So we’re selling my wife’s Suzuki Cappuccino as it’s done less than 800 miles in nearly 2 years. And we’re going to buy something we can both drive (the cappu’s are pretty small and at 6ft, it’s a bit ickle).

Decided on a mk3 MX-5. 2008 or later (would like a 3.5 but they are too much money). Really want the 2.0 and definitely the hard top. Now the angst.

The difference between a private and a dealer one is about 1k (private about 7k/dealer 8k) for what we want with <40k miles. That seems a lot for a 3/6 month warranty and some piece of mind. But I know nothing about cars other than where to put petrol in.

So what’s the STW view – get an AA man/mate to have a prod round a few private ones (all of which are blooming miles away) or bite the bullet and get a slightly older one from a dealer.

Option 3 is find someone I know to buy one off. That’s not gone well so far 😉

Or buy privately and use the £1k saved for any repair bills and/or buying a warranty?

Or go higher mileage – they are reliable cars, there won’t be much difference between a 40k and a 60k except a lot of money.

Get a mk1 😛

2 useful replies there 😉 I’m just off the phone with a very nice man from Bristol who is keen to a deal on an 08. Dealer tho – going to look at that first and then decide what do to. Interestingly this particular dealer provides 2 year aftermarket warranty, service, MOT and six months tax. That’s not a grand tho is it!

Mk2.5 you say?

They are popular cars and pretty bullet proof.
Like any modern car, regular servicing (dealer or other indy) is desirable. As long as it has stamps in the right mileage / intervals I’d go for what ever you can get for your budget. A 6 yo car on 6ok is only 10k a year, in fact thats probably better than something thats only done 40k, as it implies shorter journeys / sitting about doing little.
Convertibles being what they are often (but not exclusively) only come out to play when its sunny and possibly only shorter days out.

That’s good advice BY. Most of the private ones seem to have the full mazda servicing. Problem I have is being a bit impulsive/impatient, if I travel 100 miles to look at one, I’ll probably end up buying it.

@hora -mk3 was the 2006 – variant. mk3.5 was a facelifted one with a new dash and a few other improvements introduced about 2009. I know this as there are some *ahem* enthusiasts out there on the web!

I was typing on a mobile so ignore me (misread). I’ve owned (bought privately) two mk2.5’s.

My question (to how I’d answer this)….

Are we talking with the metal folding roof? Personally, if the difference is only 1k – for 6months peace of mind?

Private OR dealer- what I’d focus on is the cosmetic condition, the service history detail, the brand of the 4 tyres. A dealer can sell a scruffier, with less history etc for more money than a private seller who has a great/better example. Dealers (main too) buy their stock from many places, auctions etc then give them a valet. One extreme example- a month or 2 ago I went to see a Fiat 100hp Panda at a Fiat main dealer. It was a dog but very well valeted and they wanted book price.

What you want to really focus on is the best car for your money.

Had my 1.8 Mk3 since it was less than 2 years old (15k on the clock) – just gone past 103k 5.5 years later. Serviced it at Mazda dealer until 60k, independent since then. Asides from annoying squeaks from trim and occasional blocked drainage holes which meant water in the boot or the passenger foot well, no real issues. Been through 2 sets of rear discs, one set at the front. One wheel bearing, usual occasional drop-link, suspension-y stuff.

So no big bills, although having said that exhaust pipe has just gone after the resonator. Apparently replacement Mazda part is in the region of £600 – garage shopping around, but if worst comes to the worst could pick up second hand and have fitted.

Also, make sure it’s not been through a hedge backwards!

Early version can rust, for the price you are looking to pay it should not be a problem, quite a few are used as 2nd cars so only tend to see the roads at weekends and in the summer

It’s all good really, as long as it’s been serviced correctly

I paid £1k for one, used it as mentioned above and sold it for £1.5k two years latter! 😉

I’ll be sure to ask that question 🙂 Definitely with the metal folding roof. And while I’m not bothered about the colour, apparently ‘We’ want a battleship gray or black one.

In a ‘not my way of buying bikes’ kind of thing, I might even go for a ‘nicer’ 1.8 and accept the fact that the difference between 130 and 160 bhp for a man who is fairly esconsed in middle aged motoring and is just about to attend a speed awareness course isn’t realy a deal breaker.

Have a look on the main MX5 forum (no idea what it is) in the UK and see who is selling. You can then check the post from the seller and see a lot of the history of the car that wouldn’t normally show in a service book.

Have a look on the main MX5 forum (no idea what it is) in the UK and see who is selling. You can then check the post from the seller and see a lot of the history of the car that wouldn’t normally show in a service book.

I did this with a Alfa seller. His posts were 😯 email exchange etc said he had no issues, just pads etc. His posts said re-occurring issues.

With a MX5 though I doubt you’d get much (anything like) the Alfa. .

As an aside, now is not the time of year to be buying a soft top.

Alex – Member
2 useful replies there I’m just off the phone with a very nice man from Bristol who is keen to a deal on an 08. Dealer tho – going to look at that first and then decide what do to. Interestingly this particular dealer provides 2 year aftermarket warranty, service, MOT and six months tax. That’s not a grand tho is it!

Are you in/near Bristol yourself? Otherwise that warranty will be a right pain in the arse when/if you need to use it

As an aside, now is not the time of year to be buying a soft top.

Good point, you dont try and buy a Suzuki Jimny when its snowing too.

Here’s my 07 plate 1.8 Option pack. Bought a year ago this week. Great fun, you won’t regret it. Very easy car to live with. A 2.0 Sport will be a tad quicker, but if you want outright speed, you want a hot hatch instead. The Sport will give you leather, Bose, fogs, another gear, and stability control. In your position, I’d just go try a few and see what you like. You can’t buy them all, so if you are sat in one you like, and can afford, get on with it. I went with a non Mazda main dealer, with full history. Just did the MOT and had to change a split wiper blade. Top comes down most journeys, it takes the same time as putting on my seatbelt and adjusting the stereo.

I’ve always bought 2nd hand cars from private sales, never a dealer. Never had any problems to date. By buying directly from the owner, you can not only assess the cars condition but also assess the owner, see how the owner has likely treated the car, and how knowlegable they are about the car. If the owner is a member of a forum or car club (eg MX5 forum) then even better.

2nd hand dealers warranties are often not worth the paper they are written on (there will be so many exclusions) and I’ve seen some right dogs at dealerships – tarted up, described as mint, and up for sale at top money – despite significant and costly underlying problems.

Don’t forget that 2nd hand car dealers are professionals at exaggerating and dealers normally secure their stock at auctions (usually trade ins), and people often trade in their second hand motor rather than risk selling it privately for slightly more money for very good reason, either because they know nothing about cars (not a good sign), or because it’s an imminent crock of s**t.

Also the line ‘one lady owner’ never fills me with much confidence. No offence but most ladies I know have never even opened the bonnet of their cars, let alone checked tyre pressures or engine oil levels. I’m sure there are plenty of exceptions to this of course, – just going from my own experience that’s all and probably applies to a lot of guys too.

I have a soft-top to sell 😉 Ying and Yang.

The warranty is an after-market one so it’s nationwide. We’re an hour from Brizzle which makes the ‘free MOT’ offer a bit useless tho.

@MLC: thanks for the info. I remember your car as we were looking but for various reasons didnt buy last year. I’d quite like the sixth gear but not bothered about DSC. Looks like the 2.0 is about 600 quid more for similar age/mileage.Hmm.

@Rebel12: Again good advice. I’m not buying the first one we see. I won’t be allowed to anyway.

The one I’m looking at is this one: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/191136131096?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649 which has the ESC and fogs. I’ve had to promise the kids a slap up meal in Bristol to get ’em out of bed early enough to get a test drive 😉

The warranty is an after-market one so it’s nationwide

Walk away and buy from another dealer. Your comeback is with the indie. Statutory for 3months. Beyond that you have upto 6months for certain problems.

The variation is if you paid well under book for a car, bought a car that was 10yrs old/100,000miles you couldn’t expect a car in tip top condition. So its a sort of sliding scale of come-back.

Any indie though that says aftermarket warranty will basically pick up the phone to you ‘problem? Call the warranty company mate’. Warranty company? Sorry thats not covered and theres x clause/we only cover x% of claim etc, have you tried the dealer? Basically you have a problem after buying the car- the seller sorts. Any place that has ‘Alans Quality Part Exchange centre’ or we source the best part exchanges for you’ may tell you post-sale ‘mate is a part exchange you can’t expect a high quality/new car when we sold you a part exchange example.

There’s a nice looking Mk3.5 in Bristol on Autotrader if you want to bag two in one trip.

Autotrader

Yeah saw that one, for some reason hadn’t clocked it was a 3.5. I’ll give the fella a call. Ta.

The aftermarket warranty company that motorzone uses. Heres a few reviews:

http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews243895.html

The Pdf linked from motorzone site doesn’t mention all the T&C’s small print and is impossible to find any detail on autoprotect’s own website.

I love the ‘bottom half of the Internet’. Reviews are either ‘useless’ or ‘brilliant’ but I take the point.

Right I’m off car shopping. That link proved interesting. More when I get back 🙂 Thanks all.

Well taking the advice on this here forum (not the bit about trying a few obviously….), we made our way to Bristol and bought the one in the link. Not for that much money tho. Top fella selling it, wife’s car, had a few scratches but drives superbly. The fact he let me drive it in the middle of Bristol with 3rd party insurance was a good sign I thought.

We then had an insurance nightmare which meant my wife got to drive it home while I played with the Stereo! So (currently) glad I didn’t go to a dealer as we have a really nice car at lowish milage in the latest facelift in the colour we wanted. It’s a 1.8 but feels pokey enough for me.

So cheers all. That ended up being a good day 🙂

The Autotrader one, awesome. Enjoy.

Yeah. Fella had provisionally sold it to a Mazda garage in Brum. He was happy to sell it to us at the same price so it didn’t appear, polished up, in their showroom for £1500 more a week later! He was keen to get rid as due to move to London next week.

It needs a set of rear tyres and only has MOT and Tax till Aug, but it’s a lovely clean car. Be even nicer once I’ve given it a coat of wax if it ever stops raining.

Only issue is the insurance cock up last night meant I can’t currently drive it! My wife is rather enjoying that… Best get it sorted over the weekend as from the middle of next week, forecast suggest top down journeys to work 🙂

For anyone still vaguely interested.

Top Up
[url=https://flic.kr/p/nytnjb]Summer Default[/url] by Alex Leigh, on Flickr

Top down
[url=https://flic.kr/p/nytoKY]The reviews say the boot is small[/url] by Alex Leigh, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/nyHYjM]Clean[/url] by Alex Leigh, on Flickr

Sorted insurance. Went for a drive in the damp with minimally legal rear tyres. Was an unsuprising amount of fun 🙂 New tyres next week and some sunshine forecast. Almost looking forward to going to work!