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I never cared for the RX-7, at least in that guise. It was an extremely delicate car, and a lot of them never really ran all that well in the real world. People that I nknew that had them were extremely displeased, especially if they'd owned a previous iteration of the 7.
The NSX was pretty much bulletproof, although I do recall some alignment issues.
I never cared for the RX-7, at least in that guise. It was an extremely delicate car, and a lot of them never really ran all that well in the real world. People that I nknew that had them were extremely displeased, especially if they'd owned a previous iteration of the 7.
The NSX was pretty much bulletproof, although I do recall some alignment issues.
Yes, the FD RX-7 (1992-1995 in the US) was poorly engineered and developed a poor reliability reputation. The NSX was well engineered, if unchanged, for 10 years - by the time it ended production is was overpriced and underpowered, but it always had solid reliability. That's why I limited the discussion to "blue sky" comparisons - running well, on a good day, when both cars were superstars in the early 90s.
The best of the 3rd gen RX-7's weren't sold in the US though. Specifically the Series 8's ('99-'02) More powerful by 25 horses, improved braking and suspension, etc. They were only available in Japan. Too bad they weren't available to the rest of the world.
The Wankel Rotary should be enough to sway anyone with mechanical couth to steer clear of the anemic Mazda, now how about the old Datsun/Nissan 240Z with the big straight 6cyl. with the 4-speed, I once owned a '72 and always regreted selling her! I out run countless Chevy V-8's and never had a minutes trouble out of that little beast and sold it to a friend for $600 & a shotgun about 15 yrs ago! Damn it!!!
Comparing an NSX to an RX7 is like comparing an S-class Mercedes to a Saturn.
Quite right. Not a fair comparison.
I owned an RX-7 Turbo and it was a great car. Very fast, loads of features and very reliable. I would love to drive an NSX some day. Truly one of the great modern sports cars.
Its funny you mention that, as it shows how perception colors the opinion. Just as an example, the RX-7 had a 0-60 of 5.1 sec and topped out around 160 mph. The NSX had a 5.6 sec 0-60 time and top speed of 165 mph. The NSX cost $30k more than the RX-7, but the performance of both cars was basically identical. Production numbers were low for both, but somehow the NSX was branded a Ferrari killer and the RX-7 was not, yet both had superior numbers.
Ive seen NSXs run much quicker than 5.6 seconds. RX-7's, while neat, were problematic. The NSX looks eons better to me and is definitely a lot more reliable. Performance is near equal on both, but the NSX is just stunning.
The NSX would win this comparison in my book since it redefined a category of exotic sports cars. It represented a forward-thinking, stellar approach to the possibility of a true sports car in the vein of a Ferrari that ran well and had few reliability issues, tires aside.
The RX-7 of that generation was fine for an everyday car, but it had lost its luster and had begun the morph into the sporty boulevardier that came next in the RX-8. I don't blame Mazda for this, however, since Nissan and Toyota abandoned their sports coupes at the same time, and Mazda was trying to be true to the roots of the sports car while trying to sell something people would purchase. However, when Nissan came back on the scene with the 350z, that changed things, especially in light of the RX-8.
If I had a choice I'd rather own a NSX. But those wankels have awesome power to displacement ratios, I think most of them are 1.3 liters. Just imagine if someone built a car with a big one.
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