What's it worth(Miata content)

Hey guys,

I have a friend that bought a 92 Miata two years ago,and told me the other day that he is done with it. It just isn't fast enough he says. I said that can be fixed,but he doesn't want to bother. It is a black 92 with tan leather I think. I know the interior is tan,but I forget if it is leather. It has a limited slip rear,power windows,AC which I am unsure if it works or not,a fairly newer top from what I remember,and the body is in okay shape,but not great,and the paint is rough in spots. He changed out the tail lights,and front directionals to aftermarket clear ones I believe.The car runs good,and has 111k miles on it. He has replaced the daisy wheels with some sort of aftermarket alloys in 16" size,and put a ghettorific if you ask me stereo system that takes up what little space is left in the boot. In my opinion he would be better off putting the daisies back on,and taking out the stereo system as they really add little value to it. He told me the drivers side rear spring is broken,but he still drives it like that(I have no idea why),but other than that it is in pretty straight mechanical conditin from what he says. He bought it for $4k a couple of years ago,and wants to get $4500 for it now. I think that is too high,what do you guys think? Prices around here in New England are all over the place,but there is a similarly priced one on CL now that is a 95 with a hard top that I would buy over his just looking at it in pics.

$2500. With the unfixed suspension, $2K. And that's rather friendly, IMO.

FWIW, I sold a '93 (still my avatar pic) that was MUCH nicer and better maintained than that one sounds to a fellow GRMer in New England for $2600 a few months ago. I wouldn't pay more than 2k for that car as it sits.

Actually his may be a 93 now that I think of it,but that won't change the price at all as it is still the same as a 92. I thought he overpaid for it when he bought it,but he didn't want to wait for me to go look at Miata's with him.

Chris

Yep, I agree with Josh, who still has my Miata in his avatar pic. If we're doing a Jalopnik style "nice price or crack pipe" poll, I'd say $4500 is a crack pipe for that car, with one known mechanical problem and $1900 more than mine, which was and still is in good shape.

I looked at a damn near perfect '90 Miata with a hardtop and 80k miles (only needed a valve cover gasket) for $3500 and that was high. At most that car is worth $2000 IMHO.

Your friends only hope is to find a hot-to-trot buyer like he was a few years ago.
$4.5k is way over priced but the right crazy buyer may pull the trigger. I agree with the others that this is a $2k car MAX.

Ditto the above. If he finds his younger, stupider self, he might get $3500 for it. Elsewise, $2000-2500 sounds about right.

Your friend is trying to sell at the wrong time of the year. All the impulsive, "must have it" idiots (like me ) have already found theirs. Don't get me wrong, he'd probably never get 4.5K for it. He might break 3k if he still has it in May of next year. Most enthusiasts (who would be his only hope of coming anywhere within a grand of his asking price) wouldn't worry too much about the aftermarket wheel, since they can be flipped and a set of stockers purchased with a net gain, or the stereo, since that's easily removed. They are, however, going to expect substantial $ off for a "broken spring", since fixing that will require substantial time/money or both, and it probably a good sign that the entire suspension needs to be "refreshed".

I vote crack pipe.

I bought my new england 96 Miata in "diamond in the rough" shape with an extra set of tires for $2,900. Not a speck or rust and the paint (red) was in good condition without any bad spots.

After a little elbow grease people can't believe how good the car looks for the money.

So do you think he will be able to sell it? I ask because he said he is rock firm on that price. I also told him he is trying to sell the car at probably the worst possible time to sell a convertible. Maybe he should just wait until the spring? He also told me he added some sort of brace under the car in the front that helps with the 65mph shimmy the cars get,and a few other things. Nothing major if you ask me and the wheels are Drag brand I think,and not so great of you ask me.

I think he's going to have a very hard time at that price. That's $500 less than I paid for mine, and mine is pretty well sorted, and heavily purpose-built while still being fully streetable.

So my friend listed the car on CL and here it is.

http://southcoast.craigslist.org/cto/2598243995.html

I guess there is a bit more done to it than I mentioned before but not a whole lot that makes it worth the price. What do you think?

Chris

Agreed. Not worth the price. $2500 at most to someone like me.

In the end, i'd just be tearing out many of the things already done to it.

"Euro spec tail lights" blarrrgh!