I have a few questions.

Is it legal/do-able to purchase a car without a liscence (from ebay or somewhere) but not drive it, just work on it until I turn 16 soon?

Or does one have to be 16 to be able to purchase a car.

I was thinking of getting an rx-7. Is that somewhat of a good car?

its totally legal to own a care before you are 16, im only 14 and i bought an 81 rx7. the only issue i can see is shipping a car of ebay can be very costly and hard

I believe its perfectly legal since you only need a license to drive the car but you should always check your states laws.

Also, Im also pretty sure that you wont be able to afford a RX-7 if youre not even 16 yet because they are rather overpriced way above Blue Book Value (depending on what year you want though). RX-7s also have a lot of problems so be ready to spend LOTS of money fixing it.

Btw, are your parents gonna be buying the car for you? Because seeing how you asked your question, sounds like you'll be buying it yourself?

I would probably be paying for half the car.
Whats wrong with an rx-7.

'93 rx-7 is what I'm looking at.

just be prepared for high mechanic bills or to be working on it all the time, rotarys are evil to work with

Or no mechanic bills seeing as my brothers best friend is a mechanic, as are most all my friends. Ill just get them to do the work.

are they experts on RX7s? No offense but no 16 YO needs a 93 RX7. It's far too overpriced unless you're merely looking to try and impress people. And plenty of very solid mechincs cant deal with a rotary engine let alone a newer RX7 and the million vacuum lines there. If you think you have people to work on that car be damn sure theyve worked on several of them before, because it truly is a one of a kind engine bay and unless youve dealt with them before theyre a nightmare to work on. And I really hope you take that to heart. Certified Mazda mechanics, (The ones at the dealerships), have issues with FDs. So unless you have a rotary expert, or a guy who specializes in those cars be very aware that theyre gonna have severe issues with em.

And if they tell you "It's just like any other car" or "How hard could it be?" stay the hell away from them, because they know nothing about that car and will mess up the vacuum system. Andone of maybe 30-40 vacuum hoses being hooked up wrong means losing a ton of HP.

And parts for them are way pricey.

unless you just wanna go the way of swaping out the legendary rotary for say an LS1 getting a good mechanic like Rylinkus said is going to be hard

Good man, but an LT1/LS1 swap ruins the true greatness of the car, mainly the handling.

Well my brother is a mechanic and he owned his rx-7 for a long time and he know how to work on them I guess.
If not an rx-7, what else would someone reccomend.

The things I'm mainly looking for in a car is.
-Rounded features (not like the '85-'87 rx-7 or cars with sharp lines)
-Somewhat fast
-Good handling
-Manual


Edit: -Dont want a car that gets 15 gallons to the mile

Also, a rotary engine is not hard to work on, seeing as it has next to no moving parts.

Thats the RX-7 right there for you

Read around some and learn more about it.

Heres a great site also:
http://robrobinette.com/

Theyre also fairly high maintenance. Rotary engines are far from reliable. Eve if all the labor was free, parts alone could be a bitch. I think it's easier to suggest cars if we have a price range and have some idea what you can afford to upkeep/insure/drive. Also if it needs to be drivable in snow. Or any othe criteria you may have. Ill admit that the newer RX7s area verynice looking car. Id never own one though. After upkeep and the overpriced nature of them to begin with I could find myself a much nicer sports car.


Your brother has rebuilt rotary engines? Because there's plenty of mechanics that wont.

Ok, so Ill try my best to supply information.

Im in Texas so I doubt snow will be an issue.
Odds are, Ill sell one (or more) of my computers and my 360 along with working for money.
So a price range should be within or around $1,500-4,000 ish.
Uhh what else...
Insurance I guess, Im gonna go as cheap as possible on that, such as liability only. I dont really know much about insurance so I wouldnt know what they base their charges on. It probably will be joined with my parents insurance.

if your not too concerned it be ver high powered i would sugest find a later model camaro/firebird with a v6 and a manual those things sometimes go for under 4k

I dont want a camaro/firebird seeing how high the insurance would be for me.
Plus, everyone and their grandma has a camaro.

5.0 mustang would be fast and easy to work with. They can be had for cheap. Id stay away from rotary engines. As far as everyone and there grandma having a camaro, that is because they are nice quick cars.

mkIII supra turbo..

quick, handling very similar to a FD (have driven both extensively), and since it's a toyota the maintenance is fairly cheap. the only thing you need to be on the lookout for is the head gasket.. best thing is to have the head and block machined/decked and install a metal headgasket. after that you should be golden

and you should be able to find one in your price range pretty easily as well.. i just picked up an 87 2 weeks ago for 1900. damn is that thing fun

With a budget of about $4K I dont really think that a 93 RX7 is achievable. Theyre generally quite pricey.

I was looking around on eBay and I've found a few that are close to my price range.

its hard to find GOOD ones around that price range. Hell, its pretty rare to find crappy ones around that price range.

With your budget, Id rather go with an FC intead.

Id be very leary of anything going that cheap, there's most likely a reason. Those things generally go for 10K or better if theyre in any sort of decent shape.

No kidding, ive never seen a 3rd gen RX-7 for under 9 grand that ran at all. Any you find for around 4,000 are sure to be garbage.

Id also suggest getting a cheap car, everyone wants a nice cool car but when you 16, the most important thing is to make sure you can afford it. RX-7 (or any forign sports car) will be very pricey to maintain. Please lisen to us id hate to see you make the mistake i made. I bought a brand new BMW not knowing the price to repair it, it would have screwed me except mine was under warrenty.

A good idea would be to stay away from high milage cars, and cars that seem to good to be true.

EDIT: Also if you looking on ebay, alot of the time people lie like crazy. My friend tried buying one of ebay and every time he wnet to see it it look way worse than the pics or somnthing was lied about. Make sure to amke sure that the auction is close to over and the reseve has been met, you might see a good one for 4,000 if it still has 5 day left.

93 RX7
No description.
Cant contact the guy through Ebay
No VIN number
$5K Buy it Now...

Ok, whose gonna jump on it and prove to me this isn't a scam?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1993-Mazda-...1QQcmdZViewItem

Damn, and I just bought it too..
I didnt buy it so dont worry.

I cant see it anymore btw.

I guess it got removed recently, because I found it a few hours ago and it had just been posted.

Probably because it was so obviously a scam.
Or you need a VIN number if you plan on selling a car.

Find one of these in a 5 speed. Notice the T Tops? How cool

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1988-MUSTAN...1QQcmdZViewItem

get a 1986 toyota pick up
i have one and its great

30 miles per gal
manual 5 speed
0-60 13.6 seconds
and they are every where

got mine for 900 and i have had it for a few years (bought it when i was 14 and have been driving it since)

I personally hate pick-ups. If I were to get one, I 'd have non-stop questions of my friends wanting to ride in the truck bed.

Uhhhhhh..... i cant stand these old mustangs. They look like Escorts............

haha.. that and everyone you know (and some others you don't) would always be asking you to help them move shit.

i'm telling you .. mkIII supra

Okay, I have to step in here. Being the disgruntled owner of an '88 RX-7 GXL. @the original post, you have absolutely NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE GETTING YOURSELF INTO BY BUYING AN RX-7!!!!!!!!!!!!! The comments about fuel efficiency are quite clear about that. I have a non-turbo charged 13B rotary that is virutally stock (no major performance mods) and my car averages about 13MPG around town and about 20MPG on the highway and you want to get a twin-turbo charged 3rd gen? I think there are V-12 Lambos that get better gas mileage than those things. In addition, maintenence is a NIGHTMARE!!!!!!!! I swear that I have replaced just about every hose on my RX-7 and yet about every month or two I have issues with my car spraying coolant all over my engine compartment. The thing to understand is that my car is NOT a poorly maintained vehicle either, the guy who had the car before me babied the thing and I have taken the car into the shop every time something goes wrong with it. So mechanically it has been well cared for. Yet it still causes problems. In the summer they are more prone than other engines to running hot and once you overheat a rotary, you might as well stick a fork in it as IT IS DONE!!!!!!!! As mentioned by the other folks there is no way in hell you are going to get a 3rd gen RX-7 without some major defect in your price range (keep in mind that some of the cheaper ones could be salvage titles from Hurricane Katrina). In addition each time I take my car into my mechanic I do see some 3rd Gen RX-7s that have been in that shop more than my car has and they are constantly trying to figure out why the turbos aren't boosting or the car is blowing smoke, ect. It isn't uncommon for folks with 3rd gen RX-7s to have to rebuild their engines/turbos after only 60K miles. That in and of itself will cost you more than your budget to replace.

As for the older Supras, while they are pretty solid cars and quite fun, they are expensive to get parts for and as far as for performance mods, your options are limited. One of my co-workers had an '89 turbo and he was always complaining about the price of parts and that he was limited to some very spendy HKS performance mods for certain things.


As much as it pains me to say it what you are looking for is a ricer. An older CRX or Integra has a little bit of pep and will do excellent in the insurance and gas mileage department for you. Parts will be kinda spendy on them but they are pretty durable so it shouldn't be that big of a deal. You can still save face if you don't get yourself a bodykit and a wing. If you don't mind sacrificing some gas mileage then I recommend tracking down an old straight 6 Nissan Z. Those SOBs haul ass and the engines are ultra-durable. It would make you a little more unique than the average kid who drives around a Honda/Acura and insurance shouldn't be too bad.

Damn, either of these suckers would make you king of the road. Has the V-8 Chevy conversion. I personally think the car looks cool too. Certainly not something that every kid on the block would have.

http://www.cars.com/go/search/detail.jsp?t...05&aff=idstates

http://www.cars.com/go/search/detail.jsp?t...05&aff=idstates

you could also always get a miata.
theyre pretty damn good cars with a cheap price.

That is true although, insurance on a sports convertible could be kinda spendy for a 16 year-old. Depends on his insurance company. Not sure if he can get one in really good condition for 4K or less though.

i know some supra mods can be spendy, but you can get some pretty decent gains with a few low-budget mods.

1. better intake/air filter .. turbo engines need good airflow to make power. a better intake will help increase the amount of flow. the apexi filter/adapter unit should net you a few horses.. here's the one i have .. clicky clicky .. make sure you get the adapter as well, not sure if that particular listing includes it (most likely not)

2. better intercooler/piping .. again with teh better airflow, the stock piping is a little restrictive. you can find front mount intercooler sets on ebay for a coupla hundred bucks, and most come with some piping as well. another nice thing about a good front mount is that it will lower the air temp which also picks you up some power. i don't have one yet, but everything i've looked at points to gains of 20-30 hp.. which is not too shabby for a couple bills

3. better downpipe .. again with the airflow (sensing a theme here?) the stock downpipe is restrictive because of the pre-cats. replace that with a 3" straightpipe and you can pick up quite a few more horses. you can either have a local shop whip you up one for cheap (straight pipe with flanges shouldn't cost more than $100-150 or so) or you can order a pre-made one for around $250

4. better exhaust .. with the downpipe, a good 3" mandrel bent exhaust should net you a good 30hp. you can either buy a ready made piece or have it custom bent at a local shop. mine had a 3" system on it when i bought it, but i did have one done for my crx.. complete 3" cat-back (including piping, muffler, resonator, tip,mounts and labor) set me back a whopping $280.



picking up extra horses on a stock turbo'd engine is pretty simple. you can take it even farther with bigger turbos and engine re-enforcing.. but you should definately get used to the car's power and handling before you get into that.

then again, the supras stock form might be well enough for him.. 230hp and 246tq is nothing to scoff at.

Well of course it's near impossible to solve boosting issues in the Fds, the vacuum lines are a nightmare and all it takes is one disconnected or swapped and the car's going to have issues. There's plenty of Mazda dealerships that won't touch them. And there's plenty of others that will say they can and then try to fix it, or just stick it in the back corner of their building for 3 months. (Happened to a friend. )

Truth of the matter is that rotaries aren't reliable. They don't get good gas mileage. And a lot of mechanics wont touch them, and far more will, but probably shouldn't.

Add to that the turbo thing. I love turbos, but only if you have the money to maintain em. A turbo spins @ 100K RPMs. They wear out, (Not just on RX7s, but Supras, 3000GTs, and Grand Nationals alike). And they can cost a pretty penny to replace.

If the criteria involves
-Under 4K
-Decent gas mileage
-Relatively easy to maintain. (IE reliability & parts costs)

I'd be much more apt to think Civics, Integras, Sentras and such. Maybe not the coolest cars in the world, but more realistic.

Id add 240SXs to that list they are super reliable, and personaly style wise they look great atleast the sencond gen ones based on the S14 (or maybe its was the S15s?).

I've been looking at other cars, and have sources for free to real cheap cars.
I understand that getting something cheap like that wont be a "good idea" but I'm not looking for a perfectly running car, I plan to work on it since I dont have a liscence yet.

Here are some other cars I like

Subaru 2.5 rs
A Civic

EDIT: I'm being offered a working, running civic for $600. Are those cars any good for the criteria of mine such as gas milage?

depending on the condition of the civic it woudl be a good deal. they are fairly fuel effecent i cant quote number though, but they arnt very sporty or cool in my opinion

Assuming you like the looks either of those cars is a good pick, reliable, good gas, low insurance, stong aftermarket following, cheap to fix.

Well the civic is all good, except for it smokes.

White smoke he says, so Im guessing that has to do with the fuel to air ratio.
He never said where, but I guess its coming from the tail pipe.

Depends on the color of the smoke. Different colors suggest different problems. 10:1 it won't pass air emissions though. Civics are good cars but parts can be spendy depending on the year and model. A late 80s/early 90s model would be my recommendation in that price range.

Its a '92


I wonder what color it is? Just kidding
But yea, no word yet on freecycle

white smoke huh? could be bad headgasket. is this car anywhere around you where you could go take a look at it? if so, do this..

1. check oil dipstick for a milky residue.. either a really light tan color or sometimes grey.

2. in case he gave it a good wipe-down before you showed up, also check for the same residue on the bottom of the oil filler cap.. they usually forget to wipe that spot.

3. check if the radiator is full of water or anti-freeze.. if anti-freeze, have him start the car and get a good whiff of the exhuast. if it has a burnt-sugar type smell, that means it's burning coolant (ie. blown hg)

4. if he's willing to let you take it for a quick spin, do a quckie compression check on it.. run the engine up to about 4500rpm in second gear and yank your foot off the gas. if teh car has decent compression it should lurch teh car a bit like hitting the brake. if it coasts smoothly it's more than likely got issues. (before anyone says anything, i know there are better ways of checking compression, like actual testers, but this is a quick and easy one)

5. while parked, rev the engine up to about 5000rpm and listen for any clicking noises coming from under the hood.

The second I heard white smoke my first guess was head gasket as well. Granted that need not be the only possibility, but it's a decent guess.

If it is a head gasket the coolant and oil will bemixing and you an taste the coolant in the oil. Very sweet sugary flavor as opposed to oil which tastes roughly like ti smells, oily. Obviously itd be merely getting a drop on your finger and touching it to your tongue and then spitting it out of your mouth. Antifreeze is poison. A friend of my mom died from drinking some many years ago.

yep its a head gasket going/gone bad
my friends went bad and he did nothing till it was too late
opened the head and it as a milky color every where
we had to rebuild the engine

I've decided on not getting that car because theres more work involved than this.
I did find a Volkswagen Scirocco for $700 but its being sold by a kid so I can probably get away with less.

He just put a new clutch and timing belt in it too.

good choice.. those are some hot little cars. parts might be a little spendy being euro and all, but you can do a lot with them

The Scirocco is an ok looking car its pretty cool. Dont know much about them though....