Hello there!!
This question has probably been posted many times but I have to ask. Where did you guys buy your 3rd gen Rx-7\'s from??? and do you always need an engine rebuild. It seems that some vendors supply their cars with engine rebuilds and some don\'t......
Also, I surf so do you reckon I could fit a 6\'6" surfboard down the passenger seats foot well and into the back seats with the passenger seat reclined??? strange question I know!!!
Oh yeah, and how good is an Rx-7 for track days. Can it take the thrashing and does it kick ass????????
Thanks
James
Best places would be ads on here, and Autotrader. It only needs a rebuild if it dies, but it would help getting one with a recent rebuild or warranty so you dont have too much to worry about to begin with.
Trackdays. Done a couple, and it was pretty good but I dont think id like the stock suspension. Cost me a fortune though:
Entry £150 (cheapish too!)
Fuel £150
Tyre Wear Unknown
Brakes £500
Id like to do another, but not sure I could afford it. Especially if I destroy another set of brakes which I probably will.
QuoteOriginally posted by Jenks01
Also, I surf so do you reckon I could fit a 6\'6" surfboard down the passenger seats foot well and into the back seats with the passenger seat reclined??? strange question I know!!!
If it hasn\'t had a recent rebuild and has done ~60K+ miles then general concensus is to budget £2k in case you need one in the near future. Get a rotary compression test done before you buy as this will help to indicate what state the engine is in.
6\'6" surfboard? You\'ll be lucky. I have no rear seats in mine which means I can completely remove the divider where the seat backs are on the 4 seat models and I just about managed to get some 4-5\' bits of MDF in there. It was a stuggle though!!
Unless you can manage to put the surf borad through the boot into the passenger side, then maybe could fit??
more like only if you have one with a sun roof & stick 6\'5" out of it :rollin lol
Si
QuoteOriginally posted by gsb876
Unless you can manage to put the surf borad through the boot into the passenger side, then maybe could fit??
Problem is that the seat doesn\'t recline enough or fold forward enough to be useful. That and you risk scuffing the interior on your pride and joy!
True.............. :(
i just got mine (3 weeks ago) from Jimmy\'s RX-7 Specialists near Norfolk
i spoke to andrew over the phone quite a bit, asking all sorts of qs and he was very helpful. when the rx arrived from japan i went up to have a look at it and made a final decision. to be honest it didn\'t look in that good condition, but i trusted him and the next time i went up was to collect it. it looked great, and ran beautifully!
he rebuilds the engine, fully serviced, valet inside, exterior redone where necessary, new tyres, 12 month or 12000 mile warranty, tax and mot etc... check out the site
http://www.jimmys-rx7.co.uk/
not sure what he\'s got in stock at then moment though, but great service. norfolk is a bit far from you, but i recommend you give him a call
as for the surfboard, strap it on sideways at the back............ new rear wing, crazy downforce!! might catch on...:D
all the best!
mandip
see my one for sale!
on this site or check it out on Jimmy\'s site...
by the way, I agree with msc125, Andrew at Jimmy\'s is a great place to start your search. He has done all the work on mine and is the best!
M
Hi matey! :wave
Personally i\'m gonna be getting mine either from Brian @ rotaryimports.com or Miguel @ neweraimports.com. There are a couple of reasons why...
First of all, their knowledge of the FD is amazing. You can be guaranteed that any car they source for you will be in tip-top condition, as they really really know their way around these unique machines. Also, they are both very proud of the reputation established in forums such as this one. And for good reason - i\'ve never heard a bad word said against either company...and in contrast spoke to many, many happy customers! :)
It seems like they treat the cars they source for customers the same way they would if they were purchasing a car for themselves, if that makes sense. It\'s a combination of that attitude and the knowledge they have which virtually guarantees you happy motoring!! Also, they are on here very frequently too, so if you have any questions post-purchase it\'s easy to get in touch.
Also, like many of the guys here, i regard an FD as my ultimate dream car (as you may have noticed from the user name!! :p ) and as such i really want to get the exact car i\'m after. So, the idea of giving a \'wish-list\' to someone in-the-know, then sitting back and waiting as they scour Japan for a beastie of my own is too good to resist!! Finally, they offer warranties etc also, for a bit more peace of mind. As mentioned already, it\'s probably prudent to put aside £3k or so for a re-build if it\'s not covered under warranty and/or you\'re worried about it.
Just my two-cents, but i\'ve been wanting an FD for a while now, and i\'d rather wait just a little longer and be assured of a peach than rushing into a private sale. The only exception to that would be to get one from one of the regular posters here. As you\'ll soon see, these chaps are among the most dedicated petrol-heads i\'ve ever come across!
Either way, good luck with your search bud. And even more luck fitting in the \'board!! :rollin
In my opinion FDDreamer has hit the nail on the head , if you really want a mota thats in good condition and to your tastes importing is the way to go
7\'s are quite rare over here ( well I don\'t see many ) so the choice you\'d have in the classifieds will be limited
However have a look anyway , you never know something may pop up and at least you\'ll get hold of it soon after , if you import from someone like Brian you are assured he\'ll find you just what you want eventually , but then you\'ll have to wait ages to get your mits on it
I had to wait about 10 weeks for Brian to find and win the right one for me ( missed out on at auction few during this time ) shes now at sea and hopefully I\'ll have her begining of August ( ish )
The waitings painfull but its gonna be worth it as I have been told that the kit on my baby is as rare as rocking horse sh1t
Anyway good luck , hope you find a peach
oh forgot to say , as far as the boards concerned get a roof rack
Apparently you can get them , I looked because I was gonna use my baby for work and need to cary steps sometimes , changed my mind though got a van instead
So you didn\'t consider compromising and doing something like this to your beastie mate?
http://www.mazdarotaryclub.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6640 :rollin
Imagine you\'d get several surfboards in there!!
But yeah...mazdaspeed stuff seems to be like gold dust, I\'ve seen a couple of the Type GT-C kits, and i think one with your front bumper...but haven\'t seen any with the full Type 15th kit. Except you\'ve also got the better rear wing! You lucky lucky man!
Don\'t hold me to this, but i think that wing is also a mazdaspeed item, from the Type II kit (as opposed to the \'99 spec JDM one i previously thought it to be!) as it has a lovely \'lip\' on the bootlid, and the uprights are slightly larger and more aggressive! :cool
QuoteOriginally posted by FDDreamer
Hi matey! :wave
Personally i\'m gonna be getting mine either from Brian @ rotaryimports.com or Miguel @ neweraimports.com. There are a couple of reasons why...
First of all, their knowledge of the FD is amazing. You can be guaranteed that any car they source for you will be in tip-top condition, as they really really know their way around these unique machines. Also, they are both very proud of the reputation established in forums such as this one. And for good reason - i\'ve never heard a bad word said against either company...and in contrast spoke to many, many happy customers! :)
I didnt have a good experience buying a RX7 from Newera. I agree mines a rare case, so still a good bet for buying one, but you also should know that there are bad examples from Newera, and forums at least give you the opportunity to hear good and bad stories.
My RX7 "experience" lasted only 4 months as a consequence, and chasing the warranty got tiresome, so never actually got a penny when the engine blew within a month (bounced between ReWorx telling me they had the wrong warranty number, and Motormall saying they had the right one).
All in all, the breakdowns, inconvenience, and expense robbed any enjoyment I would have had with what I used to consider a dream car, still love them, but wouldnt buy another unless it had been owned in UK for a while, and had had a recent rebuild.
There\'s a few about like that, and its worth waiting.
Sorry to hear that bud. That must have been terrible for you, both financially and also gutting after having gone through the whole importing process. I know i\'d be completely devastated.
I suppose there\'s a first for everything, and due to the nature of engines (and especially FDs) it must be almost impossible to get it right every time. Did Miguel or anyone from Newera offer any explanation?
It\'s a bit more worrying, though, to here about the after-sales service...did Newera give you any help or advice with the warranty side of things? I presume that\'s handled primarily by Motormall?
As you say, forums are here to help everyone, and after your experience i can see why you\'d want to get this point across. I suppose it\'s up to each person to make their own mind up, and these forums provide a world of info (both good and bad!) to help people with that decision. Personally, i feel Newera and a few other select companies are the best bet...but i\'m not so narrow-minded as to think everyone would agree!! :)
Miguel was very good, even called from Japan to discuss the problems, but at the end of the day, he\'s over there, and the people you\'re dealing with are here, and a lot less interested than Miguel is.
The warranty side I gave up on out of frustration, whereas I really should have pushed it, but by this stage id been to Portsmouth about 5 times, had been driving a hire car for two weeks, had paid out a lot of money, and jut become so frustrated with it all that I wrote off my losses, which were £3250 for the rebuild, plus numerous other costs, including a £500 service to try and get it running right.
Miguel is a genuine bloke, who does care about who he sells cars to, but without trying to harm any importers business, if I ever did go fd route again (unlikely), id get a car that had been imported, and gone through a rebuild, service, and a good few months life in the UK, that way your risk is virtually completely removed.
Sideshowbob - was it Newera or Motormall who offered you the warranty ? When I got mine car (through Newera) I had already read on here about how these normalyl do not cover rotary engine rebuilds, so when Motormall offered me one I said no.
I think the only warranties worth their salt are the ones like Brian offers - where the reality is the rebuild cost comes out of his own pocket.
Warranty was through Motormall, but I asked Miguel to confirm that this would cover a rebuild, which he did.
They basicaly viewed it as gasket failure, as the water seals went, but then trying to get it sorted from there was the difficult part.
Its a pity, I sometimes feel I should have kept it after all that, as I sold it with a good rebuild and everything done, for the same as I bought it for initially!! but I was just sick of the sight of it by that stage.
& in Miguels defence he is a top man & stumped up the £ out of his/neweras pocket to fix the ECU problem i had, didn\'t do the motormall waranty thing either & while they, motormall, can be seen in a few respects the weak link i would have no worries about buying from Miguel again :god
Si
Yip, good guy, but then you cant help feeling hard done by when it happens to you, and im sure you\'d feel differently if you had spent many thousands with Newera, and then many thousands getting the car they\'d supplied you a month late to run right.
Its a case of imagining how you would react if an import (or any)company did that to you, its so annoying you wouldnt believe, and massively frustrating.
I know the popular thing on here is to kiss Miguels feet whenever possible, but there are bad cases, bad cars, and unhappy customers, and regardless of how few, its still something that needs to be recognised.
QuoteOriginally posted by SideShowBob
I know the popular thing on here is to kiss Miguels feet whenever possible, but there are bad cases, bad cars, and unhappy customers, and regardless of how few, its still something that needs to be recognised.
I don\'t think it\'s a case of kissing feet (ughh! :eek ) but there are a lot of importers out there who are pretty dishonest and unprofessional.
Sorry to hear about your nightmare but, as you say, you always have risk buying a car. Even if it is brand new. If a car has been imported by someone else and they are selling it a few months later, you have to question their motives too!!!
At least the concensus is that Miguel and Brian seem to make a genuine effort to sort problems out to keep their customers happy and run their businesses in a professional manner.
Personally, I bought my car through Seymore Pope Imports and whilst the car was good. I have not been impressed with Phil Pope and would never deal with him again. He was consistently unreliable, told me incorrect information and did not (and still hasn\'t) send on things that he promised me.
To cap it off, I have since found out after talking to another of his customers at Rotorstock, that he slagged me off behind my back when attempting to placate them when THEY had problems with THEIR service.... Pretty poor in my opinion and very unprofessional. IMO very stupid in such a niche market where customer opinions are very likely to affect future sales.
I think sometimes no matter how throughly you check a car over theres still a chance of it going wrong, bad luck can strike whenever.
Example i sold my Nissan Skyline for a healthy price as it was running absolutely perfect after i had the cylinder head changed and new head gasket done, the guy who bought it was a really nice guy who came all the way from Scotland to buy it. However after a week he rang me to tell me the car was cool and had dyno\'d at a healthy 300bhp atw, then a week later the clutch burnt out! now no way did i know this, as i would have changed it otherwise and once the car was sold as seen i\'m not really gonna repair it forhim am i??? So it just a case of bad luck happens to all of us sooner or later.
Peace2make,
i have spoken with Mr Pope a while ago when i was looking at buying a rx7 and he reassured me he had the best rx7\'s coming over, but a few things made me a little nervous so didn\'t follow through.
Good job looks like:)
I don\'t think Mr. Pope is a complete fraud or anything. I haven\'t had any major issues with the car he supplied me - thank goodness; since I don\'t know what mess I might have been if I something had gone wrong.
I just think he is out of his depth and unprofessional and wouldn\'t recommend him to anyone.
"A rich kid playing around at being the MD of his own jap import business..." - someone elses words, not my own, but sadly I have to say sums it my sentiments pretty well now.
I know its always risky, and also know Miguel is a good guy, but you know, im also a good guy, and tried to be as understanding as possible.
After making sure every penny was paid on or before time to Newera, the car I had taken out bank loans for, and worked very hard for, arrived a month late. It then proceded to break down, not start, overheat, and eventually completely blow within the first 5 - 6 weeks of owning it.
I took out more loans to cover the £3250 rebuild until the warranty money was supposed to come through, which it didnt, and drove an A-Class rent a car for three weeks while it was off the road, also out of my own money, so as much as I want to feel "its rare" or "its a one off" or "Miguels a great guy", I struggle to.
Im not rich by any means, but I had worked to a position where I could afford to run what was one of my dream cars. I researched very carefully before I bought, and went with the most recommended supplier, and I still got badly burnt, to the point where I had no money at all to run the car, and sold it for no profit regardless of the thousands id put into it.
Hopefully im a one off, but it also serves as a warning that no matter how much you research, how ever many good intentions people have, things can go very wrong.
RX7\'s are awesome, but are extremely risky due to the nature of their engines, so any potential buyers out there make sure you have money in the coffer, and if you want my advise, get a car thats been rebuilt in the UK, and has no more than say 25k miles on it since the rebuild, they are out there.
A fair point - interested to hear what Miguel has to say here?
We\'ve had a few issues like this recently and I did wonder whether we could have something on the website regarding peoples opinions on Importers / garages etc. without having to search through the forums.
The MR2 owners club have something like this and it helps field the usual rounds of questions like "Can anyone recommend a good gagage in the London area?"
Yeah, i think that would be a good idea. Seems to be more and more people interested in importing an FD, and everyone seems to want to know where to go.
At the end of the day, it\'s always going to be completely subjective. As such all people can do is look at the broader picture and go with the one they feel, on average, is best.
I do understand how frustrated you must have been - i\'ve personally been looking into it for close to 2 years (although only seriously for about 6 months) and i know that it may well take another 6 months + after i decide who to go with. At the moment, i feel that i\'ll do anything to get the car i\'ve always wanted...but i can\'t begin to think how i\'d feel if after all the time, effort and expense my car decided to blow up after i\'d had it for only a short time.
It would be interesting to hear what Miguel remembers of this example...as it is the only one i\'m aware of (within the RX-7 community anyway).