whoster

exactly that..


it's a 2000 model...about 36K miles, owned by a muscle car mechanic (bought it...babied the heck out of it and is now selling it to fund another car).



any tips, comments, opinions,

any wise words from the guru mmarshall would be appreciated as well.

AJ

Isnt the miata a girl car ?! sure looks like it , no offense intended

mmarshall

Probably the most reliable Mazda product ever built.....consistantly one of Consumer Reports' Top Ten in reliability. The delightful, easy-to-use, snick-snick manual transmission ( very few Miatas have the automatic option, especially with males ) often means a lot of shifting by owners just for the sake of shifting....so watch for clutch and synchronizer wear on used ones, even with the car's durability. Clutch wear usually takes the form of slippage....the clutch disc spins but the car doesn't respond well. Synchro wear in the transmission usually means gear grinding and clashing unless you shift very slowly or double-clutch.
A six-year old fabric soft-top may be approaching the end of its useful life...check the top carefully for small holes, rips, thin spots, shredded fabric, etc..... which would indicate obvious wear, and make sure the pivot joints for the top-lowering mechanism work freely...they may need some lube.
The Miata is a classic, affordable, front-engine, rear-drive sports car that combines the spirit of the old British open-top sports cars and modern Japanese reliability without the tendency of the old British cars to consistantly fry their awful Lucas electronics, leak their fluids all over the place, and leave you soaking wet and wind-blown in bad weather even with the top up. The Miata's ride is stiff and choppy from the short wheelbase, lack of suspension travel, light weight, and firm underpinnings ( it is not designed for ride comfort ) and its short gearing tends to spin the engine rather loudly, especially at highway speeds, but the payoff is instant, right-now steering response and just a delightful car on twisting roads. It is not a car for long trips on the Interstate unless you can tolerate hours of stiff-suspension bumping and a lot of engine noise from the short gearing, even in fifth gear ( sixth gear on some models ).
The trunk is pretty good for a small sports car of this size.........MUCH better storage room than Toyota's MR2, for example.............. even with the top down you still have several cubic feet of storage space...more than most cars this size.
One other important thing....the Miata is NOT a car for big, tall people; and I can't overstress this. If you are under about 5' 7" or so ( and thin ) you will probably not have any problems fitting in, but once you start getting much above that and start getting up to or over 6' or so and over, say about 200 lbs. ( I'm 6'2 " and 275 lbs...a big boy ) you end up being stuffed in like a sardine can. This is one of the reasons ( though I generally don't believe in auto stereotypes ) why the Miata has a somewhat-deserved reputation of being a so-called " Chick " car, popular with small, thin girls and women. The main problems with taller people getting in are the low roofline, the low, non-adjustable steering column that doesn't leave much room underneath for big legs, and the fact that because of the top-folding compartment right behind the seats, there is really no room to recline the seat back to lower your head unless you slide the bottom part of the seat cushion forward....which, of course, bunches your legs up even more under the steering column. I have test-driven several Miatas ( after I really stuffed myself in ) and I've had exactly the problems described above. For me it was one of the most difficult modern cars to fit into I've ever seen....I managed to drive the manual-transmission model and work the clutch, but it wasn't easy.
If you DO fit in, however, the top is a delight to use. Just reach up, unclip two holders on the top of the windshield, ( one on the latest Miata ) and usually with just one arm just flip the top right up over your head and back over your shoulder and clip it down on the assembly behind you....piece of cake, without any worries of the electric power-top motor failing just when a big storm comes up. Check the top, though, for wear, like I advised above...especially on a six-year old one like you mention.
In the wintertime, my advice is don't try and drive a Miata on snow or ice....you will slide all over the place. ( since you are in Southern California that probably won't be much of a problem except in the mountains ). The lightweight, front-engine, rear-drive, and semi-high-performance dry-weather tires are almost worthless when roads get slick, even with traction control. Winter tires help a little but this car is just not designed for snowy roads....and the car's small, lightweight structure will not give you much crash protection if some other idiot loses it on the ice, spins out, and hits YOU.
Good luck ....let us know if you buy it.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

Great feedback mmarshall. I can vouch for the 'not for tall people' bit although I had a friend who is 6'5 who LOVED his Miata. He'd squeeze in that thing somehow and drive it to death. For me though (6'3) I'd get in and try to decide whether to look UNDER the top bar of the windshield or OVER it!

What a wonderful car for anyone who really appreciates cars though. It's smooth, balanced, and handles great but you are not isolated from the road at all but it's not overly harsh either. It's just a sweet drive.

dandd2

iTrader: (2)

i dont care what ppl say, in my opinon the miata is for queers/women/and men that are hitting mid-life crisis and cant afford a real sports car.
sell it
throw it away
give it away
plz dont get one

mmarshall

So the Miata is not a REAL sports car?
Whether you are straight, gay, male, female, young, or old........whatever......as long as you are not too big physically to fit in it, the Miata is just about as pure and as real a sports car as you can buy today, especially for a price in the low 20's...............just without 500 HP, that's all.

LeXuSrAcIn

Its too small and girly of a car. I wouldnt be caught driving it.

Gojirra99

That's a miracle. I'm 5' 11" & I find the interior very confining.

Yup, it's one of the funnest car to throw around I' ve driven, & yes I agree with mmarshall, it's a real sports car for the real car enthusiasts who cares about the actual car more than car stereotypes.

mmarshall

Too small?
Well, real men drive the Lotus Elise.....smaller, lighter, and even more pure a sports car than the Miata........but it costs a lot more.

bruce van

You probably haven't ever driven one. It's quite a strong opinion you have. You probably also don't know the Miata is the best selling sports car in history either.

All car afficionados will agree the Miata is a superb sports car and a great buy.

Okay, "Will and Grace" is on TV. Gotta go!

Inabj2

That can run circles around our cars....

Id say the miata is a REAL sport car for confident man and women that do not need to compensate for any inadequacies there for they are not mortified to drive a entry level sport car like this one.

Lexmex

Throw a turbo into it...you'll be glad you did.

mmarshall

There is a limited-production MazdaSpeed turbo version....but if whoster is looking at a six-year old used Miata the new MazdaSpeed versions will probably be out of his price range....not to mention being hard to get besides.

newr

The Miata maybe girly looking for some and looks is subjective. But saying that it's not a real sport car is completely BS. Obviously these are the same folks that have never had experience with tracking or autoxing to know any better.

Lexmex

This would be aftermarket. I then had to notice he is in CA, which would cause CARB issues. However, my friends who are Mazda fans talk about the aftermarket-turbocharged Miatas being one extremely fast little car and some have even sold their RX7s to do this.