Should I be looking at cars with 150,000 miles or is that too high? I'm thinking of getting an NA Miata as a daily driver to slowly turn into a track only car. I'll also be buying a tow vehicle and trailer. I've found a 150,000 mile car with a hardtop listed for $2900 OBO near me. Thanks for your input.
A healthy motor is a healthy motor. 
Good to know. So I don't have to worry about stress on the chassis? I guess most of the moving bits like suspension, bushings, pumps, etc..would be replaced before racing anyway.
The chassis will see more stress on its first track day than it will have during the first 150,000 miles. Miatas need a cage to stiffen them up.
The chassis for the Targa Miata had 200,000 on it when I got my hands on it. My street Miata sometimes sees track use, and it has 120,000. It wouldn't bother me as a general rule but I'd reserve judgment until seeing the actual car in question.
Thanks. That's great news. The low mileage Miatas out there are going for collector car prices! I can keep looking for good condition high mileage cars.
I've taken Miatas on the track that had between 150-180k miles on them. You probably want to go through the suspension anyway, but apart from wear & tear I didn't really see any unusual problem with them. Well, unusual problems that couldn't easily be traced to the PO, that is.
My SM had 196k on it when it started. One person I run with had 250k on their car before making it into SM.
My SSM '90 had 240,000 miles on the chassis when it started transitioning to track duty. The engine had around 275,000 (long story involving a short nose crank failure in 1993 that the dealer would not honor). I put about another 10K on it between track miles and limited street duty before I got tired of being outhandled in the straight bits and replaced the engine last year.
As Keith notes, the judgement needs to be made on a case by case basis, but these cars are remarkably durable. I've seen lots of NAs with big miles on them survive being tracked with nothing more than reasonable maintenance.
racerfink wrote: My SM had 196k on it when it started. One person I run with had 250k on their car before making it into SM.
Sweet - so my track car with 133k on it is good for another 1000 track days assuming 100 miles per.
Woody wrote: The chassis will see more stress on its first track day than it will have during the first 150,000 miles. Miatas need a cage to stiffen them up.
It bothers me when people make blanket statements about how much harder racing is on a car than regular driving. Sure, racing is harder on cars, but statements like this don't help anyone.
Each pot hole that cars hit place huge implact loads on the wheels, suspension components and chassis. Much higher loads than a trip around a race track (assuming you keep all wheels on the pavement) would.
Why do production cars have such heavy wheels? Because they need to take serious abuse from potholes, curbs, ect.
To answer the OP's question, I don't see a problem with it, but you have to make sure nothing funny has happened to the car in the previous 150k miles. At the higher miles more things will need to be replaced to get the car to drive like new, but a chassis typically doesn't wear out, per se. If it saves enough money to buy a car with more miles to cover the additional maintenance to get it up to par, sounds like a fine plan.
If it's any consolation my track car had 200k when I bought it as a daily and now has well over 330K and it's just hitting it's stride, granted it's a honda.
Makes me wonder how rusty a car can be and still work as a track toy?
I hate living in the rust belt
neon4891 wrote: Makes me wonder how rusty a car can be and still work as a track toy? I hate living in the rust belt
Generally, if a car starts making odd noises when you put it on a lift or jack a corner up, it's time to start looking for a different car.
JMcD wrote:Woody wrote: The chassis will see more stress on its first track day than it will have during the first 150,000 miles. Miatas need a cage to stiffen them up.It bothers me when people make blanket statements about how much harder racing is on a car than regular driving. Sure, racing is harder on cars, but statements like this don't help anyone.
That comment was based upon my direct experience with multiple Miatas, both on the street and on the track. It wasn't a blanket statement about anything.
Early Miatas are flexible cars. They have significant cowl shake on road bumps. An uncaged Miata on the track will be worse. Add a cage and most of that goes away.
180k on the stock motor on my '92 Spec Miata and still running. It's been a race car for the last 6 years
The '92 SE-R I just picked up to make into a circle track car has 276K, and I am not at all concerned about it.
150k is barely broken in for a Miata. My first one had 374k on it when it was turned into a track car.
Of course, your mileage may vary.
I crack myself up
My NA had a bit over 124k when I got it.
I replaced everything in the suspension except the control arms, hubs and spindles and installed the Flyin' Miata chassis rail stiffeners and butterfly brace - It's a new car now. Unless the unibody has gotten really "soft" - freshen the suspension and add a bit of chassis stiffening and you'll be good.
You'll need to log in to post.
