Buying an MX-5 - ND1/2 or new ND3?

Buying a ‘5 and Insurance advice Buying Advice
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Firstly it’s my first post on here so hello to everyone! I could do with some advice! I’m new to MX5’s and am hugely impressed with them having test driven a couple of new 2 litre ND4 models - they’re utterly superb!

Situation is my daughter starts university in September and I’m going to have to subsidise her living costs to the tune of around £500 a month - which will be quite tough! This means that my TVR Griffith I have loved and treasured for 29 years is going to have to go!! It will be a big wrench, but it’s an expensive car to run and does throw the odd £1000 bill my way from time to time… I’m told it’s worth in the region of £20-£24k which will certainly help greatly with the daughter’s support!

Daily driver is my Toyota GT86 2017 with 82000 miles and I have a 90 mile round trip motorway commute around 15 days a month to Heathrow. I also have access to my wife’s saloon car when she works from home 2 days a week.

I plan to trade in the GT86 for an MX5 as I have fallen in love with them! It seems to do everything the GT86 and TVR do brilliantly but in a single car. So plan is get rid of two cars and run just one MX5 thus saving on running costs. An even bigger draw is that I think the MX5 is a car for adventures - epic drives across the Alps, doing the HIghlands etc - stuff I probably wouldn’t risk doing in the TVR as it’s just not dependable enough (and mine is one of the nicest Griffith’s in the country). The missus and I could of course do such things in the GT86, but we love open top motoring, it adds so much to a road trip - hence the MX5.

I’m looking at a brand new MX5 Exclusive Line and the local Mazda dealer has offered around £11750 for the GT86 (which seems pretty fair to me) and also discounted the new one by a couple of grand, plus there’s a Mazda contribution of £1000 presently too. If I finance the new Mazda over 4 years on PCP and put in £8000 of equity from the GT86 in it’s £329 a month with a £10k ish GFV. My wife thinks because I am giving up the TVR which has been a huge part of our lives together I should replace it with the first new car of my life and get what I really want from new. I am 56 and hope to retire in 4 years so I plan to pay the balloon payment upon retirement and enjoy it for years… The knowledge I have had the car from new is a benefit as I plan to keep it in retirement.

My plan is that the £3750 cash proceeds from trading the GT86 will pay for the PCP on the Mazda for 10 months by which time the TVR should hopefully have sold releasing a further £20k+. If the TVR didn’t sell in 10 months though I would be left a bit tight because of having to fund both the daughter and pay the PCP each month - note “tight, but not totally impossible” But there’s no doubt we would have to be pretty careful - shopping in Lidl, not going out etc.

The alternative is to buy say an ND2 with around 30000 miles on it for perhaps £18000 which would mean putting in the whole value of the GT86 (£12k ish) and funding the balance via a £6000 loan over the next 4 years which would cost around £140 a month. That saves £189 a month, but it’s not a new car, it won’t be under warranty beyond maybe 6 months and I expect the ND series has improved over time. When I sell the Griff I could clear the loan. To warranty such a car looks like it would cost around £599 per annum - so effectively another £50 a month bringing the difference down to £139 a month - and I like having a warranty to avoid any unexpected bills.

Question:

  1. Which option would you go for?
  2. How much does the spec of a 2019 ND2 Skyactiv G-Sport differ from a 2025 ND4 Exclusive-Line?

I would really welcome views from owners and those familiar with the MX5 4th generation.

Grateful for views…

Birdseed008

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I have a 2021 (ND2) GT Sport Tech. It was top of the range for that year and nothing in the ND3 has tempted me to change up, except perhaps the 35th anniversary model, but that is really only because it’s a lovely colour and it’s not available in this country anyway. For your budget, you can get a really nice one with less than 30,000 miles on it, and if it’s from a Mazda main dealer it will have a 1 year warranty. Either that or buy one from a club member and you can usually be confident that it will have been well looked after. The PCP route is only good if you intend to change the car after three years, and certainly not the cheapest way to finally own the car.
Best of luck. :+1:

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Thanks for the reply. I have some other questions:
When was lane departure warning added to the MX5?
When was blind spot monitoring added to the MX5?
Does the red metallic paint have a reputation for fading?

Many thanks,

Birdseed008

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Lane Departure Warning System (LDWS) was added to the Mazda MX-5 in 2015

Blind Spot Monitoring (BSM) was introduced to the Mazda MX-5 in the 2020 model year according to Mazda.

Yes, red metallic paint on MX-5s, particularly the “Soul Red Crystal” color, has a reputation for being prone to fading, especially when exposed to prolonged sunlight and weather. While all paint colors can fade over time, red shades are known for being more susceptible. It’s also known for being of a more delicate nature and susceptibility to chipping and showing the chips.

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It’s always brutal buying a new car for anyone, unless on e is truly minted, but the PCP is still a lot.
If you drop in £8K off your GT86, then add to that 48 payments of £329 (£15792), it’s £23792, plus only £10Kish GTFV for a car which got a new list price (the 2L exclusive line anyway) of £33K ish (not counting the PCP interest)!

Mine was bought nearly 7 years ago as a pre reg, 5 or so miles on it, for £17K, and now with 16,900 miles on, and nearly 7 years on, the Motorway price just now gave £14,150
So how is a £33K car worth £10K ish in 4 years, when my then £17K one (which would have been £22K at the time, new) is going for over £14K nearly 7 years on!
I guess you’ve got to factor the mileage into it, and if you’re adding 90 miles a day it’ll soon add up. You’re wife might be correct though, if the Griffin has been a big part of your lives for years.
The one thing with cars too is the unexpected. I too am in the camp of I’ll do this and that, focusing long term, but there’s so many variables with a car. 4 years and a blaoon then keep it forever is great on paper, but we all know stuff comes up in life, plus we can’t control the actions of the 20 million or so other ‘drivers’ on the road, one of whom on their mobile can end car dreams in a tiktok watching second.

Regarding comparing to an ND2 (there isn’t an ND4 btw, the newest is the ND3). You could argue not a lot, if any has improved. Remembering too that the ND2 of circa the 2019-2021 era was probably the sweet spot for the chocolate transmission, with hardly any (any?) failures reported. When if you look on the US site, more have crept in since then. Plus the latest ND3 will presumably have even more nannies on it. But then the ND2 has more of those on it compared to the ND1. ‘Progress’ huh. The ND3 gains ‘better’ steering, but ‘better’ in that there are a few back-to-back ND2/3 vids which can’t tell any difference.
Best wishes whichever route you choose.

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Have you considered an RF. I bought new in 2022 and have done about 18000 miles. Chose the RF because I wanted something that could be daily driver and a little more compatible with 2 hr + motorway journeys. Don’t get quite the full top down experience. The 22 ND2 2 litre has the 180+ bhp so is powerful enough for all situations and has DAB, Apple Carplay (and the one for other phones). Mine is Soul Red (had it ceramic coated from new) and has only suffered a few minor stone chips so far and certainly no fading. I hope to hold onto it long term.

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As ND12 says, there isn’t an ND4 currently but I totally get where you are coming from regarding funding your new car.

I took out a PCP on mine when I retired but the interest rates at the time were ridiculously low so it was a pretty straightforward decision for me. Two and a bit years into the contract I found a bit of spare cash under the mattress so paid the PCP early which saved a bit of interest.

I haven’t found anything on the ND3 to tempt me away from my 2, but if I was in the market now I would buy the 3 - its new and it will have 3 years warranty on it.

If you are going to keep it, work out the lowest mileage for the PCP against GFV as you won’t be paying any excess at the end of the term.

3 years 3 months of ownership, Soul Red hasn’t faded but there are stone chips, as there was on my previous cars. Loving every minute of driving it and it ain’t going anywhere until I physically can’t get in.

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Or out! :rofl:

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30AE, loud, proud and has all the toys. You will save a bundle versus new and it will hold its value as a limited edition.

I wouldn’t change my NC for any ND, except the 30AE.

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In my opinion these are not expensive cars to repair, in relative terms. If you are really concerned then if I were you I would put £50 a month into a regular savings account instead where you’ll at least be earning interest and hope to be pleasantly surprised that you don’t need it all for unscheduled maintenance. A used car warranty will probably have an excess and exclusions anyway. I’ve occasionally extended the warranty on a used car but normally it’s when I know that huge bills (BMW, Mini I’m looking at you) are a very real possibility.

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Yes, I’m on the second year of taking out a ‘MINI’ extended warranty (underwritten by the same outfit that does Mazd’s extended one). I thini f was £350 with breakdown cover. £100 excess.

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This is easy to justify. Take off £40 ish for breakdown and if you look at a Mini wrong it can cost you over £410 so…

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The BMW mini horror stories really are terrifying…

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Yes. Touching wood it’s been faultless over 4.25 years and 33 odd thousand miles. It is the F56, which are supposed to be more reliable. I get it serviced every year with an oil change in between the scheduled ones. They think I’m a nut job doing that.

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Mine is an F56 JCW. So far seems reliable and a better built car than the R56 S that I owned.

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DOn’t mean to off topic, but how do you find your JCW as a straight up comparison to your ND?

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Hi folks,

Some really good replies here with the general concensus seeming to be to save some money and buy a nice secondhand one. The blind spot monitoring and lane departure warning are likely quite useful to me as a motorway commuter who often drives home tired in the busy afternoon M25 after an early shift which started at 4am…

So in an ideal world it sounds like a post 2020 model would be best, although even lane departure warning alone is more than I have on the GT86 and I’ve been commuting in two cars without it for the past 9 years.

So as an example if I bought this one:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/finance-calculator?advertId=202506093307609&advertUrl=%2Fcar-details%2F202506093307609&advertising-location=at_cars&backLinkParams=advertising-location%3Dat_cars%26calc-deposit%3D8000%26calc-mileage%3D15000%26calc-selected-product%3DPCP%26calc-term%3D48%26colour%3DRed%26make%3DMazda%26minimum-badge-engine-size%3D2.0%26model%3DMX-5%26postcode%3Dgu307lz%26revisit%3Dtrue%26searchId%3Df0f9a0de-d4f5-4c40-929d-c0be391561ef%26sort%3Drelevance%26year-from%3D2020&cc-locn-id=1601&channel=cars&deposit=2299&me-type=CC&me-type=HD&mileage=10000&selectedDid=481445&selectedOption=deposit&selectedProduct=PCP&term=48

For £22987 and put £8000 in from the GT86 as deposit on PCP
Monthly payments would be £231.08 with balance to pay of £7966 at an interest rate of 8.9% APR
Total cost £27057.84

If I bought a new one for £31012 and put £8000 in from the GT86 as deposit on PCP
Monthly payments would be £329.13 with balance to pay of £10102.50 at interest rate of 3.9% APR
(The low cost to buy the car for £10k when only 4 years old is actually an advantage to me)
Total cost £34571.61

So there’s £7513.77 difference and about £98.05 a month saving for buying the second hand vehicle. The monthly saving is helpful, but not earth shattering.

After 4 years I would own either a 4 year old car or a 7 year old car to drive in retirement. If I buy new I am pretty much guaranteed zero mechanical repairs so just consumables e.g. tyres and servicing. If I buy secondhand then I might have some additional costs to pay for repairs - lets call that £1000-£2000 over 4 years? That brings the difference down to maybe £5000 or so.

It’s a really tough one actually. I must commend Mazda for making a great job of making the new ones seem so affordable compared to nice secondhand ones!!!

The real saving would be to buy something like this: https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202506073262619?sort=price-asc&searchId=78251afd-15a1-431b-a9b1-5931ab5f5e26&advertising-location=at_cars&colour=Red&make=Mazda&minimum-badge-engine-size=2.0&model=MX-5&postcode=gu307lz&year-from=2018&fromsra

If I bought this for £14495 and put in the same £8000 from the GT86 and put in the whole £11750 from selling my car via Car Wow I would need a bank loan for £3000 which over 3 years would cost around £95 a month, which is a useful saving while trying to pay for daughter at Uni.
Biggest downside of that though is car already has 48000 miles on it so when I retire in 4 years it would have around 93000 miles on it at 11 years old. That’s not a particularly attractive age and mileage for a retirement fun car because it will likely be getting to the point of me having to worry about major bills funded from a pension…

Dealer is telling me he can only really guarantee the price until the end of this weekend as apparently the deals change at the end of the month and seemingly Mazda have said they won’t guarantee any quotes on cars delivered in July (but ordered this month) from this weekend. Current lead time is 1-2 weeks…

Looks like I need to make a rapid decision if I want to lock in my trade in value and the deal I have been offered which was discounted by around £3000 from list (£2000 discount via Car Wow plus £1000 contribution from Mazda)
I’m actually quite torn on this having never had a new car and liking the idea of ending up with a 4 year old car with 60 000 miles on it for retirement. Crucially it’s a car that I will have looked after (not thrashing from cold, steady 70mph motorway miles most of the time etc. Taking a £10k lump sum out of the pension pot tax free upon retirement isn’t too big a deal I guess.

Somebody mentioned why not consider an RF - I’ve driven both but I really do want a full convertible in retirement and for the epic road trips I am planning… I’m definately prepared to put up with the increased wind noise from the convertible roof for 4 years commuting having compared the two in order to have the benefit of a full convertible.

I think I am sold on the red because I love it and what I’m buying here is a dream car which will hopefully last me say 10-15 years… The missus likes the machine grey and the red…

Good point by the way Teleman on going for a lower mileage to keep the monthly payments low while the daughter is at Uni!! Yes this will mean a bigger balloon at the end but if I take 25% pension tax free and sell my house to move to a cheaper area as we plan then finding £10-£15k to finally own the car might not be such a big issue. As long as we buy it then I presume we don’t pay any extra mileage costs??? Correct???

Really tough decision!!

Birdseed008

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Don’t listen to any salesperson telling you to commit now or miss out, would be my advice. Instead, decide if you’re going new or used, then if new, put time aside on 30 June and phone as many dealers as humanly possible and ask their best price in return for your hard earned deposit there and then. Those who have yet to reach their quarterly target may just do you the deal of all deals. Maybe…

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FYI blind spot monitor depends on model, even within ND2 - it isn’t on AE30. You need to check the spec of each model as there’s a lot of little changes between models and/ or editions! That said I doubt you’ll be disappointed whatever ND you buy!

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I agree.

Remember, when buying new this is where sales people will make some of their biggest commission packets. This means they have more interest in haggling down a bit for the sake of taking the deal.

I took an ex-showroom Cupra with 21 miles on the clock (11 were my test drive) for £11,000 less than list.

All about right time, right place for the sales person. Whereas for you there can be many right times and right places. There will always be a deal.

NB: Launch Editions come in Soul Red and they have Recaro seats… :eyes:

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