First RX7 What should I buy?? gen3 help??

[smith_wolves]

Hey i\'m a newbie to the site and to RX-7\'s. I\'ve gotta start somewhere, i\'m only 18 but 19th birthday next year i will be looking to sell my third car and purchase a generation 3 RX-7:driving. I\'m usually a single driver if not its usually my girlfriend, though i will take my brothers with me time to time n their young n small. What model should i be looking for? i have heard the type X fits that category?? can anyone spread some light on this for me?

I havent to high a budget but what can i get between £3000-£4000, i dont really want to go above this but will see??

Whats good to look at? I know rebuilds are a must but what millage is good for my price? age? no mods? little mods?

I\'ve been searching for insurance n have finally got a qoute of £800 or £1200 fully comp. Is this good for a 19yr old??

While thirdly how much is it to run a rx-7 over a year with around average millage?

Finally whens the best time to buy?

All the help would be grateful, in advance thanks Rob

[TwistedHumour]

I\'m sorry to say, but I can almost promise that those insurance quotes are wrong.  You need to make sure they are quoting on the correct car and engine capacity.  Insurers usually class them as 2.6l.

I\'m 20 right now and have a FD (3rd gen rx 7).  I swapped my old car for it – but they were both for sale for around the £8.5k mark.  The insurance has cost me approx £3k, £4.5k for an engine rebuild and some other mods, and I\'ll have a further £350 to pay after x-mas for a remap.  (*The car was running 300 rwhp when I took ownership so obviously costs more than standard*)

If you are on a budget, I wouldn’t recommend buying one.  I’d get a very cheap car as a run about, save up your cash and get one when you have more funds.

Right now is a good time to buy - but not £3-4k.  Please remember, these are high performance sports cars!  And as you\'d expect, they are expensive and demanding to run - but thoroughly worthwhile if you don’t care about costs!

There are plenty of FAQs on the forum and you can almost guarantee that anything you ask will have been answered before.  Try using the search feature first.

Best of luck
Chris

[smith_wolves]

I\'m not on to much of a budget,i could raise money upto £5-6k if need be. Yeah the insurance is genuine and its registered as 2.6l with the model 92 onwards. im not looking to mod up or anything, just a standard drive for everyday life. I\'ve gone from my escort to a saxo vtr, then to a fiat stilo been recently driving a honda civic type r. i\'m not a boy racer or anything like that, just really enjoy my cars and have a passion for RX7\'s.

I\'ve been using the search but the search is so wide i was wondering if someone could help norrow down this for me.

What model would suit me? i\'m not looking for an amazing top condition rx but something decent, good milage and with a rebuild not to long ago.

Any ideas Chris??

[sadgoth]

Bottom line: you can find an FD3S (3rd gen) for £3k-£4k BUT it will need work! Remember these cars were circa £35k cars in 1992! (I would guess that equates to a £45k car these days) And they have the running costs of a car costing that much!

Rebuilds are not too expensive (compared to other supercars) at between £2000 and £4000 depending on how much needs replacing.

Insurance: I would be very surprised if those quotes are anywhere near right! Firstly most insurers quote on UK cars first and often on the earlier FC (shows as a 2.4l) I would expect you would be looking at over £2k for insurance based on your age.

petrol consumption is silly! You would be lucky to get 15mpg out of the Rex on average, if you cane the car it WILL be single figure mileage!

If you need to watch the pennies, the rex is not really the best car to own. I\'d say get something fun and cheaper to run (maybe an MX5 as they have a similar driving feel) and save for a rex. (I sould like an old boring bloke I know, but its always sad to read posts from new owners who have had a bad RX experience because of the costs involved - believe me I know, I refused to sell the car even though whe the engine went I really couldn\'t afford to repair it - fortunatly it is a 2nd car and I can live with it off the road for months at a time. In fact it\'s been off the road for a year at the moment due to ongoing work!)

[sadgoth]

I\'m not on to much of a budget,i could raise money upto £5-6k if need be. Yeah the insurance is genuine and its registered as 2.6l with the model 92 onwards. im not looking to mod up or anything, just a standard drive for everyday life. I\'ve gone from my escort to a saxo vtr, then to a fiat stilo been recently driving a honda civic type r. i\'m not a boy racer or anything like that, just really enjoy my cars and have a passion for RX7\'s.

I\'ve been using the search but the search is so wide i was wondering if someone could help norrow down this for me.

What model would suit me? i\'m not looking for an amazing top condition rx but something decent, good milage and with a rebuild not to long ago.

Any ideas Chris??

In answer to the question:

the "back seats" are questionable to say the least!

the Type X is similar to the spec that the UK cars had ie nice stereo, leather (I believe) "back seats" I think they had a sunroof as well.

Type R is a better bet, slightly harder springs and a better drivers car. There is a thread in the what to look for ... section on the differences between the models.

If you aren\'t after modding or anything a UK spec would be best as they are cheaper to insure and will have a traceable history.

[dandan]

i wouldnt worry about the different models really, without taking the car to bits the only differences you might notice are rear seats instead of storage bins, and maybe a sunroof. If you feel you might take more than one (small) person out in it, then just find one with rear seats, although people on the forum are always up for swapping their seats for bins if you do end up with those.

For £3000-£4000 you will get a ratty 92 on 60,000 miles with no rebuild, and some serious costs on the horizon, unless you get very very lucky, so I would up your budget or wait a little while.

That insurance quote is amazing so i would check it out very thoroughly to be sure you dont get shafted.

Running costs, well if the car performs perfectly for the year (which, at your budget, would be a miracle!) and doesnt need repairs or out of the ordinary maintenance, you are still looking at paying for a fluid change every 3000 miles, plugs and filters every 5000, plus the cost of fuel at an average of probably 10-15mpg, good (i mean properly good) tyres are £100 a corner, depending how you drive you will need a few of those at least, it adds up and up and up!

Best time to buy is winter, but it seems the market is only going one way right now, and thats down, so you may get a good price in the middle of next summer at this rate!

I would think it through thoroughly before you part with any money, but if you do decide to get one, try and get someone on this forum local to you to have a look at any prospective cars, that way you can have some confidence in the purchase.

Oh, and if you let someone take you out for a spin in an rx, you will never want any other car, ever. You have been warned!

[dandan]

damn too slow!

[smith_wolves]

Are there any people in wolverhampton or close to wolverhampton who have an rx7 who could help? please any help would be appretiated, even jst been shown round there car! good way for people to be big headed to someone interested lol.

[Moonwrap]

Are there any people in wolverhampton or close to wolverhampton who have an rx7 who could help? please any help would be appretiated, even jst been shown round there car! good way for people to be big headed to someone interested lol.

There are a couple of MRC peeps with 3rd gens in Wolves and 1 in Dudley to my knowledge.  Have a look in the "Meets, Trackdays...." etc forum for their names as there are moves to get a Birmingham/Shrophire/Telford meet sorted out soon.

Also worthwhile considering is going to the North West Meet which is for all Japanese cars, which meets at The Mascrat near Warrington once a month.  It\'s about an hour\'s driver from Wolves. You will also see that in the "Meets..." etc forum.  There is normally a decent turnout of RX7\'s - but it will be less now as we are approaching winter.

Other than that hope someone replies here directly who has a 3rd gen locally.

Lynn
:wave

[shaunwil]

The only other thing to consider is does it have to be an FD ?? You could get a 1st gen or 2nd gen egi to play with until you have more funds. They have better mpg and theres plenty of stuff available for them. The australians and americans love the old skool stuff. They get 300+ bhp at the wheels out of even the 12a ! Plus 1st gen parts are much cheaper !

Shaun

[Crazy Eddie]

I\'m in Telford mate and bought my car for a similar budget so you can come and see what that gets you and what idealy to budget for.
Give me a shout if you want a ride / look at it. 07921 914318
Cheers
Eddie

[Brett]

Hi :wave

 Not wishing to sound harsh here, but looking at your previous/current cars I would seriously recommend you look for something a little less hairy than a 3rd gen to start off with.  
In my experience its better to serve a kind of apprenticeship on a lower powered RWD car first. You can pick up a good 2nd gen EGI (Thats a non turbo) for around £2000 and below, its got 150bhp some nice toys and with a few £££\'s you can get around 175bhp from it and lots of nice noises.  The EGi is a very \'chuckable\' car that is smooth and progressive. You will find the turbo charged varients can give you very scary wake up call - one you might not be ready for if its your first time out in the wet in a RWD beastie!

 I dont think there are many people on here who can hand on heart say that an FD is an ideal first RWD performance car, its an amazing vehicle - but without the experience to tame it you could end up loosing your pride and joy on the first wet day.

 I got my first high performance car when I was 21, it was an EGi...since then I\'ve had another EGi, an FD and a Turbo II (Turbo charged 2nd gen) plus lots of other things inbetween, so I guess I\'m speaking from experience.

 End of ramble!

[johnf]

I think thats a very valid point Brett. I spent the first eight or nine years of motoring in rear wheel drive cars.

This set up is now the unusual rather than the norm and I guess a lot of the younger drivers have no experience with rear wheel drive cars and I agree that an FD is probably not the best way to learn - it\'ll only give you one chance.

Just to add to your post:

you could end up loosing your pride and joy on the first wet day.
and be lucky to walk away


John

[smith_wolves]

I\'m not looking to thrash the car, or see what i can do with it or throw it round corners which you would find most people my age doing but i have set out to get something that i can enjoy driving.

Yeah eddie i\'d like to take you up on your offer cheers

[sadgoth]

I\'m not looking to thrash the car, or see what i can do with it or throw it round corners which you would find most people my age doing but i have set out to get something that i can enjoy driving.

Yeah eddie i\'d like to take you up on your offer cheers

You don\'t need to be driving like a %&*$ to have an off in a high powered lightweight RWD car on wet roads. Especially as the 2nd turbo kicks in, that has caught a LOT of experienced drivers off guard so at 4000rpm ish you get a sudden jolt which on a wet, oily or worst case icy road could mean you are into the central reservation!

I don\'t want to put a dampner on things, jus agreeing with the others here, the FD is a great car but it isn\'t very forgiving, my Turbo II is entertaining to say the least and that is down on power by 80bhp ish (until the work is done)