Miata nerds, unite! aka thoughts on this Supercharged 96 M edition?

So due to recent changes at home, I'm not going to buy a new ND for myself as the Wife's person hauler replacement has to take priority.

Since I don't have to drive to/from work very often anymore, a basic Miata is still in the cards, but I want something nice that I can just get in drive to work or to run errands, to the beach, etc.

I've already got a "race" car to build and I want to build a Midlana after I get tired of messing with that, so this will not be a project build (but it will, I'm a GRM'er and car-nut, its inevitable really.) so starting with a nicer one is where my head is at.

TL:DR: Tired of driving broken junk, want a nicer car to have fun with that is easy to repair if I need to.

http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/cto/5284957699.html

Thoughts? Is it really worth $5000?

How hard is it to find a Starlight Blue hardtop?

Gonna buy Keith's book later in any case, because I think it is foregone conclusion that I'll buy one, its just a matter of which one?

That looks like an exceptionally clean and low mileage NA. Even without the supercharger it should be worth $5K so I'd say it's a no brainer. Buy it now!

Price seems right, though finding a color matched hardtop will be neigh impossible. Folks want $1000+ for red\black\white ones. The special edition colors tend to be more expensive.

Yeah that looks like a great deal, provided everything has been done the right way.

I would go so far as to say the price is really good.

Finding a hardtop in that color is going to be impossible or $1500. Would look fine with a black top though.

Looks like a good deal to me. I don't know much about the supercharger but the M's come with a torsen diff.

Snatch it up. Excellent price for a low mileage M edition, the supercharger is an added bonus.

You will be hard pressed to find a nicer one with those miles for less. Buy.

They just advertised in the magazine that Mazdaspeed sells reproduction hardtops for $850 + shipping. Unpainted, so you could just paint it your color.

That's right, I remember reading that as well.

So I contacted the seller. Looks like he and the car moved to Crescent City, California.

Its still for sale though, but he's another hour or two further from me.

I'll need to convince the wifey that a road trip south is a good idea :)

Closer to me! If you dont jump on it, maybe I will :P

I paid $5k for the Manic Miata about 5 years ago. It's a '96 A-package car that has a long history as an experimental platform for a very enthusiastic but fairly amateur PO. It's got the FM ubercharger on it (cold side, not hot side like the Sebring), programmable (sorta) ECU, Fat Cat coilovers, Hard Dog rollbar, Good-win big brakes, and other assorted goodies.

It's also nowhere near as clean as that car, and has 30,000 more miles on it. I'd say jump on that thing - it will be a hoot to drive.

My main concern is passing OBDII emissions inspection as a '96. That was a serious issue for my car. It may or may not be for this one.

Well, the Sebring/Jackson/Downing, etc. kit has a rising-rate fuel pressure regulator added to provide the necessary fueling for the engine. The ECU is stock as are the sensors. You do have to adjust the base timing to compensate.

It won't pass a visual inspection, but Portland doesn't give a rats butt about that as long as the OBDII diag is clear.

Just waiting to hear from the Wife about whether she thinks its a good idea and then hopefully plan a trip down south to check it out and maybe pick it up.

You need that car.

Looks like a deal to me. Please tell me you're standing on his doorstep waiving a a huge wad of cash Richard Rollings style at this very moment. I'm on the wrong coast or I'd be jockeying for space on the front porch and yelling "Take my money!"

Very clean and looks well taken cared of. I thinks it's worth close to $5k without the supercharger. I would jump on it.

Yeah, Wife is late getting home and I'm getting antsy looking at Miata stuff online....

At least the guy seems responsive, but Crescent City is a bit of a drive to say the least.

Those are the most fun buys for me, although doing cross-country in a little Miata might not be the coolest thing. Really though, I flew to Colorado once just to buy an M3, then drove it the 9 hours back the whole way. Its like a really special way to get acquainted with your new purchase.

Plus if it makes the journey, at least you know its probably not going to blow up on you in the very near future :P

Well, she shot me down. Too old (in her opinion) and after the 944 Turbo fiasco where I was equally excited and shared the same basic positive points, she's not interested in buying another limited edition, rare car that would potentially be unreliable in her eyes (based on its age).

Not sure how to convince her otherwise at this point. I'll regroup and try again, but this may be DOA :/

I hate being an adult. I want to go back to being a young, dumb idiot with money in my pockets again.

Desmond, I guess you're up on deck.

Wrong coast for me, or else my 90 would be up for sale now.

Sucks about the previous experience, as that miata has got to be more reliable than anything assembled in Germany.

I'd probably buy it too if it was closer. That said the hot side supercharger tends to be a bit wimpy and easily heat soaked.

In reply to Harvey:

Yeah, one of the changes I would have made would be to add some ceramic coating to the exhaust and an intercooler so that the fun could continue during the summer while reducing the chances of damage due to heat soak and detonation.

If it weren't for OBDII compliance requirements, I'd probably also look at replacing the factory ECU.

The compromises needed to keep a marriage happy...

I may never make that jump.

In reply to RedGT:

Yeah. I should have known better. Well, the 944 Turbo was pretty reliable once I fixed a lot of the deferred maintenance and poorly performed modifications. It was frustrating at times and it was hard to be motivated to do anything about it at times.

Then a radiator hose burst and toasted the headgasket. $1000 in parts later it was reliable again, but I had long since stopped enjoying the car and knew it wasn't what I wanted so it had to go before it cost me more money.

The new owner replaced the transaxle and is driving the piss out of it on hillclimbs and autocrosses, the recently rebuilt aftermarket turbo is puking oil again, so I'm glad its out of my hands. Even the new owner realizes that it isn't the right car for his needs as it is too far outside stock to truly enjoy racing at an autocross, so it looks like it will change hands again.

The fact that this Miata is completely stock other than the blower is a plus to me and I would leave it very close to that with only a few changes here and there to improve a few issues that crop up and to tailor it to my needs. Oh well...