2005 Miata 5speed with 102k miles. Owner is an older woman. She has agreed to sell it to me for $6,500. Car is stock as far as I can tell and it drives great. These are the issues I noticed: Oil is seeping from the valve cover and the soft top is falling apart with the rear window pretty much just hanging there. Is the valve cover leak a bigger problem than it seems on the surface? Location is Northern California where these are generally going for over 10k. Is this a decent deal or should I walk away? I’m looking to buy this as my second “fun” car.

  • sleeponcat@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    Hey, I may own a few miatas.

    Soft top swap is a objectively the worst job you can do on a miata. Worst than dropping in a new engine. Just to be clear, you cannot repair a bad window soft top, it just doesn’t work.

    A Robbins soft top, the only quality brand, will net you close to 1k shipped to your door. A must if you plan on keeping your miata for a long time. Buy once cry once.

    Did the car live close to the beach? Look for surface rust in the underbody, just to be sure.

    5speed means non Sport Package, if you give me a picture of the doorjam stickers I can give you exact suspension/brake/ABS/diff config but I’m going to assume open diff.

    Valve cover job is a 15 minute non issue. These cars are truly dummy simple to wrench on.

    For 6500$ as stated you’re getting a fair deal. Mostly because not a well optioned car. She could’ve have had a 6spd LSD car and sold it for the same price.

    But those performance parts mean nothing for street use, and frankly 5spd > 6spd. (6spd sucks)

    Miata is truly always the answer. I’ve driven countless sports cars yet never really felt the need to buy into those chassis, yet everyone that drives my miata wants a miata.

  • Slyons89@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    Valve cover leak very common, new gasket and it’s good. The top is more involved, personally I wouldn’t replace a soft top myself so I would consider that a $2000 repair for a shop (less if you’re lucky) and use it to negotiate price if they are willing to budge. Other than that seems like a good deal. Inspect the rocker panels for rust but if it’s a CA car it’s probably good.

  • Quinticuh@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    Idc what issues it has if the last owner was an old lady it’s in better condition than 90% of thrashed Miata’s by 6 owners

    • khirss@alien.topOPBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      Gotta love older owners. it has an extensive service history on carfax. Everything you can think of maintenance wise has been done without missing a beat on this thing. Including a brand new radiator, belts, brakes, valve cover gasket, all fluids flushed and replaced in the last 10-20k miles and oil+filter changed every 3-4k. I’ll be picking it up this weekend. Super stoked!

      • Quinticuh@alien.topBEnglish
        1·
        10 months ago

        Congrats man. If you have any twisties nearby Miata’s are unbeatable. Would still say my dads nd is more fun than my e92 m3 -sound on a good b road. Heard the same from a lot of rich folks at track days. They want a gt3rs and a Miata