No, not me.
A woman from the Miata Club has a silver 1991 with 218,000 miles on it and it is no longer quiet (as she put it) and no longer trusts it to take long trips. She asked me and a couple of other long term Club members what her options might be. My response:
Anita,
You’ve certainly had a long run and maybe it is time to get something a little newer.
And while I like the looks of the new one, Donna does not, but neither one of us want to buy a new one and incur a $30k new car loan. The new model is supposed to be more back to the Miata’s roots, it still looks like a smaller sized person might be swallowed by the slightly higher sides and rear end.
Even if you liked the look of the 3rd generation (2006-2015), I’m sure you would get the sitting in a bath tub feel because even I did a little when we test drove one back when they first came out.
I have no idea what your criteria might be for a newer car, so I’m just guessing here by sort of imagining what I’d do if someone stole our car or it was totaled. Here we go…
Buy a 2nd generation car, I know, I know, I’m biased but hear me out. Most of the 1st gen cars like yours are getting a little long in the tooth, so unless you get lucky and find a low mileage one (under 80k miles) you might as well kick it up a notch. Skip the 1999 to 2000 ones, look for something from the 2001-2005 range because the seats are more comfortable, the center console is more usable and the headlights are a tremendous improvement. A quick search of Cars.com within 150 miles turns up 8 cars between $6,500 to 10,500. http://tinyurl.com/my7xm7h The bottom three in price are probably of the most interest to you, I don’t see you in red or yellow or a real dark color. The one you’d probably like best, the silver, is actually an automatic once you look at the pictures.
You know, now that I’ve actually shopped around a little, I think for $6,000 I would get a rebuilt motor put in, some new shocks and springs, a new top, maybe recover the seats with leather and buy some new floor mats.
Good luck,
Brian
Right after I sent that, I thought what if I went out 200 miles? I found nothing different for her, but if I was looking to replace The Emperor for some reason:
Never mind what I just said, I bumped the mileage to 200 from my house and found a car just like my current car for sale in Myrtle Beach.
Even if the 41k miles is correct, $9,300 is still too much, I’d pay maybe 8,500…
Happy shopping,
Brian
Wait a minute, I really only checked Cars.com, there are a couple more resources I should try:
Damn it Anita, now see what you got me doing. 😉
Here is a silver 2001 with 75k miles in Claxton for a paltry $5,300 from a private seller on Autotrader.com.
There were only a couple on ebay within 200 miles, but both are automatics.
I will not check Craigslist. I will not check Craigslist. I will not check Craigslist. OK, just a peek…
Oooh, a silver 2003 with 100k in Spartanburg for $5,500.
Alright, I’m finished – Brian