BRR-SCCA

OK, after driving the Three Guy's Miata for fun runs at the Morgan Solo II, I got the bug again to look for Miatas. I quickly found one in Lynchburg on a used car lot, and am looking for pricing guidance from the Miata drivers.

It is a 1993, 108K asking price $4900, white/black cloth, manual windows, no cruise, those "daisy" alloys (with miss-matched tires). The interior looks good if not great, top seems to be fair to good, looks like they tried to fix some holes by the rear window with rubber cement. Walking around it looking at the body work, it seems to be in good shape. I looked closely at the front and rear bumper seams, they looked even. The paint on the front bumper seemed not to be cracked. Not sure if white cars of this age, hold up better than other colors, or if it had been repainted.

Kelly blue book has the price at $3700, being convertable weather and at a used car dealer, I can understand their price. So is $4500 to $4900 too much for a clean Miata if in fact it has not had body work repairs (I would certainly try to talk them down to between $4000 and $4500, but I am sure the best I could do would be $4500)?

Knowing it will need a suspension refresh, and I would setup the car as a good daily driver/Solo II car, what would I need to invest to get the suspension up to par, and is there anything else that I should be look to replace?

Thanks,

Todd

In my mind the price seems a little high by about a $1500. For $4500-$5000 you should be able to find a later car (1.8L instead of the 1.6) It is very possible that the car has been repainted at some point. White was known to flake off in big chunks early in the car's life. What suspension work needs to be done depends on what class you want to be in. In either stock or a prepared class, Koni Sports are a great place to start. Places to look at are the lower rear quarter panels (known rust area do to blocked soft top drain holes), also if it hasn't been replaced, it will probably need a new clutch master cylinder (if not now, soon). On the plus side, parts are cheap, and easy to replace.

agreed, price is high, should come with a hardtop for that kind of money, but dealers typically charge more. I'd tell him "$3900 cash" and if he says no, walk away, there's plenty more out there.

Thanks for the pointers. There are a few other cars that I plan to look at, mostly earlier cars, for different amounts of money, that may need some work. I have no problem buying a car that needs some work.

Could this be another Spec Miata in the making?

http://charlottesville.craigslist.org/c ... 02761.html.

Gets you a 1.8 with OBDI, but an oil idiot gauge, as opposed to a real gauge.

http://charlottesville.craigslist.org/c ... 16278.html

Less money than you are looking at in Lynchburg, and less than an hour and a half away.

Call Monday - Friday, 6:00am - 4:45pm Pacific Time

1-800-222-5500

It's Mazda USA Customer Service. Give them the VIN, and they can tell you what options it has.

+1 on the price comments, definitely too much.

Cruise these classfieds for some more background info- great website overall for Miata's.

http://www.miata.net/

Sometimes there are good deals on street cars on the SM forum as well: http://www.specmiata.com/

There's a bunch of them out there, hold out for a good one. Damn things do get in your blood though...

Steve

I saw the first ad from Cville, but not the second. Thanks for that second ad.

aged racer wrote: Damn things do get in your blood though...

Steve

Judging by my garage they also like to multiply........

Hey now, I've only owned nine so far... And looking to build number ten shortly.

Scott wrote:

aged racer wrote: Damn things do get in your blood though...

Steve

Judging by my garage they also like to multiply........

worse than rabbits i hear. Personally i've only had 3 6's. though im sure there will be an mx5 diluting the bloodlines before too much longer. Though I'll have to throw in an agreement that 4900 sounds very high for that miata. might want to bring up all the stuff that will need replaced when your talking to the sales guy as if you're looking at 2 or 3 others that dont need the work.