i am absolutely obsessed with my FD....its a head turner where ever you go...and its still one of the best handling cars in the world...

as far as interior goes i love it just what you need simple and tasteful.... i got one of the best preserved ones i still didn't come across another FD with as good interior as mine...i actually hate the interiors on the newer modern cars it all that plastic and colors i hate it...

they look like they were designed by gypsy space robots tripping on LSD....from the future..

rx7 is definitely drivers car...

 

I for one cannot find a new car today that meets this criteria:

1. 2 seat rear drive
2. Manual trans
3. Less than 3000 lbs
4. Great looks
5. Handles like a dream
6. Less than 40k US dollars

So, I took my 17 year old car and rebuilt it from the ground up. Worth every penny I spent when sitting behind the wheel.

 

Keep in mind that in the early 90's, the FD3S was considered a fairly expensive car for it's time. You can find original price stickers of almost 40k for a Touring model at that time. Supra's were a little more expensive, Corvettes were in that range, Porsches were already pretty high. That would be probably around $70k if it were a new car today. You will always get more for your money buying used. Even more, the older you get but you begin to miss out on other things in doing so (like warranties , new technology, etc).

However, your 6 pieces of criteria could have been satisfied with a Solstice GXP with the SCCA approved suspension package. May not end up as fast as a modified FD, but that wasn't one of your 6 requirements.

 

From what I understand, they are in the 2800lb range all stock. To be honest, with a little lightening, I don't know that I would bother with an engine swap. The GXP puts it about 260 hp. Lighten it a little and you have a fairly peppy car. Granted, it won't be an Exige S, but not too bad for the money. The Solstice has been doing extremely well in several classes in SCCA since it's introduction. It's a nice little all around car. I've toyed with the idea of buying one for the summer and then selling it in the fall.

 

I think the FD will hold true and not look "dated" for quite some time. Between the weight, power, very low center of gravity, it's of the nicer side of the spectrum by far. If Mazda were to re-release this car, new, they could leave the body alone. The interior would only need minor tweaks, such as navigation and satellite, to be top rated. I like the interior's styling a lot. A modernized engine such as the RX-8's would go a long way as well. I can't think of a single car from that era that wouldn't need a total re-vamp to be re-released in 2012. The FD RX-7's flaws in modern society are minimal and trivial at best, so I'd say for sure it's withstood the test of time.