Miata Search Begins!

I’m losing it. I NEED a car of my own! While I may have been doing a ton of car related stuff lately, at this point I really don’t have a car that I can call my own. The MDX is great family vehicle; big, comfortable, and reliable, but it is nothing more than a minivan with AWD and extra ground clearance; it is an appliance, often borrowed by various family members. The nice part is that I don’t really care about it getting dirty, scratched, dented, spilled-in, etc., that is why I bought it.

What I want is something cheap that I can autocross or take to the track, even if once a year. I often need a car to shoot down to NYC/NJ for a day and I don’t want to leave my wife without a car. Parking is a problem for me, but once I buy the car I’ll just start begging people to let me park it at their homes (I live in downtown Boston, and parking here is really pricey).

I need a car that is:

• Cheap to buy (under $5000 overall)
• Cheap to own (insurance, maintenance, parts)
• Reliable (no time to do any work on it, must be start-and-go)
• Handles well (autocross worthy)
• Something I have not owned yet (no Hondas, no BMWs)

One of the cars that fit that bill is the first generation Mazda Miata. The Miata has been on my favorite list for quite some time, but I never bought one mostly because of its size. There is also the issue of stereotype which I have just simply stopped caring about. And so, my search to find a decent Miata has begun, starting with CraigsList first, followed by the various auctions that I have access to.

The first one is a red ’93 with 115k miles on it and a firm price of $3333. Owner says that the car has a new radiator and that the timing belt has been replaced. The top has also been replaced and a roll-bar has been added (set off a few red flags for me, but whatever). It is allegedly a rust-free, something not often seen in New England. Because of its close proximity to my home, I went to look at it.

Mechanically is was very good, drove nice and straight. No vibrations or odd noises. I did not see any leaks from the valve cover and other obvious places, but owner did say that “something does leak from somewhere”. All components, such as gauges, A/C and pop-up headlights seemed to have worked well. It could probably use new engine and transmission mounts.

Interior smelled of moisture and it had a new top on it, so I can only speculate that it leaked at some point. No tears in seats, but the bolsters and steering wheel had some wear on it, typical for age. After-market head unit, at least six years old, and an after-market sub-woofer and amp were very poorly installed. The car also had a cheap roll-bar which probably did nothing for protection in an accident, but the owner insisted that it would and that is why he got it.

Exterior; trunk lid was completely faded, parts of the sides and fenders were repainted due to rust, but the whole car was NOT repainted and so the paint was horribly and oddly mismatched in places; sign of a cheap owner. The nose had two equal dents in it, as if someone with a really big round butt sat on it. The wheels had a lot of old embedded brake dust in them, and the front tires were different and newer than the rears, which to mean means two things: owner is cheap and lack of proper tire rotation. Overall, it looked good from about thirty feet away.

In the end, I have decided to pass on this car for the following reasons:

• You never swing at the first pitch
• Weird/questionable paint and body condition
• Owner was a little weird
• Red is not my favorite color anyway