Should I buy this Miata???
 

The story:
I was at a garage sale(drove by and saw a Miata's taillights in the garage). I struck up a conversation w/ the older folks and they tell me it is was owned since new by the old guy's brother and they have had it for about two years. They said the brother used to "parking lot race it".
The car:
1991 Silver Miata, PS, NO AC
Interior is black leather.
67,000 original Miles
Matching Hardtop w/ hardtop rack and vinyl hardtop storage case
Tonneau cover to put on when you park the car w/ the top down
Car cover for storage
Paint is literally perfect
Wheels and tires are some aftermarket chrome 15" wheels and decent tires
It is has some sort of Jackson Racing intake on it and a strut bar of some type.

The car is probably the cleanest Miata I have ever seen from top to bottom. It has some type of aftermarket exhaust on it, not sure if it is full or just a axle back.

They said they would sell it to me for $5000, no less otherwise they are going to keep it.

Should I buy it?
I just sold my 1992 greddy turbo w/ 146K miles, Tein S-tech on stock struts, Used Jim's starion kit w/ turbosmart bov, no timing controller, high flow fuel pump for $5300, and I kept the Hardtop, the softop boot, and the cd player. and the clutch was slipping pretty bad too. Miata's sell for a lot where I live and are hard to find, so should I jump on it or not?
What do you guys think it is worth?

if you don't mind the little motor, little brakes, glass rear end, then go for it. Its too expensive though.

Too expensive for a 67,000 mile car in perfect condition with a hard top? I paid $4000 for a '92 with 81K and no hard top, judging by the prices they are going for around here it wasn't a bad deal.

Overpriced in my opinion also. Should be around $4000.
But, then by reading your original post, if they sell for that much, then why ask?

dude have at it if it runs good and you think you want another miata. :D

honestly sounds reasonable if it is flawless. I think a flawless car is easily worth a good amt more. Not to mention the matching hardtop would be nice

a car in mint condition and mostly unmodified would be worth an extra grand in my eyes and the hardtop is worth an extra 5-1k so compared to one with some dings and a softtop for 3-3.5k I would probably spend the little bit extra.

Aftermarket leather seats?

Bah, I think it's too much as well.

Low mileage NA's are getting harder to come by... one's with good original paint simply don't exist anymore. If you don't like it enough at $5k, go back in a couple weeks and offer them $4500 (take cash money, dolla'billz y'all, new crisp ones and then wave it close enough to their faces so they can smell it), then sell the hardtop for $1k and you're down to a SMOKING GOOD DEAL!

Then trade the chrome wheels to somebody at CR.net for some hollow-spoke's and you're done... until you realize how slow a stock Miata is and then you're fucked again.

But for fuck's sake don't "impulse buy" a car at any price. It's worth what you'll pay for it. I'm stuck with full size Dodge quad-cab because I saw a good deal and thought it's penis-enhancing qualities would offset my Miata... now I can't get rid of it.

I think its a little high for the year. HT does add about 1K to a miata

If your going to boost it your going to have to upgrade a lot so buying a perfect may be a little silly. But if your just going to drive it as is it may be a good idea.

if you're going to mod the car, and its in pristine condition, you're doing the car a disservice. I'm not a wine and cheeser though...just find a car with a bit more wear to turn into a work horse.

here is my problem. After selling the turbo 92, I picked up a 1990 w/ 224K on the odometer, engine replaced w/ jdm motor about 20K ago and new clutch at that time. The interior is in "ok" shape, the car has been repainted, but the last owner (an idiot) got backed into so there is a dent on the rear quarter, and the front left fender has some has some a dent as well as the hood from a tree branch falling on it. When I bought it the robbins glass window top had a large tear in it from a vandalism. So I bought it for $1700, then put a new top on it myself, top was about $250. Mechanically the car is good, but it has a bit of rust starting and I don't want to mod out a car that's body isn't in good shape. I have a full turbo setup sitting in my garage and kyb agx w/ eiback pro kit waiting to be put on my new miata. So If i buy this silver one I plan to turbo it and autoX it. I will keep the Mariner blue 1990 as a mess around car(for the g/f most likely).
I'm thinking I will try to pick the car up for $4500 and I do have cash, but the folks that are selling it and retired rich people who don't really need the money and they couldn't care less if it sells are not, so hopefully they'll take the $4500

You sound like me.

Why do you need 2 miatas? I'd rather have a bigger daily that I can fit luggage in than a miata to drive from a-b. I can't even bare to take my miata to the grocery store.

of all the people to give advice...

haha...I have a pretty heavily Modded 02 VW GTi that is my straight line racer and a bone stock 01 IS300 that is the daily driver. The Miata I bought b/c there is nothing better than a convertible in the summer time and the look on people's faces when you shoot by them in a Miata. After racing a Mustang Cobra w/ my then somewhat Stock GTi and having my friend in his Jackson Racing Supercharged miata come along from behind me and take the mustang when I was losing I knew I had to have one.

i say buy but first go look at billion they have a nice na sittin there i'm guessin 1.8 tho....sence it has newer wheels.... and i use my miata as a daily! its so much fun all u gotta do is never slow down for corners.....then it makes u forget about how much more comfortable u would be in a bigger car haha.

You had earned good street credit by having the IS, until you chose the GTI as a racer over the IS. 2JZ ftw.

the gti has plenty of go......and the is is an auto:vash: lol

you should... it's fun having a "cute" little,cheap car that can whoop up some expensive cars...

my buddy with a 500rwtq 5.0 mustang and Dot drag radials, was always pissed that a modded GTi 1.8T could hang with him :rofl:

The IS300 is a nice car for an Auto 5 speed, heavy ass luxury car. Yes the 2JZ motor is great, but it also sux gas.

The GTi is just the right mix of luxury and speed for me. It is like the Miata and the IS300 combined. Great gas Mileage, has all the bells and whistles, leather, heated seats defrosting mirrors, excellent sound system and when you want it to go fast it will do what it needs to do.

well ill put my 2 cents in on it.. i would never pay that much for a 91. maybe if it had 10k miles... but yeah, i guess it depends on where youre at too. thats a good deal in florida, but an awful one in massachusetts.

sell your shitty vw, and build a dirty-fast miata. It lacks a 1.8 ad has a glass rear end. However, engine management will be easy if you go that route

lmfao...owning three sport compact cars in South Dakota is bad enough in winter, but selling the only one that is front wheel drive and has some type of decent traction control is probably not the best idea, not to mention the fastest and most modified. It would be difficult to put together a miata that would come anywhere near being as well put together as my VW is. Of course that doesn't change the fact the Miata is my favorite car.

I'm thinking $4000 is gonna be my ceiling on this Miata. I still have some money left over for the aftermarket to use my car as a playground.

and how will engine management be easy if I go that route?

Oh shut up. You can't say shit until you actually do something with your car.

To the OP. One thing you probably can't DIY and do on the cheap is paint and a nice straight body. That's worth the extra $$$ in my mind.

Turbo VW's?
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Sorry...couldn't resist.

One thing I cannot stop laughing about day after day is how somehow every thread contains a "Shut up hustler and install your shit already" post.

yeah now i cant resist... i thought germany was the home of 400hp 13 second cars? eh or worse i suppose.. the rs4 does the quarter mile in 13.2 ish? 420hp much? i mean ill give the r32 credit for putting down a times around 14.2, about .3 seconds quicker than some stock msm have been seeing. 240hp awd, barely beating out a stock miata? or better yet, its awd, and barely beating out s2ks with the same power! meh. no offense man, i totally understand needing a car for winter, but my friend owns a VW shop,(he has a 94 trek edition jetta, show car quality exterior, drag strip ready power train. 2.0T, but its been stroked to idk what, built motor including headwork, and i believe a megasquirt ecu. ecus werent exactly his forte.) and theyre just too heavy to be fast. so yeah really great car for the snow you have going! so long as you dont spool up the turbo i suppose :p totally respect the work and all, but just not a fan of the heavy german metal.

Most of what you say is true, we all love miatas because of how lightweight they are and after a turbo how great the power to weight ratio is. You can't compare a sport luxury car to a roadster though, they are completely different types of cars. The RS4 is a sport luxury car, it has four doors, quite a bit of interior space and like most sport luxury vehicles, quite a bit of sound proofing gadgets to weight it down. That is quite a bit different from a Miata or an S2K, with two doors, no backseat, and a lot less weight. My GTi at one point ran a 13.7, In its current form(no nitrous, different turbo, different ecu) it ran a 14.5 . The right combination of performance and luxury isn't easy. The reasons why I love Miatas are completely different from the reason why I love VW's and Audi's

yeah absolutely. (btw not really a fan of s2ks anyway) im starting to become a big fan of audis. but pretty much anything with M or AMG can easily catch my intrest :p

I might go home for 3-5 days in mid June.

It will probably have severe reliability issues. My TT was sad and I won a lemon case on it, my sister's S4 was also pathetic, and her bf's s4 burned to the ground in the dealer parking lot.

i miss the vw scene big time.
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exhuast is now snubbed ad the hole is filled
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and it tucks all the way around
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It now has just a neuspeed charger (2.0 with 5-lug) with a blown o2j, H&R coilovers, shaved front and rear emblems, and lots of miles. Hopefully it will run this weekend.

Nice VW man, one of the better looking Jettas I have seen...heres the info and some older pics of my car...it has had a few changes made since these pics.

02 GTi 1.8T
Neuspeed P Chip(17 psi right now)
ECS Tuning Blue full underdrive Pully setup
ECS Tuning Dog-bone inserts
Eurosport Intake w/ ITG filter and Eurosport heatshield
H & R cup kit
H & R springs
H & R struts
Forge Racing Diverter Valve(reverse config)
ECS Tuning Stage II clutch
VR6 Aluminium flywheel
General UHP tires
Hayame Exhaust
Audi TT short Shifter
Projection headlights w/ black housing HID's(not pictured

Car is On its second Motor(previous setup was a K04, 150 shot of nitrous and a different ecu) the 150 shot was what did the motor in, funny story cause the car was under warranty, so VW paid for the new motor...haha
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