In a Year, What Will the Market Pay for a Clean Sunburst Yellow Miata?

My favorite color is the one on the cheapest car I'm willing to by. That includes red, the color that only looks good on biplanes. 

Keith Tanner said:

What's interesting about that car is that it's not exactly pristine. It has clearly seen a paint booth (which is acknowledged in the auction) with the deletion of the black rockers, the addition of black to the windshield surround and the color-matched mudflaps. The lower body modifications make the car look stodgier IMO and the black windshield surround doesn't work well with the hardtop. But more importantly, they are clear modifications to the one thing that makes this car notable.

 

Well sold :)

agreed, the black windshield looks odd. Also, overspray in the wheel well is annoying in this pic. 

I think that's a ton of money for a car with that history and multiple flaws.  I'd happily drive the BAT car, just not at the price it just sold for.  The hardtop helps, but even so...

I have hung onto my 94R which now has 145K on it, and the one thing that makes it worth way more money to me than I could get for it is the fact that it has zero rust.  I have never had to fight with a rusty fastener.   What puts me off the BAT car more than anything else is looking at rusty suspension bolts, and, assuming it's been in the snow in Indiana, there will be more like that.

David S. Wallens said:

In reply to Keith Tanner :

And I'm with you on the rockers. Painting them body color makes the car look chonky, while the black windshield surround clashes with the hardtop.

Editorial Director, Grassroots Motorsports & Classic Motorsports

Also agree, though I actually like the black surround and would prefer a black hardtop. 

I've "almost" sold my NA three times.  Two years ago for $4500.  One year ago for $6500.  And this year for $8500. 

But honestly, why would I bother to sell it?  It is so inexpensive to own, and still brings me a ton of joy when I take it for a ride.

I might be in the minority, but I think the ND makes high-dollar NAs redundant. I don't think there's many (any?) new cars that you can say it about, but it's practically the same size & weight, makes considerably more power, has pretty much all the character, and has a chassis that doesn't feel like it's constructed from soggy cardboard. 

I love 80's and 90's cars, they offer a look and driving experience that you don't find today. But the math on NA miatas in this price range doesn't make sense to me when ND1s are only a few k more and offer a very similar experience with better driving dynamics. Maybe I'm just salty that I sold all of my cool cars (including a clean 94 miata w/ a torsen & matching hard top) before they went up in value.  

It is very interesting driving NAs and NDs back to back. The ND is a more competent car but it's like there's an overlay over everything, a translation layer that is doing the filtering and correction. You notice it most in the steering but it's there in the brakes, gearshift and other controls as well.

You get a different experience in the NA. It feels more mechanical, more direct. Day to day it's not as friendly to live with because it is more in your face about its demands and doesn't offer the same level of comfort, but if you're just after that raw I Am Driving experience it's good. This is hard to explain without sounding like an old man trying to justify his crappy old car, but there really is a simplicity and directness to the NA that isn't there on the ND. 

I am basing that comparison on a few NAs that are well tweaked. They're not running the sort of suspension that batters the chassis, for example. And they invariably have the simplest, purest 1.6 interior.

I will have an ND eventually. A black RF. But I'll also have an NA parked beside it :)

In reply to Fupdiggity (Forum Supporter) :

That's actually a good point. As ND's get cheaper (especially ND1's), will that supress the prices of a clean NA? Somehow I doubt it, but it's an interesting thought experiment.

I've owned and sold two fairly clean 94R's. They're definitely cars that benefit from being left stock. They're a riot on 14" rubber, but once you start trying to make a track car out of them, they seem to lose a bit of the magic. While I absolutely love the R package steering feel, trying to wrestle a manual rack car on 225 r compounds gets real tiring, real quickly

See, I think the biggest problem with the R is the suspension. Swap out those shocks and bumpstops and you can make it ride and handle quite a bit better. If you're running around on stock R suspension, you'll definitely be dealing with some harshness and a chassis that feels flexible. Compare that to the current Bilstein suspension on the ND2 and it's a dramatic difference in stock form.

I don't think the ND will ever really affect the resale value of NAs, they're different enough that there's not much cross-shopping. Especially at the top end of the market where it's all about a specific car being outstanding. The ND definitely affected the resale value of the NC - when the ND specs were first announced, everyone said "oh man, only 155 hp!" and the NC prices stayed strong. Then the first test drives arrived and the NC resale cratered.

I still think a 2.5L swapped NC is the best miata value proposition going right now. Just missed out on a cheap one in Houston a few weeks ago. Seller low balled himself and it got swarmed within an hour of posting.

To Keith: Well, not only the harshness, but the fact that if the stock R package Bilsteins are still intact somehow, they're 25 years old at this point...

Well apparently a '98 Subaru is a $300k car now, so who knows?

Calling a low mileage 22B a "1998 Subaru" is underselling it a bit. It's like calling a Porsche 959 a "1986 Porsche". The 22B has always been the ultimate from a manufacturer that was at the top of their game and with extremely limited production - about the same as the 959, actually. It was always going to be primo collector bait.

Keith hit it right on the money... The ND is a wonderful car, but it's 'digital', whereas the NA is 'analog'.  The ND is objectively better in just about every metric, but it's a very different experience.  The NA is also the first of the breed, so it will always command a premium in the collector market.

In reply to maschinenbau :

Keith beat me to it, but I would put a 22B in the same category of 'special' as an E36 M3.   Plus, it was never sold in the US, so add that to the unicorn factor.

In reply to Rodan :

I understand all that, I guess my point was with Japanese sports car prices going the way they are, this great example of a Sunburst yellow Miata may be worth a lot more than we think next year. I don't think anyone was predicting that 22B to go for $300k. Even half of that would be incredible, yet here we are.

For my taste, the Laguna Blue NA is the most attractive. I already had a red 90' (Keith Tanner may remember it from Ottawa) and I could not resist the 95 Laguna (with air and hardtop). I started preparing my red 90' for Vintage racing but our Canadian clubs won't let them in yet. So, I'll be selling it soon. As for values, I believe the NA should continue on its climb, may be 20 k in 5 years?

What will that S. Yellow car be worth in a year?  About the same as now I'd say.  I think it will hold it's value and lower mileage NA cars should at least hold tight.  I don't see them falling through the floor anytime soon.  Good low mileage cars (under 40k ish) should hold tight at $10k and $12-13k with a hard top.  

The deals are still out there but you need cash and move quickly.  I was a day late on a '95 M Edition in Merlot and a hardtop with 36,000 miles.  Sold for $7,000 on Craigslist!  That was late last summer.

I'm sticking with my '99 Hard S Sport.  Such a joy to drive when I want some top down fun.