i dont know if anyone on here has owned or driven one but i'll ask anyways. hows the mazda rx-7? like maintenance wise and how fun it is to drive. my friend is selling a 1987 rx-7 for about $2000. New paint job, new radiator, new waterpump+thermostat, new tein lowering springs+shocks, custom exhaust system, K&N cold air intake, otto strut bar and custom rear strut bar, and 4 new falken tires. i just messaged him about the mileage on the car so i'll know sooner or later. i was wondering if this is a good deal or not. my little brother loves this car and rotary engines, would it be a good first car for him? thanks in advance guys.

 

I owned a 1st Gen 1981 RX-7, It was one of the most fun to drive vehicals I ever drove. I'm pretty sure a 87' is going to be fuel injected, which is a alot less pain in the butt than my carburator was. If the car has been well maintained is in overall good condition, I would say its a good deal,especially since they are getting harder and harder to find!(collectors item) find out what the milage is and also if any work has ever been done to the motor,like a rebuild. Oh and buy the way is it turbo or n/a?
Hope this helps!Good Luck!

 

i still have to get alot of info from him. but im afraid the car might have been abused lol. Thanks!

 

i like any FC or FD.. but def check the mileage, cause rotaries have alot shorter lifespan than the normal conventional engine. ive read that if you get one, that you should know alot about rotaries.. if thats your thing (to work on cars) then i say why not

 

my opinions are that buying a used sports car is a huge risk because most of the people who buy them do it to run them hard and fast, so this thing might have been put through the ringer. true rotary engines do wear out faster because they rev very high and only have three moving parts i think. as for a first car for your younger brother, i'm going to say HELL FRIGGAN NO! yes it is a cool car and everything, but you don't give a young kid a freaking sports car as his first car. it is like giving a lighter to a pyromaniac. these things are small, fast and with rear-wheel drive, much more prone to oversteer than a front wheel drive car or all wheel drive car. also, cars from the 80's are no where near as safe as modern cars since they lack airbags, and antilock brakes. i beg you not to let this be your bro's first car because literally i think all teenagers should have slow lame pos's as their first car because they just are more likely to crash because of their inexperience and impatiaents. so please, don't give it to your bro to protect him, and protect a truly awesome car.

also, older cars need alot more maitenance as they wear out, and not alot of mechanics are familar with rotary engines so your gonna be limted in finding a good shop to fix things on it. the upkeep on an old car like this would also bankrupt a teen, so no, his is also not a very good first car economically.

just my 2 quarters worth of opinion.

 

its not like hes going to use it to race or anything. even if it was me id only probably once in a while rev it high. but the one problem that you stated was what i was worried about, how much longer would it last and the maintenance costs

 

yeah, he won't race...famous last words, but even if he doesn't, it just isn't a good starter car. new drivers need something with as many safety features as possible. they should also get something with great all around visibility. an fc is small, low to the ground the i can't imagine how good the visibility it would have since it is such a small coupe. new drivers aren just inexperienced and ignorant of how much is going on around them beyond what they can see from the car. so for a beginner car, i'd say get him something alittl more economical and higher off the ground with better windows and such.

i'm not saying don't get the fc, they are awesome and would make a great project car. but not a good learners car.

 

Totally agree with Drax. And from what I've read rotaries are super high matience. They run sloppy, aka use lots of oil. Also they wear really fast and the tollerances go off fast. Ya have to get them reworked all the time. Far better bet to go to a good ol reciprocate'n engine. If your still wanna go old school get a corolla. They're tuff as nails so ya can beat the ever live'n shight out of them and their fun to drive for a 1st ride. Go for a mid 90s corolla stick. Perfect learner. Celicas work as well. I had a 84 corolla 5 speed as my 2nd ride. Loved it and still miss it.

 

I will start by saying that if your buying it, the first thing is to do a rebuild of the motor, WITH QUALITY PARTS. :D

 

actually rotories are more reliable than the piston motor... that is n/a of course. A rotary engine can run 300,000 miles on the original motor no sweat, now when you throw heat into the equation, like something that creates more heat than the motor it's self say like a turbo.... that's when the motors start going to crap. This coming from a friend of mine who runs a very reputable rotary shop out here. What everybody says about them being un relaible is crap they just go off what people say because people don't know how to work on them and so when someone actually does work on it they mess it up and blame it on the fact that it's a rotary. If you are getting a N/A it'll run beautifully as long as the maintainence was done, but if not you're gonna be doing a lot of work to get it back to that place. If it's a turbo make sure all the reliablity mods were done IE radiator upgrade, replacing the vaccum/hoses lines and that the oil and spark plugs were changed religiously.

 

lol yeah if it has high miles and turbo do this first!

 

^^ 100% true my friend! I also know this from personal experience, my 81' RX-7 had well over 230k on original motor!

 

*shrug* my corolla had 350,000 plus on the original engine, carb, and distrib.
my toyota van had 300,00+ on the original engine

 

^^ Thats a Toyota. Rotaries have a tendency to last less.

 

so what's the status on this? did you get it or not? lol

 

yea, if you dont' drive it like a bat outta hell.

 

roatries are actually very simple with few moving parts.


and heat is a HUGE thing with rotaries , they like a cooler temp and are very tempermental if the heat goes up. common failures of the 3rd gen turbo and non turbo's were from clogged fuel pumps which choked the cool fuel from entering the engine thus overheating from going lean .

 

Beside a Cooler Thermostat, higher octane fuel and colder air. Whats out there to help with the temps on these cars? or any other car by this matter?

 

different heat range plugs

electric rad fans with higher cfm

few other lil things

 

Yhea I had those in mind after I posted. Thanks anyway.