Miata shopping, help please.
 

Im going tomorrow to look at this miata and maybe buy it. The guy said it has a brand new soft top, 96k miles. Seems like a good car but the price is a bit high and i told him over the phone, he said we can def work something out so that i could take the car tomorrow. What do you guys think? I asked levnubbin and he said anything 3500 or less would be a good price considering the condition of the paint and that it is a 1.8.

looking for any buying advice/input on the car.

Mazda Miata 1995

Do you know what to look for when inspecting fo rbody damage and repair? Look for the vin number stickers on the fenders, hood, trunk. Look to see if there is any oil leaks commign from the valve cover. Find out if there has been a timming belt done or not. Get any and all receipts for work done on the car.

Here is a link you should look at and read.

Miata Garage Buying a Miata

Hope this helps.

Have a great day,
Jared

At first glance that looks like a great starting platform for a turbo car, but I'd find out if it has a TorSen diff, and if not try and talk him down.

OP where are you located?? I would offer him ~3.3K

Also take a look at this one

http://miami.craigslist.org/mdc/cto/1576244439.html

Edit: after looking at this http://www.kbb.com/kbb/UsedCars/Pric...uizConditions=
I wouldnt give more than 3k

Nah...I'd go 3.25K

how do i know if it has a torsen differential? i thought all the 94+ had lsd. the owner may not know.

Nope, get the vin and call mazda. They will tell you. If you have time jack up the car, put jack stands underneith and get a good flashlight and inspect the frame and the inside body panels. Also look for overspray and uneven spacing between the body panels.

It has manual mirrors and doesn't seem to be an R package, so it doesn't have a torsen from the factory.

so if its not a torsen what would it be? that means only 1 tires will spin?

It will be an open diff. In a straight line it won't matter too much but when you get into turns it will want to spin that one tire easier.

i just called the guy, he said the car is completely stripped except 2 seats and some gauges, no a/c. he has a reverse flow wter pump that sends the coolant to the head first then the block. running 11psi which i doubt, he told me he had it to jsut go out and race so i think he was probably pushsing alot harder than that, i asked him if he ever sprayed water/meth and he said no.

im about to leave to look at the car, if everything checks out id be willing to pay anywhere between 3 - 3,200 (for the stock one i originally posted)

Jfor, thx for that link. i know what to look for now.

just got back from lookin at it. car was not in good shape. a hole i could fit my fist through under the jack and alot of area rust. the motor was making alot of wierd noises, the 2 front fenders didnt match and looked rubbed off, driver side hada bunch of little dents on it, passenger side was repainted near the bottom and back near the wheel well lol. my search continues, its only the first car ive gone to look at and at least now i have something to compare against when i look at other ones.

Sounds like the link helped out. As far as the turbo one he may be running 11 psi. it apears to have an intercooler and a link. That can be done. It is stripped and he has parts to put it back to gether. He has done the work to install the turbo. Find out what what else it has. he may be doing drag since there is no roll bar. It also has a hardtop. Go and look at it it may be a find.

I did that with my last miata that I built into a spec then had to sell it. The car looked like crap but it had a ton of work done to it. I boight it for 3k and sold what I didn't want for $2750. And still had a car, drivetrain, 2 racing seats, and a hardtop.

Have a great day,
Jared

I can't believe the pricing of vehicles in the US, here is a sample and this is in the super cheap convertible time of year.

Miata listings Ontario

I bought my 135,000km (~84k mi) '97 with ht for $4000 which was a stupidly good price, for my area (asking was $8000 down from $10000) at a small luxury / sports car dealer. There are good things about the economy being in the toilet.

Keep looking, I passed over a few (~15) cars in the year I spent looking for the right (non rust bucket/broken everything) miata.