'99 Miata. Worth the price?

Hey all,

I mentioned in a thread earlier that I am in the market for another Miata. My ideal year is the '99. I owned one before, and I was stupid to have sold it. Anyways, I found one that is completely untouched, and looks to be in good condition. The guy says the timing belt probably hasn't been done yet, he's owned it for 2 years, but the rest of the car is in awesome condition (supposedly).

Anyways, He says the lowest he can go is $4,500. This is the leather package so it has the Torsen LSD and stuff. But I dunno, even with the miles it has, $4,500 seems really high to me. What do you guys think?

Ad here:

http://www.ksl.com/auto/listing/2060490?ad_cid=1

I guess for me, looking for just a fun, weekend/project car, there are probably some better options out there, huh.

I would knock off $1000 right off the bat for the fake wood and black wheels. Two things I absolutely cannot stand on any car, let alone a Miata.

Well I paid more than that for my '99, and it doesn't have the torsen or leather. I think there are regional differences, but after searching for several months, I felt I got a fair deal at $5000. Might be different in your area.

That car would be listed for at least $6k here.

seems like a pretty fair deal if all is what is seems.

Fake wood+Wheels make that a $4,000 to me. I'd also be concerned about the clutch, although I just replaced my (99 10AE) clutch for the first time at 124k, so there is potentially still a lot of life left in that one. Seems to be in good nick otherwise, so his price is probably fair.

Fact is, clean miata, a fairly desirable year (+$200 IMHO), well optioned, and spring time... You may not have a ton of negotiating room here.

I hate the wood and wheels too, but you can fix both of those in an afternoon. I like the mileage, but those plastic side covers always scare me. Does Utah use road salt? Or is he near Bonneville?

Overall, I think his asking price is right on the money.

Lose the wheels and the stick-on dash ASAP. But even considering them, $4,500 seems a fair price around here.

It is Spring and the top is new!

Hmm, you guys are starting to enable me... Maybe I'll go check it out. Its about an hour and a half drive, but its in one of those remote towns, so its probably a pretty clean little car.

I did just buy a 2000 SE with similar miles for $2300.

That said, it doesn't seem to be as overall nice as this, thought it does also have ricey nasty wood trim stuff. But.... from factory.

Tupperware is a rust trap, be advised it may hide some problems.

I was going to say there must be a lot of clean Miata's where some of these folks live, that seems a solid price if there's no rust, etc.

I paid more for mine, but mine does have the torsen and a couple other aftermarket goodies. I'd have offered a little less if I'd been aware that racelands are as terrible as they are, but mine was in the going range for cars of it's condition.

$4500 when I was looking was an ok car with 120k-ish miles.

I'd make you a deal on mine, but I'm far away in GA/VA.

It's a pretty decent price for this side of the Rockies if it's in good shape.

Sounds good to me, there do t really seem to be a lot for sale in pa where I am. I stopped and looked at an 01 with over 100k on it at a used car dealer last week and they were asking 7995 or something crazy like that.

Looking at a '99 in Tampa with lots of nice suspension bits and a hardtop, less than 120k miles, $5100.

I bought a 97 last summer, oddly enough with the same ugly fake wood. Left it in the sun for a few hours with the top down, peeled it off, cleaned up the residue with soap and water and it looked great. Mine had 76k miles, bone stock touring package, I paid $3800. I think I overpaid by $200 or so, but I was sick of looking for a smoking deal. I'd pay $4500 for that 99. Plus it's a western car so rust issues shouldn't be present.

In reply to gl21133:Agreed! In fact, there are lot of eastern cars where rust isn't an issue. For one thing, around here at least, no one takes their Miata out in winter anyway. I know a lot of Miata owners, being in a Miata club, but I don't know anyone locally who takes their Miata out at all during winter. And we don't even have bad winters.

That's part of what you choose to do when you buy one here. No winter weather driving=no rust.

In reply to Rupert:

Here's mine.

That price for a relatively low mileage NB seems good. You may have been able to get a 99 for around $3500 in January or early February.

Alright we checked out that '99. Not as nice as I would have hoped. The guy wouldn't come down from $4,500 so we walked.

Anyways, now I've got my eyes on a '97 that comes with a hardtop. Seems like the guy has taken good care of it too.

Ad in question: http://www.ksl.com/auto/listing/2069149?ad_cid=1

Anyways, the price seems high for an NA, but I dunno, it has the factory hard top, 130k miles, and its the last year of the NA. What do you guys think? I eventually want to get on track with it, so the hard top is a huge plus for me.

Thats about right for a nice shape NA. Hardtops really dont increase the value of the car even though they're worth a grand on their own. Its getting hard to justify an expensive NA when you see those NBs in florida going to as low as 3k with truly no rust and not new england no rust where every bolt is still rusted into the car even though the body isnt rotting away.

If you don't think its a good deal, it's not.

That seems about right with the hardtop. Prices in the west and northwest are higher than anything east of the Mississippi. I'll probably be selling my other low mile 97 when the Exocet is done and I don't plan on taking a dime less than I paid for it.