Good morning! We’ve been looking at cars with similar engine types this week, but not today. The engines in today’s cars could not be more different; in fact, about the only thing they have in common is that they both use gasoline as a fuel. Oh, and they’re both made in Japan, I suppose.
But first: Did you ever mis-read a word in a sentence, and it completely changes the meaning in a really funny way? I managed to do that to myself just now, reading yesterday’s headline. For some reason I read it as “One Gallon Of Disappointment Each,” instead of displacement. And, well, looking at those two cars, it kind of fits. The Mustang won, but I get the feeling that the Bonneville minus the rust would have mopped the floor with it.
And no, I’m sorry; I was not aware of a TV show called The White Shadow. In my defense, I was five when it came out. If it didn’t have cool cars, or spaceships, or robots, or magic in it, I simply didn’t care. (Actually, that hasn’t changed much.) So yes, congratulations, you’ve discovered a pop culture blind spot of mine. But let me ask you this: how many of you remember Salvage 1? Yeah, see?
I mentioned yesterday that I liked those old American overhead-valve engines because they’re simple. And compared to the four-cam, variable-valve-timing beast in one of today’s cars, that’s true. But the engine in the other one has, if I’m counting correctly, just three moving parts. Now that’s simple. Let’s check them out.
2003 Infiniti G35 – $3,200
Engine/drivetrain: 3.5 liter dual overhead cam V6, five-speed automatic, RWD
Location: Long Beach, CA
Odometer reading: 159,000 miles
Operational status: “Runs decent”
Some cars end up with undeserved bad reputations. The combination of horsepower, rear-wheel-drive, and heavy depreciation makes for some good inexpensive fun, but as in so many pursuits, a few bad apples can spoil the whole bushel. Infiniti’s rear-wheel-drive G35 is such a car, unfortunately. It’s basically a Nissan 350Z in a fancy outfit, with the same 260 horsepower VQ35DE V6 engine, more than enough for some sideways shenanigans. Combine that with the classic luxury-car problem of values dropping like a stone, and quite a few G35s ended up in the hands of overzealous second and third owners who proceeded to behave badly in them.
Which is too bad, because these are pretty nice cars. This one seems to have lost a chunk of its niceness to rough treatment, unfortunately; there is missing trim and torn upholstery inside, dings and scrapes outside, and a stupid aftermarket exhaust tip. Or at least I hope it’s just a tip, and not one of those awful aftermarket exhausts. Some engines sound great a little louder than stock; the VQ35DE is not one of them.
On the plus side, it sounds like it’s mechanically sound. It has only 159,000 miles on the odometer, which is nothing for one of these engines. They do use some oil, and are prone to leaks, especially from the valve covers, but apart from that they last a long time. The rest of the car should be reliable too; even the modified and abused ones seem to just keep chugging along.
Or, I suppose, you could just lean into the car’s bad reputation and have some antisocial fun with it. But please don’t.
1987 Mazda RX-7 GXL – $2,795
Engine/drivetrain: 1.3 liter twin-rotor Wankel, five-speed manual, RWD
Location: York, PA
Odometer reading: 203,000 miles
Operational status: Not running, no other information given
Mazda’s second-generation RX-7 came out when I was thirteen years old. I remember sneaking the Road & Track issue with its first road test into study hall and hiding it under a notebook, sneaking peeks when the teacher wasn’t looking. I remember sitting in one at the Chicago Auto Show that year, daydreaming about one day owning one. I knew all the specs by heart. I’ve said before that Japanese cars were not on my radar when I was young, but the second-gen Mazda RX-7 was the first one that broke through.
The star of the show here, of course, is the “R” in RX-7: the two-rotor Wankel rotary engine that Mazda championed for so many years, and is now trying to bring back. It’s a simple concept, but it takes a mighty feat of engineering to make it work. Mazda worked at it for years, and produced over two million of them. They have their drawbacks – poor fuel economy and a ravenous appetite for oil among them – but they sound like nothing else, and the smoothness of them is downright eerie. I still haven’t owned an RX-7, but I’ve driven a couple, and it is something every enthusiast should experience.
You won’t be going far in this one, unfortunately – it doesn’t run. It’s for sale from what looks like a tow yard, and I imagine they know nothing about its history. It has a salvage title for an unknown reason, and I don’t know how big a deal that is in Pennsylvania. (It’s a non-issue here in Oregon, as long as your insurance agent is cool with it.)
This is the GXL model, with all sorts of power stuff inside, a sunroof, and those great directional alloy wheels. This car has been sitting for a long time, it looks like – everything is sun-bleached and faded. You can see the color it used to be in the door sills and under the hood. The interior is intact, but fried. And someone has cut holes for 6×9 speakers in the lids of the storage bins in the back. Show of hands: Who else has cut questionable holes for speakers in cars in the past?
Okay, so these aren’t a direct comparison. One runs and the other doesn’t, they’re almost two decades apart, and they’re very different categories of car. But they’re what caught my eye today, so here we are. So what will it be – a fancy V6 Infiniti from the wrong side of the tracks, or a classic Mazda rotary that needs everything?
(Image credits: Craigslist sellers)
Damn man I don’t think that G35 will ever get clean no matter what you do. That is like the archetype of the vaped in, hooned, and abused Nissan product. Even has the front end damage and highly questionable mods. Some cars have a reputation that’s just too far gone to be seen in and this is one of them.
The RX-7 is crispy and non functional, but I’ll take that any day over the Infiniti.
I picked the Mazda, it will take up less space in my driveway since both would just sit and have nothing done to them. Plus it would be a little better in the conversation starter area.
Since the G35 runs I’ll go with that. With some time and luck with my local pick n’ pull and some cleaning supplies I think I could make it somewhat respectable again. Being RWD is a plus, my friend had an AWD one here years back and whatever they use to split power (transfer case I assume?) broke and was not a cheap fix.
I own a G37 (wife’s car). It is legitimately a really good and fun car. She drives it like a granny so it just turned over 100,000 miles after 15 years and it still looks new because I am forbidden from improving it. It is almost embarrassing to drive given their reputation but winding out that V6 is really nice. So, I picked the G35 just out of pity.
I’ve had a few G35s and they are great cars but I’d stay away from the 2003 model years… they hadn’t figured out the oil burning issues yet
I’d rather deal with the RX-7 than follow the previous/current owner of that G35. The payoff will be greater.
The torn seats, limo tint, the black wheels, looks like some sort of aftermarket exhaust maybe, the front end banged into something. It might run today, but probably not for long.
That was my logic. All the usual Infiniti/Nissan bad decisions and hallmarks are present on that car. It has probably been abused and not maintained al all. It will have some catastrophic failure happen soon which will cost much more than it is worth.
If I have to choose, I’ll go Infinity. A lot can be done to clean it up. I just worry about all of the toxins left from vape pens.
I do remember Salvage 1. Interesting concept for a show and something that could probably be done today. I’ll throw Tales of the Gold Monkey back at you. Not sci-if but I loved that one as a kid as well.
I’ve never heard of Salvage 1, but I have Tales of the Gold Monkey on DVD.
I loved that show as a kid. Is it still watchable?
There’s a series of Archer with a seaplane that’s got very strong TotGM vibes.
Oh wow. I had forgotten about Tales of the Gold Monkey.
Autocrossed an RX-7 once, keep the twist up and you can do almost all of the steering with the rear.
I believe it’s time to Salvage 1 RX-7.
Had an ‘80; loved that car. Kept it in an underground garage. Glorious exhaust note. Everyone in the apartment building knew when I was coming and going. So much fun on the A-Bahn every day. Fuel consumption in the low 20s, but no noticeable oil burning. Did have a leak in the oil cooler located in the chin, but that was an easy repair. Love to have a runner.
Touche’ Mr. Tucker, touche’.
I was 13 when this came out, and I was also into everything sci-fi. I watched the OG Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rodgers and even Quark (Barnstable twins!!!). I have never heard of Salvage 1.
You know, I’ve heard of Quark, but I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen it…
The entire series of Quark is available on YouTube! As a kid who had grown up watching Star Trek, a sci-fi comedy series was right up my alley. And Richard Benjamin could do no wrong.
The comedy was hit-or-miss (and it improved as the show went on), but one can clearly see a major influence in later series like Red Dwarf and Otherspace.
I’m glad you posted that! I was thinking “Salvage 1” was “Quark”.
As for the cars, I’m cautiously voting for the Mazda. Any time put into it is going to be a better return than the basketcase Infiniti. It runs now, but you’ll troubleshoot and repair and clean until the end of time and you’re stuck with a beat car. I’d rather see the RX-7 semi-restored.
I had almost the same exact G35. In fact, I had the same aftermarket center dash replacement so the stereo could be replaced. The OEM stereo included the hvac controls, so when it starts to eat CDs, you have to replace the hvac controls with this dash kit in order to install an aftermarket stereo. Fortunately, unlike this fool, I knew how to install it correctly without fucking up the rest of the dash up.
That G35 was the longest I have ever owned a vehicle, 13 years. In good shape, they really are great cars. This one however, is shit.
The RX-7 is also shit, but it would make a cool project and I’d actually like to learn about rotaries. So Mazda it is, even though the asking price is at least double its value. I’m sure someone will correct me if I’m wrong, but my impression is that the prior FBs and subsequent FDs are far more desired than the FCs.
FCs are the middle child in this and it shows. They leaned more towards GT than pure sports car than the SA/FB was. They then corrected this with the FD, going light and with uncompromised handling. The FDs are highly desired and for good reason. A lot of people do not consider the FC and values have not kept pace with how much FDs have appreciated.
RX-7 would make a great track car project, the G35 screams “no insurance, no inspection, get out of my way now” so could easily go either way. That said over 3k for that pile of a G35 is going to push me to the angry Dorito.
I’ve had two FC RX7s and the last one I had was in worse condition than that one, so I’m in.
Dog slow and thirsty, but riddled with charm.
“ But the engine in the other one has, if I’m counting correctly, just three moving parts.”
If you ignore everything on the accessory drive (have you ever taken an AC compressor to pieces? So many parts), oil pump, count all the rotor seals as part of the rotor assembly, pretend the crank is one lump with a TV damper on one end and the flywheel on the other, then ignore all the things that move but don’t rotate with the engine, like injectors, the MAF flap, throttle and junk then sure, that adds up to just three.
You’re a lot closer than people who say EVs only have one moving part.
I was thinking only of internals, and I probably should have said “three moving components.” Either way, still a hell of a lot simpler than any 4 stroke engine.
It needs to be simple, two of the three parts are service items.
The G35 wins by default
I’m surprised the voting is this close.
Salvage 1 was BADASS. I was actually randomly thinking about that show the other day…
I preferred Quark, with Richard Benjamin. Although Salvage 1 had excellent car content.
Both of these can go away without me ever touching them, and I won’t mind.
Instead, I’ll take Andy Griffith’s space ship that he made out of a cement mixer so he could go into space and salvage defunct satellites. Yeah that’s believable!
My vote for the Mazda wasn’t a sane choice, but while it’s getting all the pricy fixes necessary to get it into shape we can also deep clean out the smell of what I imagine is old cigarettes or older mountain dew bottles filled with chew spit. And at the end of all that is a rad little ride.
Going off every prior Infiniti owner I have known, that car likely smells like White Castle and Axe Body Spray, and those are very persistent smells.
I have loved RX-7s since seeing a brand-new first-gen parked at a house in my neighborhood when I was a kid … in copper, which was the hero color that year. I learned how to power-slide in an RX-8 at Skip Barber years ago.
So even though re-animating it is well beyond my limited skill set, we’ll take the Mazda … because at the end of the journey, I’d have a sweet little sports car. The condition is giving “transplanted California/Arizona car,” which makes me wonder if the previous owner bought it there with plans to restore it at home in PA, but life intruded (as it does).
That G35 is an excellent car let down by some garbage humans. It deserves new life, but with this voter, it comes in second.
FWIW I bought an R-title (salvage) Chevy Spark in PA last year (stick shift and CarPlay for not a lot). The place I bought it said the salvage title wouldn’t be an issue for insuring it, but our existing car insurance was through Allstate and they wouldn’t touch it because the damage (dents from hail in this case) hadn’t been repaired. I ended up with a liability only policy through i.e.
Woof. Gs can be nice cars, this one is not one of them. Cold air and hot heat but I guess you just trust the buttons to do the work since all the dash display is ripped out.
I’m not necessarily excited by the RX-7 but would go for it just for the chance to check out everything else in the lot. Is that a Nash Metropolitan? A Barracuda? A Triumph TR6? Some group of old trucks and vans in the distance in the left rear 3/4 view…looking past what, a GM X-body? Citation probably and maybe the best condition thing from the ’80s and older there?
You’ve got a good point there! Lots of interesting metal in the background. That Barracuda looks ROUGH, though.
Or as ol’ Detroit DT would say, “rust free.”
Remember when Rusty David was going to daily a Nash Metropolitan and then he transformed into Hollywood David and bought a BMW? Pepperidge Farm remembers.
Yeah, I REALLY wish he would fix up that Nash eventually, especially w/ all the history behind it w/ the previous owner…it would be awesome
I’ll take the running one, I guess. Really don’t want either as they’re both trashed.
I would ask to see the Infiniti just to kick them in the crotch. Then buy the Mazda.
I’ll take the Infiniti.
And I’ll argue the exhaust note, too. There is a Maxima (same engine) here locally that has an aftermarket exhaust, and it sounds AWESOME. Like, old school small block rumble. If I had the Infiniti, I’d ask that guy where he got it and unleash my own glorious noise!
That has to be an engine swap. It is physically impossible for any VQ engine to sound good, especially when amplified.
I have only encountered him at my local Wally World, and he has a sticker on it for an exhaust company whose name escapes me at the moment. So as far as I know, just an exhaust. And it sounds good!
The Mazda I guess: I’ve never owned a rotary.
if the G35 were clean, I’d take it over something that doesn’t run with a salvage title, but the sticker, beads, dash, and tip all give me the ‘run away!’ vibe.
Two vehicles that are known for just being obnoxiously loud when you don’t have the stock exhaust.
Gimme the dorito, I guess.