Vosko, You need a few more posts to get your post count up.

Good tread, we should discourage teenagers from buying fd's. I know the cost of ownership is well beyond what most can afford. Soon the problem will take care of itself. All of the trashed FD's will be in the junk yard, and well still have our well cared for FD's in our garages.

TurboJeff makes a great point. Kids buy these cars and then can't afford to fix them.

 

it also saddens me to see trashed FD's driving around. it's one thing to not have money to fix things that break down, but there's really no excuse for trashing the car up. i saw one car at mike's place were the entire front lip was just cracked...the side air ducts were missing? i doubt those problems had anything to do with money but just not caring. that said...it does seem that FD are used more for racing/performance driving, so maybe those owners just say **** it, don't need to keep my track car in mint condition...that i can understand.

 

Just to buy a 3rd gen is 1/3 of the equation. The other 2/3 is maintence and the other 3/3 is fuel/insurance.

Purchase price is your admission ticket and the rest is the hidden cost of ownership. If you can do a lot of the work and maintence yourself then you can save some money but the parts arent cheap. FD purchase should be a well thought out process and is definately not a wise decision for those on a budget.

My advise to people wanting to own an FD is make sure you can afford it. If you cant dont buy one and rag your car out.

 

If you can't pay to play, don't play at all.

 

I would not say that my FD is trashed but I have a few dings in the body and my factory paint is starting to flake off and fade some. But I keep the drive line in exellent shape. I have spared no expense when it comes to upgrades and reliability mods. The way I feel right now is that my money is better spent making it faster and more reliable than looking perfect. I have no rust and if I do see any form I will be on top of it immediatly. I just would hate for someone to think that I do not take care of my car just because the body needs a little work.

Eventually I will shell out for a new paint job but right now I am focused on making my car more fun to drive.

Grant

 

Yeah, damn those trashed FD's!!!

 

And what exactly have I been saying for the past year?! That's the main reason out of the few that really drew me away from the FD after looking at a some.

Even before I was in the market for one, my dad looked at a few to see what I was possibly getting into. He told me straight up that "RX-7s are pieces of ****" (condition wise), yet I just played it off and didn't pay much attention to that. I guess I had to find out for myself...

 

Most of them around here are just dirty, they run really nice. 1st time I saw one, red 93, poor thing. It was riced out, complete with aluminum wing and crappy muffler. Sounded like it wanted to die. During the NY Auto Show, I saw my second. A little dirty, but the bridgeport motor sounded nice! 3rd one, yesterday. Black 93, also dirty and had a GReddy exhaust. The driver looked like he having the time of his life in there!
Sure, most FDs are a tad worn, but at least they're driven.

 

^

 

I enjoy seeing trashed FDs because everytime I see one I feel like my clean-*** FD is getting more and more rare...

 

Up here in Syracuse, NY FDs are a rare possesion. Before i bought mine i only ever seen 1 in my city, the paint was worn and the clear coat was coming off, still it was a beautiful car and everytime i seen it, it made me want one more and more. I finally bought one from North Carolina and I have been keeping it in as good of condition as i can, i wash this thing like ever other day, i wax it at least once a week, and as soon as something goes wrong with it i have it fixed. BTW i am only 18, so dont rule out all teenagers from owning an FD. All though at times i drive it hard and have fun with it (i feel that this is what they were made for), i would still bet that i take better car of my car then 90 percent of the FD community. For those of you that feel that you need a 50k a year paying job to keep your car in good condition are wrong, it has everything to do with how much you care about your car. I am the perfect example of this because im only pulling in about 12k a year and going to Syracuse University.
Adam

 

There's lots of trashy looking FDs in CA unfortunately.

 

I have seen only one FD that was thrashed. It just looked like the owner didn't care about it. It kind of bothered me. The other 40 or 50 I have seen (not counting seven stock) have been in good shape. It seems to me that the thrased FD is very rare.

Adam

 

When I was looking for a FD 4 years ago, the ones that I had seen at several local dealerships were really trashed.I remember one beatup black 94 that was leaking oil all over the dealers lot and when the sales men opened the hood half of the engine wiring harness was disconnected.There is a shop in Miami I cant remember the name but the sell really trashed FD,s they fix up for cheap buyer beware.

 

Not in my experience, there are a few I see out here once in a while and every single one looks in excellent condition. I can only remember one VR that had a broken antenna (stuck half way up), and there is an MB touring near my work that looks very rough too. I'd say 80% of the ones I have seen in LA look very good.

 

I think all the goofy aftermarket body kits damage the FD image more than anything.
A bunch of my more affluent friends think of the FD as an Eclipse or Integra. Several were suprised to learn what the MSRP was. I doubt that would be the case if they were all clean/well maintained and stock-or at least somewhat stock looking.

-Chris C.

(Another shameless ploy to stop people from bastardizing FDs )

 

Second that brother...

I saw a blk FD in ATL yesterday and he didn't have ANY head light covers...and when I gave a friendly "what's up rotor wave" I got stared down in my CLEAN '95 silverstone FD

 

Old men give more waves then kids my age driving FD's...hell I get more waves from FB's. The old guy in the MKIV wouldn't look in my direction.

 

You know what pisses me off more than the ones that are a little dinged up?

The ones that run like CRAP.

It's embarrassing to me when I see FDs that can't pull off at least factory acceleration figures. Some kid with a Honda will smoke you and make my car less feared

Brian

 

I'd have to agree with that, but ya know there's one good thing to come of "being less feared": you can have those Honda kids put their $$ where their mouth is that your "POS Mazda" can run with their rice-a-roni specials...

Think Paul Newman in "The Color of Money"...

 

Its alot tougher to keep an FD looking good, what with paper-thin body panels, cheap-*** Mazda paint, wharping bumper covers, fading wings, peeling interior trim, cheap-o leather and the rest of it.

Supras will take more abuse and neglect befor they look bad.

 

Its the same problem that FC's have had forever.. there are tons of jacked up ones that can be bought for $500, and the people in the market for those think buying a mint one is completely stupid.. but then again, super mint TurboII's are still going for 8k+.

Then those same people that bought their $500 car start to bitch about how much it costs to maintain and how an exhuast system costs more than the car.. so sad.

I can see this coming in a few years for FD's, and there are a LOT of beat up FDs, even a few on display at Sevenstock 5.

 

"People who don't take care of their cars don't floss or see their dentist on a regular basis." -Hey that is MY LINE!

"I enjoy seeing trashed FDs because everytime I see one I feel like my clean-*** FD is getting more and more rare..." -That is THE TRUTH

 

The name of the shop is OSA.
I've heard stories of them stealing cars, hacking em up and putting em back together with crashed up cars and selling em as Frankenstiens.

I've been there a few times for parts. When I was in the market for an FD, I test drove one there. The poor thing was running through a very dusty industrial area without an air filter and I didn't even know it.

 

Yeah.. the White FD with Ductape racing stripes on the nose that I saw at frys was aweful.