Miata experts; READ

Good deal? Should I buy it?

  • Yes, buy it.

    Votes: 1 7.7%
  • No, do not buy it.

    Votes: 12 92.3%

  • Total voters
    13
It is damaged. Has too many miles. Has rust.

I wouldn't buy it. I bet you can find one, in better condition in the spring.
 
yeah...save ur money for ur P5 or @ least wait until there's a better one 'cause a miata that looks that f0cked up isn't worth it
 
Definitely worry about the rust not the engine as much. i would want to see full underside of car. My dad picked up a 93 -4 i think "R" package w/ bilsteins and rb intake and some weak exh, good cond, no rust for $2500. I think 90xxx miles in Vegas. keep looking . look for trade ins as dealers cant finance so they will rarely sell 1st gen miata's (in our area I should say). good luck and try and find a 99 & up : )
 
Rust is a problem - I'd prolly pay $1K for the car, because of the suspension/roll bar etc...123K miles? Pshaww...that's BARELY broken in :)
 
i agree, the rust is an issue. i am not so worried about the mileage per se (drove a 90 prizm to 230,000) as thats less than 10k on the odo per year. On a 14 year old car I'd expect some miles :(

price is really an issue - If the rust isn't too bad and the car was structurally sound I'd have no problem plunking 1500 on it - but 2k? sigh, and it is barely an hour away from me
 
Skip it. Buying a rusted car is asking for problems. If you want it as a beater, then it would be understandable, but a miata isn't really the car to have as a beater. He rants and raves about the susp, but it's nothing incredible. The rear end looks like it is ready to fall apart. The body looks tweeked...look at the hood. I'd say it's worth maybe $1K. You can't work on it because of all the rust.
 
I picked up a 90 Miata with 93,000 miles Supercharged with a hardtop in perfect condition for $5000. Look around for a better car. You will find one.
 
chri3 said:
If you want it as a beater, then it would be understandable, but a miata isn't really the car to have as a beater.

you might laugh :) but actually, yeah, I was thinking of it as being a beater of sorts. the most i'd ever do is slap a new fender on it and straighten the hood out...looks like front frame damage though...no way in hell would i go for that. though he says frame is fully intact.

he lives about a 1/2 hour from me. i'm a glutton for punishment and curious to the point of stupid :D, so i'm at least gonna drive out and check it out. says it has all recent certified dealer work - but whatever, we know what THAT means.

Starting a new job an hour away, so I figure if i have a beater might as well be a mazda beater :). no need to NOT drive the pikamobile mind you, put plenty of miles on it. just...random...thoughts...

I really appreciate the honest feedback - it does look like a total piece of crap.
 
Captain KRM P5 said:
you might laugh :) but actually, yeah, I was thinking of it as being a beater of sorts. the most i'd ever do is slap a new fender on it and straighten the hood out...looks like front frame damage though...no way in hell would i go for that. though he says frame is fully intact.


If you want a beater, get something better than that. I paid 2K for mine, but it needed new shocks. 112K miles. No rust, no damage, clean all around. It was in a crash long ago, but has been repaired/repainted. I bought the car with the intent of using it to keep miles off of my subaru, but it has become my daily driver. I've driven the scooby 2 days in the last 3 months. I think a miata could do the same thing to you. It was supposed to be a beater, but it's so much more than that:D
 
I say no go on that car. That rust is pretty bad.


A few weeks ago, I was in a similar position as you. There was a white '91 Miata with Hard top, alloy wheels, and mtx that had slight front end damage (needed a hood, bumper, right headlight and right fender. It only had about 60k on the ODO as well. It went for $1500 (Buy it now set to $1650). That price alone was worth the hard top and even if I didn't fix the car, I could have parted it out and still made most, if not all, of the money back. The only thing that kept me from buying it was lack of storage. I'm still kicking myself for passing on it (I'm sure I could have found some place to keep it if I tried hard enough).
 

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