guitarrc6

ok guys its summer, i can finally get rid of my honda and buy a miata. so i found this one online, its a 1995 miata (not m edition) comes with a hardtop with defroster and headliner, clean title.
it also has a flyin miata turbo kit with 40k miles on it with the link emu.
its has a hardog rollbar
a flyin miata turbo exhaust
a wideband O2 sensor
and he says that it has a light weight flywheel and racing clutch, but theres really no way for me to check that.

he also says that it has 124,000 miles on it and it has a blown head gasket. he's asking 7750 which he says is 1000 lower than what he would ask because of the head gasket.

soooooooooo is this a good deal? the only think i'm worried about is that the turbo kit has 40,000 miles on it. that seems like a lot? but do you think this is a fair asking price? any advice?

Newbsauce

iTrader: (2)

Thats terrible. If you want to see a good set of deals on miatas, use craigslist. Every day I see one with like 65-70k miles for like 7k. Better to buy one stock, and mod it yourself. That way you know whats been done, and better yet, since you did the work, your able to fix it. Braineack can attest, I paid 4k for my miata with alot of mods (79k miles), the problem was I was always backtracking to fix the previous owners problems. Oh, not to mention, doing it yourself you appreciate it ALOT more.

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

although the link IS worth a lot.....

but the price still seems high....if he blew the head gasket, who knows what else is not working as it should....

Newbsauce

iTrader: (2)

I took the liberty of doing this for you: (based on a zip code in LA)

Option #1: 1991 BRG Limited Edition Miata (50k miles) 6700 dollars - cars.com
Greddy Kit with boost/AF gauges (650 dollars) - craigslist

There is a ton of higher mileage ones (100k+) that are selling for far below that. You could get one of them for 2500, swap a 1.8 (700) and then turbo that.

Ben

iTrader: (33)

Look at the blue car at the bottom of the page:
http://www.flyinmiata.com/us/for_sale.asp

Same price, but a MUCH better buy--and it's been for sale for a while, so I bet he'll come down some.

Newbsauce

iTrader: (2)

^^^ I agree. Has a torsen and link too.

guitarrc6

thanks for the advice, i was wondering that myself, i would expect someone that had a turbo kit to drive their car pretty hard. its just tempting to have a miata already done for me!

hustler

iTrader: (6)

$5500 firm, $6k max for that car with the blown head gasket...if that's the only thing wrong with it.

samnavy

iTrader: (7)

Just some observations:
With an FM kit installed, he'd have to have a clutch... and starting the engine and revving it would verify a light flywheel. I don't think he'd try and hose you on that.

A stock '95 w/124k miles and blown HG is worth about $2k. Rather than fix the HG though, I'd opt to just throw in a used lower mileage 1.8 and part the blown engine... it would probably be cheaper. Either way, even doing the work yourself, figure on some significant time and $500-$1000 depending on how cheap you get a motor.

Figure what the aftermarket parts are worth to you and I think he's still about $1000 overpriced. And the repair/swap could easily cost twice as much as predicted. If he's got full maint records, dyno-logs to prove it's been running with a good tune, good rubber left, you've got a good feeling about the guy, you can do the work yourself, and you've got something else to drive in the meantime... I might offer him $6500. Your call.