Welcome to a new series I’m doing called “Miata Adventures” where I will chronical my experience buying and living with a sight unseen cheap ND Miata. In this first part of the series I discuss the purchase and initial thoughts. Enjoy!
A few months ago I was in the market for a newer Miata, or MX-5 depending on where you’re from, and found what I thought was a pretty good deal. I saw this 2016 Miata Club with 139k miles and did some math. Without going too much into finances, my total out-of-pocket expenses were less than $5k. I live in South Carolina and this car was near Houston, TX. Of course, the mileage drove the value of the car down, but also the condition. This car needed some help. The previous owner must have been an enthusiast I thought based on some of the modifications, but they absolutely drove it more than they maintained it.
The car was a trade-in which is why I didn’t pay near what the retail price should have been, but I still knew I was going to invest quite a bit of time and funds into getting the car back right. First impressions were OK but a little disappointing. At the time I had a 99 Miata and loved it. It was very clean, the paint was great and it ran perfectly. In fact the only reason I was looking to upgrade was my commute. It’s 95% highway and at 70mph the little Miata was absolutely buzzing with the engine screaming along around 3800rpm. At first, I didn’t care but over time I began to want something that would be a little more sedate while cruising at interstate speeds. That may seem counter to being a Miata fan as the whole point of the car is that it’s a small, lightweight sports car with a higher revving engine. I get that, and it’s precisely why I have always loved these cars. However, that car was a 99 model year and it’s currently 2024. In that time technology has afforded us the ability to have both. I like the idea of having a car that can cruise at higher speeds quietly and comfortably but still be a Miata when I want it to be.
I first started looking for an NC3 since I thought an ND would be out of the budget I had set to find my new MX-5, especially since if I was going to get an ND it would be an ND2 with the updated engine…or so I told myself. I also really like the NC generation. As a fan and previous owner of multiple RX-8s, the NC chassis feels like home to me since it’s just a smaller version of it.
And with how these stories go, while looking for one car, I stumbled on another. Enter: the subject of this story, the 2016 Miata in Houston, TX. I saw the price and decided very quickly that I would be the next owner. There were enough pictures online to tell me that most of the body was straight, but it would need a very detailed cleaning. Still the ND, like all Miatas, are fairly sturdy cars and there isn’t much in the way of major issues to be weary of, ND transmission issues aside…but that’s another story and thankfully one my current car is not living through at the moment.
From the pictures I could see:
*It needed a new windshield
*The muffler was replaced with a straight pipe
*The nice OEM club spoiler was replaced with a tall, very faded plastic one
*The interior was [pause for effect] extremely dirty
*The Mazdaspeed front lip was mangled
*Both bumpers would need a little attention. For some reason the previous owner decided to mount their front plate directly to the plastic bumper, on top of the “M” logo leaving four holes that needed to be repaired.
I rolled the dice. I bought it and paid $750 to transport it from TX to SC. When it arrived I was thrilled, obviously, but also overcome with a little reality as to the size of the project I was about to take on. Nothing big but a lot more than the quick wash and windshield I was imagining. For starters the interior was overflowing with sand and glitter. It also smelled like old fried food and body odor. Whomever owned it before me was a very sweaty person which made sense as the AC also needed service. The car did not appear to have had a wash in years. Dirt on top of dirt on top of dirt both inside and outside. Each panel took a lot of scrubbing and soap. I made many, many passes on this car. I probably washed it about four times in total in that one session until it was clean. I also scrubbed the top as much as I felt comfortable with some top cleaner and a horsehair bush to get the dirt out, which worked great.
My first drive would reveal a clunk from the rear suspension and a car that was all over the road. Letting off the throttle over 60mph would cause the rear of the car to wag and feel the exact opposite of “planted”. The gear knob was also very worn with leather peeling off. It felt horrible to touch and use. I knew I was about to spend some cash on this car. But what is done is done. It’s mine now. Time to get to business.
One good thing is that the shipping company did cover the cost of a new windshield trim piece that somehow flew off in transport. So at least I didn’t have to pay for that too. And they were very quick to settle up on it. The car only went a few days without it.
Here is the list of items I bought for immediate replacement:
*Cobalt Twin Tip Muffler
*OEM Style Mazda3 Shift Knob – This was $8 shipped on Amazon, it was replaced later.
*High Pressure A/C Line
*Upper Windshield Trim (Thanks transporation company)
*NGK Iridium Spark Plugs
Not a ton of stuff but enough to get it back to somewhat acceptable. I also removed the huge spoiler on the rear. That revealed two holes where the factory club spoiler mounts, so I immediately put some tape over them and placed an order for an oem club spoiler.
My last thing that I wanted to tackle immediately was the smell. I removed the seats and interior pieces. Everything got scrubbed and shampooed. Problem is, the passenger seat had years of tea or coffee in it from spills. I’ve not been able to completely get the smell out as of now but it’s way better than it was.
As the car sits now it’s drivable, a bit safer than it was but still needs some attention. I will continue to update as I fix and upgrade this beast, so follow along if you’d like!
Supergoat Garage 