Rx7 Vs Clio 200

[TiddlesRX7]

If I had 10k to spend and I didn\'t want an FD I think this would be what I would go for.

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3861126.htm

[Beau23]

I\'m in the same predicament keep my fd or buy a Astra vxr with a min 300bhp and quaffe diff essential

[Dragun]

This solely comes down to what\'s more important to you in a car. If you want an everyday, chauffeur,good mpg forget the FD altogether, like a few posts above the Mazda 3 mps is a lovely car. But if ur torn between the FD and clio... You just have to decide what\'s more important.ive tried having an rx7 as a daily driver and it don\'t work. Then again I\'ve tried having a daily driver only and it don\'t fulfill my passion of driving.

I think no matter what u choose, an FD should always be in the driveway

[B.Martin]

If I had 10k to spend and I didn\'t want an FD I think this would be what I would go for.

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3861126.htm

This is all; Ade has hit the nail on the head.

[Mikey22]

See this is the thing......I dont like big cars.....So the Monaro is out for me i\'m afraid.
The FD Ticks all the boxes, i love the shape even standard, its small (compared to other sports coupes like the Supra etc) Its fast and if i\'m honest i like something unique, and it dont come more unique than a rotary.
 
I know its not recommended as a daily driver but i seriously would use one. I just wouldnt mod the hell out of it.
 
I have a Clio DCI at this moment in time. Its my daily runner. I must admit its actually quite good, econmical as hell with 60+ MPG and £20 a year tax!!! However my GF will soon be passing her test and this car is becoming hers for a while (until she gets her swift she wants) hence why i\'m making a decision. I just want to enjoy my drive to work, i want something fun.
 
Ok my GF would kill me for saying this as she thinks im sad lol but when i got home last night i pulled in the driveway and there sits my FD. Before i even turned off the engine of the clio dci i had made up my mind.......FD!!!! Everytime i see it im just like.....OMG i own an FD!!!! its so gorgeous!!! Even with all the problems it gives me every time i look at it i get a smile on my face......and thats before i drive it lol.

[Mir]

Mate you want a daily Fd? If so, ensure that all the supporting parts of the engine are in good condition and once in two months, get it checked over by a reputable specialist-I was gonna say by Jaydee or Blitzboy or Carl at Hayward Rotary and if you are near Manchester side then WGT. There is a guy on here who drives his FD daily and so far he has driven it for over 50k miles without any issues.

These things are simply awesome, they just require little bit of TLC and the rest will assure you long lasting nicely running FD.

My two pence

Cheers
Syed

[Mikey22]

I have access to a ramp and tools so i know i can take care of general service items such as Filter/oil changes and any minor work that needs doing. So TLC it\'ll get in bundles lol

[RobbieRX-7]

For a daily driver i would certainly remove the oil metering pump and start using premix. Most of us wise ones use premix anyway, but for this you\'ll need a decat obviously.

[Bobbit]

I used my FD for 4yrs as my sole car, put around 30k on the clock in that time. Only things that went wrong was the clutch went (happens on all cars) and due to some dodgy wiring (by the previous owner) the fuel pump died (easy fix tho). I changed the oil and plugs every 3000 miles, coolant once a year before summer and kept her topped up with v-power. Was the best 4yrs of motoring of my life.

[Mikey22]

Well i have a shell station 6 miles away and like i say i have access to tools and a ramp. With the miles id be doing i\'d need to do an oil and spark plug change every 5 months.......easy!

[oyvindjs]

Ok, so let me see if i got this one...
you are trying to choose between
a jdm supercar from the 90s who require you to love the car and keep the maintanance schedule as any old supercar needs
or
a french :censored::censored::censored::censored:box....

IS there really something to ponder about?
Seriously, EVERY time I have agreed to do some mechanical work on a french car, I have ended up in total utter rage-mode.
Look at it like this, have the french EVER produced something  mechanically sound and sturdy(yes i know there are a few exceptions,  weirdly enough)? Look at the french lifestyle. Relaxed, continental,  wine and food loving, know how to dress... French people know food...  they are wine masters... The average french ladys clothes budget, 40% of  it go to underwear....
^^ THIS is what they are good at.
The cars?  Dear lord...! Electrical faults up to yeehaa.. and the french  mentality on things is, that they dont want to do it "the normal way",  they want to do it THEIR way...! I mean SERIOUSLY..!!!
The last french car i changed brakes(pads and discs) on... "hmmm, the  rest of the world uses bolts on the calipers... lets use torx".. and  further.. "the rest of the world uses bolts with full bolthead length...  lets use bolts with half bolthead length".. YES, PERFECT IDEA WHEN THE  CAR IS USED ON ROADS WITH SALT ON EM!  If you are even a mm off the  perfect 90 angle on that wrench, you pull the socket off and rounds the  head... and you have a nightmare ahead of ya....

I pulled the top of an old pug 505 turbo once, cracked alu head...  rearwheel drive, so directional mounted engine.. easy as pie.... no....
"hmmm, the rest of the world mounts the engine straight up and down(yes,  a few exceptions, bmw and merc, but the tilt degree is marginal so no  problem)... Lets tilt it like 30 degrees!!!!!!" So, after unplugging all  wires, plugs and sensors... and sensors on the sensors... and sensors  sensoring the sensors sensor(you see where this is going), i pulled the  inlet manifold, a breeze... then the exhaust...
undid 6 out of 8 exhaust manifold bolts.. the last two was nudged in SO  tightly between the manifold and the turbo, that i had to unbolt the  turbo...
 so, did the 3 bolts on the turbo, but wait... the last and 4th bolt,  was unreachable with just about anything cause the downpipe was in the  way...
SO, i loosened the 4 bolts on turbo->downpipe, and tried to pull the  downpipe off, BUT that thing wouldnt come off, cause THE ENGINE WAS  TILTED SO MUCH THAT IT HIT THE FRONT FRAME OF THE CAR WHEN BOLTED TO THE  REST OF THE EXHAUST....
So, i had to undo the whole damn exaust all the way back, and OFFCOURSE  the downpipe was slid into the midpipe with a long "pipe extender", so i  had to unbolt EVERYTHING to lower exhaust... to get downpipe off...to  get to the turbo bolt...to get to the manifold bolts....   RAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The french made a V8 once in the earlier years...
"hmmm, the world mostly have the ignotion plugs aboooout 10-15 degrees of the piston angle... LETS DO 90!!!!"
So, the result was, that when you were to change plugs on that engine,  you had to lower the engine a fe wcm, cause no tool was able to manage  the angle. no pipe long enough to fit a wrench on without hitting engine  block, and you couldnt slide in an extender cause it got jammed between  ignition hole and THE FRAME...

Just look at some french cars today..!!! You have to remove the whole  damn front bumper to change the damn lightbulbs...!!! SERIOUSLY,  WTF?!?!?!?

Go rx7, you wont regret it, even with the FDs "weird hickups", mainly caused by poor maintanance schedules..

I hate french cars SO much, that it is one of the points on the criteria list if I find a potential girlfriend... NO..FRENCH...CAR!!!!

[Mikey22]

Wow i think if my mind wasnt already made up this story would have sold it. That was great!
 
I do know what you mean, on my clio 200 i had to remove the head lamp to change the bulb, things were very very tightly packed in.
 
I used to be like you, i hated french cars, but i must admit they do know how to make one that feels good to drive.......just S**T at the rest of it.
 
Any advice on a Swift? lol Not me......thats what my GF wants

[RobbieRX-7]

LOL, i can totally relate to the torx caliper bolts. I once changed some brake pads on the mrs 106 1.1. Bloody calipers had these crappy torx female head bolts on them, so they\'re easy to round off and you have to have a perfect 90degree angle to avoid rounding them off. Sounds easy but even though i had the proper tools, i still managed to round it off so i ended up getting a whole hub carrier with caliper attached from the breakers yard. Took me a week to get it sorted.

Another job was the clutch cable on the same car. Took me a friggin hour to change it because it was so tight in the bulkhead and at a hard to reach place.  I also had to change one of the doors. The door from the scrappy didn\'t fit my car properley, it was all out of alignment after hours of messing about. It says a lot about the fd when a simple shopping cart of a car is more difficult to work on than a complicated for it\'s time fd. Ok, not everything is an easy job on an fd, but most of it\'s just like any other jap car of it\'s age.

Went to the nurburgring with a bunch of lads. 2 fd\'s, 2 serria cossies, golf gt-tdi, old civic, a pug 205gti and a pug 309gti. Guess which car gave the most trouble? The 309gti. He spent 1000\'s doing it up, after market ecu, willwood brakes but pushing only 190ish bhp, it was a mint looking car but the head gasket kept going.  Just imagine how he felt driving all over to the ring, breaking down on the way and only being able to go one slow lap on the ring, whilst i did 14 laps in the fd after doing a diy engine rebuild on it.

My mate was so impressed with how easy it was to rebuild the rotary motor and how well it ran on the ring, he literally immediately sold his 309 and bought a beast of an FC. Sadly, he crashed it because he couldn\'t handle the power hehe

An fd can be made uber reliable with the right attention. A good map, good electical system, good cooling and a good working knowledge of the car from the owner will see it lasting a long time.

[THE X]

Hi, odd first post but here goes, despite some of the hate on here the clio is a cracker of a car on the cup chassis, not a great driving position but fun none the less, but if you get another one, you will get fed up again soon & it will feel old like you\'ve had I\'d forever.

If I were you I would be looking at a Honda Integra Type-R, DC2 or DC5 (much more car than the civic). More fun and just a chuckable, 4/5 seats, far more reliable, LSD and just as driver focused without RX7 running costs. I did 64k miles in one for just over 5 years with 3-5 track days a year and only the clutch slave cylinder went, cost about £75 I think!

Good luck!
Xav

[wolfie1]

i run 2 cars i have my fd for the summer which i use every day between say april and september and an 02 vectra sri 150 for winter, just a thought for yourself