Hello, The mx-5 that I’m looking at has rust on the common places such as the sills and wheel arches as seen in the photos I just wanted to know if it worth buying the car for around £2,400 and if I can bargain down the price due to the rust repair needed.
Thanks
I would say that the rust on the wheel arches definitely needs doing - and the fact that the bottom is black suggests that it may have had some work done already.
To do the job properly, you are talking a bare minimum of £1,500, probably a bit more depending on how far you went and who did it, but it needs welding and paint. However the car is not that cheap and I would estimate that as all cars will need rust doing (unless they are priced accordingly, ie £3k upwards), you should get something off. Depending on the state of the rest of the car, I would say it is more a £1,750-£2k car, but it is worth what someone is willing to pay and what the seller will accept and it is never an easy conversation.
Thats my opinion anyway, but I am sure others will pitch in, so take an overall view.
I agree with Snelly, looks like it’s been done before, I’d say it’s a fifteen hundred quid car, could cost you that again minimum. Depends what the rest of the car is like, is it worth doing the work. If it’s just a run of the mill car and not something special. I’ve seen better out there for that money.
To me that would have to be a sub £1k purchase. If both sides need attention, sill/arches and by the look of it chassis rails/inner sills it’s a good deal of work.
You won’t know until you start digging deep into it.
Its always worse than you expect or predict … every time…
The other thing is, when buying a car don’t be dazzled and drawn in by the pretty accessories or fancy looking wheels, look for a solid car to begin with and build on that as you go you can pick up the pretty bits here and there afterwards and you might get some bargains to boot and you put your own stamp on it. Rust can be a killer when it comes to money you don’t know what’s underneath when a repairs been done once. ( could give better advice if we knew what the rest of the cars looks like, maybe some pictures and mileage such like )
I paid £600 for my NA 3 years ago as a project ( had some accident damage). Arches are good and the sills did’nt look to bad until it was cut open cost £1600 to repair one side(I’ve now got a welder for the other side). I’d not pay anymore than a few hundred for that one unless you want a rescue project.
Heres the ad for the mx5
what do you think of this?
Rust on older cars is nearly always a rabbit hole ,what starts as a small job usually quickly escalates . Think carefully how much you are willing to spend. I was a welder fabricator all my working life and I’ve done lots of repairs on cars for friends and family ,and every time they have been a lot more work than what you think it’s going to be.
What makes the owner believe it’s an imported car?
No MOT🤔
Too many MOT advisories/failures for stuff that’s easy to get sorted plus the inevitable rust mentioned🤔
Those wheels👎
Do not walk away, RUN!
Just my opinion.
Yeah the wheels are terrible i was going to get some nice aftermarket 15’s
The Mot expired in august but if he gets close to asking price he would get it done (which looking at the rust I don’t think i would be paying near that).
It is a uk spec car from what I can tell.
But I might have to run from it 
Funny how the reg is blurred out in some of the pictures but they forgot to do it in one or two, always a little sceptical when the reg’s are blurred out. I’m a cynic and always assume they are trying to hide something in it’s MOT history ect.
So basically they are asking the buyer to pay for it to pass an MOT.
It’ll be a long list to get fixed up I reckon.
Don’t like the bit where they provide the reg number to check the MOT so don’t ask about anything related there it seems.
