This weekend, I somehow managed to SWMBO to let me have one of my dream come true. 1992 Mazda Miata MX-5.
I found her on Craigslist, and got a good deal for it. (well, at least I thought it was a good deal, but SWMBO thinks I could negotiated better) It was about 3 hours away from our house, but thanks to our friend B, and M, my very first private party purchase went very smoothly! Friend B, is an professional auto mechanic, and without his help, I wouldn’t be sure what I was getting… Friend M, who’s one of my longest car buddy and a professional negotiator (if there’s such an occupation) helped me negotiating… probably I could have bought the car for the original price if he weren’t there…
Anyhow, here’s my new toy!
1992 Mazda Miata MX-5 Base grade.
190,000 miles on Body, 65,000 on Engine.
1.6L I4
Good:
It’s Miata! (what else can I say???)
New top
Aftermarket CD player (original is only cassettes)
Portable GPS (previous owner glued the mount, so he just gave me the GPS…)
suspension feels okay
steering feels solid
Clutch feels okay
Bad:
Wheels (Not just looks hideous, but it’s also a wrong size I think)
Fuel system (?) (It spits and sputters every here and then. probably Electrical, Fuel units, or something)
Brakes (I need to get new rotors probably at next pads change)
Interior (The condition is okay, but the previous owner smoked in the car, and smells very strong cigarette smell…)
Paint (as you can see in pictures, it will need a little buffing and waxing… yeah?)
All in all, it does have its problem, but fixing it is part of the learning, and I’m looking forward to it. Fortunately, there’s a very treasure box of knowledge called Online Forum (Miata.net) out there, so I can probably slowly re-condition the car, and hopefully I can take it to an autocross event someday…
