First off allow me to say hello and thank you to anyone who takes the time to post a reply.

Also, I realise that this is my first thread and as such please feel free to point out any mistakes I have surely made while posting. I will surely appreciate any input veteran members are able to provide.

Now as for my questions. I have made preparations both financially and in terms of my schedule to purchase an FD within a time frame that allows me to have it on the road by the first of May.

My first question revolves around the source of my car - after several weeks of comparing domestic options and foreign ones it seems to me that in order to secure a relatively stock FD I may be better of importing one from overseas. There in lies my first question - is it advisable to import an RX-7?

The second question I have is: what should I expect to pay for the whole purchase process (be it domestic or import)? I have set aside approximately $30 000 CAD to cover all starting costs. Including registration, insurance, and basic reliability/safety modifications.

Lastly, I currently drive 1993 Audi V8. Parts for this car are expensive, rare, and enjoy breaking with malicious frequency - it seems to me that the RX-7 may be the only to car exceed the "expectations" of my Audi - so I am simply wondering how much trouble I can expect from the FD?

Thank you again for taking the time to read my post and, if you choose to do so, for posting any answers or advice for someone about to take the plunge.

 

I would find a clean roller and have a new motor put in then you know what you have and can start fresh.

 

hows he going to do that if he knows nothing about the car?

i think you should look for a fairly stock, low mileage, fd and go from there. there rather moody and can be a pain for some to maintain. a basic idea of how the car functions along with some common sense will get you far though.

there are a good many on the forum who have experience in importing/exporting rx-7's. so eventually someone will chime in and tell you what you want to here

 

If you import make sure you use someone reputable.

 

First off welcome to the forum. Where in Ontario are you located?

To answer your questions. RHD FD's can be imported anywhere from 9K-12K all day long with everything you need... Landed, registered blah blah blah.

IF I were you I'd source a nice and clean LHD north american spec FD. Seriously the market is flooded in Toronto with RHD FD's. I see them alot.

Alot of them when they land need rebulids (not all, but some)

I'd source a nice clean one from either Canada or the USA. FD's in Ontario alone are pretty rare to come by so I'd go south of the border.

As for reliability haha... welll.... that one speaks for itself. You can make the car reliable with a few mods.. ie .. radiator, Intercooler.. downpipe.. exhaust and a good tune and leave it at that it will be fine. Be warned these cars aren't known for being reliable though, which I'm sure you know

Good luck

 

Welcome to the forum! It sounds like this is something you have put a lot of thought and preparation into. That would tell me that you will be a great new FD owner. So many new owners on here are young people that have no idea what they are getting into and just want a cool, fast car.

Since I have no experience importing I am afraid I cannot offer much advise but there seems to be TONS of wisdom in what 7_Rocket has said. Right now you can pick up a pretty clean FD for around 12K US anyway. Honestly it kinda sucks the prices have dropped off this past year but it is great for responsible people who would like to purchase one.

I am sure you have already begun but there are lots of threads on here that would be very beneficial for you to read about purchasing and owning an FD. IT sounds like you already deal with some of these problems with your audi so at least you have that under your belt. Though, really, as long as you do the maintenance, don't modify it too heavily, they can be driven every day fairly reliably. I dd mine for the first 6 months I owned it with no problems and really I have not had any large problems in the 3 great years I have owned the car. Good luck with the purchase!!

 

With a budget like that, get a basically stock lefthand drive car with as low mileage as possible (good compression on the motor), and as few mods as possible (with the exception of a downpipe and metal AST maybe). If you get a 1992 JDM (in Japan the first models were 1992) model a lot of people have reported a ton of problems. $30k Canadian is right around $30k USD these days. You can get a perfect FD for that. Try to get a 1994 or 1995 model if possible as they had a bit better interior quality and less problems.

 

I just used an online conversion and got:

30,000 Canadian Dollar = 25,247.2 US Dollar

Anyway, RDMR22, seriously... if you are going to be spending that kind of money, there are several other (newer) cars suited for the task. If you dislike finding parts for your 1993 Audi, you are going to be in the same boat with the FD. If I were in your shoes, I would be looking at a used Lotus Elise or find a FRC C5 Vette and slap a few mods on it. With a C5 Vette (non Z06), you can get 400rwhp + with:

Vette Doctors H/C
Headers
Exhaust
Intake
Elite Engineering 3/8" tunnel plate

and tuning.... Considering the prices of C5 Vettes, you could probably do all that for your 30k CAD.

 

With the money you are spending, buy a very low mileage car if you plan to just enjoy it and keep it near stock. If you plan to mod it in the future go ahead and buy a built car.

It really depends on what you want, I still say go with the low mileage car, install downpipe, delete AST, and enjoy the car. If it was only that easy to not get mod crazy

 

This would probably be your cheaper way of getting high horse power. But it is
still nothing like owning a rotary powered vehicle

 

The S8 FD (1999+) does not deserve to be placed in the “unreliable category” that the S6 single handedly developed. I realize they were never offered or are easily available in many parts of the world, but as the OP is enquiring about importing an S8 would be the only way to go and within the budget (dependant on model)

 

Thank you all for the information thus far and thank you for welcoming me so kindly, it seems as though I have chosen the right site to take part in.

As several of you have rightly pointed out I did not provide enough information as to my intentions for the car in my original post; allow me to remedy that and answer the few other questions.

I do not want to modify this car in the near future for any true power gains. There is a near 40% increase in power to weight between my Audi (stock) and an FD (stock) not to mention the difference in power to wheel delivery from my 4WD compared to a RWD.

My mind has settled on the RX-7 specifically because nothing else seems to compare to it mechanically. I publicly loathe my Audi but, to be honest, very much enjoy how demanding it can be as it requires me to work harder to maintain it properly. It is that element of difficulty that brought me to the RX-7. I chose the FD because, amongst other things, it looks fantastic.

My intentions with the car in this first year are only to get to know and understand it. To figure out what direction I want to go in and how best to take it there. I know next to nothing about the FD and therefore need time to decide these and other things.

Who knows? After a year I may discover that I chose poorly and be forced to start a new search.

P.S. When I decide that I want to modify a car with no regard for reason or practicality. Only to over power and ruin it with poorly thought out parts... that is the day I buy a civic.

P.P.S. @7 Rocket - I am located in Ottawa.

 

Seriously, based on that I would recommend a used 2005 Lotus Elise. The Lotus Elise is not any more impractical for driving around the street than a FD. Yet it's darn near bulletproof and is a track/autox demon. Neither are cars for the winter. A few years back I wouldn't make such a recommendation since the Lotus prices were fairly high since the car was new. However the 2005 Elise prices are $25-30k USD as well as many other cars (Vette's, E46 M3's, etc).

I would recommend that you go try one before making any other decisions:

https://www.rx7club.com/rx-7-audio-visual-lounge-143/pro-driver-elise-track-494171/

 

Everyone says that they won't modify the car. That's what I first said when I bought the FD.

As others have said the car is not a good daily driver, its just a fun toy.

 

There is a nice 1994 FD Touring model,in white,for sale in Toronto right now---I looked at this car about 15 months ago and it would really meet your needs I think.I would have bought it but the owner did not accept my offer.It is now for sale for $3k less than I offered.See the Canadian for sale section.

 

hey its not the civic's fault that dumb people do stupid **** to it .... I take pride in my civic .... it's one of the better built cars out there



sorry not a civic but honda built and one of my cars