I'm looking for some honest advice here. I'm 17, and looking for a car that will be my daily driver. I've fallen in love with the fd, but based on what I've read they're damn expensive to maintain. I enjoy working on my car, so I would do all the maintenance myself (and thats not a problem), but is this feasible?
I know the Rx-7 takes the WRX performance wise (at least from what i've read), and I'm not really sure how many options for aftermarket upgrades I'd have with the WRX.

Unbiased (impossible on an rx-7 forum but thats okay) opinions would be great!

Thank you!
proud owner of a 1968 porsche 912

 

my friend has a sweet wrx. i really like his car because of the addded room and awd. for better suby info try www.nasioc.com anyways if i had the money for a wrx i would def get that as my daily driver

 

For a daily driver I would go with the WRX. Newer, room for friends, cheaper to maintain, probably still has warranty, easier to find parts.

I have a truck, R6, and an fd. I would never think of driving the fd daily. Just love it too much to drive it that much and put that kind of wear and tear on it. Hate to think of some grandma hitting it with her Lincoln Continental in a King Soopers parking lot. Go with the WRX and get a fd later when you can afford both.

Another option would be to buy a pos (like I have) old pickup and an fd. You could do it for cheaper than a WRX. Than you can pick up parts for the fd in the truck and not have to worry about it if you don't finish your project on the fd before you have to go to school on Monday!!!! Just my $.02

 

Greetings fellow vintage Porsche owner. The following link will give you all the info you could possibly need to answer your questions.

https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...threadid=68640

As an owner of a 68 Porsche you know how expensive parts are and how much maintenance is needed. An FD will be very similar in both cost and regularity of maintenance, if not more so because of the condition of some.

Sincerely,
Jason C. Williams
93 FD
74 Porsche 914

 

this is a no brainer, go with the WRX. Personally, I like the WRX, good performance, and now that the sti's are out, the previous models are showing up everywhere, for cheap. One bad thing is that it is a subaru, and they don't last as long as a honda, but then again, a lot of it depends on the person driving it and how that person takes care of the car. You can pretty easily get it to 300 whp, and a lot of people get to 400's.

 

just a thought, have you considered an eclipse GSX? They are extremely cheap, and you can mod them to 300 hp really easily. They look pretty sporty, and from what I understand handle really well, just a thought.

 

I'm not really into the whole FWD thing. I definitely want to stick with a RWD or AWD car. I've read that the WRX aftermarket parts, although more plentiful, are far more expensive. Is this true?

 

WRX is a better choice hands down. This comes from a guy that has had 15 FDs.

Sell the 912, looks cool but really most any car is cheaper, faster and nicer to drive, it's 35 yrs old!

Jeff

 

the GSX is awd. I wouldn't think that they would be outragous in price.

 

I'd go with a WRX over an FD. I actually hate to drive my car when its just for transportation and not for the joy of driving. Its really not practical and the maintanence sucks even more when its your only car because you can't put it off and do it slowly or wait for parts if you find something broken or in need of replacement. If you live somewhere where it rains, snows, and freezes, the FD will also kill you on the roads in the winter. The car does much better in a garage where its babied. I had mine in a University parking lot last year and it had about $1000 worth of damage done to it. Everything from scratches to door dings and then the specials of the drunk people who try to drive home. Those included two flat tires due to broken glass bottles left in the lot and one massive butt mark from an SUV that decided it was ok to run over my car at the quarterpannel and take off. There's also been lots of times when people need rides places where I couldn't help them out, or even wanted to in that sense. You get your pick at one and that's it. The WRX was the ultimate party wagon on mountain roads in Taipei. I figured the reason the guys there rocked them was because they were mad turbo power with AWD and room for 4 other girls. I'd say leave the FD until you're married and are only allowed to take one with you when you go out.

 

I live in the SF area, so the weather really isn't a problem (though for skiing I'll have to go home and borrow the family suburban). I'm really just worried about the engine randomly breaking and leaving me with a 6k rebuild job. How likely is this?

 

Hmmm... Well not one person on here has said to get the FD. Which I agree with.

to put it simply; if you want an FD you MUST by a second car for your primary/daily driver car. You'd quickly regret otherwise.

 

BTW GSX's really dont handle all that well. Theyre kinda piggy (bout 3300 lbs). WRX should be pretty reliable, is practical, has a large aftermarket, and is relatively quick, though the worst 2l turbo engine IMO.

I'm not really into the whole buying newer cars to mod idea though. Why not start off with something cheaper (albeit older) and have more money for mods/maintenance?

 

i would get the WRX has the daily driver but some of us just love the FD's styling and performance and will sacrifice anything it takes just so we can drive the car. i am on my 4th FD and all i can say is there isnt anyother car on the market that can compete with it performance wise for the same price. if you do not mind the many headaches that come with the car then get it. you wont be dissapointed when its running right

 

MakoDHardie
Dam how did you get a FD into Taiwan!!
Those are RARE!!!!
WOO!! A LOT OF PPL MUST be

I would pick a Rx7 why!!!
Just LOOK AT IT!!

 

Not very, especially if the FD is near stock. Engine longevity and horsepower are inversely related

It all depends on the condition of the motor and how it was treated previously. Also, rebuilds are ~3500 to 4500, not quite 6 large

 

I wouldent call that statement entirely accurate... 300 hp with a setup costing around 4.5k is reasonable, to hit the 400 hp range in a suby is a bit expensive. At 400 hp the transmission is toast and very costly to get upgraded. Their are very few wrx owners putting a solid 400 hp to the wheels.

 

What motor do you have in your 914? I also have a 74 1.8L 914, which I'm in the proccess of converting it to a 2.2L twin turbo 6cyl.

 

IMO both cars are great! I love my FD,but i do jealous of WRX owners sometimes.

I dunno if it's a problem in your area, but as far as i experienced here. FD parts rare, and the engine is hard to deal with, as it is fragile.

If you use the car everyday WRX would have better consumption rate.(since you don't really concern bout the RWD/AWD, which is the competitive benefit of WRX)

I'm not saying that FD is no good, cos i won't trade it for anything myself. I love the car, not only for it's power but for it's figure, WRX don't have. (It's kinda love hate relationship)

 

umm...well, I guess you might be right, but go to http://www.clubwrx.net/forums/ and look in the engine section, you will see that the common theme is that there are a lot of owners who claim 400 hp, but can't prove it because they can't find an awd dyno.

 

Subaru = boxy looks + the worst sounding exhaust!

FD = sexy looks + beautiful exhaust

 

I would claim 400 hp also if i didnt have a timeslip or a dyno run :P

edit: they might be saying flywheel hp? Im talking about whp

 

Well I use to own a 2002 subaru WRX..i sold it to buy a rx7...id say get the wrx for daily driving/practical use, i drove the crap out of that thing and it never gave me problems the 35,xxx miles that i owned it, i took it on dirt, jumped it 2 feet in the air, etc. I dont condone that activity just sayin thats what i did...and to bruceman ...? wrx exhaust sounding like crap? are you kidding, no engine comes close to sounding nearly as good as a subaru flat 4 or a porsche flat 6, rx7s sound like **** compared to subarus...also, back seats rock, and as far as making them fast for cheap, i ran consistent 13.8s with just a boost controller, then dropped down to low 13s with catless downpipe, exhaust, boost controller, and the utec, total cost= 2500 bucks or so. I also never lost a stoplight race in that thing,..awd+1.7-1.8 60 foot times = kick *** on street. My friend is selling his rx7, im trying to get him to get a wrx because he wanted something more reliable that responds well to mods.

 

ghostrx7, how expensive is that car to mod? in the wrxfanatics.com forum, it seems that it costs alot more to mod than an rx-7... How much would a catback cost for one of them?
john

 

a catback on a wrx is pointless since they have 3 cats in their system. an average (good) turboback system for the wrx is around 1k