Paging 92CelicaHalfTrac to the white courtesy phone (F2T)

Looking at an 89 MX-6 GT, and I have a few questions:

Is 5th gear destined to fail?

Is it even worth considering an automatic? Or is it like the miata where an auto just sucks the fun out of the car?

Any rust prone areas to investigate?

Specifically, I'm looking at this guy: http://austin.craigslist.org/cto/4151145222.html

Pros:

Car looks clean

It's local

I can probably talk him down

Cons:

No mileage listed

It's an auto

His asking price is a little whack

That fact that it appears to be at a mechanic shop is a little disconcerting

What does the hive mind think?

Don't bother with an automatic. Find another example.

Funny how he mentions the auto-suspension as a positive feature but then says that the struts need to be replaced and "they are only $40 on Ebay." He's talking about garbage non-adjustable Monroes. The struts for the auto-adjust suspension are probably NLA from Mazda, and even when they were available they were $300+ each. There were never any AAS-compatible aftermarket struts, but non-AAS struts like Tokicos and KYBs are a direct fit.

That's what I was afraid of. Thanks!

JamesMcD wrote: Don't bother with an automatic. Find another example. Funny how he mentions the auto-suspension as a positive feature but then says that the struts need to be replaced and "they are only $40 on Ebay." He's talking about garbage non-adjustable Monroes. The struts for the auto-adjust suspension are probably NLA from Mazda, and even when they were available they were $300+ each. There were never any AAS-compatible aftermarket struts, but non-AAS struts like Tokicos and KYBs are a direct fit.

seconded

The auto trannies always seem to cook themselves in those cars unless you change the fluid a lot.

Yeah, what James said. Mine's got the auto stuff too (or it had it...) and it's nearly impossible to replace directly from what I've seen.

My .02 (FWIW) any MX6/626/Probe with an auto is driving around on borrowed time. I've know a few folks who have had to replace grenaded automatics, and this problem has manifested with 626's as late as MY 2000, that auto is generally considered to be junk, so much so that you used to see a lot of them as craigslist fodder around here ($400-$600, blown trans). As far as the auto suspension stuff, it seems standard practice for it to be NLA from Mazda in short order for years, I had an 83 626LX with it, handled great until the struts died, by the time that happened they were 300 a piece (in 1986) and NLA soon after. Needless to say, they were never replaced.

Pass unless you can get it for well under a grand and are willing to do a manual trans swap.

I've heard mixed reviews on the autos, but meh.

That said... I could provide you with the parts to swap to manual.

I owned the last known full set of NOS Ford Probe GT AAS struts but sold them to my friend Frank in Holland. The Mazda stuff for GD cars (88-92) was available as late as 2002 but the struts were around $340/each at that time.

I don't think the AAS struts were anything to write home about, either, so ditching them for a Tokico is probably a good idea anyway. Nice time to swap springs around while you're in there.

Honestly, the worst part about these cars is the utter lack of available decent struts.

About the best you can do is a modded set of 2nd gen Tokico Illuminas, and by the time you pay for them, may as well just spend the extra hundred or two and get the KSports or something.