jesus, I leave this board for two days and an FC thread pops up while I'm gone. Figures.

Anyway, I am all for the FC. I bought mine in great condition (S4 N/A) for $2k and haven't spent any more in maintaining it then I would have on any other car. It had issues, some non-working electronics, but thats normal. Replaced a few switches, I was good to go. The S4 GXL and TII came with a clutching LSD, but they tend to wear out by 100k... but they are rebuildable.

I highly recommend the FC, it handles great even stock, makes good deal of power, and it is much more affordable then the FD. Not to mention there are mount kits to fit 13B-RE and 20B engines into the bay, no cutting. Basically, anything you can do to an FD, you can do to an FC.

I am about to sell mine for an '86 Sport so I can turbo swap it (lightest practical FC chassis) and make it into a faux-Infini

BTW, the FC is not styled after the 944. It is a logical evolution over the SA/FB, and that 944 that looks like an FC came out right about the same time. Mazda spent years of R&D developing the FC body shape... they didn't just rip the 944 body at the last second.