drove one and i wasnt impressed... but.....

[neil_jdmr]

I think you have just drove a dog mate tbh so try a few more.
 
I looked and tried out about 9 rx7 before i settled on the one i got, The ride is excellent and very quiet with exception to the blitz nurspec and de-cat.It is also standard trim as i personally prefer the way Mr Mazda intended.
 
Also my car is only very lightly tuned, Full exhaust/intake and powerfc mapped by pip and in my experience of other performance cars including exige\'s and vx220 turbo\'s my fd more than holds its own.
 
Ok so round silverstone i would struggle to keep with both the above due to size and weight but as far as duel carriages as you mentioned i always start pulling away in 4th. Do remember the FD itself only weighs the same as an ep3 ctr so with 300+hp and 290lb/ft believe me its no slouch.
 
Also as far as lowdown torque figures go my car made 290lb/ft on pips dynapac which is a hell of a lot since i previously owned a honda:Giggle
 
If its more speed your after spend your hard earned on a single turbo rx7
my preference would personally be a t51KAI but even a t78/t88 would be good for 500+ bhp and then your pretty much whipping anything else on the road.

[shaunwil]

Does sound like you drove a dog ! I played with an exige at Oulton park about a year ago and he ended up moving over to let me past in the dry

There are plenty of mods you can do to these cars to make them corner even better !

The FD can be deceiving at just how quick it is. My Single setup is a quick car but its so smooth you don\'t really notice bar from the speedo !

Shaun

[ENVYD]

red with some black add on\'s looks the balls this is mine (bless her)
 

[lockwood77]

Having done a fair few trackdays, which usually have a fair few Elises and Exiges, I can say that you will need well over 300bhp to keep up with a standard Exige - I\'ve got 310bhp and you can\'t really catch up with them. Elises are a different matter - I haven\'t had one I didn\'t shoot past on the straights, although I know there are very quick ones out there - standard though, they\'re not an issue.

What is an issue is the cornering - you\'ll struggle to keep an RX-7 in touch with something so light and stiff round tighter corners, although instructors and mechanics have been full of praise for the handling of mine (it has coilovers and had a full geometry setup at Center Gravity). It is certainly better round corners than other cars of similar size/power (Skylines, most Imprezas, BMWs etc.), but when you shed 500kg as in a Lotus, you\'ll need a very stiff and sticky RX-7 to keep it honest!

Speaking of BMWs, mine doesn\'t usually lose more than a car length or so to the latest M3s on the straights and is definitely quicker than E36s.

[chr1s]

I couldn\'t decide between an RX7 or a Honda Elise either which I why I currently have both! Very different cars and really depends on what your after also think about what type of driving you do, if you do a lot of twisty B roads the Lotus is in heaven but on the motorway it can get pretty tiring as it\'s a fair bit noisier than the rx7 at speed.

Handling wise the Lotus is a bit more forgiving if your not that great a driver you get so much feedback on what the wheels are doing and the Honda power delivery is very smooth and progressive, the RX7 tends to "feel" quicker with the turbo delivery but it\'s easier to loose traction at the back, having said that my elise is n/a go for supercharged 320bhp and I doubt anything will feel faster. Best bet is speak to one of the conversion companies and get a test drive and see which you prefer.

also if your worried about rattles don\'t buy a Lotus!

[lockwood77]

I must say I am definitely of the impression that my next car will be an Exige - and that was before this month\'s Evo mag!

I love the FD and have a DC5 Honda Integra Type-R (so essentially the same engine as the Honda conversions, only a bit better than if you have the K20 out of a Civic) and so I kind of have bits of my ideal car spread across two! I miss the responsiveness of the N/A Honda in the FD and I miss the RWD and torque grunt when in the DC5. Both cars handle about the same (i.e. exceptionally well), although you\'d have to say the FD edges it if you have the driving ability to use RWD to its potential (which I currently don\'t!)

So, take the N/A responsiveness, add to RWD and shed a load of weight to negate the loss of torque/power and throw in even better handling and what do you get? An Exige! I must say this is with track in mind though, I wouldn\'t have an Exige as my only car. And I think I\'d want the supercharger to make sure you have the full benefit when dragging down the straights against bigger engined cars, but whether that loses some of the responsiveness I don\'t know.

[RemarkLima]

So the general opinion other than drive others which i will do is that they are good handling cars, would they get close to Elise/Exige handling with the correct suspension mods, money no object as the RX7 would be cheaper to buy than an Elsie and pay 10k for the honda engine conversion

I used to own a S1 Exige and recently the RX7 and handling wise they have a similar "feel", the RX7 probably a little less edgy (but the Exige is more edgy than the Elise), but you can feel the weight... I\'d say it\'s like a heavy Elise in a way.

But then you get a stereo you can hear, Air Con, powered stuff, wheel bearings that last longer than 10,000 miles etc... So in a sense I\'d say you\'re trying to compare apples to oranges, the RX7 does handly very well, but due to weight it\'ll never be the same as the Elise / Exige IMHO.

[chr1s]

My elise is n/a but I have driven a honda supercharged one and it still has the responsiveness, it\'s a pretty awesome car tbh. Totally agree about having an ideal car spread across two but I quite like the change from switching between one and the other and the way the two cars are different, bit of a luxury I suppose. I think the supercharged elise/exige would give you the best of both worlds, but I\'m not sure if I could live with the extra noise of the supercharger everyday especially in an S1 exige, S2 is not so bad.

[Hi RX7]

I have owned a Lotus in one form or another since 1975 and recently did a track day with an Elise about a month after I took my RX7 down to Re-Worx and had them replace 2 toelink bushes, install new Tein suspension along with the Polybush replacement all round, as soon as I picked the car up and drove it less than a hundred yards I thought the feel/feedback was so similar to the Elise. It\'s as well to remember that the RX7 is getting on a bit now and if these things have not been done your into the worn stylus syndrome (thats for those who may remember vinyl) with these cars.

[DR SCHNITZEL]

my 330 hp rx made mince meat of a tuned elise not sure how but it was loud. i was doing 40 he over took about 60ish once id got into the boost i was alongside him before he knew it. id love to try on an exige.

[T11MNM]

In a straight line you shouldn\'t have a problem, but that\'s boring, how it handles the twisties either on track or back road is what seperates a great car from just a good one..

[jonny116]

Well i just moved from Elise to RX nearly 3 month ago and im completely sold on the RX pretty much all the way.
 
Although the Elise probably does have a more \'fun\' aspect to it i just prefer the RX, i think it has more road presence and even more rare than seeing an Elise. (Mind i do miss flashing other lotus driver\'s, im yet to see another RX on the road up here!!)
 
I just found the Elise ate into my pocket and p!ssed me right off when it lashed down, im not even a fan of comfort but when the rain sprays in round every corner and the doors wells fill up it gets old after a year.
 
Don\'t get me wrong though i loved owning it but i bought the first RX i saw and am 2000 miles down the road problem free, i\'d have Jeurgen to thank for that but its a ton less than the lotus was!!
 
Rambling on but point im trying to make is totally different cars, different styles and is pretty much down to you what style you prefer
 
i think im right in thinking the RX was based on the Elan 2+2 which is quiet interesting

[lockwood77]

my 330 hp rx made mince meat of a tuned elise not sure how but it was loud. i was doing 40 he over took about 60ish once id got into the boost i was alongside him before he knew it. id love to try on an exige.

You never really know what you\'re up against unless you ask though do you? An S1 178bhp Exige might not be much trouble, a supercharged K20 running 300bhp would be a bit trickier!

Same with Elises - like a lot of cars, people put louder exhausts on, but they don\'t make much difference to power without mods elsewhere. There\'s loads of Elise variants too, from 111bhp to 190bhp from the factory, never mind the conversions, supercharged versions and general tuning that goes on. Virtually impossible to tell what\'s what without looking under the cover.

[jonny116]

Yeah true, although you can hear a Honda conversion from an absolute mile off!!  Need a good 7" backbox fabricated to get them anywhere near normal road use.  
 
(I only know because I know someone who has one and had loads of difficulty getting it onto tracks with noise limits)

[neil_jdmr]

Yeah true, although you can hear a Honda conversion from an absolute mile off!! Need a good 7" backbox fabricated to get them anywhere near normal road use.
 
(I only know because I know someone who has one and had loads of difficulty getting it onto tracks with noise limits)

Hi dude,
 
must see your car at the next NE rx7 Mini Meet
 
Neil