Long story short, I have a limited experience with Solo II I love driving hard, but my old car had a black hood, and a lightweight flywheel so I was being torn to shreds in SM. I want to start from scratch with an RX-7 idealy I'd be an R1/2 and have black interior and a 5-speed, any color but green. Turns out that's a rather hard combo to come by. I went and drove a silver touring package today with a red interior but, the thing was mechanically sound, had low mileage and the price is right. Sould I wait for the perfect one, or buy a good car now and spend money making the interior barable, and just live with the sunroof, and other less performance oriented aspects of the touring model?

 

if you want to autoX, dont get a fd, get a z06

 

haha funny, but you should have said Miata

I love tinkering with new things, and the rotary motor just intrigues me. Sorry, it's gotta be an FD. I don't exactly plan on dominating anyone, but doing better than dead last in my class would be nice!

 

bleh, rotary engines kinda suck for autoX, no torque. Z06 is a force to be reconed with and will help a lot if your not the best driver. then again all that torque is a hard to control even with those wide tires. I would have suggested a miata but i dont like verts. even with a full cage it would scare me to take one to the limit (my arms could fly out and get cut off in the case of a roll over hehe)

 

Okay, it's tough to drill this in but I'll try. Z06'S COST A CRAP LOAD OF MONEY!!! I don't have that kind of money! I am a student making 22k a year, I don't support myself but I sure as hell am putting myself through college and buying my own cars. 15k for an RX-7 yeah, I can do that and I love everything about the cars. 30+K for a Z06 that has for sure been rodded on and has LEAF SPRINGS!!! No, the car is great but it can't be improved upon in the areas I'm interested in, like I said I love to tinker as soon as I find a limit I'm bored.

 

At that (22k/yr) You CAN NOT AFFORD AN FD EITHER! Find an older MIATA for 5-6K and then you will still have the money to set it up and maintain it properly. Miatas need MUCH LESS Maintenance than an FD

 

So what if it has leaf springs? It's dominating the SS class for tons of reasons, and those leaf springs certainly isn't hurting it. I mean, a bone stock Z06 on street tires turns lap times around thunderhill FASTER than my built R compound shod FC.

And at 22K a year, you can't afford the maintenance on an FD, stay away from turbo cars until you make more cash.

 

It's like some elitist club around here. No one who already owns an RX-7 wants anyone else to buy one. Look, I had a very nice Honda it got jacked, my insurance gave me a considerable sum of money for the car. You are thinking of my financial situation as someone living on their own. I live with my parents and pay 3k a year for college. 19k a year to drop into a car is more than enough especially since I have a full garage. Yes, air tools, lift, the works. I won't be running around paying mechanics to do things I could do myself. Damn, this isn't about how much money I'm making anyway. I don't want a Corvette, period. I don't want a Miata as I'll be doing Solo I events as well as Solo II oh yeah, and they are ugly as sin. I am getting an RX-7 I am asking the question Should I take the time and find my perfect RX-7 or should I settle and convert it to what I want? I don't care if you guys don't think I can afford to keep it running, when it isn't running I have a daily beater, and I can fix anything. It's not a problem.

 

I don't give a rats a$$ if you buy one, I'm just telling you that a college student on a 22K a year salary shouldn't be dumping down cash for a car that requires as much maintenance as an FD does, ESPECIALLY if he wants to Solo I the car. Dude, this stuff isn't cheap, we're not trying to be elitist, we're trying to be realistic. I don't want to see someone with an FD broken down for 6 months because he can't afford to get a new motor, only to sell it to someone for pennies on the dollar.

So with this 19K a year, you'll buy no clothes, no food, no BEER, no clubs, no DATES, no school books, no gas, no insurance, etc etc etc. Come on now, what do we look like? I remember being in college.

Fine, want an RX-7, get a 2nd gen N/A. The damn things run forever, they are freaking quick on track, handle really well, and it's an RX-7.

But to answer your first question, you'll spend tons more converting a car to be what you want it to be than to get the right car.

(elitist bastard)Your first mistake was buying the Honda!(/elitist bastard)



PaulC

 

bah, the Honda was a great car, just too open to theft. I'd buy another one if it weren't such a huge financial leap to owning a RWD honda. I'm just sick of understeer so... FD it is. As for the clothes/food/beer thing I'm 19 did I stress that I live at home? My parents are kind enough to feed me, and I shop at value village. I'm going to community college, there are no parties. I've torn apart a motor or two, and the Rex can sit in the climate controled garage as long as it needs to so I can do everthing right on it. Same way I did it with the Honda. You shouldn't have a sports car without a daily driver.

 

I won't add much to the "should you get an FD" debate other than to say that all the maintenance the FD requires can sometimes get in the way of enjoying the car. I know I spend way too much time worrying, tinkering, and fiddling and not enough time focused on driving my FD at the events I have been to.

Do you fit in the car with a sunroof and a helmet? This is a problem for people who aren't short. Getting a car without a sunroof adds some head room.

Are the leather seats going to be a problem? If you have a harness you'll probably be okay, but you generally slide around much easier on leather seats.

You would probably end up changing the shocks on whatever you get (shocks are the only difference in the suspension between R models and non-R models). So in that respect, it probably doesn't matter what you get.

The R models also have a factory strut tower brace and a second oil cooler.

-Max