Newbie Advice On Gearbox

[Shotgun Rider]

Hi

I'm considering buying a mk2 MX5, I test drove one today, and it seemed to be the right car, 1.8 Sport, 03 plate, 57k with a full Mazda history with MOTs, 2 owners for £5600.

This is the third I've tried and it drove fine except when I pressed the throttle the gearstick seemed to jolt/ move. I dont know if this is an issue, its just that I didnt notice it on the other two I test drove.

Does this seem like a decent buy?

Edited by Shotgun Rider on Monday 1st March 00:09

[inman999]

Could be engine mounts are worn.

Might be worth getting it inspected and haggling with the owner over price or get them to fix anything that arises.

[Shotgun Rider]

Thanks inman, the car is over 3 hours away from me and if that's the case I think I'd rather walk away as it'd be far too much hassle to get it sorted.

[itiejim]

You'll always get some movement on RWD gars due to the torque acting on the gearbox. So long as it isn't excessively sloppy I wouldn't worry about it.

[dylan0451]

that and the fact the driveline is suspended by the engine mounts and diff mounts only

supporting the engine, the mounts are pretty simple to change, probably easier than diff ones?

i think they're about £60 a pair, and prob an hour of a mechanics time to change. i'd ask the seller to knock £100 off, or get it done before sale. it's peanuts really when you're talking about £5.5k so i shouldn't think they'd be too concerned

[Odie]

I thought that was normal, mines does it a little and the engine mounts seem fine.

[Shotgun Rider]

I'd more or less decided to leave the car anyhow and go for a cheaper one, possibly mk1, finding it hard to let my Puma go so gonna run two cars but the dealer has just knocked the price up by £300 so that made my decision a lot easier.

Edited by Shotgun Rider on Tuesday 2nd March 13:28

[OnlyMX5ives]

I've never noticed any movement in any 5's.

[bluetone]

There are lots to choose from so why take a risk?
If you have doubts, walk away.

[MX-5 Lazza]

Changing engine mounts might not be a particularly big job but I'd be very worried about a 7 year old car that needed new mounts.
It's more likely that there was an engine fault that was causing a slight misfire that made the engine rock a bit when you accelerated. I know the gear-stick in mine can move around a bit if it's misfiring.