Newbie here been on the hunt for the right car since August. Think I want too much car for mot enough money! But I’ll make a sacrifice either way in the end!
For now, I have just walked away from an 07 NC PRHT with some serious water issues.
Hopefully you guys think the same and won’t say “that is just blocked drains”
Took this picture of the drivers side under-seat, I could see condensation on all the windows, mould on the seat belt and rust on all the internal metallic brackets around the seats and under the dashboard.
Yes I think you did absolutely right to walk away from that one!
Most likely to be caused by the infamous Mk3 scuttle grommets issue I think! Especially as you mention corrosion on the brackets behind the dashboard. Sounds like it’s been wet for some time, which will have probably caused water damage not only to the body structure but also to the electrics - some of which are “strategically” placed by Mazda directly in the line of any water ingress from the scuttle grommet on the passenger side.
Yep definitely swerved a whole load of problems by avoiding that one!
My advice, and I hope you’re already doing it, is to check what rustproofing has been done. Any MX5 around the 10yr mark that has been driven regularly will either be rusty or had regular TLC to keep the rust at bay.
Don’t give up the search, lots of good examples around!
