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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-7 Turbo II Series 5
Valuation · Mazda · FC3S · 1989-1991

Mazda RX-7 Turbo II Series 5

1.3L turbo twin-rotor · 146 kW / 294 Nm · 5sp manual · RWD
AVOIDRated within the $30k to $100k band · 86 of 94 at this money
Model value
$30,000
Must gain each year to break even
+15.9%
The projection does not clear it, and nor does most of the library.
CarQuant score
47/100
Scored against the $30k to $100k band, not the whole library
Evidence grade
Thin
One to three recorded Australian sales
$30,000
$19,890 lowhigh $35,778
Calibrated to a thin record
One counted Australian result and it is not quite the car: a $36,500 Series 5 Turbo, but an automatic where this record describes the manual coupe. A $17,900 Series 4 convertible automatic sits on the page excluded from the value. These prices reach this library through a third-party compiler rather than from the selling house: Collecting Cars publishes the car, the date, the suburb, the odometer and the condition report, and puts the final figure behind a login. They are carried as evidence on that basis and the provenance is stated here so it can be weighed.
Measured across this library, a value resting on a single Australian result runs high about six times in ten, by a median of five per cent.

Looking at an RX-7 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
$30,000
At about 130,000 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 $30,000 · modelled median at five years $28,390
Solid line: the value this library has carriedDashed from 2026: modelled · even money $23,919 to $32,276
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 ($19,890 to $35,778). 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

The numbers argue against it. Scores 47/100, ranking 86 of 94 in the $30k to $100k band. Liquidity is the strongest input, risk resilience the weakest.
Running it costs about $5,990 a year (20.0% of value), which is what the economics score measures. All in, including the projected value change, it is $6,708 a year.
The model's five year median is $28,390, a -5.4% move, with the tenth percentile at $19,890.
Value calibrated to a thin record. Treat the level as provisional.
Evidence
Thin1 recorded sale
Off its peak
-17%
Value band
wide
At least one recorded transaction plus a source. Direction is sound, the exact level less so.
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)$6,708 a year all in, -5.4% median value move
Long term (10-15 years)Scarcity case already formed
Negotiate from$30,000

Recorded sales

Every recorded observation, and when
2 rows on record
$37k$33k$29k
202120222023202420252026
the value this record published, year by yearnow $30ksoldcontext, excluded1 row sits off this scale. Open the list below to see them.
Every row, with its price and note (2) ↓
Nov 2021AutoMarkets$17,900Context, excluded
SOLD. 24 Nov 2021, Sydney NSW, 66,055km. 1988 RX-7 Infini Series 4 convertible, automatic - a Series 4 convertible automatic against a Series 5 Turbo coupe, excluded from this record. It is the sole other FC datapoint in the public record and is kept on the page for that reason alone; not individually verified.
Feb 2021Collecting Cars$36,500Sold
SOLD. 10 Feb 2021, Kingsgrove NSW, 53,679km. 1990 Turbo II Series 5, 4sp automatic per the primary listing (AutoMarkets records it as manual - trust the listing), imported to Australia 2005, highly original with believed-original paint, stood unused 2010-2015 then recommissioned, RWC Jan 2020 with no advisories.
1 completed Australian sale of 2 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
41/100-14
Scarcity25% of total
54/100+1
Demand durability20% of total
52/100-14
Liquidity15% of total
59/100+7
Risk resilience10% of total
21/100-15
Sub-scores run 0-100 before weighting; the weighted total is 47/100. 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
41/100
Baseline84 pts
− 20.0% of value a year to run-49 pts
+ Below its Australian list price+6 pts
Sub-score (baseline plus drivers, clamped 0-100)41 pts
Scarcity25% weight
54/100
Baseline20 pts
+ 375 survivors estimated in Australia+34 pts
Sub-score (baseline plus drivers, clamped 0-100)54 pts
Demand durability20% weight
52/100
Baseline44 pts
− The FD went to six figures and the FC did not follow-10 pts
+ Australian-delivered turbo cars have a real local following+10 pts
+ Original unmodified cars are genuinely scarce+8 pts
Sub-score (baseline plus drivers, clamped 0-100)52 pts
Liquidity15% weight
59/100
Baseline12 pts
+ 60 days on market+35 pts
+ 22 sales a year+12 pts
Sub-score (baseline plus drivers, clamped 0-100)59 pts
Risk resilience10% weight
21/100
Baseline52 pts
− The engine is a consumable with a five-figure replacement cost-14 pts
− Modification is the norm and it halves the money-10 pts
− Thin transaction record-7 pts
Sub-score (baseline plus drivers, clamped 0-100)21 pts
Model output, not advice or a valuation. Verify independently before acting.

What it costs to own · about 3,611 km a year

Annual cost of access, excl. fuel
$5,990a year
Share of value per year
20.0%
Scheduled servicing$1,35023%
Tyres, annualised$92015%
Registration and CTP$72012%
Insurance$1,71029%
Sinking fund (failure table)$1,29022%
All-in annualised (a different number)
Purchase (model value plus duty)$31,200
Running costs × 5 years$29,950
Median exit, net of selling cost$27,610
All-in annualised over 5 years$6,708/yr
Share of value per year22.4%
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
15.9%a year, only to get the money back
This library projects
-1.1%a year
The projection falls 17.0 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$30,000
Stamp duty$1,200
Running costs x 5 years$29,950
Selling cost at exit, 2.6% of the salescales with price
Sale price needed at +5 years$62,782
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

Engine1.3L turbo twin-rotor
Power / torque146 kW / 294 Nm
0-100 km/h6.8 s
Transmission5sp manual
DriveRWD
Kerb weight1,324 kg
Built worldwide272,027
Delivered to Australia850
Effective AU survivors375
Australian sales / year22
Typical days on market60 days
Launch price$54,684

What moves the price on this model

Colour hierarchy
Original paint in a factory colour+6%
Crystal White or Brilliant Black+3%
Resprayed, or a colour change-7%
Options
Australian-delivered rather than a later Japanese import+10%
Standard engine, standard ECU, documented compression+22%
Series 5 with the intercooled 13B-T rather than a Series 4+12%
Odometer sensitivity±1.6% per 10,000 km vs 130,000 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
$28,390
-5.4% on today
The model's figure. Today it is $30,000.
Even odds it lands between $23,919 and $32,276.
$19,890 lowhigh $35,778
The shaded range is even money and 35% 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 weaker five year outlook than 74% of the library.
-26.6% weakest projected move in the librarystrongest +73.1%
Five-year cost of ownership
Value change alone: -$1,610 across five years.
Running costs over the same period: $29,950.
Duty and expected selling costs: $1,980.
Net cost of five years of ownership: $33,540, or $6,708 a year.
The projected value fall is added to the running cost. Depreciation is the larger number here.

The case for and against

The case for

An Australian-delivered Series 5 Turbo at $54,684 new was a serious car, and the FC is the last rotary this market has not re-rated. Original examples are rare enough that the good ones are already separating.

The case against

A rotary with unknown compression is a $12,500 engine wearing a car. Most survivors have been modified, and the FD's run to six figures has done nothing for this one in four years.

Known faults and risks

Risk 1Compression test before purchase is not optional
Risk 2Bridge-ports, aftermarket ECUs and dump pipes cut value roughly in half
Risk 3Sill and rear-quarter rust on cars that lived near the coast
Apex and side seal wear, 13B-T rebuild installed with ancillaries$12,500
Rust in sills, rear quarters and hatch surrounds$6,000
Turbo failure, oil-starvation prone$3,750
Overheating and degraded cooling system$1,850
Perished vacuum and emissions hoses causing poor idle and boost faults$1,200

Similar cars, and what they cost to run

Evidence behind this valueThin · 1 recorded sale
Carried value
$30,000
Historical price
2016 · $30,6002026 · $30,000
Thin
At least one recorded transaction plus a source. Direction is sound, the exact level less so.
This is the one rotary this market has not re-rated

The FD Series 6 sits at $55,000 in this library and the Spirit R at $92,000; the FC that came before it has stayed where it was. That is the whole investment case and the whole risk in one sentence.

Read the rest of the evidence notes (3 more)
The Australian car was a real car

Sold new here at $54,684 with 146kW and 294Nm in local specification, which in 1989 bought a great deal less elsewhere. Delivery volumes were never published, so the figure carried here is an estimate spanning Series 4 and 5 together and should be read as one.

What actually sets the price is compression and originality

A 13B-T rebuild is $12,500 installed against a $30,000 car, so a compression test is the difference between a purchase and a deposit on an engine. Prior modification is the second variable and it is brutal: bridge-ported cars with aftermarket management routinely trade at half the money of a standard one, which means the population divides into two markets that share a badge.

Both FC lots on this page are the wrong car and only one of them is close enough to count, which leaves this value resting on a single result

The $36,500 result of February 2021 is a genuine Series 5 Turbo at 53,679km, highly original, imported in 2005 - but an automatic, and the compiler records it as a manual where the listing itself says otherwise; trust the listing. The $17,900 result of November 2021 is a Series 4 convertible, also automatic, and a weak comparable for a Series 5 coupe. Two rows, both flawed, and the value sits above both because both are automatics.

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-7 Turbo II Series 5 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$30,000
Half of sales are further out than$3,354
The report$249
13×
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-7 Turbo II Series 5, 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.

Free. One address, one model, and no account.
RX-7 for sale?Priced by a person, $249