25 year old, 11k dry miles a whisper off £12K.
https://www.stonecoldclassics.com/1996-mazda-mx-5-monaco/
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It does look good though and must be getting rare… Anyone that buys it would need a good garage to store it, possibly just enjoy it as a “Fair Weather” car… I’d want to drive it occasionally myself 
Rob
Still is the detuned dealer special though. The MX5 equivalent of the Maestro CityX.
Not only did Mazda put in the lowest power engine, but they also stripped all the chassis braces off and cockpit brace, presumably because these added enough weight to slow these down. And its not as if this model can be hustled much.
The drivers seat bolster looks a bit worn.
The reality was that the Monaco was a poverty spec car dresed up with some alloy wheels. Its in good condition, but its not a particularly desireable model.
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I’m happy to stand corrected on this… But when I worked at a Mazda dealership mid 2006 till end 2012, I believe you could buy a new poverty spec NC with steel wheels and plastic top?
Never did see one though…!
Rob
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I think you’re right? I once went on the search for a set of steel wheels for my first NC, like you do. Chap on here had a set and they were shipped on his car from new. Plastic rimmed steering wheel, sill kick covers with no metal finishing plate, etc.
Barrie
The Hood has also been folded with the window not unzipped.
This must be the cheapest Special Edition Mx-5 as it was only £13,750 new. Pretty rare as no one bothered saving these 
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I think cars like this are in some ways a little sad , The MX5 needs to be driven to get the complete experience . These cars thrive on activity . Mine is a 94 MK1 with a little over a 105K miles but the more i have driven the better it gets for me and the car . Of course they need to be looked after,regularly serviced and protected but they are not museum pieces.
Bought and stored correctly for five years it will still return more than leaving your money languishing in your bank or building society.
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The thing needs Rocketeer’d , chassis to cope, a single exit, and kept as boring “standard” looking as possible.
Make the most of solid rot free Cinderella.
It needs a life…
Q car. 
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I reckon my Monaco is even nicer than this one, albeit with 56k miles now.
The 90hp and the manual windows I can live with, but I can’t live with the lack of power steering. It even makes you have to drive slower on mini roundabouts so you have time to put enough lock on.
So I’m about to add power steering to it. If you were in the market for a car like this, would you give more or less for it if it had the correct MX5 (but non-standard) power steering added?
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Go for broke. Its already heavily modified, in some cases, irreversibly. The bling modifications are not to everyone’s taste, and may put off some buyers. The interior is not standard for this model, and appears to make use of aftermarket (non-factory) trim pieces. The “Monaco” badge is not a MCL badge. The wheels are non standard. The aftermaket suspension might lead some to think this has been used on a track, which doesn’t add to value, only takes away. Modifications rarely add anything to value. Missing the engine tray. Start at value for a Monaco, and take off a bit for mods, plus allow for a smaller market. Not a car for the purist. The cars attracting value are factory standard, not owner modified cars.
But, essentially, it’s no longer a Monaco. The Monaco edition was never a factory edition, it was a post importation sales device. Pretty much every “Monaco” elementfitted by MCL (and there weren’t many) has been denuded.
If you are planning to sell the car, the “For Sale” section will alow you to find the market value.
Thanks for those observations. They are all correct, albeit I doubt that anyone would modify a 90hp version to put in on the track. The engine tray was removed for the pics. The previous previous who did most of the mods and who took the pics is a retired engineer and fully understands what the tray does.
I mainly wondered whether the car is worth more with or without power steering added. At the moment the car is hardly used as I have a couple of other MX5s, both with power steering, and I just can’t get used to manual steering again, though when I was racing, my track car was converted to manual steering, but then you (hopefully) go faster on the track than on the road.
Opinions appreciated please.
Not at that purchase price it won’t. All the “investment” is in their pricing you wouldn’t see a return, possibly ever.
Stone Cold have well known brass necks on pricing. That’s the lowest spec special ever done, it’s not yet not worth double digits even in that condition.
Personally, I love the way your car looks 
Obviously not to everyone’s taste but wouldn’t life be dull and boring if we all just followed the herd? Anyway, doubt that PS retro fitted will add value, however, it certainly won’t detract either as it’s one of those ‘nice to have’ options I reckon. Only my opinion though, others will have theirs too! 
let us know when you’ve installed it and how happy you are!
Barrie
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Someone did, otherwise whats the point in the uprated shocks, ARBs, cooling system, on a car that, proverbially, couldn’t pull the skin off custard. Its a cruising car, not a sports car. I see this car had £15k worth of modifications. £11k must be hidden. TBF, I know a few “experienced” MX5 owners who have been frankly conned into making pointless modifications.
I only have info on the last 2 owners. I’m in regular touch with the last but one who did 99% of the mods. He never took the car to a track or drove it quickly on the road. He just wanted to make a nicer driving MX5 with MGB power. He was obsessed with making sure the car was not going to overheat because he once owned a Triumph Stag. These would overheat in traffic in only 20 degrees.
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Yeah, there are receipts for £11k of mods in the file. I wish most of them were for a supercharger and an LSD etc but that’s just how it is. He preferred the Renault version of the badge. I do too.
By “post-importation” do you mean that MCL removed or changed parts from a higher spec model and called it a Monaco? If so, what did they do to make it 90hp instead of 116hp?
I’m not presently planning to sell the car and have enough experience to be able to make my own decision about my asking price if I ever do sell.
I was mainly asking what difference it would make to value if I add power steering as at the moment I don’t use the car because I just can’t get used to manual steering again.
I suspect if someone said fitting it would cut the value by 50%, you’d still do it.
MCL= Mazda Cars Limited. This was the franchise owner for Mada (not part of the factory). They had a depot where they outfitted the special editions. The Monaco would have been a bog standard green 1.6 with black cloth interior, on steel wheels. MCL probably optioned for a factory tan roof. Once in the UK, off went the steel wheels, on went some aftermarket wheels and a sticker, and out went a “Monaco”. The 115hp engine was discontinued in 1993. The 90hp motor was earmarked for EU and a few other markets, such as Thailand and the Phillipines. Its not simply a detuned B6 motor. According to Bob Hall (so this must be gospel);
"The 88/90hp engine wasn¹t a detuned version of the 115/116hp 1.6, but rather was a different unit than the one used in the original 1600s. The same engine family, but a unit derived from a later mormally-aspirated B-series, not the modification of the B6 Turbo which the first (1989-92) 1600 was. The later 1.6 also has a completely different engine management system.
There was an engine rationalisation (the 1.6 turbo on which the MX-5¹s engine was based was taken out of production) and the initial plan was that the 1.8 was going to be the sole engine for the car worldwide. When a number of European importers complained that the 1.8 was too expensive or would have tax problems in specific markets, the new 1.6 was hurredly slipped into the program by taking a standard Familia/323 1.6, making some minor revisions to the lower block and putting a new head on it.
Again, if we¹re talking about the 88/90hp engine it isn¹t detuned, it¹s a different engine. ALL 1.6s built before 1994 have the original, turbo-based engine (which w a s detuned to 105hp for North American automatics). If it¹s a 1994 or later and a 1.6, it¹s the 88/90hp atmo engine.
Different combustion chamber design, elimination of the distributor drive on the intake cam and I think there¹s a difference in valve size. And it¹s not that the 88/90hp engine has larger valves, if you get my meaning. Also, (and this has nothing to do with the head but I just remembered it) I¹m pretty sure the block was O-ringed with the first 1.6 (an artifact from it coming from the turbo) and I know the block was stiffened slightly when it was modified for londgitudal mounting. Hirai-san was an absolute lunatic about driveline stiffness from the fan to the back cover of the third member.
bwob"
There’s a contradiction between wanting a nicer driving MX5 and then fitting Billies to it. The Billies are unsuited for UK driving conditions, so the ride is worse. The 90hp MG was also significantly lighter than the 90hp MX5, even after Mazda tried to strip out as much excess weight as possible (all chassis braces, cockpit brace).
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