Mazdaspeed Miata Advice?
 

hey guys--

i really like the miata and have been thinking about getting one to play with for awhile. recently i found a mint condition 2004 mazdaspeed miata in velocity red at the local stealership. it was traded in for a brand new 2009 miata off the showroom floor by an older couple. they took great care of it and it's only got 20k miles. original everything in near perfect condition. they wanted $16.9k for it but i've got them down to $14.5k at the moment. i was really looking to keep it lower than that but figure if i can get it under $14k all in then it'll be a pretty good deal. what do you guys think?

i was debating whether to get a modded/boosted model or a nice stock model and leave it that way. certainly it's cheaper to only mod one car. ;)

here are some crappy cell phone pics:

http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/8840/nonamempe.th.jpg
http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/7167/noname2jel.th.jpg
http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/4690/noname1g.th.jpg

i love miatas. the turbo ones are nice, but for my taste, and if i were in your position (getting one on the side to play around with), i'd get an older na (1st gen). they're dirt cheap compared to 14k, and they're so simple they might as well be go-carts. and there're loads of parts and stuff for them, too. and i love pop up headlights

for this one tho, it looks good

http://www.flyinmiata.com/index.php?dept=68

The MS Miata can put down some serious power with relatively straightforward mods (i.e., stock turbo).

I drove a '94 for ten years, and the old NAs can be made fast too. But they do take more work.

They are fun cars - you won't regret getting one.

Looks like you posted on miata.net :) .

^ yeah that was some good advice. hehe

The MS Miata is sweet. It was one of the car that I considered prior to ending up with my 8. If it was b/t an NC or the Mazdaspeed Miata, it would be the latter. Easy to tune. Lighter. The 2005 is what you want. That the year the Miata factory got burned down. So only very limited 05's made it out. they also have some upgraded stuff which I like. Not mandatory of course.

i love miatas, but dont like that type of model miata. i prefer the old ones and the new ones. something about how the front looks is what i dont cqre for. i rather throw money into a NA , but hey you sure will have a fun car regardless what model type it is. good luck.

what did they do to the 05s? i haven't seen many of those for sale so they must be quite rare. i've been watching the market for awhile..

The MS Miatas are great, it is probably the most fun car I have ever driven, I also came close to buying one. The main problem for me was that it felt like I was too big for the car, it is difficult to fit if you are over 6'.

$14.5k is not bad, but I would try to get the price a little lower, considering you could have bought this car for $20k brand new 4 years ago.

As a former Miata owner (actually I still have it, it hasn't sold yet), here's my feedback:

The Mazdaspeed Miatas were an "okay" package from the factory. The stock IHI turbo that was on the car was pretty anemic and didn't like to make much power from it. Mind you that the car is light and all, but the MSMs are considerably heavier than the other NB Miatas or even lighter....the NA Miatas.

Flyin' Miata and other vendors all carry turbo upgrades for a reason.....the stock turbos on those things are just bad. They lag and they don't make great power. Also, has with ANY turbo Miata, racing is most likely going to be your game. They seem to have a bit of hardware issues for sustaining track-speed lap times. There have been components that fail time and time again.

In my opinion, 14.5k is a ridiculous amount for that car. A '99 NB with an aftermarket turbo kit will ALWAYS be faster, more reliable, and just plain lighter than the MSM. Here's a scenario for you (what I WOULD DO....keep in mind that I had an IRTB Fully-built naturally aspirated Miata....because I'm a purist lol)

I'd get a '94 or '95 (OBD I, cheap alternatives to fully standalone systems like the Adaptronics or Megasquirt - Megasquirt is what I used and I loved it)

- Get a GT2860/GT3071/GT2854 (whatever floats your boat) turbo
- Begi S4 turbo manifold
- Plumbing
- Fitting and lines
- ECU
- '99 Head (flows better)
- Intercooler
- Coolant re-route
- and a few other things

Even if you get top-of-the-line stuff like a Flyin' Miata turbo kit (I'd rather build my own), you'll stay WELL under the 8k-9k mark including the car. And that would be for a car that is faster, lighter, and just plain more competent on the track than a MSM will ever be.

If you want more info on how to piece a kit or if you need more info on the market value of the Miatas and where to look.......PM me.

I'm still cool with many of my friends over at Miata.net, Clubroadster.net, and Roadsterdrift.com