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Is your FD your daily driver????

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Old Dec 18, 2005 | 11:48 PM
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Smile Is your FD your daily driver????

Hey guys and gals, I'm an fc owner and I think its time for me to move to an fd. But first I would like to know from you (the fd owners) are you guys driving them as daily drivers? If so how many miles are on them and if you've had to swap motors. I would appreciate any advice that you could give for a possible new fd owner.
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Old Dec 18, 2005 | 11:57 PM
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I drive my daily. Boost hard and no problem for two years so far. However the motor was just replace three years ago.
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Old Dec 19, 2005 | 12:02 AM
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advice? search

I split driving time between my 7 & 8 maybe, 30%-70% split

mine has 83000 miles or so and and had a new engine about 15k ago. And what do you mean if an FD owner has had to swap motors ?
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Old Dec 19, 2005 | 12:03 AM
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I also drive mine daily, with no issues...(cross-fingers). TD0620G single turbo has been working great. Motor was replaced about 10,XXX miles ago by previous owner (running stock twins at the time).
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Old Dec 19, 2005 | 12:05 AM
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NO, but I did for 3 years. Only had to replace the turbos. Plus at ton of oil pan leaks
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Old Dec 19, 2005 | 12:07 AM
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My FD is my daily driver, the original motor lasted up to 100k miles(my car only had a cat back exhaust, and an intake until then). After that I had it rebuilt with new housings, brearings, seals, ported, etc. Since then everything is all well(I'm at about 25k miles since rebuild with my mods), if the car is modded, it's all in the tuning and maintenance, I obviously don't expect this new motor to last 100k miles since it's seeing way more boost than a stock motor(by not lasting as long I mean housings and seals wearing out, NOT breakage).

Last edited by RX794; Dec 19, 2005 at 12:12 AM.
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Old Dec 19, 2005 | 12:09 AM
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Mine has been my daily driver ever since I bought it almost two years ago. It has never left me stranded and has been very reliable. *knock on wood* It has 68,000 miles on it and about 10,000 on the second engine.

Here's some advice: find a very well-maintained, low-milage car that is running in perfect condition. Don't buy one that has even a minor problem, as it could be much worse than just that. When I bought my car, it was flawless and I could the tell the previous owner was very mature and meticulous about that car. I'm glad I decided to buy the one I bought even though I paid a little more.
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Old Dec 19, 2005 | 12:15 AM
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It's great to see this posted...I just bought an FD with the intention of making it my daily driver. It's got 82XXX miles, and from what I know, great condition. Everything's stock. From what I've seen, I think the key to making it a daily driver is good tuning/maintenance with conservative boosting.

It's really encouraging to see the daily drivers post their experience.
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Old Dec 19, 2005 | 12:19 AM
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A daily driver is the best modification you can get for your FD. Seriously, I know it's possible, but why would you want to? For the cost of a new motor you can find a nice old honda, get minimum insurance and get twice the gas mileage!
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Old Dec 19, 2005 | 12:19 AM
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helllllllll no!!

do wat i did, but one and keep ur fc as a dd
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Old Dec 19, 2005 | 12:32 AM
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ive owned my FD for 6 years now and i daily drove it for the first 2 years with reliability mods only and no major issues. then the more engine mods i put on, the more time i found myself under the hood, so i got myself something a bit more reliable and gets WAY better gas milage. my maintenance on the FD before the daily driver was great , now its just plain spoiled
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Old Dec 19, 2005 | 02:08 AM
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Originally Posted by stokedxiv
A daily driver is the best modification you can get for your FD. Seriously, I know it's possible, but why would you want to? For the cost of a new motor you can find a nice old honda, get minimum insurance and get twice the gas mileage!
Because I buy cars to drive them.

It's not a $200,000 dollar Ferrari, its a $15,000 Mazda, drive it!
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Old Dec 19, 2005 | 02:10 AM
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Originally Posted by NuTbAgSaN
helllllllll no!!

do wat i did, but one and keep ur fc as a dd
hmmm... Maybe but my FC is a tII and doesnt get that great of mileage either. I got another qualifying question. How much do your spend on you car in maintenance a year. I understand that I will have to budget a little more comeing from a Tii fc but about how much. Im talking about a lightly modded fd, like exhaust, intake... Thanks guys for your responses.

-Scott
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Old Dec 19, 2005 | 02:14 AM
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Yes, daily. From home to work and to the stores. No hassle so far, a bit slippery the rear end at winter but nothing I can't handle.
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Old Dec 19, 2005 | 02:49 AM
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nope......weekends and at nite usually....... atleast for the 4 months that i can in NY
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Old Dec 19, 2005 | 05:46 AM
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I would suggest that you either have a 2nd car that you can drive when your motor blows or that you make sure it's within your finances to have the money put away incase you do blow the motor.

I bought my FD recently with 43k miles on it, took it to a reputable shop, spent $2400 basically in maintenance and I made sure to have enough money in the bank just incase the motor goes so I'm not screwed.

Next thing on my list is to save up and buy a daily driver so I can start modding the 7...probably just an integra or something.

Last edited by Alcoholic; Dec 19, 2005 at 05:48 AM.
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Old Dec 19, 2005 | 06:52 AM
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This question seems to come up regularly. Those that NEED the FD as a DD claim it works just fine. And those able to opt for another beater prefer to keep the FD for a weekend car.

It's at least a 12 year old car, cramped, has little luggage/storage space, gets crappy mileage, generally requires ALOT of maintanance, and you tend to leave it in the "north forty" of most parking lots so you don't get it beat up. Some claim it's a magnet for LE during that daily commute and really sucks on slick pavememt, especially if you live where it snows. On average it's also more expensive to insure, but other than that......
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Old Dec 19, 2005 | 09:32 AM
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I do not daily drive my FD, its a bit to jumpy in traffic. However, the origonal owner daily drove the car for years and put 130k on it before the engine went. I would daily my FD if it didnt snow six months out of the year here, and I didnt spend so much time sitting in traffic.
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Old Dec 19, 2005 | 10:42 AM
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Talking Hell No !

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Old Dec 19, 2005 | 11:34 AM
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I do about 50-50 between my motorcycle and my FD. But with this weather lately I have been driving the FD every day. It’s great I love the ride with the coilovers and I love the stare I get from people when I pass them
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Old Dec 19, 2005 | 12:02 PM
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i had a post called dd's or something search it. shows alot of us that daily our cars. i've had mien 6 months now, 52 minimum miles a day. only problem is exhaust leak. i bought mine. did my usual "new" used car buy, changed my belts, thermostat, tranny oil, diff, engine oil/filter, air filter, pressure washed the engien to clean it up, and beat it everyday no problems =-).maintenance ain't bad if you keep up. but i see some of these guys go a little overboard. lol if you buy one to DD enjoy it. i payed 10.5 to drive mine not park it. luggage space? it's got alot more space then a miata, lol.


Los
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Old Dec 19, 2005 | 12:43 PM
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i used to have the FC for daily driver, and FD for nights and weekends......but i'm trying to lay off the FC, and just work on the 'skills' on the FD, like turning and driving, etc. Now my daily driver has been the FD for like 2 months, and it's a good car.....it's all up to the driver, and how you treat your car.
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Old Dec 19, 2005 | 04:55 PM
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last winter here in the uk, i took my 92 fd off the road and drove about in a shitty little metro. I soon got bored of that and could not wait to drive the fd. I saved **** loads on petrol/insurance but i kept thinking to myself that iv`e got a nice car just sitting there on the drive doing nothing. You do look forward to driving the fd when you`ve been driving another car for 6 months, but you do feel as though the fd is wasting away by not being used. if i had the space i would buy a ******* for the winter and keep the fd for summer.
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Old Dec 19, 2005 | 07:23 PM
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Mine has been DD all it's life, and treated me good until a blow coolant seal in which it sat for a year and was rebuilt. $12,000 grand later it still needs paint and wouldn't trust it on a trip of more than 200 miles. After modding my car is a money pit that I feel committed to or should be committed for wasting so much money into.

For my next ride I will have a healthy American V8.
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Old Dec 19, 2005 | 07:27 PM
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Originally Posted by littlemilla3
Because I buy cars to drive them.

It's not a $200,000 dollar Ferrari, its a $15,000 Mazda, drive it!

testify!!!
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