About to inspect a couple of NBs

[madmort]

Reassuring Rob. For so many manufactured, so little on the market in Victoria at the minute. Guess I've only been looking for about 6 or 8 weeks and have a limited budget of about $10k. Considering $2.5K can be used on 100K services and sundries after purchase I'm looking at something around $8K.
I have seen desirable 2003-5 models for higher but can't stretch there yet. As you said plenty more fish in the sea.
Funny really as I professionally fished for part of my working life and in my experience you can drop the "plenty"!

[Rob]

Haha, very good...!

It's just one of those things... you've got the money, you want the car, you've dipped into communities where "everyone else" has one and is enjoying themselves... and the desire for the right thing to appear RIGHT NOW is huge. I totally get it. All I can say is it WILL happen!

[greenMachine]

It took me months to find exactly what I wanted when I started looking in 1999 - colour me fussy . Then when I went looking for a replacement there were a bunch of exactly what I was looking for and I was spoiled for choice!!

[kalt]

The one I'm looking at today has modifications and I'm a bit wary of that. I'd like my first MX 5 to be bone stock until I gain some knowledge on what's appropriate for me.

Cheers

Hi madmort,

Let me know if you change your mind about getting a bone stock roadster as mine will be back on the market again sometime soon.

[jaycrab]

You could probably get you a high km NC for $11-$12k. No timing belt, you don't have to worry about high servicing costs.
If you're not fussy, just add some alerts to a few carsales searches and pounce when a deal comes up.

[davekmoore]

Reassuring Rob. For so many manufactured, so little on the market in Victoria at the minute.

Why limit to VIC?

[pcmx5]

1,000,000 made. You don't need to pay over the odds.

Yes but pretty irrelevant when there are less than 20000 of all models of MX5 in Aus. Spoke to the OP today and he is really keen so if anyone knows of a goody please let him know.

Peter.

[madmort]

1,000,000 made. You don't need to pay over the odds.

Yes but pretty irrelevant when there are less than 20000 of all models of MX5 in Aus. Spoke to the OP today and he is really keen so if anyone knows of a goody please let him know.

Peter.

Thanks Peter for the bump! Very keen as you said, some of the fun is in the hunt. Great to talk to an owner and enthusiast, exciting times and plenty to learn.

Cheers
Mark

[davekmoore]

Last time I knew of a good one I put it on here and got bagged for doing so. I was actually offering it on behalf of a customer. A quite nice silver 2002 NB8B for $7,500 with RWC. Read between the lines of this and you'll see relevance.

[madmort]

Reviving an old thread, I should change the title to "About to inspect a couple of NC's". Looks like I'm in the market for an early NC, 2005-6 say.

I drove a 2005 NC with 140ks today and was impressed, having said that it was my first! It had a 10k interval service history but a grubby example and cheap aftermarket wheels. I suppose it was the wheels that put me off. And the weather here in Geelong today!

So as I had been concentrating on the NBs and now I'm looking at NCs can anyone shine some light on what problems I should expect to encounter with a vehicle that has travelled about 100ks or more?

Thanks
Mark

[93_Clubman]

Following tends to focus on NA & NB, but there may be snippets or links relating to NC in it: viewtopic.php?f=18&t=18802
Also see posts by Charlie Brown, JBT & Dan who've posted on NC issues.

[Dan]

The NC's in all of their versions were pretty reliable as long as they've been maintained by the book. Take it to a specialist to do the inspection if you can though as they'll have the best chance to pick up on any issues.

There was a rare issue on early NC's with bent shift forks. Don't confuse this with the common quirk of notchy shifting between early gears (1-2 typically) when cold - see here for an explanation and people showing that this is fairly normal viewtopic.php?t=34502 Some people also put in brass shift collar in if you ever need to replace the clutch to help improve the gearbox precision, I did this when I did a clutch replacement because why the f--- not..

There is also a known issue with the wires to the coils failing causing the car to miss intermittently but this seems to be fairly rare but more common with cars which are tracked regularly, I changed mine out proactivly to an aftermarket plug and wiring, there is a thread on this here - viewtopic.php?t=54755

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

[pcmx5]

Mark ,there is what looks like an immaculate 2002 red NB on Gumtree in Parkville with 89000 klms on it,belts just done.Sorry,cannot find your phone number ,Peter 0417562357.

[madmort]

Mark ,there is what looks like an immaculate 2002 red NB on Gumtree in Parkville with 89000 klms on it,belts just done.Sorry,cannot find your phone number ,Peter 0417562357.

Hi Peter, I think there is something wrong with my phone or yours! Doing strange things.

[Rocky]

I am a big fan of doing a lot of research before a purchase. If you look at enough of the target model on Carsales.com you eventually start to get a pretty clear picture of price and condition.
This normally takes at least 6 months to see a big enough cross-section of cars.
Price is a hard one because what people advertise their cars for and what they eventually sell for are two very different things (and you usually don't get to know the latter).
When I was looking for a Lexus is250, I offered $30K for a car listed for $33K - was knocked back only to find out it sold for $29500. about a week later - obviously to a much better negotiator.
(Did myself a big favour as it happens)
It's a lot easier to find the right car if you aren't committed to a specific model. There are really good ones out there in any model - hang out for one of them.