Depreciation estimate for ND after 1yr?

Hi, newbie here with a question about expected depreciation of ND. A recent change in family car from boring people carrier to sportier hatchback has made me reappreciate driving (or you could read: mid-life crisis) and looking to get a Mazda MX-5 ND RF as weekend car.

I prefer the RF over the soft top as figure it’s more secure (it’ll be parked on street) and more sound insulated when driving on motorway with the roof up.

I have ~10-12K budget with extra to cover tax, service, insurance with breakdown. I appreciate it’s a challenge to pick up an ND at this budget but seems doable if buy one nowish in winter and consider Cat N and Cat S cars.

Looking at this as a 12month tiral to confirm I this really is the hobbie for me and that I use the MX-5 as much as I expect. Is it reasonable to expect £1k depreciation in 12 months time assuming less the 5k miles?

I’ve not owned sold a Cat N or Cat S before and expecting they would have higher depreciation? Would others agree? or is it just they are harder to sell?

I prefer the ND over the others MX-5s for the styling, onboard tech and I figure newer car would have less potential for issues. Interested if people think I’d be better going for NC given my budget is super tight for an ND. Thanks for the help,
Scott

Personally I’d go for a 25th Anniversary NC with your budget rather than a ND especially as that model came as fully loaded as you’d expect of the run out model plus has the proper folding hard top which (IMO) is much better than the glorified sunroof of the ND RF

3 Likes

Good suggestion. I’ll add the 25th Anniversary NC to my considerations. I assume the 25th Anniversary should hold it’s value better than similar NC (assuming f/s history condition etc). The other consideration I have is that I’m 6ft 2in and from youtube reviews the NC might suite me better for headspace.

Whether the RF will fit you depends very much on your proportions, legs/back and the adjustment in the seating position.

I’m 6.0 and find my head touched the bottom of the roof in the RF whereas no problem in the ST (I’m on my second).

The depreciation game is a gamble and depends on many factors not least of which how well you pamper it and present it when it comes for sale, £1,000 a year drop might work it might not.

A Cat N or S should get you a lower entry price and will likely be a little bit harder to shift at sale time.

A nice NC 3.75 is a nice car and you’re likely to get more for your money at this stage.

1 Like

I’m 6ft 2 and if I sit in an RF my head permanently touches the roof. The ST has more headroom but I still lowered my seats just over an inch to give a much better seating position for me. I’d echo the comments about going for the NC instead, the ND is a bit fragile when it comes to gearboxes and rear hub bushings etc, the NC may be a wiser purchase.

I’m 6ft and fit fine in my RF with a couple of inches head room. I guess it depends whether long bodied or long legged proportions!
RFs only came out in 2017(?) so cheapies not common. The only one I saw in Autotrader was a rebuilt cat S but I don’t know how it’s subsequent value would go. Lots will walk away with that history, even if repairs signed off.

Thanks for the feedback folks especially height-related as that’s a big concern for me - gonna have to test drive a couple of options which is a tad tricky in lockdown.

Good to have a sanity check on my expectation of depreciation. I’m pretty much off the idea of RF and either CatN or CatS especially if I’m thinking it could be a 1yr experiment.

I’ve looked around and like the 25th Anniversary NC (:heart: the soul red), but cannot get over that it’s roughly same as soft top 2015 ND with reasonably low miles (including some 2L versions) and much pref the styling.

I saw @GarethC mentioned potential fragile gearbox, rear hub bushings but curious if the suggestions here for the 25th Anniversary NC are also related to that it might depreciate less over a year vs newer ND?

A 65 plate (2015) ND will be a version 1 gearbox, which is the most likely gearbox to fail. (Mine was a v1 but I managed to argue its replacement to a version 5 with Mazda). But they specifically made changes to ND2 (19>) to mitigate the chances of the gearbox failing (less torque despite more power etc). There will be a number of people that say the chance of it happening is low and its all internet scaremongering, I personally as a potential buyer would want to know about the issue. The other issue that is cropping up more and more with the NDs now reaching 40/50k is the rear hub bushings failing and its not simply a case of replacing the bushing, the whole upright has to be replaced at the cost of circa £700 each side.

I have no experience or knowledge of the NC, but I know for a fact the gearbox is a lot stronger (BBRGTI even do a conversion to the NC gearbox for the ND!), paint on the NCs is probably undoubtedly better than the NDs thin paint which is also notorious for chipping easily. Mine is going to need a respray soon despite only being on 14k.

1 Like

Just to add on to what Gareth has said really…

The 25th will most certainly hold its money better and they are a fully loaded spec, space is also better in the NC plus you get a proper folding food as opposed to the sun gap in the RF…

If i had your budget i would MUCH rather for for a late NC3.75 over an early ND (i currently own an ND2 but used to have an NC)…

either way they are BOTH epic cars, and both have their shortfalls…

1 Like

Another way to look at it, the very last of the line of NC’s were totally sorted and had all the toys. The early ND’s aren’t… :crazy_face:

2 Likes

+1 for the 3.75 all day long for many reasons which some have already been pointed out. :slightly_smiling_face:

I’m 6’ 4", I’ve had a 25AE & 3 NDs MY15, MY17 & MY20 (current) and fitted okay in them all but more room in the 25AE for sure. I really enjoyed my 25AE and part of me wishes I’d kept hold of it (I still have the coat and the model that came with it :slight_smile: ). As others have said the 25AE was fully spec’d and had some lovely touches inside. Oh and it comes with a glovebox which is a massive bonus :joy:

2 Likes

I’ve always believed that the gearbox problem on the ND (and there were only a relatively few in actual fact) was on the 2.0l version, the car being designed around the 1.5l engine and the 2.0l engine really only being introduced because of the requirements of the US market. So if you want an ND with a 2.0l engine the best bets are the ones with the later gearbox (like my 2019 2.0l 30AE), if however you’d be happy with a 1.5l engine (like my 2015 1.5l SE-L Nav) then I really can’t see any problem.

3 Likes

I think £1k a year or so depreciation is possible with a careful winter purchase - possibly private.
No experience of any cat c etc, but would suggest much better to up the budget if at all possible.
I bought a two year old 9k 2.0 sport nav two years ago and looking at the trade price and my experience of selling privately in the spring, reckon I will have lost under £2k next April in 30 months ownership.
I believe it will sell easier than any mk3.5 personally.
Mine is soul red and I have many comments from neighbours, colleagues etc how they love the colour, obviously a bonus for resale…
I have been told by a trade contact that as manufacturers will face taxes based on the average co2 emissions of their range then Mazda dealers will be getting only a handful of new MX5’s a year for sale, 2.0 versions being a minority if at all, so a timely purchase now is likely to be wise.
Ok, this may change, but earlier this year used car values were increasing, and he had not known that in a 30 year career!
Good luck and enjoy!
Clive.

1 Like

If you aren’t sure if the hobby is for you I would maybe buy a cheaper mk3. As long as you check for rot there’s isn’t a huge amount that can go wrong and wear and tear items can be reasonably sorted.
You can always punt it on later if you fancy stepping up to a newer car and you’ll know what you want.

It’s good to know the possible issues about these cars but they’re quite robust in reality.

I started in mk1s and I’ve worked up to an ND 1.5 they’re brilliant.

If you’re set on an ND you won’t be disappointed though if you want a tin top I found the mk3 better :slight_smile:

1 Like

Yeah, I’m coming around to that idea. There’s several nice examples of NC2 around 10 years old with ~60K miles for ~£5K that would suit very nicely as a start. They don’t have many toys, AC is about it but then it’s more about weekend driving rather than daily. If it’s a fit for me I can update to newer one in 12 months or so.

1 Like

It’s all you really need to be fair. The limit slip diffs and leather chairs are nice things to have but if it’s your first 2 seater sports car you’ll enjoy it just as much on the road without those bits

3 Likes

Thanks all for the replies! I went for the 20th Anniversary edition NC3.5 in Aurora Blue ( :heart_eyes: this colour maybe as much as the Soul red). It was roughtly half the price of the other 25AEs and ND1s I was looking at.

Only driven it the once in the dark, cold fog yesterday but it was still a hoot :slight_smile: Not sure on the headroom comfort yet I’ll look at the costs of lowering the drivers seat once I’ve recovered from this and xmas costs.

5 Likes

Nice choice, nice colour, HTD… :+1: