I’ve been looking at an NC as a daily to replace my NA weekend car and our hatchback (3 cars down to 2). I would love to keep the NA but with the motorway miles I do it’s not realistic or safe.
I’ve got around £10k but have noticed that the early NDs have started to appear within this budget. I plan to test drive both but thought I would post on here to hear people’s opinions and thoughts.
I went with an early ND. Generally feels a lot more modern and lots of creature comforts. Also strangely feels more like the NA to me. You can get a good one for £10k. I didn’t pay much more than that for a 46k 2015 2.0 Sport Nav with BBR Super 200 upgrades, CarPlay etc. Feels a real bargain compared to some of the NCs you see around the same price. That said, I know some people swear by their NCs and think they’re better.
I prefer the looks of the NC personally, supposed to be roomier in the cabin too.
Powered hard top is a bonus and would benefit you if its a daily driver.
Gearboxes can be a weak link in the ND so thats worth looking into.
ND is a nod back to the NA so that may sway you if you love the NA.
Best to drive both and see which you prefer really, if your NA is a solid car PM me the details please as i may be interested.
I have just suffered several months of this dilemma.
I love both the mk 3 & 4 for different reasons & LOGICALLY the mk 4 really should win hands down, but we all know how logic works with the mx5 addiction! Both versions have excellent & exhaustive pros & cons.
In the end it came down to, “what am I going to use this for & how do I extract maximum driving enjoyment from it?”
This is my daily driver im lucky enough to have a pretty good “scenic route” alternative in my daily commute, which I have abused the hell out of in recent weeks.
A late, 2015 2.0 mk 3.75 tipped it for me by a gnats whisper. Things like having the hard top, a little more room inside & having a glove box, for heavens sake!
Also the stronger gearbox & engine internals were a factor as I intend to evolve a little more power, probably ,BBR SC.
I did pay a little over the odds for it but It is a one owner, clean example , full mazda main dealer service history etc etc etc. I love it!
Pic on collection in Jan, The smug face of said idiot says it all!
I have a 21,000 mile 66 plate ND for sale sub 10k if your interested
2 different cars really. We had a Mk1, then a Mk2, and was going to get a Mk 3 but then they bought out the Mk4 and I prefered the design over the Mk3, so we “skipt” a Mk and went for the Mk4. The Mk 3 is a bit more of a “cruiser” asd seemed to get a bit “fatter”, (like me!!). The Mk4 design seemed to go back to the origins of the MX5, being ligther and a little more “basic”.
So horses for courses really, you pays your money…etc…
Well like everyone else has put it depends on you really. I prefer the NC, I sat in a ND when I bought my first NC but even though I’m not tall at only 5’ 10 I found the windscreen in the ND very close to my head and it felt quite cramped when compared to the NC. My first NC has the folding hard top which is fantastic and practical. I’m greedy so now have another NC soft top which I’m currently rebuilding. I bought it with a blown engine and slowly I’m changing pretty much everything so it is a slow project but should be a beast once finished. Depends what you want from the car really.
Drive them both and see which one suits you best that’s the best advice as at the end of the day it’s the one you like the most that matters👍
As someone considering their first MX5 probably an NC around half way through the production run - 2010/11 I was quite surprised by the price overlap between the NC & ND. A quick look on Autotrader seems to confirm this. Early ND’s start from just under 9k but there are still a lot of NC’s around at that price. I suppose most of the ND’s for that money will be lower spec with higher miles whereas the NC’s are mainly the last of the production run with higher spec and low mileage. The thing that puzzled me was there were a few 2010 NC’s at the same or even higher prices than 2015/16 ND’s. How can an MX5 that is 15 years old be worth more than one 5/6 years younger and the current model? The used car market is strange thing !
I’m driving a 2008 NC but keep looking at the ND. One observation, that others may have a view on, is the degree of wear on ND seats, especially leather faced ones - even on cars with low mileage recorded. Is this as common a problem as I think it is? Anyone had a seat repaired able to give an idea of the cost to do so?
I’m searching for a good used ND having owned two NA’s and three NC’s.
Have also noticed late NC’s the same price as Early ND’s. There are some very nice low mileage late model NC’s for sale.
I have been looking at 2016 to 2018 ND cars with 20k to 30k miles, pretty much all the cars with leather seats show quite bad wear on the drivers seat bolster. Prices also vary greatly, there seems to be quite a lot of MX5’s for sale with incomplete service history too.
I have found a couple of 2018 1.5ltr Sport ND’s in very nice condition with full service history and around 25k miles on the clock but priced around £15k which is quite high for a six to seven year old car. Used car prices are so variable.
Excuse me as your post concerns leather, but if you were considering one with the cloth seats (mine is an '18 2L Sel-Nav, which they dropped not long after, and some of the 1.5L specs had/have cloth seats), mine are totally like new. 16.6K miles, 6.5 years old. No cloth or bolster wear at all.
That’s interesting to know regarding cloth seats. I’m more than happy to have cloth seats and to consider 1.5ltr or 2ltr cars. I have test driven both.
My main priority is overall condition and a comprehensive service history, plus a fair price within my budget.
For some reason so far most cars I have looked at have had leather seats. My search goes on!!
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