What would you pay for this miata?
 

I'm looking at this miata locally and I was curious what you other miata owners would value it at.

It's a 1990 with 67-70k miles on it. It was fitted with a greddy turbo about 25,000 miles ago, and the turbo was rebuilt in 2005. It also has the Link management and a WI setup of some sort.

An interesting thing about it is the owner that had the turbo installed prepped the car for the turbo by "blueprinting and reinforcing" the engine (in his words). He emailed me the reciepts for this which total to $4000 not even including the greddy kit. He did things like replace all gaskets, the timing belt, put in an "Arias" piston set, bored and honed the engine, added an HKS Headgasket, rebuilt the cylinder head, resurfaced the flywheel, added an ACT clutch, resurfaced the head, and replaced other factory parts like the water pump etc.

The car was originally red, and was repainted a slightly darker cherry red that has an orange metallic flake that you can see only at certain angles (he said it costed about $1800). The interior is black and looks clean except faded seats. It also has aftermarket speakers, a small sub, and an amp. Has a stock suspension.


Generally, around what would you value this car at?



my only concern other than price is the diff. I forgot to ask if it was the Torsen or not. Did any miatas come factory with the Torsen LSD in '90?

I wouldnt pay more than 5k.

Especially considering that the mileage of the motor was so low when it went on! Worthless spending, IMO

Key question though was what you'd value the car at, not if the previous owner wasted money.

I wouldn't have spent $4k in the same way he did, but I didn't so who cares. Still makes it a more reliable car for me to buy, eh?

Fair enough. I'm just afraid, for your sake, that the guy will expect added value for his spending. Sounds like a $4500-$5000 car if you ask me, max.

Yeah I understand, and appreciate that you point it out. He was originally asking $6,500 and has bumped down to $5,800.

I'm glad that you guys are saying around $5k b/c that's what I offered. It's obviously not an AMAZING deal but i'm happy just not over paying. Hopefully he takes the offer but I don't think he will. I suppose I have to be prepared to say no thanks and walk away

If you buy it, pull apart the short nose crank right away and make sure the work was done correctly.

I'll definitely look into that, thanks for the reminder. That's something i forgot about, and is definitely worth my concern.

not one.


the 90-93 miatas have a 6" rear. VLSD option only, which doesn't matter.

Prolly $6K. I see similar mile/year cars for $5K around here a lot without any FI. Maybe $6.5K. I'm not as big a cheapass as some of the guys on here I guess. :D