orijyn

Hi guys,

Fairly new member here, but I absolutely love how helpful everyone in this community is. I am a college student, and I'm going to be graduating in about a year and a half, and then I'm off to grad school. When I graduate, I want to sell my Jeep and buy a sports car, and I have been dying to get my hands on an FD. It is just my favorite car as far as design goes; you cant get anything that looks better than an FD (in my eyes). I was wondering if you guys think it would be worth it for me to buy, as a college kid, who isn't going to have LOADS of money to pour into an older car? Do you more experienced car enthusiasts think I should buy something else? ( like a Camaro or some other sports car)

I have done quite a bit of research, and I just wanted to get some opinions from some people that have actually owned the car, is it worth it for someone who wants to get more into the mechanical side of cars to buy an FD? Or are they too unreliable and will turn into money pits?

Thanks for reading

cr-rex

iTrader: (114)

you partially answered your own question. the other half of your answer is NO. do not buy a sports car as your primary source of transportation in your position. logically speaking it would make no sense. i dont mean to insult you but if this a serious question that youre leaving college asking then theres a much bigger problem here.....

why you drive a jeep is already confusing. being a student with limited funds driving a vehicle that has a high cost of daily operation makes no sense. as a college student, you should be able to asses incredibly BASIC things like this going into the "real world". just the fact that you even made this thread is a bit scary.....

people that think like you are the future..... excellent

DaleClark

iTrader: (55)

These cars weren't incredibly reliable new and now that they are 25 years old they aren't much better. Many cars have been hacked on by previous owners, and ones that are clean and in good shape command a price that may be out of your range. Not to mention FD's just don't make great daily drivers.

If you want to get your feet wet with an older car, you may want to look into getting an FC. Decent cars are still out there and they are much more affordable to get into than an FD.

Regardless, cars can be an expensive hobby. I bought my first FC when I was 24 back in the mid-90s as a broke single guy. I had to learn to fix stuff on it myself since I couldn't' afford to pay a shop to work on it. I also had a good group of friends that were into cars as well, we supported and helped each other out.

Old sports cars aren't sound financial decisions. They're obsessions.

Dale

orijyn

I forgot to mention that I would be driving a beater as a daily driver, and would baby the rx-7 for the weekends...
No need to try to be an ******* hiding behind a monitor... I came here asking a question since I'm not as experienced as most of these forum members in regards to the price and upkeep of an FD. My jeep was a gift from my parents, so there's no need for you to worry about my expenses with that buddy. And you ARE trying to insult me, so don't try to sugarcoat it, once I graduate i'll be able to afford whatever I want, so your argument is pretty invalid here. no thanks for your input though.

orijyn

I should have stated that I wouldn't be daily driving it, as I would be buying a cheap commuter car for going to school/work, and keep the FD for the weekends. My dad actually had a white FC when he was 19 so I think that'd be pretty nostalgic for him! I have family that are heavily into the car scene, so like you, they'd be able to help me out and teach me the ins and outs, as a friend of the family actually had a very heavily modified FD back in '96. Thank you for the reply!

j a r o d

iTrader: (2)

No experience - check

Spoiled brat - check

Sense of entitlement - check

Good luck buddy, get whatever your rich daddy will buy you. It's a free country and we'll all be dust someday anyway.

7sins

Like others have said if you are on limited funds I would stay away from older sports cars. parts are more expensive and unless you have the mechanical skills to work on them yourself be prepared to spend some time finding someone to work on them that knows what they are doing and some serious cash for their time. that being said if you do buy an older sports car they are much more enjoyable to drive than newer cars with all of the driver assists, at least to me. GL with whatever you decide.

orijyn

I work while being a full time student, while getting the grades in order to get into, and fund grad school. I'm a "spoiled brat" because my parents bought me a car as a gift? I love seeing jealousy come out on the internet. I literally am asking these questions because I am not experienced, I can't believe how dense some people are on this forum. I am appreciative of the people that actually gave constructive replies, rather than those that are jealous of me because I am better off then they were in their childhood, or for the fact that I am in college? I'll never understand you old-heads.

orijyn

Totally get what you're saying, thank you

TwinCharged RX7

iTrader: (14)

Haha. Newb asks an Internet forum whether he should by a car or not and expects not to get negative reactions.

You either want a car or don't. If you want it, you need to find a way to afford it.

Don't ask random people whether you should buy a car or not.

cr-rex

iTrader: (114)

Jarod is right.... you check all the boxes and further prove my point. You asked a serious question and got a serious answer. You coming here and asking for opinions from strangers, we can only go off what you tell us. Based on the information in your post, you got the best answer. Leaving out the MOST CRITICAL part of the scenario with the fd being a seconds car and not a daily, leaving out the part that your parents are carrying you through school, leaving out the part that you're the special kid that can afford whatever they want because they went to college...... all those details change how someone would answer you.

But again, you partially answered your own question. If your parents are just going to pay for everything then there's nothing stopping you. Get one, destroy it, let it sit for a bunch of years and then try and sell it for what your parents paid for it. Seeing as how you're the future and are incapable of laying out enough information beforehand to get an appropriate answer, I again mention that this is scary.

Mr college graduate can't even do his own research or asses his financial situation enough to figure out if he can buy a car. Is college teaching people to just wait around for answers now? The root of this whole thing is a mess....

fzkhan7

iTrader: (5)

Honest opinion? I'm probably same age as you and I wouldn't recommend getting into sports cars...
The amount of money rx7's require to maintain is ridiculous. it is not a good car to daily drive also. Even for weekends you can do a short cruise. I hate it for long drives!!!
I do not work so I have to wait months before I can buy something for it.

Sgtblue

iTrader: (16)

I do wonder how, as a college undergrad, you can contemplate buying a hobby car like the FD. I understand WHY you'd want one. All of us here do. But we're all not millennials and some of us believe that if you can afford to do that, you SHOULD be paying your own tuition. If you're not doing that, then you'd essentially be pissing away other's money on that hobby car.
Finish school, get a job. And when you can afford it, justify other's generosity by paying for your own stuff. If you still want an FD, we'll be here to help.


https://www.rx7club.com/new-member-r...ng-fd-1131394/

https://www.rx7club.com/new-member-r...x-7-a-1115899/

https://www.rx7club.com/new-member-r...driver-991135/

https://www.rx7.org/Robinette/

alexdimen

iTrader: (13)

How could he not join the RX-7 community with such welcoming responses?

If you really love the 7 you should buy the best kept example you can afford and plan to spend a significant amount of time and money working on it.

If that's too much to stomach there's always the Miata. Not joking - I had an NB2 and loved it.

AE_Racer

iTrader: (1)

Some toxic responses here. Yikes.

If you really love the car, do it. If you buy the typical 80k-100k mile example, it is likely to leave you stranded for one reason or another. It is going to cost you quite a bit of money in regular upkeep and maintenance. Expect the engine to need a rebuild in your ownership. Expect the turbos to go out in your ownership. However, it WILL put a smile on your face when it is working correctly and sitting in your garage in one piece.

Figure out how much you can spend. If its $30k, chop off $5-$10k and set it aside. Pillow *****, cooling system, minor upgrades, broken interior pieces will take a good chunk of that. Keep the remainder for when the worst happens. If you can't stomach that, its not the car for you.

orijyn

jesus finally someone understands where I’m coming from lol...
thank you, and that makes quite a lot of sense

orijyn

who said anyone but me is paying for my college tuition, or anything other than my 5 thousand dollar first car ??? Everyone is so quick to jump down my throat for no reason, just goes to show how toxic some people hiding behind a computer screen can be. I would not be spending anyone else’s money on this car, other than my OWN, which I have continually been saving up for. I can afford it, I my question was clearly is it worth it ? I did get some helpful replies, (yours as well) just I feel like so many people are trying to jump down my throat and make really stupid assumptions for no reason, because they are either jealous or otherwise.

I wouldn’t be on this forum if I didn’t love the car (duh), I just wanted to know some upkeep costs and the like, and not get angry people mad that I’m going to college or that my parents bought me an old Jeep? (Which is none of anyone’s business?????)

its these kind of people that drive people away from the community.

orijyn

who said anything about my parents paying for any of it ? Clearly you are just mad about something and have no ******* right talking about any of my finances other than how an rx7’s upkeep would affect me.

You seem to make the assumption that since my parents bought me a 5k first car, which happens to be a Jeep that they somehow pay for everything else in my life ???? I do not have to explain anything to you, but in the interest of making you look like more of an idiot; they will not be paying for anything to do with my next vehicle (******* obviously), and I have been saving up and I was wondering how much I was going to need to keep saving in the interest of buying an FD, and wanted to weigh my options and hear from people that actually own one.
It seems that you are the one that needs to go back to school.
I know my own financial situation, I just wanted to know
upkeep and cost of owning one down the road if it was worth it, and I did get those answers from other helpful people, unlike your own moronic, uneducated, dumbass, assuming replies. Kindly, **** off.

SpinningDorito

iTrader: (2)

Some of the responses here are...unfortunate, but I'd just ignore them. You probably won't change anyones mind.

I'm still a fairly recent graduate, so I'll give you my advice. If it were me and I was still in school, or was going to do graduate school full time, I'd look at another fun car. Something like a ND Miata or Fiata (124 Spider Abarth) are stupid fun to drive and will be much, much more up to the task of daily driving. Heck, if money isn't an object here there is a new Supra coming out (but only in auto ). Its heresy to say it here, but C3-C5 corvettes are also affordable and a lot cheaper to keep running. Even my RX8 requires much less than my FD.

I had a high mileage SN95 mustang when I was still a full time student. Cheap parts, and easy to work on or mod when I had the itch. A fun enough car, but a sports car it was not. I would also buy old honda motorcycles off craigslist for 500-600 and mess with those. Often I could make a little money on them by the time I was bored/done. The emphasis here is that the vehicles were cheap and not time consuming.

I bought a cheap FD. I have driven it 4 hours since I have owned it (the drive back home after I bought it). I have spent the last year and a half working on it. The cost for the restorations/repairs I have done, and am still finishing will easily come out to 1.5-2x the price I paid for the car itself. That's with doing all of my own labor. I know when I was in school, I didn't have that kind of time or money.

So, to answer your questions. You won't get into any kind of reliable FD for less than 20k, most likely 25k. Even if you bought a cheaper one and did the work yourself to bring it up to snuff, you still won't come in below 25-30k. Regular maintenance depends on your abilities. Plan on very frequent oil changes, and random things breaking all the time unless the car has been gone through very thoroughly. Plan on virtually no regular mechanic being able to help you with anything outside of regular maintenance, unless you are fortunate to have a rotary specialist in your area (and they never come cheap if you do). Plan on having to buy premium fuel, and I'd plan on the cost of buying some premix oil to put in the gas tank.

Plan on fairly high insurance (especially if you are young) if you want the true value of your car covered, and extreme frustration if you get normal coverage and do have a wreck.

Plan on having 4-6k in reserve to replace the engine when it blows. It will blow, it's not a question of if. Have a plan for how you will get around while your engine is being replaced/repaired.

I could keep going, but hopefully you get the picture. I'd stick with one of the cars I mentioned above (or another sports car) and save the FD as a goal for when you are done with school.

Molotovman

iTrader: (49)

What are you doing asking here then? It seems like you've pretty much got everything figured out, buy whatever car you want.


If you want to dismount your entitled high horse perhaps you can provide us with a dollar figure you'd expect to be able to spend on an FD since you already stated it will be a second car for pleasure. There is a huge different in quality based on budget.

orijyn

thank you, that was the reply I was looking for and the most helpful by far. I really appreciate it.

cr-rex

iTrader: (114)

Oh boy... when you turn 19 or 20 years old and you start to see how the world actually works you'll look back at this thread and see it from the other side and realize what's happening. Knowing that there are likely many other people like you only a short time away from being released from the chicken coop to run the world is a sickening thought. I'm just going to stay in my castle and throw turtle shells until Mario gets tired of my ****. Change your mindstate or fail. Although you will likely just blame everyone else anyway.

Sgtblue

iTrader: (16)

OP, in your responses essentially complaining about not getting hugs and encouragement you never actually deny that mom and dad are paying for your school. Either you’re taking loans out and/or mom and dad are paying the bills. I stand by my previous comment that if you can afford a hobby car, you shouldn’t be doing either.
And before you whine again about it NOT being anyone’s business, you shouldn’t have shared your personal situation and obligations.

I’m not being toxic, I’m just not going to hand out a participation trophy by encouraging you to spend money on a FD.

alexdimen

iTrader: (13)

I'm having a hard time figuring out how everyone got so triggered by OP, but damn it's fascinating to watch...

Sgtblue

iTrader: (16)

Who’s “triggered”? I’m not. Look back and you’ll see I did provide some links with buying info. But he also asked for our opinions. He also got mine.