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Price opinion from advertisements and recorded sales. Not an inspection or a certified valuation.
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Reference photograph of a Mazda RX-3
Valuation · Mazda · S102/S124 · 1971-78

Mazda RX-3

1.1L twin-rotor (12A) · 81 kW / 137 Nm · 4sp manual · RWD
BUYRated within the $30k to $100k band · 17 of 94 at this money
Model value
$72,000
Must gain each year to break even
+7.0%
The projection does not clear it, and nor does most of the library.
CarQuant score
58/100
Scored against the $30k to $100k band, not the whole library
Evidence grade
Thin
One to three recorded Australian sales
$72,000
$65,650 lowhigh $105,710
Calibrated to a thin record
Three Australian sales: $81,000 (Nov 2024, upgraded Super Deluxe), $59,500 (Feb 2025, LHD wagon, 408,368km), $55,100 (2020, LHD SP)

Looking at an RX-3 for sale?

Put in the asking price and the odometer reading. You will see what this model should make at that reading.

Should make, typical example
$72,000
At about 110,000 km. Enter an asking price to compare.

Odometer only. Colour, options, history, condition and the photographs move it further, and that is what the report reads.

A person reads the advertisement and its photographs. Usually back within 48 hours. Read a real listing report

Price history

Today $72,000 · modelled median at five years $85,680
Solid line: the value this library has carriedDashed from 2026: modelled · even money $75,144 to $96,216
The green band is the even-money range and the one to plan on: half of outcomes land inside it. The pale band behind it bounds eight in ten ($65,650 to $105,710). The path is this model's own: it starts along the momentum of its recorded history and bends toward its projected median as the horizon lengthens, so no two cars share a future curve.

The verdict

Strong within its price band. Scores 58/100, ranking 17 of 94 in the $30k to $100k band. Demand durability is the strongest input, scarcity the weakest.
Running it costs about $4,950 a year (6.9% of value), which is what the economics score measures. All in, including the projected value change, it is $2,970 a year.
The model's five year median is $85,680, a +19.0% move, with the tenth percentile at $65,650.
Value calibrated to a thin record. Treat the level as provisional.
Evidence
Thin3 recorded sales
Off its peak
at peak
Value band
wide
Multiple recorded transactions plus an aggregate source. Treat the level as reliable.
Scored against every recent Australian sale this library holds, half its values land within 11.2 per cent of the price paid and the rest miss by more, in either direction. Projections are therefore damped toward flat in proportion to how little is known, and the plausible band is never narrower than the error the model is known to make.
Short term (1-5 years)$2,970 a year all in, +19.0% median value move
Long term (10-15 years)Scarcity case already formed
Negotiate from$72,000

Recorded sales

Every recorded observation, and when
4 rows on record
$86k$65k$44k
202120222023202420252026
the value this record published, year by yearnow $72kwhat the model expects across 65k–408k kmsold1 row is undated and is not plotted
Every row, with its price and note (4) ↓
Library value against the sold record
3 sales · median $59,500
Value $72,000
$55,100$81,000
Jun 2026Collecting CarsNo saleNot a sale
NOT A SALE. 1976 Savanna GT, 38,580km, Chester Hill NSW, failed to meet reserve - the top specification did not clear
Feb 2025Collecting Cars$59,500Sold
1972 wagon, LEFT-HAND DRIVE, 408,368km, Brighton-Le-Sands NSW. Wrong drive side, uncollected body, half a million kilometres - and it cleared $59,500
Nov 2024Collecting Cars$81,000Sold
SOLD. 27 Nov 2024, Monterey NSW, 65,351km indicated and not warranted. 1973 Super Deluxe in Alexandria Gold over black vinyl, Australian-delivered and sixteen years with the seller. Originally a 1.0-litre 10A car; now a 1.2-litre 12A reconditioned with a mild port in May 2015, on an RX-7 five-speed in place of the factory four. Rear window louvres and non-original mirrors, front seats retrimmed in a non-original pattern, a few dents and blemishes, clean rego test October 2023. Fifty-nine bids. An upgraded car, not an original one, and it still made $81,000
Nov 2020Shannons$55,100Sold
RX-3 SP coupe, LEFT-HAND DRIVE import, lot 131 - an LHD car trades below a local one in this market
3 completed Australian sales of 4 rows. Rows marked asking, no sale, or context are shown for honesty but do not count toward the evidence grade: an ask is not a transaction, a pass-in is a refusal, and a provenance or overseas result does not price the ordinary local car. The badge on every row is computed by the same rule as the grade, so the two cannot drift apart.

Score breakdown

Against the $30k to $100k band median
94 cars in band · ink tick marks the median
Ownership economics30% of total
60/100+5
Scarcity25% of total
48/100-5
Demand durability20% of total
72/100+6
Liquidity15% of total
52/100even
Risk resilience10% of total
58/100+22
Sub-scores run 0-100 before weighting; the weighted total is 58/100. Medians are computed live from the 94 cars currently in the $30k to $100k band, so this picture moves when the library does.
The working behind each factor: baseline and drivers ↓
Ownership economics30% weight
60/100
Baseline78 pts
− 6.9% of value a year to run, rebuilds priced in-18 pts
Sub-score (baseline plus drivers, clamped 0-100)60 pts
Scarcity25% weight
48/100
Baseline26 pts
+ Roughly 450 estimated survivors from thousands delivered+22 pts
Sub-score (baseline plus drivers, clamped 0-100)48 pts
Demand durability20% weight
72/100
Baseline36 pts
+ The definitive Australian rotary classic+26 pts
+ Race heritage from Bathurst class wins+10 pts
Sub-score (baseline plus drivers, clamped 0-100)72 pts
Liquidity15% weight
52/100
Baseline10 pts
+ 66 days on market+30 pts
+ A dozen sales a year at most+12 pts
Sub-score (baseline plus drivers, clamped 0-100)52 pts
Risk resilience10% weight
58/100
Baseline86 pts
− Rotary rebuilds every 100,000km or less-14 pts
− Rebodied race cars and identity questions-14 pts
Sub-score (baseline plus drivers, clamped 0-100)58 pts
Model output, not advice or a valuation. Verify independently before acting.

What it costs to own · about 2,500 km a year

Annual cost of access, excl. fuel
$4,950a year
Share of value per year
6.9%
Scheduled servicing$1,10022%
Tyres, annualised$50010%
Registration and CTP$70014%
Insurance$1,05021%
Sinking fund (failure table)$1,60032%
All-in annualised (a different number)
Purchase (model value plus duty)$74,880
Running costs × 5 years$24,750
Median exit, net of selling cost$84,780
All-in annualised over 5 years$2,970/yr
Share of value per year4.1%
Cost of access is what the car costs to run. All-in annualised adds depreciation, duty and selling costs across a five year hold. They answer different questions and are labelled separately for that reason.
Break-even appreciation, 5 year hold
7.0%a year, only to get the money back
This library projects
+3.5%a year
The projection falls 3.4 points a year short of the hurdle. On these assumptions this car is a cost, not an asset, which can be an entirely rational thing to buy but should be bought knowing it.
Purchase$72,000
Stamp duty$2,880
Running costs x 5 years$24,750
Selling cost at exit, 1.3% of the salescales with price
Sale price needed at +5 years$100,891
Storage
Bought at
No forecast is used to compute the hurdle. It is the purchase, the duty, any premium and 5 years of running cost, grossed up for the cost of selling and spread back over the hold. The projection it is measured against is the weakest number in this product and is drawn that way in the chart above. Transport, finance and any restoration spend sit outside it.

Specification

Engine1.1L twin-rotor (12A)
Power / torque81 kW / 137 Nm
0-100 km/h10.5 s
Transmission4sp manual
DriveRWD
Kerb weight885 kg
Built worldwide286,000
Delivered to Australia12,000
Effective AU survivors450
Australian sales / year12
Typical days on market66 days
Launch price$3,500

What moves the price on this model

Colour hierarchy
Alexandria Gold+4%
Bright Yellow+4%
White+1%
Blue0%
Options
Numbers-matching rotary verified+12%
Original panels, no race history+12%
GT specification (12A from new)+8%
Odometer sensitivity±0.5% per 10,000 km vs 110,000 km
Applied on top of these

Condition, history, originality, ownership, delivery and modification multipliers apply to every car in the library. They are applied automatically when an advertisement is analysed, and the schedule is set out once, on the analyser page.

Projected value in five years

Projected value at five years
$85,680
+19.0% on today
The model's figure. Today it is $72,000.
Even odds it lands between $75,144 and $96,216.
$65,650 lowhigh $105,710
The shaded range is even money and 28% wide; the outer figures bound eight outcomes in ten. Band width follows the evidence - a model with a tight measured record carries a tight band.
A stronger five year outlook than 83% of the library.
-26.6% weakest projected move in the librarystrongest +73.1%
Five-year cost of ownership
Value change alone: +$13,680 across five years.
Running costs over the same period: $24,750.
Duty and expected selling costs: $3,780.
Net cost of five years of ownership: $14,850, or $2,970 a year.
The projected value rise offsets part of the running cost. It does not make the car free to own.

The case for and against

The case for

Scarcer than the muscle cars it shared circuits with, adored by two generations of rotary culture, and still cheaper than its own reputation. Original-body coupes are nearly extinct in private hands.

The case against

No named ordinary-car transaction anchors the value, the engine needs rebuilding on a schedule, and the headline results that make owners confident belong to race-provenance and concours cars, not the car being offered.

Known faults and risks

Risk 1Rotary engine wear
Risk 2Rebodied and re-identified cars
Risk 3Theft demand for engines and cars
Rotary rebuild (12A)$8,500
Rust repair, quarters and rails$14,000
Brake and suspension refresh$3,000

Similar cars, and what they cost to run

Evidence behind this valueThin · 3 recorded sales
Carried value
$72,000
Historical price
2016 · $38,0002026 · $72,000
Thin
Multiple recorded transactions plus an aggregate source. Treat the level as reliable.
The value held, and now the evidence says why

This record carried $72,000 on almost nothing, and the August 2026 research pass found three completed Australian transactions that bracket it. A sympathetically upgraded Super Deluxe - reconditioned mild-port 12A, RX-7 five-speed, 65,351km - made $81,000 in November 2024. A left-hand-drive wagon with 408,368 kilometres made $59,500 in February 2025: the wrong drive side, a body nobody collects, nearly half a million kilometres, and it still cleared. That is what a high floor looks like. The 2020 LHD SP at $55,100 completes the picture: $72,000 for a right-hand-drive coupe in honest order sits exactly where these results put it.

Read the rest of the evidence notes (2 more)
What did not clear

A 38,580km Savanna GT, the dearest specification, failed to meet reserve in June 2026 - the GT premium is real but no public result yet measures it.

The Structural point

The ordinary RX-3 is thin on the ground precisely because race and show builds absorbed the survivors, and rust and rallying took the rest. A straight, matching, unmolested coupe is the rarest configuration of this car - the $81,000 result was not even that car.

This page prices the model.
The report prices the car in the advertisement.

Send the link. A person reads the advertisement and its photographs and sends back what that Mazda RX-3 is worth, what to offer and when to walk away, with five years of costs at the distance you drive.

Read a real listing report

The evidence on this model is thin and the report says so on its cover. Read a complete one on a real car first. Seventeen sections, no account, nothing to pay.

This model, today$72,000
Half of sales are further out than$8,049
The report$249
32×
the price of the report: what half of real sales of this model sit further from this page's number than, on this car
Watch this model
Told when the next one is called.

One line of email when this desk publishes a call on a Mazda RX-3, or records a new Australian sale of one. Nothing else, no schedule, and on a quiet model you may hear nothing for months, which is itself worth knowing about a car you are chasing.

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RX-3 for sale?Priced by a person, $249