Mazda RX7 Spirit R

[Daston]

Hey guys

Doing a bit of research/planning ahead, long story short thinking of getting a new weekend toy late this year or early next. The RX7 spirit R has got me thinking.

Anyone know if these were sold in the UK or how many were made?

[Guvernator]

Daston said:

Hey guys

Doing a bit of research/planning ahead, long story short thinking of getting a new weekend toy late this year or early next. The RX7 spirit R has got me thinking.

Anyone know if these were sold in the UK or how many were made?

Don't think these were ever sold in the UK officially. There probably are a very few over here, however due to the rare nature and the fact that they were the last if the line RX-7, they fetch good money. I'd think you'd probably be looking near to £20k for a decent one. You also can't import one from Japan currently due to import regs as they are newer than 10 years old (made in 2002) although you will be able to as of 2012.

The reason why I know so much is I also had the same thought a while back and realised it probably wasn't going to happen. Having done your research, I also assume you know about the issues surrounding rotary engines?

[Marf]

1000 were made.

Split across Type-A("sports" model), Type-B("comfort" model), Type-C(automatic).

There are a couple in the UK, and I'd expect to see more appearing next year once the 10year SVA rule ticks over.

There is one in the UK which the owner has made a website for, unfortunately its damaged repaired.

They are hugely expensive to buy in Japan and massively sought after.

Last time I looked I worked out it'd cost in the region of £25k to import a decent low mileage Type-A/B car.

http://exchange.goo-net.com/usedcars/spread/700020...

http://exchange.goo-net.com/usedcars/spread/700020...

http://exchange.goo-net.com/usedcars/spread/700100...

http://exchange.goo-net.com/usedcars/spread/700110...

http://exchange.goo-net.com/usedcars/spread/700020...

http://exchange.goo-net.com/usedcars/spread/909011...

http://exchange.goo-net.com/usedcars/spread/700050...


I would love a Spirit, but realistically you'd be better off finding a post 98 Type R or TypeRB thats already in the UK.

Edited by Marf on Tuesday 18th January 15:33

[Daston]

Thanks guys,

Budget would only be 10-12k so a Spirit is proably out of the question lol.

I have only really started looking into it but I know the Rotary engines need a bit more TLC than regular piston engines but then I am used to tempemental engines with the Speed Six

[Marf]

Well I wouldnt be too down about not getting a Spirit R, 10-12k will get you a very nice fairly stock late model car, or a slightly older one with lots and lots of modifications.

http://pistonheads.com/sales/2268873.htm

2k left over for a nice set of wheels or whatever.

I will own one of these one day, superb car to drive.

Edited by Marf on Tuesday 18th January 18:30

[Hi RX7]

There are one or two in this country the best way would be to contact Bonsaicars.com as they list one or two now and then in the Japanese auctions. Nice cars I suggest you have a look at the Mazdarotary club web site to give you an informed opinion about owning these cars. I have had a late RX7 Bathhurst edition currently 370 BHP for about two years now and love it I do trackdays with it and despite recently trying cars at £50K plus still prefer the feel and driving grin factor the RX7 still gives me. There is a lot of mis-information around about RX7's so a long look through the MRC forum is the first thing I would advise you to do.

[Daston]

Cheers guys will have a read up. Is all the horror stories as bad as they seem? I dont go a day without hearing a coment about the TVR but then I just take that as Clarkson giving people ideas.

Once I am looking properly I will have a chat with the importers, I know JM-imports from when I owned my Supra's.

It was infact that blue one in classfields that got me thinking, some nice gold BBS-LM's would really set it off.

[Hi RX7]

Just recently a silver 2000 year car was for sale on e-bay with only 43k mileage it looked to be a good standard car and only fetched £6700 by all accounts the final bidder was some sort of hoax bidder and I understand it may be back on sale now that is a bargain car even allowing for tuning/re-building after purchase its a steal.
Correction its back on e-bay for £7995 or offer so not quite the bargain on the original sale.
One thing I would say is through the owners web site find a reputable specialist (and there are quite a few) and get them to look after its maintenace properly that will drastically improve the owners experience with owning and running these brilliant cars

Edited by Hi RX7 on Tuesday 18th January 21:15

[Daston]

Hi RX7 said:

Just recently a silver 2000 year car was for sale on e-bay with only 43k mileage it looked to be a good standard car and only fetched £6700 by all accounts the final bidder was some sort of hoax bidder and I understand it may be back on sale now that is a bargain car even allowing for tuning/re-building after purchase its a steal.
Correction its back on e-bay for £7995 or offer so not quite the bargain on the original sale.
One thing I would say is through the owners web site find a reputable specialist (and there are quite a few) and get them to look after its maintenace properly that will drastically improve the owners experience with owning and running these brilliant cars

Edited by Hi RX7 on Tuesday 18th January 21:15

Thanks for the input

I shall have a look on the owners forum and see whats what. At a rough stab in the dark how much is an engine rebuild if it needed it? Or is it a bit like how long is a bit of string?

[Hi RX7]

There are a few factors that can influence the cost of a re-build depending on how it blew etc whether you want any porting done while the engine is out etc. The MRC forum will be able to answer all these questions plus loads more you probably have and they will be answered by people who run , race or trackday RX7's with many years of experience behind them. This will give you enough information for you to make a more considered opinion about owning these cars.

[philwhite]

The Spirit R is one of my dream cars and I’ve promised myself I will own one day, the chap who services my RX7 has one in white, it only has about 6k from new and still looks factory fresh, to say its stunning is an understatement, the previous owner used to loan it to Mazda for promotional stuff and I’m sure it was used at the NEC motor show a few years back. He won’t divulge how much he paid but I’m sure it was well north of 20k.

As much as I love them, to be honest there isn’t a great deal of difference between a Sprit R and a standard 99 spec type r or rs and I’m sure they drive just as nicely, you could find yourself paying an extra 10k for some Red Recaro’s and some BBS wheels.

[Hi RX7]

Completely agree with you there, although the Spirit R is very nice my black one with the 99 spec front and the front splitter matching the paintwork plus bronze Wedsports and lowered suspension looks in my opinion every bit as nice as a Spirit R but without the enormous price tag.

Edited by Hi RX7 on Thursday 20th January 19:27

[rotarymazda]

Daston said:

Cheers guys will have a read up. Is all the horror stories as bad as they seem? I dont go a day without hearing a coment about the TVR but then I just take that as Clarkson giving people ideas.

Once I am looking properly I will have a chat with the importers, I know JM-imports from when I owned my Supra's.

It was infact that blue one in classfields that got me thinking, some nice gold BBS-LM's would really set it off.

When I was looking for a Spirit 4+ years ago, I found an unmodified blue 2000 RS. Mechanically the same as the Spirit (uprated 99+ turbos/cooling/exhaust, 17" wheels, big brakes etc.) but without the 16-bit ABS, seats and drilled brake discs.

Mine has been reliable, no faults, used as a daily driver, just a £250 annual service at Jimmy's (and lots of fuel!). It uses less oil than the family VW did since new.

Standard rebuilds are around £2500 fitted last time I looked, more if you want it ported.

Mine was imported by Newera.

The post-99 RB/RB-S were the standard 265bhp engine, the R/RS/Spirit had the uprated turbos/exhaust for 280+bhp.

Edited by rotarymazda on Friday 21st January 08:59

[Guvernator]

How long does a rebuild usually last, 30k? Is there anyway to improve the longevity of these engines so you don't have to rebuild them every 3 years?

[Marf]

Guvernator said:

How long does a rebuild usually last, 30k? Is there anyway to improve the longevity of these engines so you don't have to rebuild them every 3 years?

Internet myths abound on rebuild times, I'll let some owners expand on that, however I will say that rebuilds every 30k/3yrs is bunk.

[Guvernator]

Marf said:

Guvernator said:

How long does a rebuild usually last, 30k? Is there anyway to improve the longevity of these engines so you don't have to rebuild them every 3 years?

Internet myths abound on rebuild times, I'll let some owners expand on that, however I will say that rebuilds every 30k/3yrs is bunk.

Oh I'm sure there is which is why I wanted some real world imput. However I think as brilliant as the RX-7 is, the rebuild worries are why 99% of people are put off buying into the Rotary experience. Just wondered if there was a permanent fix which would at least allay one of the major problems of RX-7 ownership. Let's face it, whether it's 3 years or 6, apart from the dedicated few, most people really don't want to gamble and face the worry\hassle of having to have an engine rebuilt as part of their car ownership experience as I believe it's a matter of when not if.

[Marf]

Ultimately they are engines which are more sensitive to poor modification, incorrect fuelling and oil starvation.

They run quite hot compared to a normal piston and are nowhere near as det resistant as your average piston engine.

[Hi RX7]

I think as a general rule the higher the output the shorter the engine life, people do have standard cars that run for years without re-builds 60K comes to mind in one instance. But with the RX7 you are so easily tempted into bigger power outputs in the 400 region and again I can recall a few owners racing theirs for quite a few years before re-build time came up. So I think you have to put it into perspective with looking at what other high performance cars cost to get the sort of performance you would get out of an RX7. With the 50/50 weight balance and the car being quite light to start with you have an advantage from the start, and remember also that you can pick up a single turbo car for say 10K that will frighten the living daylights out of you and may well last you for years if properly looked after by one of the many reputable specialist tuners, and that I think is the key to RX7 ownership because people do buy them and bugger about with them not really knowing what they are doing and it may be the case that you buy this car and the result is sometimes very unfortunate. I always rightly or wrongly reccomend every new potential owner to have £3K put aside just in case, but you might be lucky and find one that has been re-built by one of the specialist tuners and not have any problems. One of the specialist tuners offer a 24 month warranty on their re-built engines so that should go some way to blowing away any myth of them only lasting a short while.

[Big Tav]

That's very nice! So cheap for how much car you are getting.

In Australia I have seen one with 250,000km on the standard motor before the seals went. It's how you look after it.

[dele]

My RX7 lasted up until 80k until it needed a rebuild and it was driven quite hard as it was a weekend car

Honestly?

The best car ive owned, it had such an amount of character, the engine can be really tempremental though so buy it but keep a budget to rebuild it, i found that the interior on them really suffered though, so keep an eye out for that