Does an underpriced MX ring alarm bells for you guys?

[Charlie Brown]

The NC1 auto is too cheap.

Sorry, I strongly disagree with this statement. This is about the current going price for an early NC in private sales. To get more $$, the car would need to be pretty special. Trade in price from a dealer would be around $12K.

Makes the prices people are wanting for NB's & SE's pipedreams. Sellers need to understand there's a glut of good used cars out there.

A car dealer a few hundred metres from home had a spotless, one owner 2006 Merc SLC 2.8ltr with 74,000 klm on the clock for sale the other week. $35,000!!! It took a couple of weeks to sell. Too bad we didn't need another 2 seater.

[Blade_Hunter]

More than happy to travel to pick up, might help me snag a bargain

[project.r.racing]

The NC1 auto is too cheap.

Sorry, I strongly disagree with this statement. This is about the current going price for an early NC in private sales. To get more $$, the car would need to be pretty special. Trade in price from a dealer would be around $12K.

Makes the prices people are wanting for NB's & SE's pipedreams. Sellers need to understand there's a glut of good used cars out there.

Agreed. Without trying to offend. I find alot of MX5 owners wearing rose coloured glasses when it comes to their cars. And the newer the model, the worst it is.

The MX5 used to be a marque model, but in the NC era people stopped loving MX5s for whatever reasons. The marqueness (yes I know it's not a real word) has worn off. Which in turn as worn down their market value.

Take a NA6 for example:- 90-94 model, 200,000km+ no p/s, no a/c, 1.6L 2 seats etc. Seen prices from $3-12K. Clearly top end of the range is just unrealistic. But some view it to be reasonable.

Take any 5 seat model from same era with a 1.6L with p/s, with a/c, same 200,000km+. $1K-$5K. But $1K-$2.5K is real word.

[7StringSamurai]

Trade in price from a dealer would be around $12K.

Really? Subaru just offered me $7k trade-in for my NC1.

As somebody that's looking at getting rid of the Mazda early in the new year, I've been keeping track of NC1 automatics on CarSales so that I can get a realistic feel for what to put it on for. The maths behind it gets a little complicated (there are modifiers for soft tops vs hard tops, cloth vs leather interior, manual vs auto) but ultimately I'm trying to bring it down to a cost-vs-mileage ratio that I can use to come up with a realistic asking price.
And what I've found is this: there's no logic to any of it. If you tried to graph it out, it'd look like freaking weather radar. It's completely random.

The other thing to point out is that over the entire time I've been watching these cars, every week I get 13 cars come up in my search, 12 of which have come up every week - I've seen one come onto the watchlist and one come off. They just aren't moving. Maybe this one is priced low because the guy simply needs to sell it.

[Blade_Hunter]

Trade in price from a dealer would be around $12K.

Really? Subaru just offered me $7k trade-in for my NC1.

What Subaru are you getting? What price are you wanting for your NC and how many K's?

Just seems funny that I am selling a Subaru and buying an MX and you are selling an MX and buying a Subaru

[Charlie Brown]

Trade in price from a dealer would be around $12K.

Really? Subaru just offered me $7k trade-in for my NC1.

The $12K I wrote about was based on a friend's NC being traded on a new NC. (he didn't proceed)

If you're not in a rush to sell, the best advice as always, is to advertise it privately at a reasonable price and wait for a buyer.

Too many times I see on this site and on Carsales, people asking up to double what the car is worth and then get offended when a lower price point is mentioned.

[Mr Morlock]

I suggest that folks have a look at Carsales. NC autos are nearly all north of $20K. An auto fetches a better price and is a more expensive car new. There are far fewer autos around and my bet is they are easier to sell than a manual of which there are legions for sale. A lot of autos have done fairly high KMs as well - perhaps because they are used more as dailys and certainly easier to live with in the burbs. A mate sold an NC auto series 1 12 months ago and got $24K private and did not even advertise. Anyone surprised at cars not selling- then don't be- its very hard to sell any used cars regardless of how good they are and thats because of easy finance and ease of buying a new car. The new car market has doubled in 10 years- what do you think that does for the used market?

Trade in prices don't mean much. Dealers offer mostly just wholesale pricing so it is south of normal market value. Bear in mind also that dealers sell cars often at private seller prices and offer warranties etc. A bloke selling an NC without a rwc and thats not sus ?

[7StringSamurai]

Anyone surprised at cars not selling- then don't be- its very hard to sell any used cars regardless of how good they are...

Especially considering that an MX-5 appeals to a buyer on absolutely no level of practicality. And all their good points aside, there are other performance a cars out there that do have a smattering or practicality to them (such as rear seats or a boot). Like a WRX. Or an 86. Or an R34 Skyline. Or a Golf GTI. Or a dozen other things I could rattle off the top of my head.

People don't buy these because they want a car, they buy them because they want a toy. And the NCs are still fetching enough in the second hand market that very few people can justify having that kind of cash sitting around in their garage for the odd weekend.
I remember when I bought Titan, my boss said to me "I could NEVER justify buying a car like that". My response was "I bought it because I didn't have to justify it". I was single at the time, lived fifteen minutes from work, and had stopped playing in bands to focus on teaching, so I didn't have loads of amps and guitars to drag around the country side. I wanted an MX-5, and there wasn't a single thing in my life that prevented me from doing so.
Now there's one very big reason that I need to replace it.

[Mr Morlock]

Well put by 7string I thought.

[eunos90]

Back again, I recently bought my 90 NA Eunos roadster off the internet with 45k. on the clock. Is that possible? Yes... This vehicle is immaculate. I put a timing belt and water pump on just in case. We took the rocker cover off..... near new WOW was I happy. No rust no dings. I paid $8000. a real bargain Cheers Mike

[93_Clubman]

Back again, I recently bought my 90 NA Eunos roadster off the internet with 45k. on the clock. Is that possible?

Might be, but then again instrument clusters have been known to be swapped in from a lower km car.