ALNY93R1

iTrader: (12)

I daily drove my FD for 3yrs with basic bolt ons. Now It's much more modded and I drive a Honda beater as a dd. I'm lucky if I put 3000 miles a year on my FD now.

sandsurfr2

I just bought a 94 rx7 i love it, if it sucks all my money away i dont even care. I havent had my car long, but my car basically was all rebuilt. It sounds like you want one so do it, you only live once...just go it if you want and like they said later on you can get a beater

TRISPEEDFD3S

iTrader: (26)

I'm with njstreetrx7. I also dd my FD. I have no problems dd the car. My problems with my FD has nothing to do with dd the car. I have not had any extra problems that some people may have from dd their cars. It all depends on the previous owner and how they took care of the car. I bought my car for $17,000. It had 59,xxx miles when I purchased it. The only thing is, I change my oil quite frequently. I only do it for personal satisfaction knowing my oil is clean. I change it once a month. I don't use synthetic, so it's not expensive. Even with my pineapple racing oil pan which uses a quart more than stock. I will dd until maybe the end of this year. That reason is because, after 2 years, I'm tired of spending so much money on gas for this dd. I need a EG6 hatch or something for a dd. Just my 2 cents. In summary, It's extremely fun, and dd may be expensive, but it can be done. Nothing is impossible. It all depends on what you want. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. If you want to dd the FD, and feel you can afford it, do it. If you get a 92-95 civic and only put liability on it, it will actually be cheaper with that car and your FD, than your FD by itself on insurance.

paramer 22

"a miata would be the perfect complimentary DD to a FD. Cheap, economical and reliable."


lol i drive an fc and have a miata whats funny is that my seven is the reliable one

i'm actually impressed if your getting that mpg i get 13 to 15 highway

TRISPEEDFD3S

iTrader: (26)

my car isn't tune, and i think i get about 12-15. I'm not a light foot either...

FD3S2005

iTrader: (11)

i forgot to add.. i also dd my FD but only if the neon isn't here(in which cases is most of the time), i don't mind taking it out.. yes they are quite expensive to fill up, especially with the gas prices fluctuating up and down, i mean hey if you want it get it... you will have to work your *** off for it though and thats no lie as they aren't cheap to maintain, when i wanted my FD i was 17 1/2 people were telling me no dont do it, dont get it, this and that, heres another rotary ending up between a tree. 50-75% i believe is true most young kids just want to race and this and that and crash it.

Hey if you have the funds for it and i mean you buy it now and the engine blows will you have enough for a rebuild? like i said before most people when it blows they sell it because they dont have the funds or wont put up with it, and thos are the people i hate the most.. If you know for a fact you have the funds for this car and i dont mean just trading in the civic and have to pay extra to barely get the FD, dont do it. It will be rough then, thats just my thoughts.

i had a job and already had money in the bank when i got mine so i was fine.

PowerStripe

iTrader: (2)

^ i am in the same boat, i am 19 and have wanted an FD since i was 12 when i saw a CYM on the streets. After spending the past 3 years doing research and working hard to save money, i bought the FD.

I also DD it and have had no problems whatsoever. Most people on this forum will tell you how expensive this car is, and it truly is although i have yet to drop any large sum of money for repairs. *knock on wood* It all depends on the previous owners. We all love our cars and thats what it takes to own one. Make sure you have an extra 2-3 grand in the bank for maintenance/rebuild, i postponed buying my FD until i had the funds to do so and now feel relatively comfortable DD'ing my 7. If you do go through with the FD, do as everyone suggests and get a DD. It is the smartest thing you can possibly do. I have an 86 BMW 325 that i drive when im in a rush and cant properly warm up my 7 or if the weather is bad out or if i just cant justify putting unecessary miles on her to go get groceries or sum other lil errand. Its the little things like that, that you have to take into consideration when owning these cars. Maybe i take things to the extreme but im sure im not the only one here.

keep us posted on your decision, remember to think long and hard about this man, if you have any doubts, dont do it.

spandy

iTrader: (1)

ibtl

FD3S2005

iTrader: (11)

+1 ^
i have fans to cool my car in my garage when i put it in open the hood.. i do what i can to make her reliabely but no matter what you do its just a matter of time till something breaks and you have a very expensive bill. lol most 7 owners know that

SLOASFK

iTrader: (5)

I'll throw in my 1/2 cent...

I researched for about 2 years before I bought my FD. It seems like a long wait, and believe me when you're sitting there reading these sites teasing you with pictures of well built, immaculate FDs it can get really tough. The trick to these cars is to not get eager and to take your time. I bought a "junker" FD that would surely have ended up in a car crusher. I did that because of two reasons. 1: I love the cars and hate to see them with bastard swaps(and as a side note, even with a swapped motor, the cars are still 14+ years old and need tons of other **** replaced anyway) and I hate to see them neglected. 2: I wanted to get one that I could have built exactly the way I wanted it and know the job was done right. You can definately find some FDs that are built right the way you want them, but honestly, there are way more poorly modded(there's a sequence which you have to mod these to get them to function properly. You can't throw on an open exhaust and intake and expect the car to last you more than a few thousand miles tops. You also can't expect to throw on ebay mods or half assed DIY mods and have the car last or perform to its fullest.) and maintnence neglected(again, this is a car that needs an oil change every 2500 miles tops, you need to replace the suspension as it wears out, you need to replace the FPD when it cracks. and it will.) FDs out there than there than there are good condition FDs.

That said, I also made sure I didn't even consider selling my daily beater for my FD. Of course, my beater is giving me major problems right now but I don't mind much because I plan to replace it with an S2k anyway.

The winning formula seems to be large bankroll for the FD and a Honda or other reliable, good gas getting daily driver.

Oh, if it hasn't been mentioned yet, the rule of thumb used to be if you are getting an FD make sure you have at least $3k in savings to cover a rebuild, but I haven't seen this rule mentioned much lately. And yeah, I skipped this rule. Goodfella can tell you that. He can also tell you that it's taking forever to get my car on the road because of it. Do it right.

DMoneyRX-7

iTrader: (2)

It all depends on you. If you are willing to spend the time and the money and the headaches and the stress of down time then go for it. I have been dreaming of owning an FD since I was about 7 and I finally got it so I think it is totally worth it because I am not wanting any other car. If you take care of it it will take care of you. As far as daily driving goes. I have been daily driving mine for a while. To school-from school, 4 hour drives, traffic. It's fine. But I didn't do the research that you are doing right now. It wasn't until about a few weeks after I bought my FD that I got onto the forum. I made the mistake of buying a FD with low compression, missing parts, bad wiring, mediocre interior and exterior. So I installed the reliability mods and got everything worked on to do well with the twins. After about 4k spent on that I am now here with a CRX DD while my FD's engine just got rebuilt and my single turbo is being ordered. So my advice is. If you are very passionate about the FD, buy it. Once you buy it get everything checked out by a RX-7/Rotary specialist. After you know what is missing or is having problems have it all written out. Then figure out the farthest you want to go with mod's. Once you have those written out then put the two together to build your budjet to do everything at once. If the engine has low compression, get it rebuilt or get a mazda reman. Do everything that needs to be done to have it perfect as the first thing you do. Otherwise you will end up like me, spending about 2.5k more than you needed. But you know that when everything is taken care of at the beginning. Your car will be as reliable as it will possibly be and if you take care of it, will last another 10 years without any major problems.

BigWillieStyles

That is so true, its mainly because these people heavily mod their engines.

Ive spent loads of money on cars that were no where near as good to drive as the FD. Its a pleasure spending the money if your enjoying the car.

Davin

iTrader: (14)

do what i did, get a huffy and ride your bike to work and drive it on the weekend. granted i lived and worked on base...

CantGoStraight

14 yrs old and only 45k miles.....expect everything to go wrong. Cars that sit for long periods of time can be just as much of a problem as ones with high miles.

dgeesaman

iTrader: (7)

I think this thread has provided plenty of info.

If you want more such discussion, run a search for terms like daily, reliable, and practical.

Dave

zerox678

I was in the exact same boat buddy, I have a 2006 SI Brilliant Black, and then found a FD for 8 and change, I was still making payments for the SI but I went and got a loan for the FD, and now I'm working two jobs and am very happy. I haven't had very big problems yet, but I know it'll happen. So go for it Keep the SI and get a loan for the FD, You'll BE Glad You Did, I Did!!!

preludesh2000

iTrader: (1)

there is one other problem (or itch)
after getting the fd...and then driving the prelude...the prelude is so damn slow...
think it might be time to turbo....

brad