So I'm a new member and a noob when it comes to rotaries & all sort. As my first car I'm trying to get an FD. I'm trying to get some knowledge about buying one & what goes into maintaining it. I know its a pretty big deal but I'm up for the upkeep of the car. Thanks!

 

Have fun with that. Always a good idea to buy a 15 year old high maintenance sports car as a first vehicle.

Seriously though, unless you have about $15K in cash to blow and understand that you'll be making a major commitment to maintain the car, maybe consider a cheaper/easier car as a first experience.

 

ya i agree with hachiroku999, i have an fc and i have droped a lot of money into it, great car to have and tons of fun but need some money in your pocket to have one too, just saying.

 

Just finance or lease a mazda3 with skyactive! thats what i did, and with the money youd be spending on a FD, it would be economical, thought, it doesnt have a turbo but it does have a 6speed!

 

buyind a FD for a first car is not a good idea, while there is nothing more enjoyable than owning a FD they are HUGE money pits. if you decide to get one read read read this forum lots of good info and advice, just my 2cents

 

any car with a rotary, you'll need a deep pocket and a beater DD if you not planning to get stranded until the car is up and running again.

 

FD as a first car = a terrible idea. I'd say there is a 99% chance that you will either wreck the car or not have the funds to maintain it.

That being said, a well maintained FD is fine as a daily driver...plenty of people...including myself...have done it.

 

Don't give people the wrong idea, this is totally untrue.

A rotary car in good shape is as reliable as any other, probably more so.

But any 15+ year old car is going to require a lot of work to make it reliable. Especially a car that has been hacked upon again and again by some mechanic that has no clue about those "them damn rotisserie motors" run.

 

Gringo lives in Florida. Much easier to DD it. But for much of the rest of the country, winter time is NOT the time to be in an FD. They suck on anything remotely slick and so low that you'll be plowing more snow than you drive over. Besides...an FD with all-seasons is just damn hard to imagine.
Regardless where you live, they're hard to see, only take ONE passenger, little cargo room and mpg stinks. As Gringo alluded to, they're hard to maintain and the sequential system is finicky and hard to diagnose....especially for a mechanically inexperienced teenager. Now factor in the high insurance rates for said teenager. Of course, despite the relatively high purchase and replacement cost, there's the tendency to just get the mandated liability and forget the comp and collision. A sure receipe for tragedy given teenage driver's track history with high-performance cars.
I'm really hard pressed to find a good reason to recommend the FD to (presumably) a 16 yr old. Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

 

I own an FD man, and here's my advice.

1) be prepared to work on it. OFTEN. it's a great experience though, and fun to learn, as frustrating as it may get.
2) check the oil religiously. be very conscious of your oil.
3) save up. trust me. save up.
4) enjoy the stares and reputation that comes with it FD's, rx7's in general i should say, are very high vis, and gather alot of attention, especially FD's, ive found.

all in all, my second car is and FD. It's fun when it runs, but be prepared to work. I say go for it man!

 

I just bought an 82 RX-7 and I gotta say get something else to beat for your first car, like a Honda. they're cheap, pretty quick, and a have great aftermarket...I personally hate Hondas though. This is my 28th car. I've learned a lot about cars and i can fix just about anything...And I'm at a loss when it comes to these. sadly mines in pretty rough shape but I'm going to save it...just spent upwards of $400 on a clutch, water pump, and tune up. all were special order. its going to be like Christmas in July lol...

 

not trying to discourage him not to buy it, hes on this forum as well as i am for a reason, we got love for the rotary, but like you said i totally agree, if maintain right it'll be as realiable as any other car, however, this is his FIRST car and im sure he wants to drive more then spending more time working on it. but im just saying..

 

I'll second what Sgt.Blue said in regards to weather...you can't pay me to drive an FD in the rain if I can avoid it.

 

do they not handle well in the rain?

 

It's a light, powerful, short wheelbase RWD car with an LSD and no traction control. It's usually also on performance tires optimized for a dry surface. Just the kind of first car I'd want to put under an adolenscent novice driver's risk-taking butt.

And there's also this.........

 

I've had 4 rx7s. My long standing 10th ae was bought over 10 yrs ago. I've put prob 4k miles on it in that time. The main reason is having the $$ to finish the car. I've got well over 12k in the car and haven't bought the first electronic upgrade. But it doesn't bother me because it's not my everyday ride. More like hardly ever. My son was 4 yrs old when I snagged it before my mother in law was trading it in. $ 1,100 is all. Of coarse as I bought parts over the yrs my son and I were eye to eye on him getting this car. He's going to be 15 soon. He knows there's no way in hell he's getting my car!! But I started looking for a good deal on a 1st gen or a Turbo II now. I wish I would have kept the GSLSE. That would have been a good start for him. The moral is , my son will be like dad. He wants that rotary car even though people try to scare him with the stories of how easy it is to blow it up. There's something about the sound of that motor.

 

^I understand....but the OP, a teenager and presumably not much older than your son, is talking about getting a 3rd Gen.

 

Totally agree with you on that. Not a good first car. Whenever a fd comes into your life you need to great support. First with money, then the gift of being able to work on the car or have a good friend or relative that can, last but not least, another ride. Sooner or later you will need one.

 

Out of the 7 rotary vehicles I've had...my biggest regret also...selling the GSLSE.

 

OP should get a first gen, if anything. Or, get like a civic and a second gen as a weekend car.

 

Lucky you for having a rx7 for your first car ! mine was a little shopping cart thing ! good look with your find ...

 

if your parents are willing to buy you a rx7 for your first car you are one lucky kid. my first car was a 67 bug that ran 3 out of 7 days a week and couldnt do over 55, but thats bc that was all i could afford

 

Reading all these comments can lure someone away from buying a Rx7. I will still get one, even though people say it's bad, I love the car too much to let it split if I find a good deal. If you see one for a good deal and make sure its well taken care of I think it couldn't be a bad investment right?

 

Being somewhat (in relative terms) new to rotaries myself, I can say that if the op is willing to learn, a FC is much more forgiving than a FD is.

Yes, it isn't twin turbo, so there isn't a vacuum line mess that's going to give him nightmares and make his kittens have puppies or anything like that.

Personally, I believe that a S4, preferably NA, would be the best starting point for a new owner. While the GSL-SE did get a lot of things right, my belief is that it still suffered from legacy clutter as many things were shared with the 12A. OTOH, the S4 was a fresh start on a clean sheet of paper.

There is still some stuff carried over from the GSL-SE, but it is pretty manageable overall. Most things were improved on and modernized, such as using 4 fuel injectors, added a few toys here and there (Auto Adjusting Suspension), but kept it simple enough that a new owner can comprehend the wiring diagrams without too much difficulty. Most of the circuits are relatively simple to grasp, as long as you know what switches and relays looks like on a schematic.

As for driving it, what I found most beneficial is to go out in snow the first few weeks after paying close attention to Keiichi Tsuchiya's Drift Bible (no flames, please). Practicing this in snow teaches a new owner how to feel when the rear end is stable, about to skid, skidding and regaining stability, all at manageable, LEGAL speeds. Feeling that input from the car and knowing how to use it correctly is what saves your life when some **** in a civic plows through an intersection, spinning with all 4 wheels locked up. Apply this knowledge with a dyno graph and you can gauge how much power/torque is safe for the conditions.

And to all the naysayers, remember that our wise friend Aaron Cake started out with a S4NA and look where he is now. If the OP is willing to learn conventional mechanical and electrical reasoning, a S4 will nurture and reward that desire. In 3 1/2 years, I've gone from a complete n00b to being one of the few that has a 20B-REW under the hood, all thanks to my S4 being easy to understand and forgiving enough to show me when I've been wrong.

 

I.ve got to say by a na miata around 94-97 m edition atless for a first car no honda like every one else says because if your like me your have to be a true mazda guy to want a fd for a first car and this will prepare you for a mazda rx7 platform because the me maita has a lsd and is fun in the rain and snow im from north alabama and ive built 5 miatas and messed with tones of other cars fc,fd,mr2,civics, and stealth/3000gto and miata is the closest thing to a rx7 minus the turbo feel and then after you get some age one you and learn how to control your car under pressure and bad conditions THEN by a FD cuz just my in put but a fwd to a rwd stupid idea its like trying to learn to write with your right hand all your life then say 16 years later to write with your left