^That's another thing I love about the car, it's not just young folks that are into it. That says alot.

I do understand the guys that say it's not popular though, that's true. It's only popular to those that are into imports it seems, not to everyone considering most don't even know what it is. That's OK with me though, I like to answer those questions too, and most people are shocked to hear it's Japanese.

I hear ya, I stare at mine all the time...it's like ****, haha.

 

^^ or a mazda haha

 

^^^^^+1 +2 +3
I love my FD but lets get real here a Mustang is a popular sport's car(save the laughter) the sales numbers backs this fact up each and every year.

RX7, even back in the days when Car and Drivers awarded the sport car of the year the sales really never took off on the FD and soon went on the chopping block along with the other sport car giants(300z tt, MITSU VR4-MR2 TT, and the Supra). By no means, and i mean by industry standards present nor past is our FD popular.

 

over here the FD is rare as hens teeth, i must see one every three months at the most apart from mine (usually the same one!), the most popular "sports car" seems to be the boxter around where i live..

 

I never see rx7s in manhattan. In my whole life, I have only seen maybe 2 or 3. I have only seen 1 2nd gen in Jersey since I moved here (excluding going to IRP, I see lots there obviously).

 

That's really strange because we have OODLES of hens teeth on this side of the pond.

Of course I'm just bullshitting at this point, haha. It must be even better to drive one there, where they're even more rare.

I agree with Gordon though, it's much more accurate saying it has a cult following.

 

preach on preacher!!

 

They're probably all in the junkyard...

 

+1

Or in garages/driveways rotting away or currently being LSx swapped lol

 

Man, you have sig material written all over you these days Such a true statement as I have been bitten like most of us in here!

 

My FD changed my life.

Every large purchase I have made in the last 2 years has been weighed against a comparably priced part for my FD.

Examples:
-Jen-Air Bar-B-Que ($800, got it for $270), I contemplated not buying it in lieu of driving home and buying a boost controller.
-Klipsch Home Audio System w/ pioneer reciever and blah blah blah ($3300). Contemplated going home and ordering my bnr turbos and the cj motorsports fuel system.

There have been countless other choices that ended up in favor of the FD. These are the only 2 $200+ purchases that have gone against the FD in 2 years. Yeah. Life changing.

 

^Haha, that sounds all too familiar haha.

 

I worked in midtown manhattan for four long years in pharma sales, and spent a lot of time walking from office to office. In all that time, I saw one (ONE!) FD, a CYM that belongs to 1Revvin7 here on the forum.

In that same period of time, I saw countless Ferraris, Aston Martins, Lambos, Maseratis, Porsches, Audi R8s, and even a couple of GTRs.

One of these days I'm going to bring my FD into the city and just rip up the west side highway, go over the Brooklyn Bridge, drive around midtown. Maybe on one of the Jewish holidays, the city is like a ghost town then, relatively speaking.

 

i went for a short ride the other day. I stopped at a gas station to get gas, i went inside and paid for gas and the guy said "what kind of car is that?" i said "FD rx7"
he then went on to ask more about it and tell me nice car etc.
Went outside - there was a couple of guys in an r34 skyline checking it out - they proceeded to tell me nice car - ask about it etc. (one question i ALWAYS get is "how much did it cost")
I continue on my and go on a nice scenic drive down to a beach. I get to the beach and park up. Another guy yells from afar "mean car" then heads over.
He like all the others start the 20 questions. he gives me the "how much did it cost" question, then another interesting one he said "do you get heaps of people asking you about the car"
I laughed and said "you have no idea, your the second person in 15 mins to ask me how much my car costs"
I cant think of many other cars that would get the same amount of attention

 

^^^^ very true and happens offen to FD owners. I love how this car was never whored out from the get go and still has poeple gawking @ it.

 

Haha, that reminds me of the last time we all went to the track in Pueblo. One of my buddies was there with his CYM with all carbon fiber pieces (rotorbizle on here), and this dude with a brand new GT-R told him "man I wish I could afford to build one of these" HAHAHA. We were like O-K-A-Y.

 

one thing you will noticed about fd owners is that we will know everyone who has a rx7 even if we never met him!

 

hopefully popularity will help sell my car fast.

 

^ WTH the way you talk, if a potential buyer gets wind of your general opinion of the car, you're lowballing yourself as far as selling price goes. Nice job buddy

 

I have owned 5 rx7 all three generations, i picked up my much dreamed of fd while i was in iraq this year, the first day that i got home and drove i went to this restaraunt with the wife, we pulled up and as i was getting out of the car this girl was walking by and stopped and said "hey thats a really pretty car, what is it". I told her, even though she had no idea what it was, she still did me a solid and complemented. So as to whether a not it is popular or cool or whatever, it still commands respect, also how many dime a dozen homo mustangs with cheap roush kits do you see, i bet you can count at least 3 at each light you are at, and on the other hand how many fd or 7's in general do you see, not many but the car still turns heads, and still gets many questions from strangers. wherever i go, i see peoples heads turn whenever i drive past, and when i look out at all the cars in a parking lot, there is my 7 and nothing looks half as good as it does. So popular or not, i still love it and it will always be popular to me, besides, what defines popularity of a car anyway i love it and that is relly all that matters.

 

amen

 

Well stated. I remember back in the day Road & Track asking for a hardcore car then complained that the R1 was too track focused; not good publicity for sales To me, my impression of driving the R1 on the 1st day they hit Houston back in '92 was an answer to my prayer.

 

i'm still going to be a realist and say that despite how many people "seem" gung-ho about this car on the forum... a large number of those people treat the car with more vanity.

theres a fine difference between loving a car because you can rep its pedigree and ostentatious nature or being *unique*... and downright loving it for the feel (what many would consider the more "purist" mentality).

i have met many rx-7 owners over the years and of those I have constantly run into people who only have a generic understanding of the car and "float by" with shallow knowledge.
e.g "My car is tight as **** cuz its got rotaries 4 LYFE 1.3L ownage and I get all the bitches yeah!"

a cult would have more of a mutual understanding of the vehicle... we're still dealing with a semi-fad. notice how much this forum has shifted focus from technical developments and home-brew improvements to "problem-solving threads" and discussions about aero kits. i continue to run into threads with input by people that more or less are completely wrong and what's worse is that the next 4-5 posts do not dispute the fallacies stated above.

I suppose that what I'm trying to say is that the evidence on the forum clearly shows that indeed the FD is very popular, and by popular i mean mainstream. Tokyo Drift anyone? The uncertainty of reliability is no longer much of a deterrent as import scene shops have sprouted everywhere as well.

Although variable on the styling of the particular vehicle, the trends of today will keep the FD3S anchored to a base definition of "rice-rocket" until time tenders the aura of the car into a classic.

 

Not sure if this adds anything to the discussion, but a guy on a sportbike gave me a solid thumbs up on my way out to orange county tonight. 2nd time a sport bike guy did that to me since I've owned the car and it is still on stock rims and body...

 

fwiw

I stopped in to check out an informal bike get-together on Sun on Skyline Dr (Bay Area). Talked to a few guys while I was there who were fans of the FD and noticed a few people walking by the FD to check it out.