Looked at a Miata yesterday

"Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)" (rduncan5678)
12/10/2018 at 13:59 • Filed to: None

https://oppositelock.kinja.com/looking-at-a-miata-tomorrow-1830963014

https://inlandempire.craigslist.org/cto/d/2001-mazda-miata-mx-5-special/6755758622.html

The car was as beautiful as the ad suggested and I had a hard time being picky about any of it. There were a couple of little things here and there but not enough to worry me. Just little scrapes and dents, but very minor. No sun damage, the car obviously being garaged most of its life in Socal. The only concern was a small rust bubble on the hood, likely from a rock chip. Certainly in great condition and worth the asking price if the mechanicals matched up..

Unfortunately the mechanicals did not match up for me. While sure everything in a Miata is fixable, there were enough concerning factors for me to not be flexible on my offer. First, the timing belt is confirmed to be old. This owner bought it at 84k and has not done it with the car now sitting at 133k. Seeing as Mazda says every 60k for this job, it’s well overdue. Then the radiator is cracked and brown as hell and plenty of other stuff is overdue. Diff and gear oil are original, oil has been conventional only the whole life, and the valve cover leaks quite a bit of oil visually. The bigger problem though was the test drive. It felt a little slow compared to my own 2001 Miata and it had a minor stumble when accelerating intermittently. Considering the deferred maintenance, I wasn’t surprised but it was concerning enough that I wouldn’t buy the car without a PPI by a mechanic to sort out what’s wrong. I still gave an offer of $4500 (with the intent of PPI before committing the money) but he said no anyways.

The more I think about it, I am somewhat glad just because of the work needed and the concerning stumble. I can’t really guess what it was. Maybe spark plugs? But it could have also been a clutch slip or and electrical fault. But most electrical stuff should throw a code. Anyways, I’ll continue shopping but I’m not in a rush right now. I’m going to be gone the entire month of January and most of February. Then I’ll probably be often on work travel after that. So I don’t particularly need a second car right away right now.

Will keep the search going as I can! Looking at a ‘97 ad currently, so I'm also thinking about an NA.

DISCUSSION (23)

Chariotoflove > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
12/10/2018 at 14:09

Sounds like you did the right thing. He may end up selling it for what he wants to someone who isn’t as thorough.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
12/10/2018 at 14:12

with the mileage the stumble is probably ignition related , pugs, or a bad coil, also sound like a TPS.

Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
12/10/2018 at 14:17

None of that deferred maintenance sounds too bad (so long as you do the timing belt before it breaks and get the cam locking tool [narrator: he did not]). But, $4500 is all of the money for an NB with that list of needs, so I think you’re just as well off without it anyway.

dtg11 - is probably on an adventure with Clifford > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
12/10/2018 at 14:38

Is conventional oil bad? My 13 year old Acura has 211k and has only had conventional...

Chuckles > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
12/10/2018 at 14:57

That looks a lot like the NB that one of my managers recently bought. It's funny to see him in such a small car since his other vehicles are an F-350 and a Mercury Marauder.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney
12/10/2018 at 15:25

Well yeah I was more than willing to take it on. Having that offer declined means he is being unrealistic. So it's a good sign to me. But I wouldn't just take all of that work as "minor" in a negotiation.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
12/10/2018 at 15:28

I know the crank sensor was bad since it also took one or two too many cranks to start. But there is certainly an issue that was enough to concern me. I've replaced all of that on my car, but I did them all preventatively. I was left to assume he ignored all problems so it would have more things wrong that I didn't observe.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > dtg11 - is probably on an adventure with Clifford
12/10/2018 at 15:32

I have run my Miata on full synthetic the whole time. Considering it's broken now Idk how much difference it made lol. But its generally recommended for the VVT system to run synthetic due to the additives. The earlier Miatas before VVT are more okay with Dino oil but I've seen plenty of debate on it.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Chariotoflove
12/10/2018 at 15:36

Certainly concerned someone will have a headache they paid a bit too much for. But none of it is particularly expensive to fix. I had a fellow Oppo price quote me the parts and labor, and it was around $2k with labor for everything. So anyone mildly competent can refresh it much cheaper. But it's enough to not want to pay top top dollar for.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
12/10/2018 at 15:43

yeah an obvious history of neglect is a good reason to walk away from a car. I ran away from an e36 once, because it was so obviously not maintained.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
12/10/2018 at 16:14

Yeah it was more important when shopping for my Subaru but it still matters to some degree for all cars. Usually it's kind of just an unknown history that will cause problems later. It's much worse to have immediately imminent problems though.

Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
12/10/2018 at 16:22

Was he an older dude by any chance? I ran into more than a few older guys when I was buying my NA that thought their car was simply worth more than it actually was, and there’s not much you can do other than walk when someone is convicted like that.

Chariotoflove > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
12/10/2018 at 17:14

That’s why the person who buys it will think it’s ready to go out the door. :(

His Stigness > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
12/10/2018 at 17:24

It doesn’t matter whether you run conventional or synthetic, but the additive package matters. You can get cheap ass synthetic that won’t be any better than conventional. I used to work at a shop that used 20W50 on the older 2.0 VW engine because it just gulped oil. If you do something like that then put some good additives in it.

And that’s why I do UOA (used oil analysis ). I get quantitative feedback on my additive packages and oil change intervals.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney
12/10/2018 at 18:10

Yup, 100% the case. He was a nice guy and it wasn’t nearly as unreasonable as some people seem to be. That’s why I figured a reasonable offer was necessary. I was willing to take the risk and pay more than I wanted to just because of that. But yeah it proved to me he was unreasonable since he clearly wanted basically asking.

random001 > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
12/10/2018 at 19:46

you need to hurry up and buy a miata so you’ll sell me the sti....

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > random001
12/10/2018 at 20:07

I’m not buying a Miata to replace the subaru lol. Those two cars are pleasantly different enough to both have a place in my roster. But yeah if you have $20k laying around I’ll sell the STi, I KNOW WHAT I HAVE NO LOWBALLERS. I do actually plan on keeping that car while. Or at least until I have to empty my bank account more than once to fix it..

random001 > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
12/10/2018 at 20:28

I don’t understand why you are not just agreeing with me....

trurl > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
12/11/2018 at 04:35

Late spring I will be selling mine (2002 SE ) in NorCal. Let me know if this would be of interest to you.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > trurl
12/11/2018 at 10:25

Ooh yeah it definitely would be of interest to me . I don’t mind waiting either. Got the details? That would be awesome to have enough lead time to figure it out too. 73294689469 if that's easier.

trurl > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
12/11/2018 at 13:39

Hi. I am a bit confused about 73294689469. A bit too long to be a phone number. What is it?

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > trurl
12/11/2018 at 16:15

Haha crap, a bit of a typo it is a phone number but typed wrong.

7329489469

Also email: rduncan5678@gmail.com

trurl > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
12/12/2018 at 04:09

Thanks. I have sent an email.