How is the practicality of the FD on a day to day basis?

If it is driven daily to the supermarket, school, movies, bar w/e, and I drove pretty smoothly - Would it be practical enough to be a daily driver?

Or would parts start falling apart easily?

Basically what I'm asking is how is the daily drive-ability of the FD?

 

if its bone stock and the car is well maintained i dont see why i cant be a daily driver

 

I find the FD to be very reliable (as long as it's well maintained as previously stated), but if you want a car to do errands in this is not it. I usually wait 15-20 minutes for my car to warm up before driving, and it has to idle for awhile before shut off. It's much better as a secondary car IMO.

 

Alright here's the deal.

I daily drive my FD. No problems with it when it was stock or even mildly modded but if you go cheap the car will treat you like ****.

Be prepared to get F***ed in the *** by gas prices...

Don't DD with a midpipe...

Be careful where you park...

Be prepared to tell people at anytime that its not for sale...

 

Hehe, you want to try living in the UK... My last tankfull cost me £78. That's ~$150...

Agree with the others, except the midpipe, mine's fine, but it has got a silencer in it

Oh, and have good look round one, there's not much in the way of storage space!

 

the FD is completly unpracticle.
i wouldent want to have only my FD for daily driving...(iv got a twin-turbo subaru legacy gt-b for that!)
When i drive the FD i dont like stopping for small erands and "climbing" out of it.(im quite tall, over 6foot)
The boot is just big enough to fit one of my 18" rims in but i need to push the back seats forward slightly so the hatch/boot can shut..so if you think you will ever need to move anything bigger then a wheel -- good luck!
When i drive it to work id better take my lunch with me, as going out to lunch with it while im working is basically hopeless! as half my lunchbreak is gone by the time it warms up enough to drive it anywhere.
an awesome car but not very practicle

 

I drive mine to the grocery store, movie theater, etc without a problem. It burns too much gas, has almost no storage space, has bad blind spots, and rides like a radio flyer, but it works.

Of course I usually don't want that hassle so I drive my Maxima most of the time. It would be really annoying to have only one vehicle that can't carry even a decent sized suitcase and gets the mpg of a truck.

Dave

 

Right I see what you mean. Oh and by "radio flyer" I'm assuming you are saying it is not too comfortable?

 

it's very harsh, you definitely feel the bumps in the road. I find the FD to be one of the most comfortable interiors I've ever sat in(when the car isn't moving), but I'm in the vast minority with that opinion.

Also, living in the North East, as you do, this car will be awful in winter, unless you tie open the waste gate or something. In inclimate weather, they really get out of their own way(as most RWD cars do). Another thing is that all season tires will be crap for the car, you'll never get it handling like it should so you'll need 2 sets of rims...

In the end, I'd love to DD my FD, but sadly, it requires too much sacrifice to do that.

 

I feel the same. I love driving the FD, but I don't enjoy put-putting around in it doing menial tasks. I used a Merc SLK for those duties.

 

1. No room
2. 2 seats
3. Expensive maintenance
4. Far from the most reliable
5. Gas mileage
6. Not the safest
7. Too stiff
8. Breakable interior
9. Too low
10. Not too safe in the rain
11. Expensive to fix
12. Do you like my tractor?

 

I wouldn't daily drive mine. If I had to go down to one car, I'd sell it. For all the reasons listed in this thread. I wouldn't depend on this car as my only transportation. Sure you could probably make it pretty reliable, but that could get expensive quick.

+1 for the turbo subaru daily driver. It's great in the all the situations that the rx7 isn't (rain, snow, being a wagon, mileage, "don't care if it gets dinged up"-ability).

 

You gotta make sure it is very well maintained and treated right. I'd recommend installing the PFS intercooler & cold air intake to increase longevity. Same goes for replacing downpipe.

Still not a wise decision to have as your only car, even if you do make it your DD

 

I DD mine and its perfectly fine; get everything running properly, lots of reliability mods etc and you're good to go. If you can ignore the downsides like lack of any real storage, bad on gas etc, you're gonna enjoy driving it everywhere, all the time.

 

drive mine everywhere. in ne, guess it all depends on the individual

 

Yeah, but is the FD your only car?

Daily driving is OK if you are willing to put up with all the shortcomings, but there is no way I'd have it as my only car. My FD stays in the garage and comes out when I feeling like driving, not simply getting some place.

 

whats up with the 15+ min warm ups.. do you live in the north pole or something????

i hope you dont mean idling either cause thats just waste of gassss and pretty stupid unless you driving a F1 car with ridiculous tolerances!

and cool downs give me a break!

when in a DD scenario are you boosting to the point of needing to "cool down"??

 

i dnt understand it. i barelt warm up especially not in summer.....drive off just dont go into boost.

the only reason to warm car up is for oil to circulate and the rotary doesnt like to be cold. at most 5 mins should b good

 

haha yeah whenever i get out in my fd i have to decide which friend to pick cuz theres practically space for 2 ppl in the car...dont knw why they bothered with the back two seats really...its terrible on fuel...get abt 350km on 60ltrs...thats abt 4900rupees 80dollars...bloody hell man...i would love to have my fd as a daily driver if i had enough money for the fuel

+1 on the blind spots

 

haha, f1 cars cant idle for more than 5mins! ... i think the longest i saw one idle was just over 3mins last season when hamilton wanted to be the first out in monza.... but yeah, idleing to warm up your car deffaintly isnt the best idea

 

My FD is my only car, I don't drive it daily since I can get to work on my bicycle (< 1mile), but I still take it out about 5 times a week.
I usually let it idle for 30secs to 1 minute before driving and don't exceed 3500rpm until the watertemp is atleast 70celcius and I try to take it easy for the last 5 mins of the trip.
It's not really practical for going shopping but since I only have to get groceries for 1 person it works.
If I'd have to DD some beater i'd be pissed on every trip that I didn't take my FD, I love driving it.

 

i agree with the comfort there. i LOVE being inside my FD, its got a more comfortable interior than my Subaru. BUT, like he said, its pretty rough to drive, that said, its a full out sports car, closer to a race car than a street car.

DD? i Dailied mine to school for 6 months, but i note your in MA, itll be the biggest scariest drive EVER in the snow. i did ONCE and immediately bought myself a Subaru... its TERRIFYING in the snow.

Honestly, get a second car, drive the FD during the summer... but i wouldnt push it... itll kick you in the *** if you do.

 

You certainly CAN do it.

Honestly, one of the biggest reasons I never take my car anyplace though isn't the risk of mechanical failure, comfort, etc.... it's parking.

I won't go anyplace where I can't parralel park or park out in the nether regions... otherwise some jackass with a Navigator will park right next to be and swing his door open and ding me.

 

HOW MANY TIMES MUST THIS BE DISCUSSED. I daily drove mine for the past 4.5 years put 50k miles on it, been to countless autocrosses, 100's of times down the drag strip.
All this at 10 psi stock computer then 12 some times 13 on the power fc.
only reason im still not driving it is because its becoming my company's time attack car and im buying another 3rd gen to daily drive.

Seriously ITS A CAR DRIVE IT.

 

Or he/she can't park (let alone drive an SUV or truck) and will wind up side swiping the car like they did to me this weekend...