Buying a 2nd Gen - need help

[WillRayden]

Hi,

Can anyone help me out with what to look for in a 2nd Gen??  I\'m up-grading from my MX6, and thought rotary would be the way to go!

I\'ve found one for £2195 that i\'m looking at tonight, what should I look out for?  

Any help is much appreciated!

Cheers

Will

[Brett]

It mainly depends on wether its an EGi, TII or TII cab\'

 Main points:-

 Egi, if its done more than around 90k then engines gonna be needing a rebuild if its been thrashed.  
 TII, if its done more than 60k then its gonna need a rebuild fairly soon.
 Cab, same as TII but check the hood and motors etc too.

 All:-

 Check lights move smoothly, dodgy lights can be a sign of a crash in its history.
 Rust, check inside the front section of the rear arches for hidden rust (it\'ll be a bit soft if its on the way out). Check the sills, box sections and front cross member (just in front of Rad) for rust.  If it has a sunroof check it out for rust too.  Check around the windscreen for rust as well, its a hell of a job to do if you have to sort that one out!
 Baggy suspension, if the car feels very odd under acceleration and deceleration (body seems to yaw one way under accel\' other way under decel\') then its a combination of old rear shocks and worn bushes. (Bushes are very expensive from mazda)
 Brakes, The brakes should feel firm and not spongy, any pull or odd pedal feel can usually be traced to sticking calipers. (Front and rears do this)
 Engine temperature, if this soars in traffic then the Hydostatic fan has expired. A new one is expensive, but aftermarket electronic kits are available/or easy to make your own.
 Engine should start after a second or so from cold and hot.  If it does not start easily form hot (Turn off wait about 10mins then see if it starts=hot start test) then a rebuild is on the cards.

 Plus all the usual if your looking at a 2nd hand car!

 Good luck!

[WillRayden]

Cheers for the advice, I decided not to go for this one... It is a Tii with 85,000 miles on the clock and no evidence of an engine rebuild.  It\'s also got some rust around the windscreen and the wheels are tatty...

Think I\'ll stick with the MX6 for the time being, at least until a good one comes up...

Will

[Brett]

Keep looking, theres plenty of good ones out there! (Check out the for sale section of this forum)

 Out of interest whats your budget?

[WillRayden]

Not too sure really, wanted to buy from a dealer as I have a few probs with my MX6 and would struggle sell it privately, but was offered £1k for it as a trade in from this guy...  

I have to say I\'m still not dead sure about getting an RX7, I\'m still kicking round the idea of a Nissan 200SX or an old Supra 3.0 Turbo...  It\'s the reliability issues that put me off the RX as it would be my daily runabout.

Will

[Brett]

Providing you get a good one reliability wont be an issue.  They are high maintainence compared to the 200 or Supra though.
 Depending on how far your driving day to day may influence you decision also, most cars seem to average around 20-25mpg, but it can be a lot lower!

[WillRayden]

I\'m supprised by the fuel consumption figures, I tend to average out at 25 mpg for my MX6, I always thought it was more like 15mpg on a rex...

It won\'t get many miles put on it, as I only live 5 miles from work, but I do tend to drive a fair bit at the weekend

[Brett]

I would say that on a 5 mile trip you would get bugger all mpg! The car would never get out of cold start, so around 11mpg would be realistic!   I thought maybe you were doing a motorway stretch or something.
 Not good for the car to be doing short trips anyway, lets face it a five minute trip would probably equal 10mins running time tops.

[WillRayden]

Yea, I know what you mean... the MX6 never gets warmed up (except for weekends) I think I\'ll leave it for a bit and try to get one as a second car, trouble is i\'ve got an old mini in the garage at the moment that i\'m fixing up, so it\'ll have to wait \'till thats gone!

I\'d still love a rotary tho

W

[Brett]

Or you could finish the mini and use that as your main car, then get whatever you like for weekend fun!       :cool

[WillRayden]

That\'s hopefully the idea, but the Mini\'ll have a VTEC in it, so won\'t be too boring!!

I think that might be the answer though!

[Brett]

Nice one!

 In PPC last month was a V8 mini!!!