Just wondering what experience, positive or negative you had.  Seems like a nice concept, (and something a little different), and the last series of Mazda RX-7 cars seemed pretty nice and should be reasonably priced by now in the used car market.

a first generation rx-7 is about as much fun as you can have with 100 horses.  and the later turbo models are land rockets.  they rev high and sound pretty cool.  
downside: engines need apex seals replaced rather frequently.  but the new rx-8 has a different port design that should minimize that problem.  

I've been renting a mazda 6 for the last 2 weeks and I'm really enjoying the hell out of it. The autostick is VERY nice, and the car is incredibly responsive. It handles great - 35mph right hand turns without squealing, not much rocking when moving quick at high speeds. The interior is comfortable for 4 people.

My only complaint is that the turning radius is almost as bad as my Chevy 1500HD truck at home! Other than that, A++....

Doc

my girlfrinds first car was an RX7, an  older one.

i always critisized the car until i got to drive it.

i had a 97 mustang gt and somehow it blew me away!

the latest commercials almost have me sold..
i'd like to trade in her cougar for a new RX, but she wont let me.

Listen up.

I have been driving rotaries since 1975.  I have had 2 RX3s, 2 RX4s, 2 Cosmos, and 2 RX7s.

The fastest ones have been a 1977 RX3SP, which would absolutely fly and dominated Showroom Stock club racing in SCCA for several years in the 1970s, a 1974 RX4 coupe (my first rotary), and my 1988 RX7 TurboII Anniversary Edition.  

Mazda had some seal problems in the '70s, but they stuck with it and now it is pretty much a bulletproof engine, using a racing term, not really bulletproof.

They had a great warranty.  My 1974 RX4 locked the engine when the apex seals went, but I had a brand new engine in the car in a week at no cost to me.  That was at about 85k miles.

I had an RX4 wagon with which I pulled a 15 foot trihull boat.  I had a Chevy wagon that wandered all over the place when pulling the boat.  I took it back to the dealer several times and they finally said there was nothing they could do about it.  This was in the late '70s, early '80s.  I bought the RX4 wagon and it pulled that damn boat as straight as you please, with no wiggle and had plenty of power.  I will admit it was a little under-braked for that, but I made allowances.

My RX7 TurboII has 202k on it and will still do over 150mph easily.  It handles like it is on a rail and the 4 piston calipers stop it very well.

I am not enamored with the RX8, based on it's looks and lack of power.  I understand that MazdaSpeed will be coming out with a version later that will be blown or turboed, not sure right now.  When it does, I will consider it, but right now, my 15 year old rotary will smoke the new one easily, along with some other cars that don't realize what they are up against.

I am not talking about drag racing, as the lack of low end torque combined with turbo lag tend to not give good 1/4 mile times, but who gives a fuck about that.  Now, on a twisty road and/or top end, look out.  I know that on the ramp at I-16 and mile marker 104, I can easily be over 100 by the end of the ramp, so it's not too much of a slouch from a standing start.

Back in the 80's (1984-87 to be exact), when I was in the Army, I had a roommate that had a RX-7.  The car was tight, only 2 seats, so if he took a third person they got stuffed under the hatchback.  But the car SCREAMED as far as speed. It was very quick off the line.  It was was a blast to drive and hoot to be a passenger in.

Quoted: a first generation rx-7 is about as much fun as you can have with 100 horses.  and the later turbo models are land rockets.  they rev high and sound pretty cool.   downside: engines need apex seals replaced rather frequently.  but the new rx-8 has a different port design that should minimize that problem.

1.  The seal problems went away in the early '80s.

2.  The port design had nothing to do with the seal problems.  It was the seal composition that was the problem.

I had an old Rx7 and it would blow away 350 with wanton abandon!

A real sleeper,not much to look at though,and a little toughe to tune!

Bob

Quoted: I've been renting a mazda 6 for the last 2 weeks and I'm really enjoying the hell out of it. The autostick is VERY nice, and the car is incredibly responsive. It handles great - 35mph right hand turns without squealing, not much rocking when moving quick at high speeds. The interior is comfortable for 4 people. My only complaint is that the turning radius is almost as bad as my Chevy 1500HD truck at home! Other than that, A++.... Doc

Not a rotary.

Plus, front wheel drive cars in general tend to have a large turning radius due to limitations in how far the front wheels can go side to side due to drive mechanisms.

I owned 2 rx-7's in my yute. A '80 and a '85 gsl-se. I took the 85 motor out and replaced it with a turbo rotary block, upgraded the turbo and intercooler and installed aftermarket fuel injection. About 400 HP ina little sports car makes for alot of fun.  It ate up so many mustangs and camaros it wasnt even funny. Only thing that put my ego in check was a worked vette that lost me at 150 and kept going. Something about hearing a T04 spool up before you launch. I miss her.


To answer your question, if your talking about the 3rd gen body, they're a great sportscar, but its a 11 yr old sports car, so  i'd guess you would have to work it alittle( suspension, motor) to get it in today's cars league.  If you can find a stock one, even better. If I stilll had my garage, i would seriously think about getting one and working it. A nice black one with tan interior. Oh yea.

Quoted: To answer your question, if your talking about the 3rd gen body, they're a great sportscar, but its a 11 yr old sports car, so  i'd guess you would have to work it alittle( suspension, motor) to get it in today's cars league.  If you can find a stock one, even better. If I stilll had my garage, i would seriously think about getting one and working it. A nice black one with tan interior. Oh yea.

I would have to respectfully disagree.  My 2nd gen Turbo will still handle with most cars and run with them.  All I have done (a long time ago) was put a Racing Beat exhaust and played with the injection a little.  Stiffer springs and shocks (again long ago) and she is good to go.

The 3rd gen needs no work.  I have a friend who has a bone stock R1 3rd gen that has only about 60k on it.  It is a weekend car only.  It will still take on and beat a lot of newer cars.

My 1983 12A RX7 was a bolt of friggin' lightning! The 12A motor was built by some Puerto Rican friends of mine who strictly built and tweaked Rotary engines.  Mikuni carb, MSD ignition and BBK headers. As far as inside the block, I dunno. I dogged this motor for two years, 'til the main seals went.  
I wish I had the money to own another car and engine like that. Even for two years.
I paid $1500 for the car and $1500 for parts and the rotary rebuild.
90 mph in 3rd gear without worrying about the 9000 rpm redline.

Thanks for the memories......

HS1

Years ago I bought a used rx7 that was in real nice shape. I only had it for 5 months before it was stolden.

A good friend of mine had a rotary engine RX-7 years ago. It had well over 150,000 miles and still ran great.  I don't think he ever had any major problems with it.

Quoted: Ok so they fixed the engine's seal longevity of the 70s, did they ever fix the gas mileage I had two different RX3s that got around 10mpg.

Well, I get 18 or so around town with a 300hp rotary turbo.

It was a common mistake that a lot of people made.  They expected 4 cylinder fuel mileage out of a performance engine.  Of course, you constantly sticking your foot in that four barrel didn't help.

I knew a guy who had one of those Mazda rotary powered mini-pickups.  That thing had power to spare for towing.  One of my old roomates had a 2d gen RX7.  I've always like the rotary engine.  I widh the pick-up would make a comeback in a mid-sized.

Ross

Here's my second generation, 1989 GTU. Complete Mind Train exhaust system including header, no cat. Eibach front and rear sway bars. Tokico front struts, and rear shocks with Eibach spring kit. K & N filter and Racing Beat plug wires. I drive it a bit (it's just for fun) every day.

The rotary engine is one of the most efficient internal combustion designs ever. I had an RX-7 in the early 90s. Loved it.

I worked for McMillian Arms in Phoenix AZ. back in '88-'89 and we were at the range to test fire some of the M-88's for the SEAL's, one of the bolt handles broke off so Gail McMillian(the MAN himself) tossed me the keys to his RX-7 to take the rifle back to the shop and get it fixed. Man, what a car, that little thing would get up and go. I saw something on the History ch. the other night about engines and they touched on the Rotary engine, looks like a very neet concept. No valves, pistons or cam shaft. I'd love to tear into one to see how it works. Heck, I  was kicking around the idea of picking up a junker RX-7 at a later date just to play around with.

A co-worker had a 550HP 93 RX-7.  Pretty impressive to see mid 10's come from a <2L engine.

In stock form I would not call them efficient.

A co-worker had a 550HP 93 RX-7.  Pretty impressive to see mid 10's come from a <2L engine.

In stock form I would not call them efficient.

My only complaints were the lack of low end torque. If you like top end screaming, a rotary is great. If you want to leave a strip of rubber from a stoplight, it ain't going to happen.

My old '80 had  quite a bit of oversteer, but once you got used to it, it was fun.

Ed

I drove one for about 5min from point A to B, never got much of an impression.  Autozone cant ever find parts for that 5.7L Rotary for some reason.

Have driven several modified 93-95 RX7's and a stock RX7 TT R2......

In modified form with roughly 270hp to the wheels a 94 RX7 is nearly a perfect driving experience.  It won't win many drag races with similar powered pushrod V8's but damn can it carve up the twisties and an alarming rate.  Not to mention and easy trip to 160 and back....

They weigh in very light and they can achieve extremely good power with good mods.  Their look is still very exciting, even when compared to newer sporty cars.

In stock form I believe they pulled the 1/4 in 14.0 @ 99mph.  No slouch in the early 90's, no slouch today from 1.3L's.

Since I purchased my truck, I have often considered trading my WRX in for a minty '95.....oh if I find one I might just do it.  They are irresistible.

Quoted: If you want to leave a strip of rubber from a stoplight, it ain't going to happen.

 It'll leave a mark.......been there, done that.....

Just FYI:


Felix Wankel, inventor of the rotary engine.


NSU Ro 80, the first car to be equipped with a rotary engine. 1967.


37,300 have been sold between 1967 and 1977.
The lack of success broke forced NSU to merge with Audi,
already a division of VW.

I had sex in the passenger seat of an RX-7 once...does that count?

Notice I said "once"...too friggin cramped to try it again.

Yeah, the car was the (short term) GF's....I drove it a couple of times. Took it out in the country one night to see what it could do. I was impressed with the speed and power band. Extremely smoothe power curve... imho.

Now Kelly's curves were even smoother...She could fold in half like a pocket knife. Front seat reclined, my legs in the footwell of the passenger side, her ankles pinned behind her ears...you get the idea. At least I can say I did it.

I had a silver-blue-metallic (good color) 1984 RX7 that was a great car - it had over 200k on it when I burned up the engine (summer of 1995, IIRC).  At that point it was worth less than what it would have cost to repair, so I sold it for a song to the service manager at my local Mazda dealership - he put a new engine in it himself & let his son have the car (it was in excellent cosmetic condition).

Even though I still have my Miata, I miss that little RX7 every now & then - and my wife (who had taken to driving it regularly before I killed it) misses it more than I & still blames me for burning it up...

The 2nd-generation model never interested me that much, but I would still love to have a 3rd-generation RX7 (I drove the first one that my local dealer got in & I would have loved to have bought one then, but I didn't...).

Quoted: Quoted: If you want to leave a strip of rubber from a stoplight, it ain't going to happen.  It'll leave a mark.......been there, done that.....

From an ol' MOPAR guy, I said "a strip of rubber", not  "a mark"

The father of one of my jr highschool buddies had a Mazda rotary powered Austin Healy Sprite.  Never got to ride in it myself but from general BS'n with him the general impression was "E-ticket ride".  

Quoted: I drove one for about 5min from point A to B, never got much of an impression.  Autozone cant ever find parts for that 5.7L Rotary for some reason.

Huh?????????????

That reminds me.  While I was working in Barbados for 16 weeks a couple of years ago, I made a 1 week side trip to Grenada.  A telco guy there had 3 Japanese home-market 3 rotor, twin turbo Mazda Cosmos.

Right hand drive.  You sit down in it and the cockpit basically wraps around you.  This thing is putting out over 300hp at the wheels, bone stock.  I took it for a spin and damn, what a rush.

How he got them, I don't know, but the Caribbean islands are perfect for that because most of them drive on the wrong side of the road and they have to make ZERO mods to bring them in from Japan.

Quoted: The 2nd-generation model never interested me that much, but I would still love to have a 3rd-generation RX7 (I drove the first one that my local dealer got in & I would have loved to have bought one then, but I didn't...).

My 2nd gen Anniversary Edition Turbo II looks great and will run with a 3rd gen all day long.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: If you want to leave a strip of rubber from a stoplight, it ain't going to happen.  It'll leave a mark.......been there, done that..... From an ol' MOPAR guy, I said "a strip of rubber", not  "a mark"

I know exactly what you mean and it will do it.....please don't kid yourself....

The ability of a car to overcome less than 5 square inches of contact patch is not that impressive.

My '85 S10 with the 2.8L V6 could lay a rubber stripe 10'.........