hi im going to buy a miata for myself ( a fun car for myself ).

there are two cars that im looking at.
90 miata with 101K asking $2700
AC
hardtop.
01 wheels
clean in and out.

and

99 miata sport package with 53K asking $6000
everything manual
brand new soft top

wat should i go for?
i was gonna go for the 90 miata but the 101K milage scare me. how much money i have to spend to maintance it?

 

101k miles is nothing.

 

Well the shocks in the 90 are shot unless they've been replaced. Does the AC still work? Was the timing belt done (properly to avoid damage to woodruff key)? There will be a lot of shakes and rattles that may or may not bother you. It really depends on how much you want to spend. A 99 sport at 6K with that mileage is a good deal. They're both good deals actually. Buy them both then mark up one and sell it.

The 90 is a lot more "raw" as a sports car and the 99 is more refined. Some like the former, some like the latter.

Frank

 

Both look like good deals. Where are they located? Post the info on the one you don't get.

 

There are huge differences in the cars. Most people would not compare them side-to-side. The Take a look here. These pages will give you the quick and dirty on Miatas... even some helpful buying tips: http://www.miata.net/faq/

Like fmowry said, the older ones are a lot less refined (drive one without PS and you'll see). The newer cars are almost luxurious in comparison.
Take a mid-seventies Triumph and put it against a new SLK, that's a fair comparison.

 

Man. Thats a hard choice. I think I would have to agree with fmowry on this and say buy them both.

 

Buy them both, sell the NA because you'll end up loving the '99 sport I promise. Keep the hardtop, bam you get a free hardtop and you can make $500 on the '90 reselling it. Put the hardtop on the '99 cause you'll end up wanting one someday for sure and if you don't sell the hardtop for another $7-900 depending on condition. You now have a large sum of money to go towards your turbo project.

 

Thats a no brainer....NA all the way.

 

Buy them both. Swap the rear ends and sell the 99 (sucks for the guy who buys that.) Use that money to buy a long nose 1.6 and a turbo kit of your choice. You could do a 1.8 swap, but I'm biased to the 1.6.

NA 1.6 longnose, turbo, torsen, hardtop....only way to go.

EDIT: Didn't notice it was your first post, so you really did want an answer lol. I would go for the 90. I've driven the 99's, just don't seem as fun to me. I don't like luxury stuff, so A/C and leather just turn me off. I have a 93 and LOVE it, the 1.6 is a really fun motor.

 

buy the NA, then use the left over cash to buy a rear end, '01 sport brakes, and track rubber...then save for a turbo job.

 

I've got both and I may always have both. Deciding which one I might want to sell makes my head hurt so I don't think about it ;-)

drive them both. then prepare for a hard decision.