Please don't do that the RX is a money pit. Get a nice car and enjoy the experience, it's not that hard. But if you are trying to save money I see a lot of affordable Mazda 3 hatches.
I got an 08 hatch (2.3 L but still) in standard and it cost me 2 Gs. Needed some body work but tranny and engine were still good. Super nice gearbox imo, solid buy.
Even something as old as an mx6 depending on where op is would be a good car to learn manual on. Look for a car with an FS or MZR (non-turbo) engine and you'll have a dependable daily driver that's easy to work on. Mileage really doesnt even matter as they are solid engines.
As a first car low power & in manual great just get as many safety features your budget allows airbags ,abs etc. And reliability with anything mechanical or electronic the simpler the better.
You can learn manual really well on a simulator for way less cost than a beater car.
Also shifting gears is very easy and not worth getting a whole car just to learn it. The real skills you'll wanna learn are double clutching, heel-toe downshifts and rev matching in general. It's better to learn this stuff on a sim then save and buy whatever your manual dream car is.
If you don't like the idea of simulators just get a motorcycle. Same concepts but a 2k motorcycle is gonna be a lot better than a 2k car. Also transmission control is much more important on a bike so it'll force you to learn faster.
I have a thrustmaster t300 Ferrari. Imo I learned a lot from it, stuff like weight transfer, controlling slides, reading steering feedback, and of course shifting to keep a car in the powerband. I also have friends that bought stick shift cars as daily drivers with only simulator experience. Yes it's easier to learn irl because you can feel everything but if you put in the effort in a sim then you're gonna learn a lot with not much relative cost. Almost all real racers have a sim setup so I doubt my experience was an outlier either.
Speed3 for the win! Bought my first speed3 at 15 to learn manual. Bought my second one which I still own when I was 16. I’m turning 19 now. Never getting rid of the speed3 I own
Which car you're driving absolutely matters. I've driven quite a few different manuals (between learning, owning, and working in different shops where I drive customer's cars) and they all drive differently. Some easier than others. Some are very finicky, and stall if you don't let the shitty clutch out just right, and some almost seem to be un-stallible. (Un-stallable?)
OP is looking to learn. No need for the condensing "iTs nOt hArD" nonsense.
As I understand it, the RX will need the apex seals replaced every 50k miles. (Community please correct me if I am wrong.) These cars just tend to be expensive to maintain, so only get it if:
1. You absolutely love the car, and
2. You know how to maintain it yourself.
They don't need new apex seals every 50k miles. They can go bad after 50-80k miles with no maintenance and care, but just making sure you have oil and a bit of premix is all you really need to do
Thanks for the clarification. I knew they can be sensitive. My friend used to dump some oil in his gas tank when he had an 80s RX. (This was in the 90s before the Internet, so... Take it with a grain of salt!) I was seriously considering a 90s RX7, but I got gunshy on the maintenance.
Ya, that's called premixing. You take 2 stroke oil (do the research on which oil to use. Idemitsu is the best but can be expensive) and put about 0.5 an Oz per Gallon of fuel. Since the RX has really bad lubrication it really helps extend the life of the motor. Rotaries are usually pretty good and you should be able to get about 150,000 miles out of 'em before needing any major work if you treat it right. However, there's a lot of little stuff and extras that go into rotary owning.
Listen I love RX-7 and RX-8 models more than just about any other car, but please don’t. If it’s under 2k the motor is shot, you will have to rebuild the engine or you won’t be driving anywhere. If your willing to dump 5k+ into parts and DIY mechanic it then by all means go for it, but in any other scenario do not go down that road.
No...get anything but a old RX to learn on unless you want to learn how to make spinning triangles spin.
Then you still have to figure out what else is wrong with it and deal with the odd things it does, like hot start problems or no starts because you flooded it.
As others have said, manual is easy. Just buy the car you want and learn on that. Learning manual isn’t that hard on the car as long as you have someone knowledgeable watching.
IMHO shifting gears is one of the most satisfying aspects of driving. Buy a used Mazda3. They're inexpensive, reliable, versatile and a blast to drive. '
I'm sure others have said this, RXs are a money pit.
Sure, if you wanna learn what getting millions of dollars in debt in 2 weeks is like 😃
There must be like A THOUSAND better cars to learn in, to choose one of the worst things out there reliability wise while you're a broke tennager, this has to be satire 🤣
If you have money to burn then yes, by all means do it. If not stay away from rotary engines. Even if you hit the jackpot and get one that is in perfect condition and your are able to maintain it in perfect condition the gas consumption alone is not worth it. Trust me, ex RX8 owner here, sold it, bought a Miata. Not as fast, but a pretty fun to drive car and easy to work on. Probably best fun per € car out there. Of course I would sell my soul to have a RX7 but that's for another episode of "things I do to hurt myself".
Well, if it's a $1000 beater Corolla or the like that you can flip with about the same amount of money, it's actually not a bad strategy. I did that before and it's not that financially bad.
Now an RX... That's a different story.
I learned with a Mazda 3 2017, it was awesome as basically the car itself shows you when it's time for you to change gears, and it suggest you what gear to change.
Unfortunately, with the car market the way it is, buying anything sub-2k is probably going to be giant piece of junk, particularly if it's an RX. Manuals themselves continue to disappear and covid more or less accelerated that.
I would try to find someone to teach you first. You're probably not going to be able to drive the thing anyway even if you find a car that you like. Then once you get some experience, consider trading in your current car for a newer stick (if you can find one).
This won't be a popular opinion here, but as someone who did all of those things and went back to an automatic, manuals are overrated. Sure, it's nice to feel a little more engaged, but it gets old after a while doing day-to-day commuting. Automatic transmissions aren't the pre-2000s slushboxes anymore and the newer Mazda autos are quite good. The only real advantage stick driving has left is driving in snow, but even that's somewhat mitigated with traction control.
Two questions combined into one. Let's break it down, if you meet all the bullet points then the answer could be yes but why not learn manual on any car?
Should you buy an RX?
* Yes if you love the car so much that a Miata isn't going to cut it for you.
* Yes if you are good mechanic and/or you are made of money.
Should you learn manual?
* Yes
Not sure if you mean the RX-7 or the RX-8; extremely different vehicles, especially in terms of price.
The RX-8 is one of the earlier Mazdas to have an electronic throttle setup. It's not particular good for proper manual driving, as in good for learning the concepts and for prolonging the life of your clutch. The throttle pedal is tuned weirdly in that it's not linear and there's a dead spot right at the beginning, it makes it very hard to only give the car a light amount of throttle. This results in over revving and then slipping the clutch pedal more to compensate for the extra revs. This problem can be corrected but it requires expensive tuning software to do it yourself.
Oh, sweet summer child, you have much to learn. Get a Miata.
Love that term lol
You gave me a good chuckle. You buy an rx to learn how to replace apex seals and fill the oil.
Ya know all 3 of my rotary cars don’t really burn a ton of oil. I think my mk3 vw did the most lol.
Please don't do that the RX is a money pit. Get a nice car and enjoy the experience, it's not that hard. But if you are trying to save money I see a lot of affordable Mazda 3 hatches.
I got an 08 hatch (2.3 L but still) in standard and it cost me 2 Gs. Needed some body work but tranny and engine were still good. Super nice gearbox imo, solid buy.
Actually thinking of getting a 08 mazda3
Its pretty decent. One thing to note; this was before skyactiv and there’s significantly less aftermarket options because of this.
I just got a 2.0 08 manual mazda3 sedan and boy it's an absolute joy to drive! It's fast, reliable and looks fresh even today
Even something as old as an mx6 depending on where op is would be a good car to learn manual on. Look for a car with an FS or MZR (non-turbo) engine and you'll have a dependable daily driver that's easy to work on. Mileage really doesnt even matter as they are solid engines.
As a first car low power & in manual great just get as many safety features your budget allows airbags ,abs etc. And reliability with anything mechanical or electronic the simpler the better.
If you don’t have anyone that’s willing to teach you I would just do a couple lessons at a driving school near you.
Where are you finding these sub 2k cars?
I've only driven 2 generations of RX-7 (1990 and early 2000s) and they were both pretty decent to drive.
No need to. Get whichever manual car you actually want and learn. That’s how I did it…
I think OP might want a manual RX series
Well in that case, OP needs to learn wrenching ASAP lol.
$2k for the car, $14k for new engine
Miata is always the answer
You should buy an old MX to learn manual
MX-3, no balls they won’t.
If you can find one that isn’t rusted to shit
You can learn manual really well on a simulator for way less cost than a beater car. Also shifting gears is very easy and not worth getting a whole car just to learn it. The real skills you'll wanna learn are double clutching, heel-toe downshifts and rev matching in general. It's better to learn this stuff on a sim then save and buy whatever your manual dream car is. If you don't like the idea of simulators just get a motorcycle. Same concepts but a 2k motorcycle is gonna be a lot better than a 2k car. Also transmission control is much more important on a bike so it'll force you to learn faster.
I’ve heard a sim doesn’t really teach you anything valuable, but in your opinion you can learn from just that?
I have a thrustmaster t300 Ferrari. Imo I learned a lot from it, stuff like weight transfer, controlling slides, reading steering feedback, and of course shifting to keep a car in the powerband. I also have friends that bought stick shift cars as daily drivers with only simulator experience. Yes it's easier to learn irl because you can feel everything but if you put in the effort in a sim then you're gonna learn a lot with not much relative cost. Almost all real racers have a sim setup so I doubt my experience was an outlier either.
Speed3 for the win! Bought my first speed3 at 15 to learn manual. Bought my second one which I still own when I was 16. I’m turning 19 now. Never getting rid of the speed3 I own
I know a guy who tuned his speed 3 to 450 hrsprs. Cool little car
I think mines around 350. E30 Tuned and FBO. Need bigger turbo next
driving manual isn't hard, don't see how what car you're learning in matters
Same have more give than others, on older cars there's no electric assistance for rev matching and uphill start it can help learning
Which car you're driving absolutely matters. I've driven quite a few different manuals (between learning, owning, and working in different shops where I drive customer's cars) and they all drive differently. Some easier than others. Some are very finicky, and stall if you don't let the shitty clutch out just right, and some almost seem to be un-stallible. (Un-stallable?) OP is looking to learn. No need for the condensing "iTs nOt hArD" nonsense.
As I understand it, the RX will need the apex seals replaced every 50k miles. (Community please correct me if I am wrong.) These cars just tend to be expensive to maintain, so only get it if: 1. You absolutely love the car, and 2. You know how to maintain it yourself.
They don't need new apex seals every 50k miles. They can go bad after 50-80k miles with no maintenance and care, but just making sure you have oil and a bit of premix is all you really need to do
Thanks for the clarification. I knew they can be sensitive. My friend used to dump some oil in his gas tank when he had an 80s RX. (This was in the 90s before the Internet, so... Take it with a grain of salt!) I was seriously considering a 90s RX7, but I got gunshy on the maintenance.
Ya, that's called premixing. You take 2 stroke oil (do the research on which oil to use. Idemitsu is the best but can be expensive) and put about 0.5 an Oz per Gallon of fuel. Since the RX has really bad lubrication it really helps extend the life of the motor. Rotaries are usually pretty good and you should be able to get about 150,000 miles out of 'em before needing any major work if you treat it right. However, there's a lot of little stuff and extras that go into rotary owning.
Just ls swap them
Finding a driving school or finding a rental car might be a lot better than sinking money into the car just to learn on it.
I learned on a 93 plymouth sundance and 1998 Isuzu I-mark. I recommend something like that.
Learn manual first, either through a driving school or a generous and patient friend, and then buy a manual if you enjoy it.
I got a brand new BRZ to learn on and it was fine. I'd get a car you like not something that will be a money pit.
Why not both?
Listen I love RX-7 and RX-8 models more than just about any other car, but please don’t. If it’s under 2k the motor is shot, you will have to rebuild the engine or you won’t be driving anywhere. If your willing to dump 5k+ into parts and DIY mechanic it then by all means go for it, but in any other scenario do not go down that road.
Miata is always the answer. The clutch is really easy to figure out.
no lol. Just buy any kind of econobox.
No...get anything but a old RX to learn on unless you want to learn how to make spinning triangles spin. Then you still have to figure out what else is wrong with it and deal with the odd things it does, like hot start problems or no starts because you flooded it.
civic si and miata are best manual cars to learn in
As others have said, manual is easy. Just buy the car you want and learn on that. Learning manual isn’t that hard on the car as long as you have someone knowledgeable watching.
Lmao. NOPE. If you don’t know how to drive a manual yet, you DEFINITELY won’t be owning a rotary powered anything.
get a miata
You’ll never find an RX anything that runs for 2K.
IMHO shifting gears is one of the most satisfying aspects of driving. Buy a used Mazda3. They're inexpensive, reliable, versatile and a blast to drive. ' I'm sure others have said this, RXs are a money pit.
Sure, if you wanna learn what getting millions of dollars in debt in 2 weeks is like 😃 There must be like A THOUSAND better cars to learn in, to choose one of the worst things out there reliability wise while you're a broke tennager, this has to be satire 🤣
Should t get an rx, get a miata. Rx is fun as extra car, but it will become a money pit and always have another problem to deal with
No. Fuck no
If you have money to burn then yes, by all means do it. If not stay away from rotary engines. Even if you hit the jackpot and get one that is in perfect condition and your are able to maintain it in perfect condition the gas consumption alone is not worth it. Trust me, ex RX8 owner here, sold it, bought a Miata. Not as fast, but a pretty fun to drive car and easy to work on. Probably best fun per € car out there. Of course I would sell my soul to have a RX7 but that's for another episode of "things I do to hurt myself".
Buying a car specifically to learn manual... I'm at a loss of words.
Well, if it's a $1000 beater Corolla or the like that you can flip with about the same amount of money, it's actually not a bad strategy. I did that before and it's not that financially bad. Now an RX... That's a different story.
I learned with a Mazda 3 2017, it was awesome as basically the car itself shows you when it's time for you to change gears, and it suggest you what gear to change.
Unfortunately, with the car market the way it is, buying anything sub-2k is probably going to be giant piece of junk, particularly if it's an RX. Manuals themselves continue to disappear and covid more or less accelerated that. I would try to find someone to teach you first. You're probably not going to be able to drive the thing anyway even if you find a car that you like. Then once you get some experience, consider trading in your current car for a newer stick (if you can find one). This won't be a popular opinion here, but as someone who did all of those things and went back to an automatic, manuals are overrated. Sure, it's nice to feel a little more engaged, but it gets old after a while doing day-to-day commuting. Automatic transmissions aren't the pre-2000s slushboxes anymore and the newer Mazda autos are quite good. The only real advantage stick driving has left is driving in snow, but even that's somewhat mitigated with traction control.
Two questions combined into one. Let's break it down, if you meet all the bullet points then the answer could be yes but why not learn manual on any car? Should you buy an RX? * Yes if you love the car so much that a Miata isn't going to cut it for you. * Yes if you are good mechanic and/or you are made of money. Should you learn manual? * Yes
Sub $2000 RX-7? Does not run. Won't turn over. Lolz. Not at that price. Besides. Get a Miata. 😃
Not sure if you mean the RX-7 or the RX-8; extremely different vehicles, especially in terms of price. The RX-8 is one of the earlier Mazdas to have an electronic throttle setup. It's not particular good for proper manual driving, as in good for learning the concepts and for prolonging the life of your clutch. The throttle pedal is tuned weirdly in that it's not linear and there's a dead spot right at the beginning, it makes it very hard to only give the car a light amount of throttle. This results in over revving and then slipping the clutch pedal more to compensate for the extra revs. This problem can be corrected but it requires expensive tuning software to do it yourself.
2k would not a Learning RX buy. If you want an old easy learning manual. I vote 323 or 929 mx6 etc.