Which Mx5 for £7,500?

[Mark300zx]

Looking for an MX-5 for the NC500 and wanted to know if there any models to avoid or seek out?

[Deerfoot]

If you can stretch a little there’s a nice mk3.5 for sale on the MX5 owners forum.

Blue car in Yorkshire up for £7900. It’s under sealed and has some nice bits on it too.

If it was closer to me I’d give it a look.

https://forum.mx5oc.co.uk/t/for-sale-mk3-5-sport-t...

[Ratae]

You should get a tidy early NC3.5 Sport Tech for that. I looked at a few around the 7k mark

[dapper]

Not sure exactly what you're looking for, but I've gone from NB to NC and it's a much better place to be. Nice heated seats etc, LSD compared to my old NB was open diff, and the 2.0 engine gives that bit of extra power to help make progress.

I'd recommend it but if you're after something more raw definitely go for the older models.

[iguana]

Rocketeer v6 NA
Turbo NA NB with suspension etc
Itb, cams, head, & lots of work NA NB
BBR 200 or 225 NC
NC with 2 5 install & lots of mods

[callahan]

iguana said:

Rocketeer v6 NA
Turbo NA NB with suspension etc
Itb, cams, head, & lots of work NA NB
BBR 200 or 225 NC
NC with 2 5 install & lots of mods

For £7,500??!

I echo what was said above about the blue 3.5 on the owners forum, it looks very, very similar to mine but with a little less mileage and hence a few hundred pounds more.

Mine is a MK3.5 / NC2 Sport Tech with folding hard top and some nice upgrades including Meister R suspension and Eagle F1s all round.

[coldel]

Only thing I would add, is having done the NC500 a few times now, that my mate who once did it in his MX5 hated the fact we could all overtake slower cars with a blip of the throttle and he had to wait ages for a really wide open bit of road. You have to do A LOT of overtaking going around, the MX5 for all the fun in the twisties, is not the quickest thing in the box.

[Althebugman]

It depends what you’re after. For the money you could have a very nice mk1 which is unlikely to depreciate and may have a few useful modifications. It’s like having a classic car with far more creature comforts and some more reliability.
They really are great fun cars but it ideal motorway cruisers. I’ve had a couple, one had coil overs and a fruitier exhaust which was great fun.

You could also buy a tidy mk3 which feels much more modern and is more comfortable long distance. Especially if you get a 6spd car. The sport spec comes with factory bilsteins and you can obviously have a folding hardtop if you want best of both worlds.

Me personally I can live with the compromises of the mk1 and they’re still great value and unless you’re used to rapid cars they aren’t frustratingly slow for road driving.

I have an ND now which in someways is best of both worlds. There isn’t a bad choice if an mx5 is what you want though the mk2 has never appealed to me mainly just for looks.

[iguana]

callahan said:

For £7,500??!

Yes, cba to link to examples but see a few of most although no rocketeers I've seen currently.

[Kerm1t]

coldel said:

Only thing I would add, is having done the NC500 a few times now, that my mate who once did it in his MX5 hated the fact we could all overtake slower cars with a blip of the throttle and he had to wait ages for a really wide open bit of road. You have to do A LOT of overtaking going around, the MX5 for all the fun in the twisties, is not the quickest thing in the box.

Having done the NC500 twice, I would also agree with this!

The first time was in a mk3 RS Clio 200, whilst it was fantastic, especially on the tight twisty stuff, I did find the lack of torque frustrating on the busier stretches.

I did it the second time in an OG M2 which was perfect!

Edited by Kerm1t on Wednesday 5th October 23:34

[callahan]

iguana said:

callahan said:

For £7,500??!

Yes, cba to link to examples but see a few of most although no rocketeers I've seen currently.

I think if the OP sees any of these for sale within budget it could be a great buy:

Rocketeer v6 NA
BBR 200 or 225 NC (with the rust treated)
NC with 2 5 install & lots of mods (as above, or a 3.5)

[griffdude]

Here’s one for 1/2 your budget, 1st impression is that it’s been looked after & should have a bit of power for overtaking.
https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/13955055

[Deerfoot]

griffdude said:

Here’s one for 1/2 your budget, 1st impression is that it’s been looked after & should have a bit of power for overtaking.
https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/13955055

'will need some attention for next MOT' I'm suspicious of this having seen numerous NBs with totally rotting chassis rails...

That'll need a decent inspection on ramps...

[callahan]

That looks good and the seller sounds reasonable, definitely worth a call to find out what the issues are and cost them up.

[coldel]

griffdude said:

Here’s one for 1/2 your budget, 1st impression is that it’s been looked after & should have a bit of power for overtaking.
https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/13955055

Currently SORN'd so you would need to find a way to test drive it.
A quick look at the supercharger website states 185bhp (depend on state of tune etc. could be lower than that here)
MOT history is a long list of amber and reds - unsurprisingly last MOT has multiple reports of corrosion on front/rear suspension and nearside front chassis
MOT fail in June shows severe corrosion issues amongst others, car wasnt driven for a month then came back with the 4 major fails completely gone, so I would be getting bills
MOT fail in January 21 also showed 6 major fails mostly corrosion issues - again I would want bills and evidence showing rectifications

Car was off the road from Jan 21 to Aug 22 and suddenly its up for sale. As above, I would be looking VERY hard at lots of work done and bills to prove.

[snotrag]

griffdude said:

Here’s one for 1/2 your budget, 1st impression is that it’s been looked after & should have a bit of power for overtaking.
https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/13955055

That is a 'project' if ever I saw one. Its also:

A) Likely to be an absolute rotter, because truthfully, there are only two types of NB. Those that have had extensive underbody restoration, welding and paint. And those that need it.


B) Not very good - its a very old supercharger kit, with the 'powercard' meaning the stock, dumb ecu is being frigged, the MPG will be appallling, and it wont actually make that much power over stock. its 1990s tech at best.


I've owned multiple NAs, NBs, turbo cars, standard cars, and an NC.


I'd take a nice NC any day over that. NA's are great, you get that lovely faux-classic style, its a design icon, everyone loves them. NBs give you very, very little benefit over them, but you lose all that makes the NA the classic.

So skip straight to ann NC, which straight out the box is massively more competent, faster, a much more advanced yet still very tunable engine, better suspension geometry, better made, alloy suspension components, massively stiffer shell etc.

At £7500 budget theres stacks of of nice, facelifted Mk3.5 cars about with a few quid to spend on some initial improvements, a set of tyres and geo maybe. From there, worlds your oyster.

[coldel]

snotrag said:

That is a 'project' if ever I saw one. Its also:

A) Likely to be an absolute rotter, because truthfully, there are only two types of NB. Those that have had extensive underbody restoration, welding and paint. And those that need it.


B) Not very good - its a very old supercharger kit, with the 'powercard' meaning the stock, dumb ecu is being frigged, the MPG will be appallling, and it wont actually make that much power over stock. its 1990s tech at best.


I've owned multiple NAs, NBs, turbo cars, standard cars, and an NC.


I'd take a nice NC any day over that. NA's are great, you get that lovely faux-classic style, its a design icon, everyone loves them. NBs give you very, very little benefit over them, but you lose all that makes the NA the classic.

So skip straight to ann NC, which straight out the box is massively more competent, faster, a much more advanced yet still very tunable engine, better suspension geometry, better made, alloy suspension components, massively stiffer shell etc.

At £7500 budget theres stacks of of nice, facelifted Mk3.5 cars about with a few quid to spend on some initial improvements, a set of tyres and geo maybe. From there, worlds your oyster.

I concur, the MOT history in itself tells a sorry tale. Unless the guy has spent a fortune fixing the corrosion (which given he hasnt mentioned that and is will to take offers) its likely to be a rusting painted over heap, I mean, project.

[coldel]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284997938879

[mrmarkyb]

Recently had a similar quandary and ended up going for an NC with a BBR Super 180 conversion and lots of other well chosen mods that have significantly improved the chassis (MeisterR coilovers, RX8 ARB's, uprated discs and pads) in good low mileage rust free condition with an enormous history file... So far really pleased with it!



Apologies for dark car park pic, it's all I have of it so far, but it's a 2009 2L Sport in Highland green, F1 Ultralite wheels in Bronze, ducktail spoiler (which I quite like), light brows (which I really don't, gotta figure out how to get them off asap!) and a very sorted chassis and the BBR conversion as stated above... 👍🏻 I figured I could have got an NC2 for similar money, but not that sold on the front end styling, and I knew I'd end up wanting a BBR conversion and uprated suspension etc. anyway so I'd be chucking £3k+ on anything else I bought anyway. So this with all the mods done (to a very good standard) already, and in a stunning colour, just made sense to me.

[snotrag]

Good buy that, it had been hanging around the various classifieds for a while, got all the bits you need in one. Looked a good one.