Hi all
I’m after a mk1 eunos roadster and I have £1650 to play with and tbh i’ve not found anything decent for this sort of money. do you know how much I need to get a decent one?
Also any known issues with these old beauties?
Cheers
Adam
I have 1650 quid to play with and I don't i'm not having much luck finding a local mk1 eunos roadste
There’s a few on Ebay as we speak.
Things to look out for…
On UK cars look out for rusty rear arches and rear end of “sills”, This is not such a problem on the Jap imports because they don’t salt the roads.
On Jap cars look out for crash damage because… Erm…Well, They don’t salt the roads.
Jap cars tend to have more luxury’s but also tend to be cheaper (with comparable spec’s) as people are still a little scared that they cost more to insure (No longer a problem).
The early 1.6’s had between 114 and 116 bhp and weighed the least, The later ones only had around 88 bhp so it didn’t steal too many sales away from the 1.8 (128 to 133 bhp), The original 1.6 was around 995kg, The last 1.8’s came in around 1030kgs. The Jap cars tend to be heaver as they’re more likely to have kit like electric windows, power steering and aircon.
Early 1.6’s had a little issue with the crank pulley, Just google “MX5 short nose crank” if you want to know more.
If you want to get a hard top, It usually works out cheaper to get a car with one already fitted as they don’t inflate the price of the car as much as they cost separately.
People are fickle, The used prices of mx5’s changes with the weather. In winter anything thats not in a particularly good condition seem to drop a few hundred quid, But come summer, Everybody wants to live the dream.
I’ve seen reasonable cars go on EBay for less than a grand so the best advice is to keep looking, They do turn up.
Stop being silly - my Elphie, a VSpec green Roadster, is on Ebay right now and I am looking for only £50 more than your budget (ie £1700 is the minimum best offer I will accept on it) and it is a GREAT car in excellent condition with only 70k miles.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=200317930489
It may be useful for people to know roughly where you are, Adam.
Noooooooooooooo, don’t buy Elphie…buy his tatty old Mk2 instead…he doesn’t really want to sell Elphie, she will have a complex[:^)]
On the insurance note…
It really comes down to age more than anything else - if you are between 25 and 65, you probably won’t notice any difference at all between a UK and a Jap car, as long as you have a reasonably clean license.
But, if you have a smattering of points, and only passed your test a couple of years ago, you may find a Eunos a couple of thousand pounds dearer to insure - the issue arises really only where there is a big difference in price between the cheapest companies and the dearer ones. If the cheapest company (or two) will not quote for an import, you notice the difference.
There should be plenty of cars out there for that sort of budget, but you might have to travel a little bit - the drive home will be well worth it though [:)]
For that budget you will find a nice example at the moment with patience.
Elphie looks a nice car & is of course the best colour by far [Y]
Other than that Pistonheads, Auto Trader, Gumtree, Ebay or mx5nutz… Even dealer prices are often good right now.
http://www.mx5nutz.com/forum/index.php?
As said, knowing where you are located would help.
Sorry I haven’t replied 
I’m 23 years old and I live in Worthing, West Sussex.
Hi Paul & Katie,
I’m very interested!!! When could I come view it? Where abouts are you?
Please email me at adam.j.quick@hotmail.co.uk with a contact number so I can call you Very interested
Good luck with your seach mate, remember it’s a buyers market…
Slightly unusual but I got Betsy for £800 on Ebay, never looked back. One word of advice, get an AA inspection, even if it eats into your budget a little, at least a professional - that knows what he’s looking for - will be able to give you the thumbs up and they do a credit check as part of the inspection.
I did, the very nice man nearly choked when I offered the seller half what he was asking and he accepted!!!
That said if your buying off a member, chances are the car is going to be pretty good anyway…we’re all a little over-protective of our mistresses!!!
I know what you mean, buying from forums is much better than buying from ebay, autotrader etc.
Even since I pass my test about 4 years ago i’ve been part of this sort of community, my first car was a citroen saxo vtr that I had for about a year and joined a saxo forum to gain knowledge as we all know french cars are pap lol! I’m still a member on their and have since bought another 3 so thats 4 in total lol! I must be made…hence why I want something Jap and an MX-5 just seemed right for me
Please don’t let my young age put people off selling their mx-5 to me, i’m not a chav and I take pride in my cars and take good care of them
thanks for all the advice i’ve received so far, I’m very impressed with how friendly you all are
MX5 up to £2000, up to 80,000 miles, national
Eunos up to £2000, up to 80,000 miles, national
That gives you a dozen or so examples in all… not checked Ebay.
Distances are from LE9 (S.W. Leicestershire).
Happy hunting!
I am sure you can find a nice mk1 with that money very soon, just keep lookin around
I have a reminder but may not really apply to you
I am 21, 1 year license and no NCB
For me insuring my mk2 now is around 1250-ish fully comp
mk1 UK car is 850-ish fully comp
mk1 Eunos import is 1500+ and never able to find any cheaper than that so far
you are 3 years older than me and I guess you have some NCB with you
shouldn’t be a big problem to you insuring the car but worth to get quotes around
me on a base model saxo (forte) insurance premium is only 100 quid cheaper than a UK mk1
Let me know if you find any cheap insurer for young driver with import cars
all my prices above are from MORE THAN and elephant/performance direct i think
good luck with the hunt
I reckon Elphie is a steal!
The ‘provenance’ of knowing the car has been looked after is worth the extra I reckon. I would beg/borrow/steal the extra little bit of cash if I were you…
I paid £1650 for my '91 V-Spec with 85k. From a Dealer last summer.
Have you thought about blowing it all on crack cocane and hookers?[:P]
It’s just a thought.[:D]
Katie = 21, one year no claims, held licence 1 year - Direct Line fully comp on Elphie (import roadster 1.6 H Reg) = £760 a year. I don’t know who is quoting you £1500+ but are you sure you don’t have points/accident history or something?
no points, accident history and claim record
male
21
university student
1 year license
0NCB (but 9 months on a citroen saxo, 6 months on a mk2 if that helps)
i tried tesco, directline and churchill. they all dont give me a quote online, tried to ring tesco and they still couldnt give me a quote
my 1500 quid quotes were from price comparision sites, elephant gave me a 10 months policy of £2500 fully comp and £2000 3rd party if I add my girlfriend as named driver, over £3000 if i don’t
uk car policies are a lot more reasonable. I still dont see any point why I can’t get cheap quotes on a eunos[:(]
Maybe it’s where you live? I can’t think of another factor. Katie is a student too and that quote was on Monday from Directline.com - maybe they won’t quote you 'til you have at least 1 year NCB?
I live in Cardiff and I guess it is not one of the black list high risk area?
tried again with 1 year NCB, but still they cannot give me a quote online
didnt type in the actual number plate, but put down 1993 1.6 eunos manual
maybe they dont like young male drivers
=====
OK tried again with your eunos’ reg
they gave me a quote of 1808 fully comp, using my own real personal information
and seems like they somehow have your car data as a uk car rather than eunos? MAZDA MX-5 1.6 (98 ON) CABRIOLET 1597cc 2DR
still its not good enough [:(]