Rotaryman88

Well, I'm looking for a dd car, and I came across a MINT '93 w/ 57K miles on the body and a mazda replaced motor @ 40K miles..so the motor has less then 20K on it! The problem is the car is automatic and I'm nervous about automatic 3rd gens...I've been in enough rotary shops to see these autos come in from overboosting and blowing the motor...is this a big issue w/ automatic FDs? This car is super clean and in my price range...and its really only for DD...but i'd probably put exhaust and BOV on it for appeal, lol...what are some things to consider w/ auto FDs?

Lost Time

Once you buy it you're stuck with it. If you don't want an auto, don't buy one. The cost in attempting to swap in a manual tranny later is ridiculous. According to Pettit and some other sources, the most you can ever expect out of an auto is in the 350-390HP range which is plenty if you're just kicking around. If you have no racing aspirations, go for it.

Rotaryman88

I'm worried more about the reliability..my FC is more then enough power for me for a while, lol....





Any reliability issues w/ the autos?

Lost Time

No more than with any other automatic car. Just make sure the tranny is in good shape first.

RussellTT94

i wouldn't buy an FD for daily driving

bigtime

i wouldnt buy an automatic car either

j9fd3s

automatic fd's are hard, the tranny lasts about as long as the motor, so you may have to replace both at the same time. a new tranny is $2700, and unless someone knows what they are doing the tranny cant be rebuilt



mike

Rotaryman88

Well, this car has 57K original miles and 17K on the motor from a shop overheating the car(left it unattended and the overflow tank split...thats what the guy says at least). I figure the tranny has at least 30K left in it. I wouldn't be driving all that hard either, just from point A to point B, and I know a lot of you don't see the point in owning an FD for a DD, but I love Rx7s and really don't want to drive anything else, and FCs are old. If I get this new job I'm interviewing for tomorrow, I want a nice car to go to the office in



Either way..at least I'd have an FD...and two rx7s :rice:

vosko

i think it really depends how much it costs.............

j9fd3s

have you driven the car? drive it first, personally i hate the lag from a dead stop, and the super hard shifts when your cruising and the mushy shifts when you beat on it.



mike