Value is a hard thing to define, especially in cars. What represents a giant money pit to one person can be another person’s best-case budget. That’s why this time, I’m presenting you with this Mazda RX-7, a car that may be worth getting even if it costs more than you think you should pay right now.
This 1993 Mazda RX-7 is one of the most beautiful, if not the most beautiful car to ever come out of Japan. Every single of its styling cues flows cleanly without any aggressive angles or obstruction via poorly placed afterthoughts known as safety guidelines. It’s an utterly claustrophobic car and it doesn’t apologize for it, because if you can actually manage to fit into one of its two rare cloth bucket seats, it’ll deliver on every one of its lofty performance promises.
I used to have a very similar RX-7 very and while mine was far from a museum-quality example, it was clean and stock enough to figure out that selling it rendered immediate regret on my part. However, even though the eBay listing is expired, you can still buy this lovely example for a hair less than $30 grand. Yes, that’s a lot, but it’s peanuts for a car like this, and here’s why.
This car has a lot of things going for it - first, the red on black color scheme will always be the go-to color for fast cars, especially nostalgic ones. Second, the low 34,000 mileage figure means that while you’ll probably have to shell out for deteriorated hoses and gaskets, the car will be infinitely more sellable when time goes on. The car’s R1 package, which includes uprated suspension and aero tweaks, also gives it a leg up on any base model automatics you might see around your local craigslist as well.
If you plan on driving it heavily before reselling it, you have more time and more of a mileage cushion to get all your rotary ya-yas out before punting the car onto its next willing owner.
Finally, Mazda isn’t making (and likely will never make) any more RX-7s, which means that this car is the latest and greatest turbocharged rotary engine that the automaker ever produced, all but guaranteeing a special place in the hearts of those nostalgic for ‘90s greatness. With the market trending the way it is, I wouldn’t be surprised if these cars become financially untouchable within the next five years. It’s a wise investment tomorrow, even if you’ll be a little in the red today.
Or you could keep it forever. That works, too.
Tavarish is the founder of APiDA Online and writes and makes videos about buying and selling cool cars on the internet. He owns the world’s cheapest Mercedes S-Class, a graffiti-bombed Lexus, and he’s the only Jalopnik author that has never driven a Miata. He also has a real name that he didn’t feel was journalist-y enough so he used a pen name and this was the best he could do.
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