Found the original purchase invoice for my Miata

"Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)" (rduncan5678)
04/24/2019 at 15:44 • Filed to: None

I was digging through the paperwork that the previous owner of my Miata had given me, and I found this! Interesting to see that nearly $28k was spent to buy this car. And with inflation, that would be around $40k today. Considering I received the car for $4200 (conversely worth around $3k back then) that is a pretty good deal! This could probably be said for any used car but its still pretty neat to look at. Considering the actual car cost was $22,386 that sounds more reasonable but still quite the difference.

Unfortunately the original window sticker was lost at some point, but I dont really care that much about that sort of stuff anyways. There are some other neat brochures from 2001 advertising the gaudy accesories available along with some other dealer issued documents.

DISCUSSION (31)

E90M3 > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
04/24/2019 at 16:00

$4275 insurance for what?

For Sweden > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
04/24/2019 at 16:01

Kinja'd!!!

Ban dealers

BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind > E90M3
04/24/2019 at 16:04

I think it was the cost of financing. Like the cars “price” was 23665, but the 4275 is the total cost of the interest if paid to 60 months, making the cost-to-you for the car at 27940.

More complicated than an invoice should be.

E90M3 > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind
04/24/2019 at 16:10

Ah, that makes much more sense now. I think it was because the line items didn’t line up. While that might be a little more complicate than necessary, being able to see the paid off price is actually a really good thing. Maybe then people would stop paying $653 a month for 60 months on a Renegade .

Michael > E90M3
04/24/2019 at 16:11

Everything is transposed down a line. Insurance was N/A, you’re looking at financing charge

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind
04/24/2019 at 16:12

ohhh thats what that means. That works out when you do the math with the monthly payment: $449.01 * 60 = $26940.60 + $1000 (down payment I guess?) = $27940.60

That also puts it at around 5% interest for the loan

The Ghost of Oppo > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
04/24/2019 at 16:13

Damn, that seems like a lot for a Miata in 2001

412GTI > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
04/24/2019 at 16:17

Wow makes the new ones seem like an o.k deal! Super cool!

SPAMBot - Horse Doctor > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
04/24/2019 at 16:19

This is cool! I’ll have to dig thru my box of records to see if I can find something similar. I know I looked at everything, but I can’t remember if I saw this or not.

His Stigness > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
04/24/2019 at 16:26

Holy shit your Miata is only $3,000 less than my C Class brand new. Wow.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > SPAMBot - Horse Doctor
04/24/2019 at 16:29

Gotta see if you beat my ~80% discount (ignoring inflation, interest, and fees ) when comparing your purchase price to the original list price!

If I say “total cost including inflation” my discount is closer to 90% which seems wild to me haha

Ash78, voting early and often > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
04/24/2019 at 16:36

I don’t have super hard data to back it up, but cars are pretty inflation-proof. Not quite like computers or other high-tech, but they’re pretty flat (even down in some segments) over 20+ years. It’s pretty incredible.

The only real reason that purchase prices have gone up is that we’re buying bigger--and fancier-- cars on average.

Ash78, voting early and often > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
04/24/2019 at 16:40

Total coincidence, this was on the floor of my office.

1998 Passat GLX V6 with 5MT (1 of 200 in North America). The dealer sold it for a couple grand under sticker because nobody in America wanted entry-lux cars with stick.

Kinja'd!!!

A comparable car today would be about the same price in current dollars, maybe a tad higher (and with a ton more equipment...tape deck and 6-disc changer, baby!).

CaptDale - is secretly British > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
04/24/2019 at 16:47

Damn that is awesome! Stop making me want a Miata more

SPAMBot - Horse Doctor > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
04/24/2019 at 16:52

I roughly know what the original MSRP was and there weren’t really options back then. Looking at it both ways (past value of present [2016] money and future value of 1991 money) I bought the car at an approximate 70% discount (0.3mx). If you ignore inflation, it was 50% or less.

SPAMBot - Horse Doctor > His Stigness
04/24/2019 at 16:57

I’m amazed they actually sold so many. They have always been really expensive. Granted, they don’t have many direct competitors, but if you look at what else you can buy for the same money, they look a lot less competitive (on paper)

I had the window sticker for my first Miata (1999) and I want to say it was roughly 30 grand. It was pretty loaded for the time (bose, torsen, leather, a few other things) but hot damn!

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > SPAMBot - Horse Doctor
04/24/2019 at 17:05

Hah thats still pretty good I guess, and not that far off.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > CaptDale - is secretly British
04/24/2019 at 17:08

Just do it, what could possibly go wrong? If you have mad welding skills or an innate ignorance of safety you can use my old miata, will sell it for scrap value!

His Stigness > SPAMBot - Horse Doctor
04/24/2019 at 17:18

Holy shit the same MSRP as my C Class is nuts. But it really depends on what you want out of a car. I want a car that doesn’t rattle, and where it takes two arms to close the door.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
04/24/2019 at 17:20

I look forward to buying a ‘19 ND Club w/ Brembos /BBS/Recaros when they can be had for less than 10 grand.

SPAMBot - Horse Doctor > His Stigness
04/24/2019 at 17:23

Exactly. And if you want something like a miata, it’s pretty much the only thing that is going to give you the same experience. I wonder how much Z3's were back then

CaptDale - is secretly British > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
04/24/2019 at 17:24

I mean I do kind of have both of those. Well I am decent at welding and I do ignore my own safety a lot. What all was wrong with your old Miata?

BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind > E90M3
04/24/2019 at 17:32

I’m pretty sure dealers are required to do this. At least every car note I’ve had, it shows you (on that legal sized dot matrix paper) the total you’re paying plus the finance charge if you were to take the loan to term.

So either dealers flash through that paper quickly for people with ridic loans, or those people don’t understand / don’t care.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > CaptDale - is secretly British
04/24/2019 at 17:32

Kinja'd!!!

That is supposed to be a solid piece of metal and represents the primary crash structure for the car. This is the drivers side and the passengers side is also swiss cheese albeit not as broken all the way through.

Then the engine developed a rod knock at 2 10k and so it requires a rebuild. Best I can surmise is a failing oil pump but who knows until I take it apart. Still ran when I started taking it apart and the engine was quiet on the highway with the radio on lol.

BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind > Ash78, voting early and often
04/24/2019 at 17:33

You know, I kept bitching in my head about how expensive cars are today, blah blah blah. I like the reality check of seeing old window stickers to let me know I’m full of shit.

CaptDale - is secretly British > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
04/24/2019 at 17:35

Well that is not anything I am interesting in at the moment. Still have a Healey project and other stuff, but I appreciate the offer. Now I could use some bits and pieces off the car for a friend if you are going to scrap it.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > CaptDale - is secretly British
04/24/2019 at 17:42

Haha I figured that was the case. Hence why I didnt feel like doing that either, especially considering replacements arent super pricey. Granted, I waffled for a bit in trying to repair because of the stupid pricing of these. But I am glad I waited.

I’ll surely have plenty of junk to part out so just let me know what’s needed. I still really wish I could keep the MSM front bumper but its not worth dealing with paint and its not really perfectly straight to begin with.I just think it looks cool. I’ll have to go with an aftermarket lip of some sort I think to strike the same fancy.

Kinja'd!!!

I think with proper paint and not ruined headlights, this front end look could have been pretty sweet.

CaptDale - is secretly British > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
04/24/2019 at 17:51

I will email you

His Stigness > SPAMBot - Horse Doctor
04/24/2019 at 17:58

The puny 2.5 was $31k. But those were serious crap. All the problems of a 2000s BMW with the same handling as a Miata.

daender > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
04/24/2019 at 22:50

When I bought a 10AE gift set (I was in it for the men’s Seiko watch and maybe the diecast 10AE), the seller included the original window sticker for the 10AE he sold off. $35,270.00 back in 1999...that’s over $54,000 dollars today!

Ash78, voting early and often > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind
04/25/2019 at 09:13

My very first car was bought new for $15,500 (the idea was I would keep it through all of HS and college, so buying new was investing in reliability or something).

EXCEPT...it was a 1995 VW Golf with a whopping 2/24k warranty. It had such amazing features as 4-wheel disc brakes (no ABS) and an 8-speaker AM/FM/Cassette player. 115hp engine and just 32mpg highway. 0-60 in about 9 seconds if you were good. DUAL front airbags. Not just the driver’s side like many cars had. No cruise control. But it did have the GTI plaid seats AND 14" alloy wheels. Compared to my friends’ comparably-priced Chevy Cavaliers and even the Mazda MX-6, it was state of the art.

I love to remind people that minimum wage was $4.25, so about 80% of my wages went towards paying for the car and gas during high school and early college.

If these specs were offered today, I’d say it’d be priced at $12k and would be sold at Urban Outfitters because of the retro appeal.