Hey guys! I'm back after ages! Many of the OGs here might remember me as the guy from Sri Lanka with the Spirit R.



Well, since I've been away for so long I'll give a quick rundown of what happened. Basically I graduated, started making some money, and since the RX8 is my dream car, ended up buying 3 more RX8s! :D A 2004 velocity red GT, a 2007 with the same VeilSide kit as the RX8 in Tokyo Drift (childhood dream) and another 2012 Spirit R. 2019 was quite a year! So for 2020, I've been thinking of buying an RX7, but it's questionable reliability keeps me away from it.



To all you cool people out there who has owned both, how different is it to maintain compared to an 8? I've had 8s for 6 years, so if its like the 8, I have no problem buying a 7. I'm just worried if it'll need more care or be different than taking care of the 8. Another question I have is the reliability of the engine. Some say it's not as reliable as the Renesis. Some say it's more reliable. I've seen too many memes of RX7s blowing their engines. I get that they blow when you turn up the boost, but if it's stock, it won't just "blow" out of the blue, right? I'm assuming they gradually lose compression like RX8s? Hot start issues progressively getting worse until it won't start?



Do share your thoughts and opinions. Right now I'm open to learn anything and everything about RX7s. I'm planning on posting this on RX7club as well, but thought to post here first because I know the crowd here haha.



Thanks!

 

Much like RX-8, people have had varying results. From what I understand the major issues with an FD is cooling. If you can find a stock RX-7 in good condition and money isnt a problem go for it. Other wise you will most likely find a second (third, forth, fifth) handed RX-7 that is bound to be modded and have issues sooner rather than. Honestly its really a toss up. I would think of it how much money are you willing to spend after you buy the car. Hope it helps

 

it’s 18 - 28 years old

that pretty much answers your question

 

What Team said. My 7 is 35-37 years old and I just decided from the start that I would be rebuilding the entire car from the ground up. If you are talking about going back in time and getting one new, then the most reliable ones are going to be the older generations and NA models.. Beyond that it's just the obvious, reliability will be based on what you put into the engine build and tune.

 

Team has pointed out the obvious thing, those cars are old. Plastic gets brittle and rubber dries up.

I know someone with an FD online and he once showed me the vacuum diagram for the FD. Let any one of those fail, you will lose boost along with other issues. He said it's really the best to just replace all the lines before they inevitably crack with age and now you have to hunt down the vacuum line that broke.

I have seen old NA rotaries last a while but they aren't fast, at all, by modern standards. Turbocharged ones will not last as long. Either way, you might want to rebuild one and replace a lot of components if you want it to be very reliable.