1989 Mazda Rx-7 Convertible Review - A Smooth Sunday Cruiser!

[@davidp2888]

My parents lived in the same neighborhood as a family named Wankel. I don't believe they were related to the person who invented the Wankel engine but it's a cool bit of trivia.

[@kip258]

Thank you David P. Very cool.

[@patricklinkous]

Amazing! I need to drive a rotary some day. I remember my cousin had a 1st gen RX7 in the 80s until it was stolen and stripped. That stereo with CD and Cassette blows me away! We had to wait for my dad's '97 Maxima to have such a luxury.

[@thatoneguy7566]

They are fun cars I got a 88 rx7 vert

[@kiraleaf]

Love the orange dash lights! 🧡

[@bwofficial1776]

Orange, red, or green are fantastic to drive behind at night. White and blue are the worst colors for keeping night vision.

[@Willmaster53]

This is the exact model I have but mine is black on black and came with a car phone. It's not mint by any means cosmetically but after my last rebuild she runs like a top. For the most part everything is in one piece but the seats are peeling and cracking and my radio comes and goes depending on how bumpy the road is. Despite all that, I'm in love with these cars and the smiles per gallon these car will get make all the imperfections worth while. Thanks for my new favorite review Zack!

[@omegaentertainment1]

I had this exact '89 black on black then an '88 Silver on black and the main difference was those awesome round taillights. Miss those cars!

[@c.l.7525]

Well you got me with this one! I love RX-7's and in the early mid nineties I had a red 1984 RX-7 GSL-SE and a 1988 Arctic White RX-7 convertible with the blue leather interior. The convertible was a theft recovery vehicle from North Carolina with 50,000 miles, great condition, a little hole on the left side of the top and missing the tonneau cover. When checking out the trunk I found the I.D. badge from a woman that worked at the Weather Channel so I'm guessing it was hers lol! Also the U.S. version had the excellent BBS wheels because we didn't get the turbo, Japanese version had the regular wheels like the coupes. Also the wind flap behind the seats was added by a designer that liked to have the top down when he went snow-skiing and it would keep the cold wind from whipping back into the cabin.

[@lordflacko3604]

Will forever love RX7s❤

[@doug6191]

Miss the days when Mazda had all red/orange switches and lighting. I don't care for Mazda's current attempt to position itself as a near-luxury brand. This era through the Zoom-Zoom era was the best for Mazda. Great to see a not-fcked-up "custom" example like this!

[@bwofficial1776]

Red, orange, and green are the best gauge lighting colors to preserve night vision. I don't understand why all carmakers now insist on having the worst colors, white and blue, shining in driver's eyes at night.

[@Blacksunshine636]

I had a white 88' back in the late 90's. A couple of additional interesting things about that car is that is had an aluminum hood and control arms. It also had a sort of passive rear-steer system called, Dynamically Tracking Suspension System (DTSS). On my car it was horrifying becuase it would all of the sudden toe-out in the rear mid corner, making you feel like the rear was going to snap out. Once, I deleted that system the car was really fun to drive!

[@KenBober]

Came to this chan el for rx7s and stayed for the reviews. Thank you for all your advise on the rotories. I still have mone after 5 years. Just had the wngine rebuilt and will be back on the road in 2 to 3 weeks.

[@danmccarthy4700]

Those BBS crosslace wheels are and will probably always be my favorite style of rims. I wish they made a set that would fit my G6 because I think they'd look AMAZING on that car.

[@grimreaper5521]

I love rx7 I kinda like the late 70's early 80's some of the interior designs look good

[@battlehorsky]

Great video!!! I have this car | unmodified | all original parts with exception of a new fuel pump in 2024, '89 also white Conv Rx7. Mileage: 59,676. Still love it so much still. Original owner. Someone's always trying to buy it wherever I go. A note was left under the wiper on the windshield in my driveway today 😂.

[@theccwdad]

I did not mean to dislike this video..I liked it so much I came back to watch it again. Great work.

[@losingmyfavoritegame8752]

What a beautiful specimen!

[@niveketihw1897]

I had an '86 manual with lowered suspension and wheels with lots of negative offset (tires poked out at least an inch). It was the basest of the base models -- one of the greatest things about mine was no power steering. This made it a bear in parking lots but a dream everywhere else. I learned manual shifting on this car and it was my first sporty car so to me that amazing manual steering feedback and need to really put muscle into cornering was what "sporty" was all about. Also had modified exhaust and intake, the intake was louder than the exhaust!

[@jonell1425]

After also owning a couple of base-model FCs, I've always firmly believed that ALL smaller cars should have power steering only at 0 to parking lot speeds and fade to unassisted at speeds above that. I've never again experienced the outrageously good steering feel of those unassisted-steering FCs, and I've driven a lot of cars!

[@shaviwatchingyoutube]

live for your videos, keep it up man👍

[@Ej6daniel]

Love the rear end of this generation Rx-7

[@VinnyLambo]

I feel like I know everything about these cars after watching Gingium completely disassemble and reassemble one!

[@bricegraham8256]

Lol you would say "it's so good!* in a gravelly voice when I don't have my headphones today 😂. I'm in a Starbucks right now lol.

[@MSimmonsAZ]

I had a 1990 from 1997-2010. It was great. 2nd car, but really didn't have many issues. It Just Felt Right. (Mazda slogan back then) But it was true. Except in rain, it was scary on wet roads. I got married and moved overseas. I am still overseas but I want my car back. Interior color was paired with the exterior. White with Blue interior, Black with Grey, Red with black. You want a black interior you need a red car. The car had an anti squat feature, kept the car level during acceleration and braking. It would do almost 70 in second gear. Oh I miss it. Powerful sort of in its day. but not so much to get into too much trouble. and still it could be full throttle and not be speeding immediately. Mine didn't even go through oil. The targa top was just sort of something to try once. It made sense since it had to be folded anyway.

[@angieemm]

I've got one (modified for turbo) and I love it. So glad to see this review!

[@onlyina_chevy2932]

I think this is a "spot-on" review of the vert RX7. I own a '90 model that is just not as clean having 175000 on the ticker. Fun to drive as well as being a head-turner as few know what I am driving. It's not the fastest and doesn't handle like the coupe (as you said on the review) but is a fun to drive version nevertheless..

[@MsMycene]

Great review, never heard of a convertible one before

[@bazilwreckerloughead]

What a great little car, I love everything about it. I could have done without that little ASMR thing you had going on during the exterior walk around, but still!

[@edlippjr]

sad you didn't demonstrate the targa top setup but cool vid otherwise IMHO :)

[@jonell1425]

I very nearly bought a '90 black on black 'vert. It too was in beautiful original condition with 60-something thousand miles on it. Price was on the high side of average at that time. As a convertible, it was a little shakier and not quite as tight-feeling as the coupes, but I didn't mind that. What I did mind was that it was an automatic. It really did make the car fall on it's face every time. I had to walk away. By the way, those center stack bezels were much more of a problem in the S4s. The S5s' were rubberized and held up much better. As for the idiot bezels, the S5s were also different, but they all broke too. Another big problem was the gauge cluster screw mounts breaking from knees hitting it upon entry, leaving the whole thing floppy. And one annoying problem these things always had was the wiper switch mist feature sticking on mist, making your wiper flail violently when you only wanted them to wipe once, lol.

[@c.l.7525]

For my '88 I ordered a strut/firewall brace from Mazdatrix in California and it tightened the body up real nice.

[@vvvxt]

I remember this car on Monster Garage and Jesse destroyed it with a minigun

[@jonell1425]

Yep, Jesse canceled himself on that one...

[@lamaricemoore7554]

I had a 90 RX7 convertible

[@FLYBOY-eh5th]

SO GOOD!

[@kevinduprey9326]

The convertible version was mostly sold as automatic because usually it was the wife of lawyer or doctor who drove them off showroom. Crazy expensive new for japan car in late 80s.

[@dave11686]

Those are so neat

[@bwofficial1776]

The poor man's Porsche 944. I like how functional 80s interiors are. This is when gadgetry started to show up but before it became excessive.

[@c.l.7525]

I believe Porsche tried to sue but lost.

[@vincentjohnson1383]

I had an 88 red convertible and loved it to death... almost literally. Took it to Los Angeles and could not get it to pass smog for a reasonable cost so I sold it. Big mistake...

[@robertdiehl9003]

Spectacular condition.....

[@alvinjohnson9531]

I once had a YUGO convertible!😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮

[@gafrers]

Beauty

[@slkric1724]

Why would the owner of this beautiful car put wheel weights on the outside of these wheels...? That just messed up the whole look of this car. SMH

[@joey86bu1]

Handsome car!

[@michaelcoffey7362]

Nice 😀

[@unowen-nh9ov]

Volume Japanese Ferrari California.

[@laskos02]

Bad influence with Robert California

[@thuglife0650]

someday... team FC > FD