Opinions: $5500 for 2003 with 43k miles?
 

Dudes,

My brother is in the market for a Miata, and he found a bone stock 2003 with 43k miles in pretty good shape for $5500.

It's been a while since I was looking to buy a Miata, but I thought this was pretty reasonable. He drove it and said it drove well, handled great, didn't see any issues. It has some hail damage, but not horrible. He said zero rust, which is nearly unheard of in the Midwest...he also may have just not seen it. The guy is asking $6000, but my brother got him down to $5500. It doesn't have leather or Bose, and it's a 5 speed, but the interior is apparently in pretty good shape. Tires looked good too. Rebuilt title because of the hail damage. Apparently it was also in a wreck with a rather large, antlered quadruped. Damaged panels have all be replaced though, no sign of the damage.

Thoughts? Should he try to talk him down a little more from $5500? I'm kind of thinking he should snag it before anyone else does.

that doesn't sound like a good deal at all

...but then I'm in CA where NB2's like you described can be had for under 4k

It sounded pretty good, til hail damage, maybe rust maybe not, salvage title.... I'd go with a nope. Those things way offset the low miles IMO.

Pass.

I bought a 2003 with 80k miles last summer for $4500 in southern IL. They were asking $5500 but got them down. This one has bose, new cloth top, black leather interior, etc, also is rust free. Rust is an issue in our area but they do show up for less. I took about 5 months of shopping to find mine, along the way there were a few right around the $4500-$5000 range that were un molested, rust free cars.

The rebuilt title and hail damage is too many red flags when you can get a clean one with a few more miles for way less..... https://milwaukee.craigslist.org/cto...252407358.html (milwaukee area I know, just showing if you look around there are a few available). Just my .02

Ok, thanks for the opinions! That makes sense; since I haven't looked in a few years, I wasn't sure what the going rates were. I'll pass along the ineffable collective wisdom of MT.net :-)

Pretty high for a salvage title, even around here where "rust free" commands a premium.

Everyone in here paid pocket lint and a half pack of gum for their cars.


If it's something he wants to run into the ground and keep long term or mess with, i'd say the mileage trumps everything and it's a little higher than i'd want to pay, but not much. I'd probably hate looking at the hail damage more than i'd care about the salvage title, personally.

I talked to him this morning, and he said he's going to keep looking. My car is actually a rebuilt title, but it was repaired flawlessly, and I've never had any issues with it, so that wasn't an immediate turnoff to me. I think the hail would have bothered him too; he wants it for a daily driver that he'll drive into the ground, so it probably would have served that purpose. I think he can probably find a better deal though, without too many more miles.

Sure, and mileage to a point, doesn't matter much. 120k and rust free? Yeah whatever, it's due for a 60k service anyways.

Agreed. If he can find one with 90k in good shape and just had all the wear items replaced, that would be just as good or better than a 40k I would think.

*edit*

40k with dents, salvage, etc., that is.