Just parted with my old celica and there's space for another car now. I was browsing cl as most grm-ers do and came across a 2000 miata with 56k miles on it listed for 5k.
If all checks out how much do you guys think it'd be worth? Do you guys think I'd be able to turn a profit if I resold it in early/mid summer?
That's easily worth that. Buy it, keep it for a few months, and I'll give you 6 for it. 
What's wrong with it?
Swank Force One wrote: What's wrong with it?
this.
What kind of hidden headaches/traps should I be looking for? If the car has >30k thrust bearing failure shouldn't be an issue right? Usual rust issues?
One of my big concerns is if it was a flood car. Where would I look to find evidence of this?
hmm, just got off the phone with the "owner". It is an open title. The owner owns a gas station and he does have a large amount of cars. He was flipping through titles looking for that car's title. Any issues with purchasing a car with an open title? Car is in NY i'm in NJ. Or any red flags with this kind of transaction?
I would look at it asap. Or it will be gone . . .
yeah i'm going tomorrow since most folk have work on weekdays 
My 01 has a chatty clutch and a crunch in 2nd gear (6 spd) Both were annoying and I didn't find them until after I bought the car.
SnowMongoose wrote:Swank Force One wrote: What's wrong with it?this.
Nothing.
Now that there are readily available aftermarket tuning options for the VVT engines, the 99-00 are getting cheap.
lnlds wrote: Car is in NY i'm in NJ. Or any red flags with this kind of transaction?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Sandy
friedgreencorrado wrote:lnlds wrote: Car is in NY i'm in NJ. Or any red flags with this kind of transaction?http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Sandy
What would i look into to see if it was a flood car?
lnlds wrote:friedgreencorrado wrote:What would i look into to see if it was a flood car?lnlds wrote: Car is in NY i'm in NJ. Or any red flags with this kind of transaction?http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Sandy
First, the smell. Flood cars either smell horrible, or stink of "air freshener" crap when folks try to cover it up.
Look for staining & dirt in places that folks either forget to pressure wash, or can't be washed easily. Carpets around the seat rails, electrical connectors (especially the ECU). Check the brake rotors to see if they've recently been turned (on a car that new, they shouldn't, unless the PO lived on the brake pedal).
EDIT: Almost forgot! Another way to check is to turn on the sound system and see if there's any dead speakers (or static if the speakers aren't rotted..probably corrosion on the wires). A lot of folks forget to replace that stuff when they're trying to move a flood car.
flood water is nasty, it leaves dirty residue everywhere, it's really hard to get it all cleaned out, so look under the carpeting in the trunk, etc.
And I take it an open title isn't going to be any issue?
lnlds wrote: And I take it an open title isn't going to be any issue?
IMO, an open title is more evidence that it's a flood car. Owner just wanted to get rid of it. By all means, go look at the thing (that price is pretty good), but be extra suspicious of the car. Don't be afraid to walk away..salt water does crazy things to electrics (says the guy who grew up in hurricane country).
he did comment that the car has new brakes. I'm real worried that i'm going to get excited and get swindled. I'm going to be extra careful and hopefully that speaker trick will help ease my mind.
Some wonderful GRMer recently posted a link to find Sandy flood cars. Search for that.
Just checked the link it's an auction site so chances are if it passed through there there's no evidence anymore. Thanks though.
I'm going to look extra carefully at condensation in places where there shouldn't be and make sure every thing checks out
Just ran a carfax, it failed emissions 9/15/2009 and 9/16/2009 with 55.7k miles, which means it was probably sitting for 4 years. This guy probably just freshened it and cleared the codes.
Might be more headache than I'm looking for right now. You guys think I should still check it out?
lnlds wrote: Just ran a carfax, it failed emissions 9/15/2009 and 9/16/2009 with 55.7k miles, which means it was probably sitting for 4 years. This guy probably just freshened it and cleared the codes. Might be more headache than I'm looking for right now. You guys think I should still check it out?
As long as you can afford the cost to look, then go for it. It will sell quickly if it is a good one . . .
So what? It sounds like a car that failed emissions, probably for a stupid reason, and a shop fixed it and is flipping it. Go take a good look with a critical eye and call it a day.
Send me the VIN number and I can check it out for you to see if it was ever totalled (Carfax doesn't catch everything). If it was flooded in Sandy, decent chance it was salt water. Salt water will leave a very clear trail. Look at the fuse box and any other electrical connections you can find.
PM sent
You guys are bunch of berkeleying enablers. I just got off the phone letting the guy know I couldn't make it in today. He's a nice guy but it seems like he's holding info back.
I told him everything checked out and I needed to do something today and couldn't make it in. He then added that he knew that the car was sitting for a few years and yesterday when I asked him about the history he kind of glossed over it.
I'm going to try to check it out next week then if i can get a ride there.
I've been looking at causes for emission failure too and apparently new set of plugs/ngk wires/cat would be the worst case scenario?
lnlds wrote: I've been looking at causes for emission failure too and apparently new set of plugs/ngk wires/cat would be the worst case scenario?
Plus coils. NB Miatas have been known to have one of the coils fail and then destroy the cat by sending unburned gas through it.
You'll need to log in to post.
