I stayed with it for just over 5 years. I didn't want to do away with it, but had only 1 parking space and there were rumors that Mazda would stop production of RX-7s. Remember, that was around when Mazda stopped export of RX-7s to the US and maybe many other countries. The market for sports cars was freezing all over. That was Spring 1996.
While enjoying the ride on the Levin, I quietly saved and saved. I had turned into a money-saving working economic animal so that I could some day buy the 3rd generation FD3S RX-7. It was my obsession. I read magazines, books covering rotary technology and aftermarket parts. I was still young then and had all kinds of plans as to how to make it 'real cool' and different from others, when I didn't even have one! Aside from the rumors that rotaries may disappear, there was one about a non-turbo FD3S in order to offer an affordable alternative to folks like myself.
Through a friend I got in touch with a salesperson handling corporate accounts. I was offered a reasonable discount but was sort of duped on the appraisal of my Levin. I changed its oil myself and washed it myself or had it hand washed. Never by machine. No way! I kept a notebook recording all work done when, where and all kinds of stuff that would be a dead giveaway that I was an obsessive-compulsive. I made sure it revved smoothly all the way to 7400rpm (I think) and again, I was too young to know that local appraisers offered better deals for 'sports-like' cars than the automakers themselves. The automakers' dealers offered better prices for really run-down, old beaters, especially those made by their competitors. I knew someone who was well aware of how I'd taken care of it and was willing to fork out 3 times what Mazda was offering me! Too late. By that time, the previous car was already out of my hands. So much for that.
After checking key points in Mazda's history, I determined that:
The market was looking rather grim for companies making sports cars. It was only natural to delay and extend the product cycle. Developing a new one was pretty much out of the question, especially for a car with a peculiar engine most consumers around the world had long forgotten.