rx7 pricing

[JDB88]

ok so i have decided to spend my hard earned money on a second gen N/A rx7 1986-7 in which i plan to do under 3000 miles a year.

ideally i would like to buy one that runs and im not too bothered about small problems that i can fix my self, infact i would quite like to work on the car, part of the reason for buying it.

so ive had a quick look around and ive decided i would like to buy something in this kind of condition http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1987-MAZDA-RX7-2-SILVER_W0QQitemZ110136745992QQihZ001QQcategoryZ18211QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

my dad says if i come up with a realistic price plan of how much everythings going to cost, (the car itself, fixing it, petrol, tax etc) he will lend some money for the costs. Ill be 19 when i buy it with 2 NCB and have been quoted around £1300 for insurance

ive read over a number of websites on buying this kind of car so
i would just like to know roughly how many miles you can get to a tank in one of these and how much (roughly) im going to need to spend fixing/making it reliable.

i have around £1000 to spend on the car, fixing it up and tax.

would spending £600 on the car and the rest on fixing it plus tax be realistic? or am i way out of my league?

cheers, sorry for the essay

[TiddlesRX7]

tax can be a funny thing with these cars. the uk cars like mine are registered as a 2.4 so the tax is £90 ish for six months, Where as the jap imports are registered as 1.3 so are cheaper tax but higher insurance generally. If you gonna get one make sure it has had a recent compression test on both rotors and that the underneath isn\'t rotten. other than that its mainly quirky little things like lights or something just stopping working. As for fuel consumption Im not sure. I did 250miles to £41 of fuel last weekend but i\'ve got a TII so the n/a should be a bit better. Good luck! Hope this helps.

[JDB88]

ah right cheers. ive read so much about the fd and how unreliable it is and even though the one im looking for is N/A i still thought they may be a bit unreliable.

though doesn anyone know if £600 is a reasonable price? i take it they are cheap because of the age, but i have seen some t2\'s for around £3k

cheers again

[elford_tim]

Prices vary hugely, mainly on condition - there are a lot of very ropey ones about that can be had for next to nothing but will cost a fortune to keep on the road.

I think around 500-600 for the car in the ebay ad is probably reasonable but I wouldn\'t buy that without a thorough check given these cars ability to out-rust some Italian cars.

At the high end of the price range you have either highly modified or pristine cars, the latter being very range as apart from some deluded fools, nobody spend a lot of money on them.

[Moonwrap]

At the high end of the price range you have either highly modified or pristine cars, the latter being very range as apart from some deluded fools, nobody spend a lot of money on them.

That\'s a huge misconception that peeps are fools spending alot of money on them!

TII Cabriolet\'s actually have a classic car book price of £7,500.00.  The ones that you often see for sale cheaply, are either rusty, have high mileage, have changed hands several times or have missing/dubious service history.  At the other end of the scale, some peeps DON\'T treat them as classics and if you\'re lucky you can find a decent one quite cheaply.

NA (Egi\'s) are now quite rare as not many peeps have saved them and they are a fantastic RX7 and the perfect RX7 to start with!  They are a bit thirstier than the TII - but they are a great straightforward car to work on!

For a project car - make sure it\'s not rusty and the engine is sound - and you will have a lot of fun! i.e. do the normal checks that you would so on any car for floor pan, wheel arches, sills etc. Also definately a compression test.

[elford_tim]

That\'s a huge misconception that peeps are fools spending alot of money on them!

TII Cabriolet\'s actually have a classic car book price of £7,500.00.  The ones that you often see for sale cheaply, are either rusty, have high mileage, have changed hands several times or have missing/dubious service history.  At the other end of the scale, some peeps DON\'T treat them as classics and if you\'re lucky you can find a decent one quite cheaply.

Heh, that looks like I touched a bit of a nerve here .

You do realise that I\'ve just treated my TII convertible to a full respray with some bodywork involved, so I am actually one of those "fools"? At the end of the day I\'ve spent about 5.5k-6k on a very good but not mint convertible. Because I can and because I like the car. I should point out that that includes the purchase but at the end of the day, it\'s still a lot of money for a not very sought-after car.

That said, I would like to see the market where you can get 7.5k for a TII convertible, even if it\'s mint. IME/IMO the prices for really good ones tend to top out around 4.5k-5k.

[JDB88]

ok thanks alot guys. just two questions remain

1) can rust be prevented from these cars easily?

2) where do i get a compression test and how much does it cost.

obviously ill be needing the compression tested before i "invest" in the car


also, why is the n/a more petrol hungry than the turbo?

[elford_tim]

ok thanks alot guys. just two questions remain

1) can rust be prevented from these cars easily?

You can keep it at bay, yes. Plenty of cavity wax and similar, plus make sure that you keep the underside waxed and treat broken underseal immediately

2) where do i get a compression test and how much does it cost.

obviously ill be needing the compression tested before i "invest" in the car

That\'s a good starting point - any rotary specialist can do one, plus most Mazda dealers. AFAIK specialists tend to charge around the 50 quid mark for one.

Make sure that you get the proper rotary test with readings from all three faces so you can check that they\'re even.

[JDB88]

ok thanks alot guys

ill be reposting when i finally buy it!!!!

[Brett]

The fuel consumption is down to differing kinds of emission control between the two vehicles - the EGI relies on an afterburning system that requires the engine to run in a very rich state.  

[JDB88]

so that makes a fuel hungry beast ?

[mosguido]

pretty much... im my egi on a full tank (60quid) i usually get around 200miles or so. motorway driving i get a lot more but around town it drinks!!!

[JDB88]

£60 for 200 miles!!! i thought the n/a would be more fuel efficient thatn the turbo. owell, its made up with the car only costing £600 ish