The first RX-7 was Mazda doubling down on the engine everyone else had given up on. While rivals fled the rotary after the 1970s fuel crisis, Mazda built a whole lightweight sports car around it and launched the RX-7 in 1978. The shape, with its long hood, pop-up headlights, and curved rear glass, drew clear inspiration from the Lotus Elan, and underneath sat the 12A, a tiny twin-rotor Wankel spinning out around 100 horsepower in US trim.
That figure sounds feeble until you account for the weight, or rather the lack of it. At roughly 2,300 pounds with near-perfect balance, the FB darted through corners in a way its modest output never suggested, and the rotary's smooth, high-revving thrum gave it a character no four-cylinder could touch. America fell hard for it and bought the lion's share of the nearly half a million built. Later cars sweetened the recipe, with a fuel-injected 13B in the US GSL-SE and even a turbocharged 12A in Japan.
This is the affordable, charming, slightly fragile starting point of the RX-7 story. Rust and the rotary's appetite for fastidious care have thinned the survivors, so condition is everything and a compression test is non-negotiable. Find a clean one and you have a featherweight 1980s sports car with real racing pedigree and an engine note like nothing else on the road.

The FC is where the RX-7 grew a real pair of pants.This was a serious car. Arriving in 1985, it traded the original's featherweight simplicity for a more grown-up fit, with styling so reminiscent of a Porsche 944 that Mazda has cheerfully admitted the resemblance. The crude live rear axle of the FB was gone, replaced by independent rear suspension with a clever passive rear-steering setup, four-wheel disc brakes, and proper rack-and-pinion steering.
The 13B rotary was now standard across the range, and the one to look for is the Turbo II. Its turbocharger lifted output to around 182 horsepower and gave the FC some real zip. This generation was also the only RX-7 ever sold as a factory convertible, for buyers who wanted their rotary soundtrack unfiltered by the oppressive nature of a roof.
For a long time the FC was the overlooked rotary, too refined to be a raw classic like the FB and too old-school to be an exotic like the FD. That has turned it into a favorite of the drifting and grassroots scene, where its balance, rear-drive layout, and reasonable price are exactly what people are after. It remains the value pick of the family, climbing in the FD's wake but still within reach. As ever with a rotary, buy on compression, not on shine.

The FD is where Mazda's rotary obsession reached its peak, wrapped in one of the most beautiful shapes Japan has ever produced. Launched in 1992 with flowing, organic curves penned at Mazda's California studio, it looked like nothing else on the road and still does. The engineering lived up to the styling. The 13B-REW ran sequential twin-turbocharging, a small turbo for instant low-end response handing off to a larger one up top, and it was the first mass-produced system of its kind exported from Japan. Power opened at 255 horsepower and crept up to the gentleman's-agreement around 280 by the end of production.
What set the FD apart was that its the whole package, and an exotic alligator leather wrapped package at that. At under 2,900 pounds with near-perfect balance, it handled well enough that period testers ranked it among the best-driving cars ever made, full stop. The catch is that the mystical rotary and its intricate twin-turbo plumbing demand lots of attention; they run hot and punish neglect without mercy. A clean, honest FD is worth chasing, and a cheap, smoky one never is.
It earned its fame the usual way, with starring roles across the Fast &#x26; Furious films and a permanent seat on Japan's performance Mount Rushmore. Add a short US sales window and the lovely send-off Spirit R edition, and values have climbed to match the legend. The FD is the rotary dream car, gorgeous and thrilling and just demanding enough to keep you honest.

RX-7

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Mazda RX-7

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1988 Mazda RX-7 FC

1984 Mazda RX-7

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1985 Mazda RX-7

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1988 Mazda RX-7

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1982 Mazda RX-7

1990 Mazda FC RX-7

1979 Mazda FB RX-7

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1985 Mazda RX-7