Some mistakes can be good...

[clandestine]

There seems to be a bit of a spate of imported black rx7\'s, I got mine in August while looking for a family car with my wife...yes that\'s right a family car.

Buying the mazda was a spur of the moment kind of thing and it was more of a joke that we put in an offer for the car not really believing that it would be taken seriously...but they did and we are now proud owners of a car that looks good even with a cover over it and has similar characteristics as my wife!

The only downside is that I can\'t really afford the car so we\'ve put a thatcham alarm on, undersealed it and posted it straight back onto Pistonheads for sale.

Now we have had a couple of offers - below what we are asking for which is fair enought - but the last offer came from a gentleman who expressed concern that the engine would probably need rebuilding soon.

There are a number of Mazdas onsale at Pistonheads that have been rebuilt around the 50000 mileage mark.  Now I had an orion that did 900,000 miles before I had to recondition the engine.  (It was a good looking orion with a spoiler and go-faster wheels by the way).

So I guess the question is, is it normal for mazda engines to only last under 100,000 miles and if I did rebuild the engine would it only last 100,000 miles again?

[D1 WTF]

there is no definate time they will go.  some last over 100,000miles some might go after 25,000miles.  but generally they seem to go around 65, 70,000miles mark.  
also very dependant on age, my car is a december 1992 and had done about 60,000 miles probably maybe less (hard to tell as the speedo reading is a mix of miles and kilometers) but the water sealed failed (rebuild needed)  due to its age mainly not the millage.

[gonzoninja]

depends how the car has been treated. If its an import it will have little or no history, so people will have to assume its been thrashed and not serviced, at which point it probably does need a rebuild

I, and I think most people round here would want to see evidence of a rebuild around the 50,000 mark.

one thing you can do is get a compression test, this will tell you if the engine is reasonable or not (although its not a cast-iron guarentee that every thing is okay).

[clandestine]

Hmm...that\'s a bit scary so I need to save 2000 quickly and keep it on hand somewhere just in case!

Has any car lasted over 200,000 miles or is this the price of being able to play Need for Speed real time in a real car?

My car is in kph as well which is interesting because the dial says mph but its not!  I need to get some kind of converter I guess.

[D1 WTF]

compression test are no real garantee, as with donatos old car.  compression test was done all showing good results on day of selling etc, 120miles down the road or something it through a tip.

[D1 WTF]

converters are easy to do.  i dont know of any turbo rotary that has lasted that long.  could be though.........? i very much doubt it though.  not many people would buy a rex and puttle down to the shops in it.  so most will have been driven properly at some point in there life.  2000 is a bit optamistic, normally more than that.   they arent cheap cars

[gonzoninja]

yes but a low compression test will definitely indicate whether a rebuild is necessary

as you say though good compression means nothing. but then he can tell potential customers this, therefore the OP will not spend money unnecessarily

[Jono FD3]

One quick point to be made....... if you\'re totaly fresh to the RX7...... it\'s only the rotary engines that have a short life expectancy compair to piston engines, this is the only downfall with the 7 in my view... but I own one and love it to bits (apart from when the inevitable happens..... BOOOOM!!!)

Jono

[sadgoth]

you can\'t really compare an Orion with an RX7! One is a day to day car the other is a supercar!

[RemarkLima]

So I guess the question is, is it normal for mazda engines to only last under 100,000 miles and if I did rebuild the engine would it only last 100,000 miles again?

Not normal Mazda piston engines, they\'ll last as long as they\'re treated well... But on the rotary engines, yeah, they\'ll have a shorter life than usual, however the upside is they\'re cheaper and easier to rebuild than a regular piston engine.

Just wanted to clarify as it\'d bad to think *all* Mazda engines go at 60,000 miles

[D1 WTF]

yes but a low compression test will definitely indicate whether a rebuild is necessary

as you say though good compression means nothing. but then he can tell potential customers this, therefore the OP will not spend money unnecessarily

yer, sorry buddy.  i should have made that clearer.  

it would be worth doing, as it is prob one of the only test you can really do on a rotary engine to check its health without opening it up etc

[andysmee]

what you\'re not saying is how many miles the car has done. From your comments it sounds like you may have paid over the odds for the car. How many miles has it got on the clock? and how many of those are kilometres?
 
Is this the ad? http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/102794.htm

[Rixio]

^^^^This car was bought from some guys in huddersfield i believe. Iv met them before and tbh they dont have a clue! They import flashy but trashy motors and show up to cruises in a big convoy to get advertising!

[andysmee]

It may be the wrong car...but that is the only Hampshire one. Please don\'t take my word for it.

[clandestine]

lol - yes it i...I didn\'t want to put a picture in because basically it\'s just well...gob smackingly beautiful!

http://brent.webline.co.uk/jluz/mazda/images/goodSmall1.jpg"/>

And yes...I did actually get it from a guy from huddersfield and the guy dazzled me with mazdaspeed speak which being clueless sounded wonderful...but the car spoke volumes more to me...in fact I\'m not totally sure I really heard a word of what the guy was saying...I certainly didn\'t understand it anyway!  When he took me for a spin it felt and sounded as if  he had pressed the nitro button and the thought of me owning such a car left me like a dribbling wreck.


I apologise, I haven\'t put in the kilometers because I\'m in a very strange situation, I can\'t afford to run but my wife doesn\'t want to sell it so I can see me having to have it rebuilt at some point.  Its done about 90000km.


Hmm, I probably should say that I drive the car to Asda\'s, work...practically everywhere actually...I presume that isn\'t normal but you have to understand that my other car happens to be a dhiatsu hijet...having owned up to that fact I hope that the majority of readers of this post won\'t actually know what one of those is!  For those who do...please keep silent for the sake of my dignity and respect.

So going back to the engine thing, I can replace the engine with either a piston engine which will be more expensive but last much longer or I can replace it with a rotary engine which will be cheaper but won\'t last that long!