is the unexpected divit/dip in the road that made me to lose control of the car. I'm not saying that it is not my fault, because as a driver I should have expected something like that, but it was not like I was doing something stupid and taking turns at high speeds. It wasn't even a turn, a very very slight bend and I didn't expect a divit/dip in the road.

RX7 is probably a little more than I need right now for college, especially if it's going to be my DD. I was looking at a used S2000, 350z (these are expensive though), or like you guys were saying a WRX (just the WRX is what you guys were talking about right? or the STI?) but I really do not like the looks of the WRX's.

OneRotor

iTrader: (3)

or get a really nice FB. I bought one that needs alot of work for 1k, but it has a ton of performance parts on it (BP 12a, Holly 465 w/ RB intake, RB header, RB duals, MSD coils, Magnacore wires, grounding kit). It's very rewarding to go out and wrench on it or work on getting rid of the rust, plus it's a blast to drive, handles well, would probably beat up on NA FC's if there were any in the area. It costs me $35 to insure it every month, gets 24 mpg on the highway with alot of dicking around (read: stopping on the shoulder to look for a strange thumping, realizing that it's nothing, and running redline+ to past the top of the speedo), chasing an old guy in his camaro, all with me (6'4, 180) and my brother in law (6'5, 250) in the car.

McBride61

Bottom line:
Rx-7 are awesome! If you are new to rotary's get a 2nd Gen or have your very own 'Personal Rotary Mechanic" like me

The AWD WRX/STI and Evo would be a sweet choice. Unless you have a good job get your parents credit card be wary of the cost.
If you do get one, do TONS of research! Go to some abandon place and get crazy in it so you know the cars limits. Be VERY careful on the mods.
Welcome to the club.

ps. either way you should do a track day or race class.

dclin

iTrader: (4)

NA Impreza, Impreza WRX TR, Impreza WRX Limited, WRX Sti (ahem, STI now according to the silly folks at Subaru), whatever. Your budget and your needs will determine what you end up with. Yes, they're ugly, and I'm sore at Subaru for making them even uglier for '06. The perfomance makes up for it though (dyno runs indicate alot more then 230hp claimed), and considering you can get a TR (WRX w/o the fancy stuff, but retaining the performance goodies) for low 21-22k (after bargaining/incentives), its a terrific deal.

There are other cars that are equally good deals, go out and test drive them. You're a college man now, so start making decisions. Can't have people leading you around for the rest of your life, can we? J/K

Heisenberg

iTrader: (3)

I am a college student and have an FD but would never use it as my daily driver. I think you are looking in the right direction as far as a decent daily driver that will give you some performance perks.

I dont know exactly what went down as far as you hitting the center divider but part of being a good driver is being able to pull out of situations like that, and im guessing you were haulin *** around the turn for the car to get away from you like that. Otherwise people would be hitting that wall left and right. I have driven a ton of performance cars and the FD is deffinetly hard to hang on to somtimes.

kraked

My insurance is actually cheaper for the FD (94) compared to my Civic (02).. But with both cars (comprehensive on the FD) i pay roughly 1050 and correct me if I'm wrong, but I dont think that is a bad price.

edit: (more)
As far as getting another car... the FD is a great car and i love that **** however, I can not see myself using it as a DD. It drinks gas, harder to control in the rain, maintenance, etc... If I can, I'd trade my civic in for a hybrid even.

YoshiFD3S

iTrader: (19)

Regarding insurance on an RX-7...

I'm 19, about to be 20 this month and lemee tell you what's up.

It's not NEAR as bad as some of the guys here make it out to be.

I got 100% accurate quotes by insurance company (Progressive), and here's what's up.

Right now I own a '89 Honda Accord DX.. $76 a month for it
There are two other cars on the policy as well.
My brother's '78 Datsun 280Z
and my brother's ''85 Nissan 200SX
My brother pays for the 2 Nissans.

3 cars currently
4 if you add the FD

Full-Coverage: My insurance on the FD is is a consistant $240 a month. I guess that IS alot for an older car, but really, ANY car full-coverage is alot.

Liability Only: Currently we have the lowest possible coverage as to keep the payments cheap, and if I add the FD with THAT kind of coverage, it is only $90 a month for the FD itself.

lol, and regarding the the "You're too young to own an FD.."

My last car was a 300rwhp Turbo II FC, and I never hit ANYTHING with it, and the 2 traffic tickets I DID get...were B.S. hehe

300rwhp cars don't scare me in the least. 500+ do, though. :P

Wish me luck tomorrow, btw.

P.S. I'm thinking I'll do full-coverage insurance anyways after a month or two, because the first insurance payment that I'd make on it will be for more, since it'll have to cover for this month as well, but after that, $240 a month + $285 loan payment...I say it's worth it to have full-coverage on an FD.

P.P.S. FD's come up as "2dr Coupes" according to my insurance company. Same as my FC was. Not "oMg uBeR tUrBo Sp0rTz CaRzOrZ" :P

rallimike

iTrader: (1)

"but I really don't believe it was my fault for this crash."

How long has that road been there? How many drivers lose control like you did? My guess is that many, many thousands of cars go through there without incident. If you can't accept responsibility, you won't become a better driver.

Shinobi-X

Yep, stuff happens, thats why insurance exist.

skir2222

prolly hydro planed the thing... After my insurance settlement I believe I shall be in the market for a FD! I loved my 10ae before some ******* ruined that so after I get my 87 goin again I shall be shoppin for a FD as long as insurance doesnt rape me to much more! Insurance for my fc is enough... hopefully a FD wont be much more

Heisenberg

iTrader: (3)

$240 a month is alot of money for insurance, full coverage or not. If you are making payments on the car you usually are obligated to have full coverage on it anyways, depending on where you got the loan. I am paying around $150 a month for full coverage on two cars and i think that is overpriced.

jic

iTrader: (1)

Honda Civic

Syonyk

Um...

I don't normally lurk in the 3rd gen forum, and even less frequently do I post, but unless you plan to have a garage or other isolated place to put your car, may I suggest something along the lines of a late 80s Honda or Toyota? College parking lots are a wonderful place to collect "mystery marks", ranging from door dings to random keyings from drunk people. Shiny cars attract more drunk people.

Also, unless you have an indoor place to work, I would not suggest anything that requires significant amounts of maintenance. An RX-7, especially a FD, requires significant amounts of maintenance. Even my NA FC has required a lot of work, and it's nowhere near the complexity of a FD.

If you really want to stay in the rotary club during college (and, say, have a spare engine as a coffee table), I would strongly suggest getting a beat up FC that's in good mechanical condition. They don't scream "SHINY NEW CAR TO KEY", and if you get one with some faded paint, a few dings won't really matter.

I suggest staying NA, both for fuel economy and simplicity - college doesn't usually have great maintenance places, and campus police aren't usually too happy to see a car in pieces in parking lots. It happens, but the less you have laying around, the better.

You can make a FC handle quite nicely for not a whole lot. Replace the springs, struts, and bushings, and you'll have a pretty solid handling car. It also lacks traction control & ABS (or, if it has ABS, disable it because it's really not very good at all on the FCs). You'll have to learn to be a better driver. A FC is reasonably forgiving, MUCH more so than a FD, but you still have a light RWD car that will get away from you if you let it.

Also, have you considered snow? I don't know where you'll be going to school, but I can say that you probably don't want to try driving a FD in the snow with anyone else on the road, at least not for long. A Subaru will get you through snow that will keep other cars firmly in their parking spots. For reference, after a blizzard last winter in Iowa, my FC was stuck in it's parking spot for a month, and the only way I got it out was 4 rather large guys pushing on the front. My Subaru wagon (87 GL) popped right out.

Yes, I know you want a fast shiny expensive car for college. And, having just come out of college a year ago, I can tell you that the last thing you want to have to worry about at college is a fast shiny expensive car.

Listen to the wisdom of people who have gone before you. Don't assume you know better.

-=Russ=-

YoshiFD3S

iTrader: (19)

Well, regardless, at my age, ANYTHING I own will be high insurance. I realize $240 a month is alot in general.

However, at my age, and being a MALE, until I go at least another 5 years without getting any tickets, my insurance isn't going to be going down any time soon.

That doesn't bother me. Things are as they are.

But at the same time, a $90-$240 insurance + only a $285 car payment still leaves me PLENTLY for bills/gas, living, etc...and ****, I've still got my '89 Accord if the FD turns out to be really shitty on gas. I don't care. I only work 8 miles away from home, anyways.

Thx for the input though.

Snotcycle

and then, one line later

uhm you can get a wrx wagon for like 13k and a sedan for 15k they are plenty fast and sound mean also look into SRT4s they are as fast in a stright line as an FD stock vs stock and are definately more reliable, with 4 doors to boot. also you can pickup an srt4 for like 10grand if you're lucky