Ahtasham

Hello people, I am in a decision making process to buy a RX-7. Since I am new to these cars, I did a little research and found this forum and signed up. I have read a few posts relating to stuff like buyer’s guide etc. and have gone through a few articles. Now I have a rough idea about what to look for when checking out a car. However, the reason I am writing this post is because I came across this car yesterday and didn’t really understood much about it because the guy was saying that this car is UNIQUE as compared to other similar cars in my country. So I would like some expert advice on what this car is about and if I should buy it or not. Here is what the owner (he is the second owner) says about his car:

*Mazda RX-7, 1995 model (Ifini or something like that), black color
*He mentioned something about “A-Spec”
*I remember him saying “275 hp”
*Also, something about a Mazda sports bumper

My observations:

*The car had done about 50,000 km (32,000 miles)
*Maroon (or Red) leather seats
*The speedometer goes up to 280 km
*The car already had a turbo timer, boost gauge and another gauge that I don’t remember
*The engine bay was pretty clean and had K&N (or the type) filter
*Idling was stable
*Body/Interior was pretty good/clean. The trunk area seemed like new, as never used.

Haven’t test driven it yet, because that I can only do when I make him a decent offer. The guy is asking 17,000,000 Rupees (that’s about 28,000 US Dollars). I am not worried about the price as it is close to the market price of my country (due to tax and duty etc).

I just want to know that is there anything special about this car as the owner claims it? And does it seems to be a good buy so far from what I told you?

Thanks guys, I would really appreciate all the help I can get!!!

particleeffect

well first let me say, wow, pakistan.


i've never heard of an A-spec FD, unless it's left hand drive, then the "A" probably means american.

http://www.rx7.net.nz/fd-jp-models.html

nothing really stands out about the car. if it is american spec you would want to follow the american "reliability" mods, if not then probably the same minus the down pipe replacement since j-spec cars don't have the pre-cat.

i have no idea what the fuel infrastructure is like in pakistan, but as you probably know it takes higher octane gas than normal cars. and you don't want to run more than 10psi (1 bar = 14.7?psi) on an american ECU, maybe 1/2 a psi more on a j-spec.

32k mi is nice since most motors need to be rebuilt at about 70k.

if your in really good financial status you might import a '99+ spec FD (they had a few body revisions, nothing that can't be done to a pre 99 car though) but i doub't that little extra ammount of rarity matters much in your neck of the woods.

have any pictures?

kingcornflake

@Ahtasham

Hello to Pakistan...there's a lot going on from the freedom point of view

Wow, I didn't know that they even offer such cars in your country. As they are even hard to get down here in Europe.

First of all: The 7, especially 3rd gen (as you're looking for) is NOT known for reliability. Be prepared to spend some extra money to:

1. make the car more reliable (as already said particleeffect) with reliability mods

Even with them it is better to have some extra money to:

2. rebuild the engine which offen suffers from coolant seal damage; these get blown by time. Strongly depends on how you drive, what mods are on, using it as daily beater etc. You see, lots of factors.

And then you need to be aware of the exchange parts situation; do you have a good source (or better sources) for parts these cars need? I mean things such as fenders or trannys etc. Be prepared to let the car for months at a service station in case they need to fix something this due to RX-7 parts delivery situation which is, I'd say somewhat BAD (in Europe you're into HUGE troubles if looking to fix it with new parts...they need to be bought in Japan and the delivery takes lots of time). Therefore I do not recommend it as daily beater. Combine it with the limited reliability.

And of course, due to the rotary principle, you need to be aware of (and therefore know exactly how much money you have at disposition):

3. the high fuel and oil consumption (if you're in metric system: 12-16l per 100kms is normal). However, compared to other high tech sportscars it is moderate.

This leads me to the thought if you have enough gas stations in Pakistan to satisfy the needs of an FD (3rd gen RX-7). I really don't know your country, so please don't shoot me on this.

If you have considered these points, you might examine the offer by the following checklist, which is about the BEST 3rd gen buyer's guide around on the Net:

http://www.robrobinette.com/buyaused.htm

Now some thoughts to the car they offered you:

- As I can judge with my experience I think it is no special version. But it has low miles and that is a good thing to start with!

- As you're telling me the speedo goes till 280km/h I guess the car has to be either a Canadian, European or Australian reimported 3rd gen. Japanese cars had speedo till 180km/h due to restrictions.

- "Ifini" means "Efini" and was the Japanese spec 3rd gen RX-7 till 1998. As you tell it is an "Efini", you need to check the correctness of this indication, since the speedo is 280km/h and they didn't have it in Japan. Or maybe the have changed the speedo.

- If the car is completely stock except for the K&N filter the hp output will not be 275hp; stock Efini models till 1998 had 265hp (MT) and 255hp (auto). The filter does not add 10hp until he dynoed it and has a proof.

- As for the price: I think it is somewhat overpriced. But then I assume you don't have hundreds of them rolling around and if you want it badly (what is completely understandable!) you might want to buy it. BUT check on the buyer's guide first! Good 3rd gens are rare and impatience will haunt you in the long term. What I want to say: Be patient and look for a real good car. The pleasure will then be biggest.

Don't get me wrong; these cars are fantastic (that's why I have 2 of 'em) but they are somewhat more complex than the average sportscar, mainly due to the TwinTurbo mechanism. And: I can afford them only because I baby them all the time, therefore use it only for weekends in summer (winter they are garaged) and have a daily beater besides this.

Good luck!

Best regards
Patrick from Switzerland

doncojones

Mazdaspeed refers to all of their body kits as either A-Spec, B-Spec or R-Spec and then some kind of additional name. So it stands to reason that when he says A-Spec he is referring to the type of bumper that has been added.

96Rx7

I think the most import think you need to find out is if there is a mechanic around your area that has a good knowledge on rotaries

Ahtasham

Thank you all for your response … Patrick, Particleeffect, great help guys, really appreciate it.

I was supposed to go for the second check of this car today but was unable to do so as the seller was unavailable. Therefore I have no new info on the car. I do plan to take some pictures of the car when I see it next and would post them up along with other updated information.

A few questions though. Is the average fuel consumption for these cars 6-8 km per liter or less? (That’s how we calculate it here) How soon do you have to change the engine oil and filters? If compared to a Honda Civic, is the maintenance cost double, triple???

Apart from the car, there is something that I would like to talk about. I have seen people, not only on this forum but otherwise as well, that have a lot of misconceptions about Pakistan. It’s a developing country, I agree it cant be compared to Europe or America but trust me when I say it’s a hell lot modern than most of the people out there think. I live in Islamabad, that’s the capital city and I can confidently say that technology wise this city is as modern and as beautiful as any in the world. We have got everything here, just name it. If you have the money you can buy anything you want. The roads are excellent, I have touched 220 km/h myself on the highway (on a turbo charged civic). There are fuel stations everywhere, having all kind of fuels (octane ratings). DSL, Cable TV, Cell phones, Satellite phones, ATM machines, Automatic car wash stations, McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut, Huge Shopping Plazas, world class hotels, the list is endless… Last month I bought a Sony P900 cell phone from my local market. Don’t even get me started on the kind of cars that we have here. Its not a village guys, time has changed and so has Pakistan. You know what, maybe I should take a few photos of all these things that I have talked about and post them up so that no one stays in doubt. For the time being have a look at this site: http://www.islamabad.net/pic1.htm

Will be back with some more info on the car (and hopefully some pics as well)

AMRAAM4

not to sound like a dumbass, but you have great writing skills and I see quite a bit of English in those pics. Is English a required second language?

Senseny

Make sure before you buy the vehicle that there is at least one or two qualified rotary (preferably with 3rd gen experience) mechanics. This is no way a shot at Pakistan, there are not that many good FD mechanics in the States and many of us have to take our cars hours away. I think that would be a big concern. Count on the car being much more expensive to maintain than a Civic. I can't give actual amounts, but don't count on easy or cheap maintanance for the car.

rx7raca

i see lots of straight a ways

my father is from that side of the world as well(Saudi Arabia). i didnt know that people here thought the middle east was not modern. over there are some of the richest countries.

also im sure he can figure out how to maintain rotaries just like all of us have, its really not that hard. but aside from that, its nice to have all these different kinds of races, showing that just about anyone can have an fd.
cant wait to see some pics.

arutha

iTrader: (2)

Personally I would say it will be as tough if not touger to find a mechanic/parts as a Ferrari or similar car. I know I might get some flak but you might want to look at a more reliable car that is also pretty quick. Toyota supra maybe, I had one and it lasted a very long time and is much more forgiving. And should be easier to work on even though parts might still be a problem.

On a sidenote, I love the scenery. Looks like driving would be very very fun.

Sesshoumaru

iTrader: (1)

the scenery does kick ***

kingcornflake

@Ahtasham

Err...astonishing pics from a country the medias bring up as a 3rd world state. Well, nice example on how depending we are...

Sorry for misinterpretation! I guess there will be rotary mechanics as well around there...

Please post some pics...that might help judging your car better.

cheers
Patrick

Ahtasham

First of all let me thank all you guys for appreciating my country. It means a lot to me. AMRAAM4, English is actually the medium of our schooling here, therefore almost every proper educated person has a pretty strong command over the language.

Now getting back to the car. Well, I finally got the second check done today and this time it didn’t look that great to me. Probably, because when I saw it the first time it was at night and today it was in the afternoon. Anyway, I did manage to get few pictures that you can look at the following address: http://groups.msn.com/GTti/rx71995ef...nw?albumlist=2 (also look at page 2 for more pics of FD)
(The above site is actually about one of my cars, Charade GTti, still the fastest 1.0 Liter PRODUCTION car, take a look)

The A-Spec thing, as DONCOJONES mentioned, is the Mazda speed kit. However, the front bumper is not in a very good condition and needs serious repairing. There are also some minor dents at the corners. Couldn’t take it for a test drive as the owner was in a bit of a hurry. But to be honest I am not all that excited about this car anymore. Maybe I should consider other options as well. But please look at the pictures and let me know what you guys think. Thanks!!!

911GT2

Well first let me say that this thread changed my whole view of Pakistan. I'm just a typical ignorant arrogant American, but I'm a little more enlightened now

The car looks decent from the pics. But you really need to drive it, do a boost test, and get the motor a compression test before making any decisions. The body damage doesn't worry me too much, it's the mechanical things that I would look into.

The gauges look like they were thrown in. Those wires should really be tucked behind the dash, but again, thats just a minor thing to note.

One interesting thing I noticed, the whole ABS assembly is on the opposite side on RHD cars, I never knew that before.

poss

iTrader: (5)

I obviously don't know what the import laws/taxes are in Pakistan, but you should be able to get a car from japan or maybe another slightly closer country for significantly cheaper than that one. Down side of that is lack of convienience. You might want to at least look in to it.

kingcornflake

@Ahtasham

Thx for the pics. My conclusions:

- This is a Japanese spec car, probably built in 1994 and has been reimported from there.

- My very own opinion: But SCRAP that *fugly* front end...

- Somebody must have changed the gauge faces. For that MY, FDs had black gauge faces, as Japanese "Efinis" a speedo reading 180km/h on top. My assumption: To hide that "low" 180km/h he put on gauge faces destined for an American FD. For looks, these gauge mods are very popular mod over there. See speedo gauge face in miles instead of Km/h....

- There is another thing...due to agreements which took place between the different Japanese car manufacturers a production line car will never pass 280hp and a speed limit of 180km/h...believe it or not, but that IS true...that's why original speedo must have read 180km/h. And that is the ONLY reason why a 2002 FD Spirit R (the last production FD, discontinued in 2002) had not more than 280hp The Mazda engineers would have been put far more HP out if that agreement would not exist.

- Therefore, there is a speed limiter for 180km/h built in in a Japanese car. To go higher than that you would have to crack electronics....

- The engine bay is pretty dirty...if well kept that should not be, I think.

- The interior seems pretty worn, too. Notice the leather (wrinkles).

- The gauges were not made to fit perfectly. As already someone said: Thrown in.

- It is suspicious when a potential seller is refusing a test drive. Sorry, but when selling a car, especially such a high tech sportscar, there MUST be time to let the possible buyer examine! Otherwise there's sth wrong...

Short: I'd rather go for another one...the car is overpriced for it's condition and is certainly keeping some annoying surprises inside...

It is very hard to differ between the strong emotions that come with such a car and a rational sense for what is right and what is wrong. Nevertheless, try to do the right decision...there are lots of well kept FDs out there.

Best regards
Patrick

Ahtasham

Thank you guys! I almost share the same thoughts about the car. There is no way I am gonna pay such a high price for this one. I think its time to look around for another FD or maybe another car altogether.

This Forum has been a great help and so have all you guys. Thanks once again ...... until next time.

widebody2

Kingcornflake I have a question for you. How do you explain a "Toyoto"(Japanese) Supra having 320 hp or a "Nissan" (again Japanese) 300zx having 300 hp if the Japanese car companies all decided to keep it 280 or under? Also you can throw the nsx in there and a few others. I agree there is something there with the 280 hp limit since mazda decided to keep even the 20b twin turbo cosmo at 280 hp and every rx7 they ever made. But obviously all the Japanese car companies are not doing this.
About the car this thread was inteneded for...28k seems mighty high, even if you say thats what they cost over there and also that front end is the worst.

jspecracer7

Nothing was ever written down....it's like a Gentleman's agreement. If they DID make more HP, they did not CLAIM more HP.

particleeffect

also, those 320 and 300 numbers are from USDM cars, not JDM. it's pretty well known. there's alot of rumors that the japanese car companies will start pulling out of the agreement soon though.