A friend of mine has a mint silver 95 rx-7 r2 with 38,000km.....He offered to trade straight up for my 8 which btw is a base model w/14,000km.....I have owned a 93 b4 and i miss it dearly .....I guess a turbo would help the 8 a lot but the 7 is a legend in itself and it looks like mazda will never make another one....what do y'all think?

 

I'd take the FD in a heartbeat if I didn't need the rear-seats. You also need to keep some cash set aside for a rebuild of the 13B, but it's worth it. That's about as close as you can get to an exotic for the price...

 

straight up trade for a 10 year old car though?

 

DARKMAZ8

That would be in my opinion...the worst decision someone could make.

A car that's 10 years older??? Geez.

 

Have you ever driven an FD b4?

 

As much as I like and admire the FD, I would definitely not do it. The FD, besides indeed being kind of exotic, had it's share of reliability issues (especially if it's a turbo) and having a 10 year old car which needs even more fuel and has worse emissions than the 8 is not something I'd like.
It really depends on what your desire is - if you're missing your earlier car so much, then it's more of a sentimental question for you. Also, if you use the 8 as your second / hobby car, then it's something that might make sense, but taking the 95 as the daily driver over the 8 would not work for me, personally.

EDIT: consider this as well. What this would mean is buying a 10 years old FD for well over 20K+ dollars. Economical? Hardly. You'd be better off by selling your 8 and buy his (or another) FD.

 

While I use to own a Montego Blue 93 myself--I would have to say no on the trade unless you have desposable income to put into rebuilding the 13B and the subsequent mod fever you are gonna get. I would love to have another one, but I need a vehicle that is more practical--if you have a 2nd car--go for it.

 

Not my fully loaded GT, but a base model '8... yeah. I'm guessing you've never driven an R2... incredible handling and faster than a bat out of hell. There' weren't many '95 R2's made, and if it's in mint condition, it's probably worth as much or more than a base 8. It's going to be a rare classic if kept in good condition...

 

most definately will be a weekend car......but it's the overall condition of this 7 that it has been kept in......It looks brand new and as far as being a 10 year old car,,,it is the only negative thing about this car.....BUT all parts are readily available and could easily be restored to brand new condish.....If mazda never makes a newer 7 then this is most definatly the car to have......btw it is an original r2 which is rare in itself...

 

Also I am certain that this car will in 10 years will be worth more than a 10 year old rx8.....

 

It's already worth as much as a one year old RX8, so that's a guarantee

 

Well, OK, I wasn't aware that the R2 was that rare... but if you're buying a car as an investment looking forward to 10 years from now, that's not typically a good way to invest your money.
But alas, as I said, it appears you approach this question from a sentimental angle. In which case, why not? Go for it if you desire the FD so much. You'll probably feel sorry later if you didn't.



...which obviously doesn't guarantee you won't feel sorry if you did :p

 

... forgot to add that a well tuned FD will have more power potential than any RX8, and most of the FD guys I talk with get better gas mileage and over 300hp with their modified (upgraded) turbos.

 

If it's a matter of 'power' - I'd not do the trade. What would 7psi on a FD give? 190?whp. 7psi on a Renesis = 240+ whp.

If it's a matter of looks - I'd not do the trade. While the FD is still sexy, the angular, muscular lines of the 8 win out

If it's a matter of sentiment - find a good, stock RX7 for sale when you can afford to have both.

 

I would say trade, and if your RX8 is your daily driver go get a junker with good gas mileage for $500.

 

I used to agree - but now, my vote for 'better-looking' lands on the side of the RX8.

 

Why would that be? Let's say you add a Greddy turbo and manage to tune it really well. Why would the older, less advandec design of the 13B have more power potential? I don't know enough about rotaries - so please educate me.
Now the gas mileage part is interesting. How much do those people get? I get easily 19 mpg with mixed city/highway driving (60% hw, 40% city) - I doubt they would get anything even close to that.
There is no argument about the hp for sure, but it's hard to believe the gas consumption part.

 

I definately would get another 8 but since it will be dedicated to being a daily driver I would opt for the gt.....I bought the base for weight savings and helmet room...remember that an r2 weighs a bit over 2700lbs..that is extremely light for a car that can easily attain 300whp....

 

Not sure where you're getting your numbers, but a 95 RX7 is putting out 255hp stock- not sure how much to the wheels, but it's considerably more than 190... probably closer to 220-230. It runs 0-60 in around 5 seconds, and is in the high 13's in the 1/4 mile. With some tuning, that car can see 300hp easy. For the $5k you'd be putting in the RX8 to hit 240hp, the RX7 can hit 350-400hp. And it weighs quite a bit less.

As for looks- I love my RX8, but the FD is a timeless beauty- and it will always be that way.

But you're right on your last point- best solution is keep the RX8 as a daily driver, and add the '7 as a weekend/project car.

 

The FD has 212lb/ft of torque as well. Right now the RX8 has nowhere near the tuning potential of the FD. I sorely miss mine and would love to get a hold of one if I had the extra money/time.

 

Because there's not the problem of the 8's ECU in the way of the power. There's not much a 10 year old car relies on the computer for, so you can rip it out and replace it, and fine tune it, rather than futz with a piggy back solution. The 8's ECU is far more intrusive...

I've also seen large power gains from porting & polishing the 13B-REW... I'm not convinced that there's as much to get out of the Renesis... seems it's close to being maxed out (in NA form). I think Mazda did an incredible job squeezing ~225hp out of our motors without forced induction. [/QUOTE]

I'm guessing because these guys are tuned properly and not running ridiculously rich like we are... I don't remember their numbers, but they laughed at my 16mpg (all city).

 

How may PSI does a stock FD run?

My point was - while the FD may have more stock whp, the renesis, psi-for-psi could have more potential.


For the record, I've seen a 100% stock FD run 13.5. (mid, not high 13s)

hehe

 

what about the 300 extra pounds?

I don't think you'll be able to boost all that much using a piggyback for the 8.....7-9psi max.....but who knows....Im sure it'll be a while till all the guinea pigs do the r/d

 

No idea.

Bingo.

 

Ummm... hearing all the stories about turboed RX-7s having engine troubles, maybe?
Dude, there's no reason to rip me a new one... as you can see, I admitted not being too knowledgeable about rotaries. I am certainly open for getting educated about the topic. I still stand behind what I wrote about the trade question and that I wouldn't do it - but I realize there are other reasons for people to see this differently.

That's not exactly the way you'd think from posts you can read - let's not consider those RX-8s that get sub-15 mpg because that's not normal IMO.