I\'d like to think it is, but I am still kinda sitting on the fence.
Whatever I get, it will be my very first seriously quick car. I have been running around in econoboxes most of the time, aside from my most recent vehicle, a diesel 4WD Hilux. It\'s going, which saddens me, but should also make way for me to get myself something else. Something fast.
I guess the fact i have not yet had anything quick is kinda strange as I have been surrounded by stupid fast stuff all my life, my grandpa, father and most other family friends all raced cars, I am the only one so far that has not driven a car on a track in anger. Fortunately, I did inheret some of the driving genes, not all of them good I\'m afraid. But I can steer well enough to keep myself outta trouble, most of the time...
Anyway, I\'m in Japan. I can choose whatever I want as long as it\'s domestic ;P The short list is the RX7, Skyline GT-R, WRX, Supra and Sylvia. In that order. I have no problems swinging the cash for any of them, and enough $$$ for care and feeding. I guess this might be the source of my concern for the RX, care and feeding.
Whatever it will be, it will be modified. No doubts there. However, I should be doing most of the work myself. I have more time than cash, and I should spend that which I actually have. Don\'t get scared folks, I don\'t think I fall under the "know nothing, pipe dreaming git" category somehow. After all, they let me spin spanners on racecars and not because I was bad at it.
I\'m not planning on just buying stuff and bolting it on either. I\'ll prolly end up making most of the stuff myself, unless it\'s beyond me and my limited abilities. Limits include building a computer and mapping it and anything that needs exotic machinery. Done cages, carbon, boxes, engines and everything else in between all before today. Most of it is easier than most people think, well it is for me anyway.
Now in my situation, where I can and will do the work on my lonesome, would I be best suited to the RX (be honest) or better suited to one of the others on the short list? I have never driven an RX7, nor a Supra but I have driven the rest of them in various states of tune. Short answers on how light, how much go and how much stick and stop can be built into one would be useful? I\'m really interested in how much weight I can rip outta the thing if I play with funny black cloth stuff and smelly sticky stuff plonked in a bag and hooked up to a hoover. Might even stick some of it in the oven if I go that far...
So, in short, is the RX7 a good choice for me or can I have more fun with something else?
P.S. Please don\'t be thinking that I am outta my league here. I can and will do what I say, it\'s just that I have not yet done it for myself. Theres probably a reason why I spun them spanners for payment in beer. I guess it\'s for right now...
TIA, Schtoo. Backwater Japan.
sorry cant really say, as i havent done any work myself, sorry
though your english is exellent, better than mine too:D
rik
If you respect the rear wheel drive, and can afford to have cash standing by for any problems, and can tollerate fuel problems then YES!!!
Richrx, prolly a good reason for why my english is better than yours.
Product of Australian government schooling... ;P
Minty, that\'s part of the problem. The RX7 is already a lightweight, and rear drive too. The GT-R and WRX have that nice secure (under 600 or so bhp anyway) all wheel drive, the Supra has more power petantial but is heavier (and it\'s not power that is most important to me) and the Sylvia doesn\'t have the same size/power thing going for it.
To be honest, I think the RX7 is probably perfect, save the small problem that I have never touched a rotary engine. I guess that\'s the biggest reservation is that engine and it\'s finiky needs.
As for fuel, what problem? The fuel is is good, and I wont be touching the engine for more HP till everything else is sorted first. More power is the last step. ;)
You have got to step up to rear wheel drive eventually, and as long as you dont think your a pro a week after getting it then you will be fine.
Rotary isnt a problem, its nice to be part of the minority.
When i stepped up to my S14a 200sx from a Celica i was a little worried, but just take it easy untill you know what your doing.
DEano.
Only time a rear drive has worried me was when I had an F355 give a wiggle of it\'s tail and I realized how much the thing was worth...
That, and I don\'t have enough experience when a car begins to slide. If it\'s a nice and predictable car , then that\'s fine. But if it\'s a bit of a tiger, I just don\'t know how much of a bite it will take of me. Nearly up to that limit of adhesion, I can steer as good as the next guy (if the next guy isn\'t a clown), but it\'s beyond that that I really don\'t have the time under my belt. Only because I have never owned anything that might turn around and bite me. I\'ve driven many, but always had to hand them back, as much I did not want to. And I have always had to be restrained, because the toys were not mine to break.
I guess I want something that\'s going to stop, steer and go as good as anything else on the road. And something that is not going to bite me if I make mistakes. I know I can tune alot of that kinda stuff out, but I\'d be happier knowing that things I can\'t change are very good already.
The FD handles well.
Its the Mid-engined cars that bite ya!
Deano.
Hence the fact that I nearly inhaled the seat through my date when that Ferrari went wiggly on me.
Nothing happened, it was a wide open corner and I was just exiting and getting back on the throttle. It was the first corner when I had some proper revs on though...
I\'d still be paying if I bent that thing I know it. But it was just soooo precise it crueled nearly anything else I have had the fortune to steer.
However, a 700hp Skyline is a lesson on how effective a bludgeon can be. ;)
The thing with mid engined cars, is you feel in control upto the point that you lose it, and its hard to bring it back.
I had a moment in a Clio V6 that put me mid-engined for life(or untill i can afford a nice lambo).
Deano.
Hiya Schtoo,
Kinda went thru the same thing myself. Infact ended up doing all myself. Right from finding Auction houses in japan to bidding shipping southamptom-port taxes customs mot registration repair servicing, and soon to be tuning.
The car is purfect apart from MPG
The rotary drinks more than me, on a saturday night ! (a lot)
So check this out, because you dont really want to think about saving yourself money by doing it all yourself only to find that you are spending £100 a week on fuel.
hope this helps, michal
(10mpg is average around town.)
There\'s a slight difference between my version of saving money and most folks version of saving money.
With something like this, it\'s because I can\'t stomach the kinda cash people want to give me what i want. Not scared of spending it when I hafta, but dislike coughing up big wads of the stuff just because that\'s what someone asks for.
Basically, if I can buy a carbon bonnet for $XXX and make one (in the shape I want) for about $100, then I have no problems making the darn thing myself. And I have no problems just paying out the $$ for a Motec straight away without worrying about it. I guess I just like to see value for my cash. ;)
10mpg? So what? I can\'t make fuel, it\'s not too expensive here and it will be burnt in something I can actually enjoy. If I\'m only burning 1 gallon every 10 miles, then I must be just commuting. That\'s what i have a bicycle for!
Not a cheapskate, not a scrooge, but I like to get what I pay for. If I have to pay too much, then I\'ll make it my darn self!
Sounds like an FD is the car for you then :)
To be honest I don\'t worry about the fuel consumption and it IS expensive over here! It\'s so nice to drive and good looking it all seems worth it...
I moved to my Rex from a Scoob (which was my first powerful car) and I haven\'t looked back :D
Cheers,
Alex
Thanks for the replies (and any more that arrive!).
I guess I\'m kinda sold on one, but there\'s still that little voice in the back of my mind warning me about it.
Mostly, I think it\'s the darn engine. If it were a conventional engine, I KNOW what needs to go in there, how to make it happy and how far I can push it before the poor thing has a Ferrari F1 style electrical problem (rods pokes out the block and knocks off the distributor cap).
These rotary engines are completely new to me, and don\'t really give much room for error, which is not really what i like to do. I prefer to have plenty in reserve, just so it holds together when you do try something stoopid. Like 30lbs of boost...
Well, I\'m not buying just yet. But I can always find info for a while. Seems like there is plenty out there in net-land which is nice, but it all still seems like it\'s a bit of a black art.
I hope a friend of mine still has contacts from earlier times. The same ones that got their racecar out of Tokyo airport customs. The car was a 1st gen RX7 (Factory car) but the fire extinguisher was made in China, so customs wouldn\'t let it in...
That kinda contact might prove handy.
It sounds to me like an RX-7 is perfect for you.
Engines are cheap to rebuild compared to Ferrari or Skyline. It sounds like you are a determined and talented engineer, so I believe you could rebuild the engine yourself very easily if it came to that.
I consider my 1994 RX to be a \'Japanese Ferrari\', nothing I have ever driven comes close to the handling accuracy and acceleration above 100mph.
Mind you, I have never been privileged enough to drive a real Ferrari :(
Once you have had rotary, you never want to go back to pistons :)
Good Luck,
Richard
Providing I can sneak it by my lovely wife...
The car is the difficult bit. Playing with it easy as far as she who must be obeyed is concerned.
Besides, I have found lots of info out there in internet land, and it seems that generally the car is good, just boneheads who can\'t or won\'t look after them get to them and make them break. The RX7 is not immune to this, Porsches tend to be prime targets for this kind of abuse...
Thanks everyone, Schtoo.
P.S. Now my task is trying to work out how much weight I can take outta the thing. If I can\'t get at least 200lbs to magiacally disappear, then I will just have to try harder methinks.