just a general question for my first post. i plan on getting a rx7 sooner or later. but eventually. i got my eyes set on it, but i still want to have an idea of how it compares.
my questions are referring to a 99+ series 8. no mods.

how would it compare to other cars such as an evo 8?
the 1.3l rotary twin turbo (1.3k cc) vs the 2L turbo(2k cc)
i know the evo can get to 100km/h (approx 62.5mph) in around 4.8seconds, how does the rotary match to this?

the evo was just more specific of a question but in general i would also like to know hwo it compares to other piston engines (skylines etc.) i don't know if you can tell, but i don't know too much about cars. haha.

thanks. any other info in general would be appreciated i guess.!

 

Who wants to help this guy out? I'm a 1stgen guy, so all the comparisons with NA piston engines and other turbo motors are going to be a complete mystery to me unless you're happy with me regurgitating what I can remember from being a life long Car and Driver subscriber......mainly, it'll be about no torque at the bottom...the main reason the FD had two turbos but sequential...help at the bottom and help at the top. Piston engines generally are better at bottom end torque so turbos kick in later...the turbo lag problem being a big problem for cars of that era not running the sequential turbo idea.

Mario III

 

Hello,

I have had my FD for a few months only so other people might have better feedback than me but here are my thoughts:

RWD (Rear Wheel Drive) vs AWD (All Wheel Drive):
A RWD will feel less stable as the rear end might tail out easier than AWD. If you like this feeling and want to drift, you might want to go for RWD as you'll need much bigger ***** to put an AWD sideways, if you know what I mean.

Engine:
Well the advantage of a rotary engine is that it's light and makes the car very agile. Some people will tell you especially when you push it to the limits (well I havn't gone anywhere close to that I think).
The problem with rotaries is that the internal APEX seals don't last long (say 100.000km as a base), the engine is a little bit capricious and generally power increase and durability normally works the opposite way.

In terms of performance I don't really know about EVOs (well only from Initial D .

Generally I would say that RX7 are very particular and specific cars that makes them special and if you go for one it's better to have that attraction to them. There are a lot of recommended modification to have your FD last longer but it's all detailed (a lot) on this website so I wouldn't risk a less detailed explanation here.

 

oh thanks, that has really cleared up some questions.
rx7s are pretty scarce down here in australia, but apparently there's a good place that can fix me up if i have problems, i'll put it in every5000kms for a service and get the coolant etc changed along with the seals if necessary and i should be good to go i hope.

not too much of a car enthusiast yet, still learning so don't want to do too much myself, thankfully theres the repairman

 

Hi there, im from new zealand and have a JDM series 7 rx7.

dont bother thinking about displacement when thinking rotaries. Their power output will be substantially more then another piston engine of the same displacement, so too will the fuel consumtion. so basically the 1300cc thing means nothing - just the physical size of its chambers. nothing to do with power or fuel consumption.
In motor racing they generally class the rotary as having twice its stated displacement ( so 2.6 litre turbo ) in this case.

Being from NZ we have access to most JDM cars - including skylines etc that many people on this froum cannot get easily in their own country.

My daily driver is a twin-turbo subaru legacy GT-B, manuel transmission with
206kw of power stock. And i must say, it feels like a dog, an absolute slow tank compared to my rx7 - and dont get my wrong my subaru is faster then 95% of cars on the road.
Its all about power to weight ratio and this is where the FD rx7 shines.
with a better power to weight ratio you have faster acceleration, better braking, have less tyre wear, less brake wear, better handling, less body roll - etc etc etc.

low down torque is a completly null point if you have a properly working sequetntial setup - you can get full boost from 1800rpm up to 9k+. as soon as boost comes on (which is instantly) it takes off like a deamon. put it this way, ill slow down before the car will!

My good friend has a cefiro with an rb25det (2.5 litre turbo skyline engine) in it and a big turbo etc. my car craps on it - not even any point in racing.
Another friend has a twin-turbo galant vr4, the FD craps on it.
another has a turbo s15 silvia - the FD craps on it
another friend a little ford laser with an 1800 DOCH turbo mazda engine in it.
none even come close to comparing to the sheer acceleration of the FD.

i dont mean to sound vaine but im honestly yet to be beaten in a race by ANYTHING while in my FD. stock evos, sti's,silivias etc are childs play in an FD

 

i agree with both of these posts, FD's are pretty nuts, especially in those corners, but the reason most people put up with the maintenance is because they love the car.

Theres a certain mystique about the RX-7 here in the California North bay area around the groups i hang out with. The car is beautiful, everyone looks at it with awe. Honestly for me, even if the car was out performed by the WRX and whatever else was out on the streets, i would still love it... it just has that kind of charm. Theres a special connection that only the driver and his/her rx-7 have, thats the best way i can explain it, sorry -_-

Rotaries are almost things of legend, you don't see many of them rolling around during the day time. Its a nice feeling... heh

 

wow nice posts, it's much more clearer now, holy **** i want to get one right now.

the posts mention the obvious maintenance that we must put up with, what does this relate to considering that the mechanic will do the routinal stuff (coolant, engine oil, etc.) every 5000kms?

also, fuel consumption is an obvious problem, with the petrol down here hitting an average of $1.40-$1.60+, my current car (which is a mazda 3 which is technically my dads car, but i drive it to get around anyways) has a fuel consumption of around 350-400kms per tank, i think the tank is the standard 50L, automatic transmission. i heard that the rx7 as a daily driver (which i will probably be forced to use it as, because i cant afford 2 cars) can do around 350kms per tank. so is this number accurate? and also is the tank a 50L on the series 8? because personally, i think 350kms is not too bad....and of course by daily driving there will be the revs and speeding down quite streets :P

i also heard pop ups are illegal to be manufactured anymore?how come? damnn a nice new pop up light car would make me very happy if i ever got rich enuf to buy it that it :P?

haha thanks/

 

About the maintenance, well I try not to let any mechanics do anything on it I can do, one of the reason being the above mentioned connection between the driver and this special car, the other is sometime they just do stuff bad because they are on schedule and it's not their car (that being said I realize they are not all like that). The main thing about that car is that you have to take good care of it and preferably do the necesseray modifications so as to remove the design weak points (colling etc...), there are tons of trheads on that forum so I'd have a look if I were you.

As far as fuel consumption, don't be mistaken it is comparable to the Niagara fall. I have tried to drive is as lsow as I could during a full tank event and the best I got was 18L/km which is 13 mpg!!!!
That car is clearly a toy (and what fantastic toy!!) and is a bit of a shame to drive to commute. Also it's not fun to drive it in a bumper to bumper kind of commute as it's a waste. I personnaly take the bus a couple of days a week, then my girlfriend's car and have fun with the Rex WE and evenings. Part of it also is because I don't want to be one of these big fossile fuel consumer on a day to day basis and keep that only for leasure (but of course that's my personal choice).

I think you got to have a thing for the car and engine first, if so you'll work out the rest.

Good luck in your decision, that is not an easy one (took me a while to make the step and now I am very happy about it).

 

iv never heard about the pop up thing, dont see why anyone would make it illegal but hey some places have stupid laws.
as far as the petrol thing goes, id expect it to use about another a quarter to half as much again as the mazda3, especially when you start giving it some boost.
i use about 15L in 80-120km. no idea sure what that equals in mpg..
you just need to be more religious with the maintenance of an FD. just requires more frequent fluid changes etc. You also have to be a bit more ontop of problems , some cars you might drive it for weeks with a little coolant leak - the FD you have to keep ontop of everything, you need to maintain it. you need to keep it in top shape you cant leave the little problems.

 

hmmm i see, alright then thanks, definitely helped in making my decision. i got other questions but i'll make a new thread since this topic is getting a bit off the heading lol. thanks

@joel_rx7
18litres per kilometre? no typo there? :P

 

Ooops,

Yes thanks god, 18L/100km (and I am working with these numbers all day - shame on me!!!).

 

I would definitely get a rex. I myself do not own one, I mind set on getting one though. In March.

As to compare, I know people that have had rex's, boosted and NA
also boosted piston engines.
I would go with a 7 any day, people say they break alot. Maintain them and they are fine with the nasty boosted piston engines you have the turbo lag and i know them breaking a lot. Maybe the people i know are just dumb, it was mostly DSM's (daily scheduled maintenance, ftl) AWD way fun, as said hard to drift them, your car has gotta have *****.
I'd go for a 13B RE

 

If you have a real appreciation for the rotary engine you would pick your rx7 over anything any day, regardless of maintenance/breakdowns! It makes it that much more enjoyable when it is doing what you want it to...

 

IMO, 240sx (S13, S14 w/ SR20DET) can compete with FD

 

thats it holy ****. my goals are set at the ****** rotary. i'm coming baby...
got to save quite a bit i want the 99+ FD3S maybe even a 2002 if i can afford it. gosh there's a spirit R on sale here in aust for 45k if i remember correctly (australia) from dealer but, but boy is it sexy...

 

You guys are so lucky that you can get the latest spec.

For us (in North America) we are stuck with 95 at the best (and there are so few of them) between 93 and 95 there has only been ~13000 of them in the US. So our choice is so poor compared to you guys. (unless we want to import them, but there is a 15 years rule for Canada at least...).

Argh!!!!!!!!!

 

lol, they can barely compete with a Turbo II.

 

Well yes they are lucky getting their hands in some newer model rx7's !
I have a 93 FD and I drive it everyday to work. I think I am one of the few people in the US that has an FD as a daily driver and I got to tell you I still love it.
Yes it gulps gas ( I was doing around 15 MPG with the engine out of tune ) and could go to 18 in a good day, but there is something very simple: If you are going to buy and own a true sports car like the RX7, then you MUST forget about fuel consumption completely. I dont understand having a car that can go from 0 to 60 in less than 5 seconds and hit 160 MPH, that looks like has been manufactured 1 year ago ( I get it all the time, people do not believe me when I say the car is 15 years old ) and that handles like the best out there and then complaint because you are getting shity mileage.
On the other hand, I bought the car with 70,000 miles and drove it another 35,000 miles and the car never broke anything. As far as you take care of it it will respond nicely. Mine is in the shop now after 105,000 miles because the oil consumption was a little too high and I wanted to install a lot of aftermarket parts I got. So when it comes out, it will have around 450 whp or more
Talking about power, my FD had around 300 to 320 whp and I never lost a race with EVO's, STI's, Corvettes or a Ferrari 430 I raced once. This over a period of 2 years driving it every day. So you get the idea, there are faster cars out there but they are so scarce that you will almost never see them.
Anyway, I hope this explained a little bit about the love that everybody has for this car. Or at least that I have
Leo

 

I agree man, I had a s14 (sr20det) and it really does not stack up.

Put simply.. get one, you wont regret it! They just have this X-factor that is unrivalled.

And for people that worry about fuel consumption need to be introduced to a civic and stop dreaming about an rx7.

 

how i look at it the EVO you get for insurance reasons... ITS A FOUR DOOR, compared to a 2 door 2 seater... but for looks IMO you cant even come close to a FD no way in h*ll can an evo come close. Plus drifting who doesnt want to try drifting? kinda hard in an EVO... but if your looking for a track or straight liner the EVO might depending on which EVO EVO 8 and 9 arnt bad cars but the new EVO X (aka 10) that im not sure about. But my vote is FD all the way... be different.