thinking about it

[piehound]

lo fellas
im piehound from over at the sxoc i drive a slightly fettled s14 which is pretty damn rapid or so i thought until i just went out in an 94 rx7 type r elfini (whatever that means )or summet lol, i am seriously thinking about buying this fella but i am in a dilema, and im sure you guys can convince me 1 way or another

the car is mint and is still in kmh, standard  and has not been derestricted? (how ,who where ) lol
the guy tells me it does 20 mpg? as a daily driver, (approx 1000 miles a month) is this likely?,  i like many other new to wankles have heard that 12mpg is more the norm

at the mo i get 280 ish to £55 thats at 80-100mph on a run

the car has done 60k miles and has never been rebuilt, is this a problem?
the car is aaround the 4k mark

do i make the change or stay with my faithfull s14? (oh descisions descisions)

i am scared of the fact i know nothing about these cars but on looks alone its winning me over

[J4P RX]

the guy tells me it does 20 mpg? as a daily driver, (approx 1000 miles a month) is this likely?,  i like many other new to wankles have heard that 12mpg is more the norm

I get nearer the 12 than the 20

at the mo i get 280 ish to £55 thats at 80-100mph on a run

Ill get about 200 to £60, but probably 260-70 ish with more motorway type driving.

the car has done 60k miles and has never been rebuilt, is this a problem?

Its generally around the sort of time they go, but it could last for ages it depends on so many things.

the car is aaround the 4k mark

Its cheap, so even if it needs rebuilding some time soon not a bad deal

do i make the change or stay with my faithfull s14? (oh descisions descisions)

My S14 is loads cheaper to run, but its no contest which I prefer driving normally (and its not the s14).

Lee

[barmar]

As Lee said your S14 will be loads cheaper to run, not just fuel but insurance and maitenance (especially if you buy a lemon). Generally I get about 16-17mpg but as Lee said with motorway driving you can get more. When using the RX to its full potential you could probably watch the dial on the fuel gauge go down (although i\'d advise against this as taking you eyes off the road at that speed increases your chances of crashing considerably)

As to whether or not to buy this car, 4k is cheap but it probably will need a rebuild in the near future so budget 2.5k to 4k for that. Do a bit of research (look through this forum - loads of info on here) before jumping in and when your ready look at a few cars before buying. I\'d definately recommend buying a car thats just had a rebuild (by an rx7 specialist) and still has some warranty.

This all sounds a bit negative, I don\'t mean to be, the car is absolutely amazing you just have to look at it to see it is something special. The fact it goes like it looks and is extremely rare just add to the magic. It has tuning potential as well if you get bored of 250bhp give or take 15bhp or so depending on model you can tune it to give anything up 450 - 500bhp although that level is getting expensive and a quite extreme.

Buying an RX7 isn\'t a decision to be made in an instant but buy carefully and trust me you\'ll enjoy owning one.

Barry

[piehound]

ok thanks guys i think my minds made up as much as i love the rex its just not going to be practical for now due to amount of miles i do (boo hoo), unles i find a real cheapo get a rebuild and keep the nissan as a daily

[piehound]

oh 1 more thing when these engine do need a rebuild how do you know? do they just let go and leave you stuck or do you get some kind of warning ,clonking etc and then get a while to fix it ? or is it just sudden death?

[Donato]

Usually its water seals or apex seals, either way getting towed home will be better than driving and doing any more damage...

[iaint]

Water seals is usually a gradual process and will become more and more noticable.  From initial signs on mine to eventually having it rebuilt (and it was still running fine but starting was getting worse) was about 5k miles.

Apex/tip failure is immediately terminal and you\'ll know about it.

4k is a hella cheap car and worth putting 2.5-3k aside for the inevitable rebuild.

[TonyBlair]

4K is cheap. It\'s roughly what my Rex cost me - however the twins were knackered so I had to get them rebuilt, costing £1300 - it would have been more, but I took them out and installed them back into the car myslef. I\'m guessing at least an extra £600 for labour if you can\'t do that sort of work for yourself.

Just as the other guys have said. The car is probably due a rebuild, where you\'re looking at £2500-£4000. So, £4k IS cheap - but it isn\'t when you factor in the additional costs of future maintainence and repair work. Plus of course it\'ll be a lot more expensive fuel wise.

Just make sure you budget probably. Don\'t look at it as a £4k car, look at it as a probable £6K-£7K car.

Oh... and make sure you get an insurance quote first. I don\'t know what S14\'s are like to insure, but assuming the Rex is an import any insurance company will like to sting you some more just for that fact alone. I guess their automated systems can\'t cope with having to write the word "import" on the policy they send out - I suspect they have to manually write the word on it which is where the extra cost comes from. That\'s the only reason I can think of for the extra cost of an import RX7.

Cheers
Jon

[piehound]

Thanks guys again for the help insurance is no prob its £40 more for the rex
as for engine thing i just wondered about it letting go at any minute or not as i dont want to be wondering if i need to keep the aa number in my recent dialled list lol

oh ffs im the most decisive man on the planet and for the first time im still flumuxed lol :eek

[grinder]

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmm S14 - very nice car matey - to be honest i would love one - but that means selling two cars to get one !!

for a cheapy car - have a look on ebay - there is a red one with a dead engine - last i saw it was at about £720

at 60K i would say that its near the end of its life UNLESS you can prove a rebuild

so why not buy one with a dead engine already for say £2K , then you have 2K towards a rebuild and motor that you KNOW is going to last you ??

IN FACT .. try phoning WGT in cheshire - he is the north west rx7 guru - you might beable to buy a car of him that is already dead - usual case is that people take him a car - he tells them its £XXXX for a rebuild - they panic as they cant afford it and you maybe able to buy it - it could be worth speaking to him anyways and see if thats the case

just a thought really - its your cash at the end of the day !!

( i turned down an RUNNING FD the other day for £2.6K - so there are available if you look )

Ta

Stu

[Brett]

>cough< Buy a 2nd gen >cough<

 BTW on the FD\'s 60,000miles is not the definative dying period for the engine, it depends how its been used and if its been serviced regularly.  I know of 3 FD\'s (1 uk the others are a \'95 and a \'92) that have done over 85,000miles on the origional engine. The UK spec one did nearly 100k before it finally gave up.

 So it could have another 20,000miles of life or another 5000.  Depending on how often you use it, that could be 6 months, 1 year or never.