Hi all, I’m new to the forum and looking to buy a NC MX5.
My budget is roughly 3-4k and I ideally would want the 2.0L PRHT with a 6 speed and AC. I’ve seen one or two that fit what I want, but they are all very high mileage.
I would like to know if it’s worth going for that or save a little more and get a similar car with lower mileage. Also, would the cars that fit my budget (around 2-3k) have some kind of issue that they haven’t spoke about? such as rust/corrosion or having been damaged etc.
Some questions I have,
Is high mileage something to worry about with the NC? I’ve seen that when it’s looked after, they can run well but I don’t know if I can trust something that seems too good to be true.
Is the PRHT prone to failure?
Is the PRHT that much more refined in terms of road noise etc than the soft top? Would it be better for me to consider soft tops as well? (though the price difference isn’t that much)
Does it cost a lot to repair the surface rust?
Anything I should particularly look out for with high mileage cars?
Any response to any of the questions are appreciated. Thanks very much!
Is high mileage something to worry about with the NC? I’ve seen that when it’s looked after, they can run well but I don’t know if I can trust something that seems too good to be true.
High mileage isn’t s worry if the car has a proven service history with regular oil changes or at least at the specific intervals.
Is the PRHT prone to failure?
With correct maintenance (lubricated) they should provide reliable service. They have been known to fail but sometimes that could have probably been prevented, some have had wear on the mechanism (loose bolts) or switching failures but seem few as I’ve read.
Is the PRHT that much more refined in terms of road noise etc than the soft top? Would it be better for me to consider soft tops as well? (though the price difference isn’t that much)
Not a great deal more refined, quieter than the soft top but more secure and less prone to vandalism if that’s a worry. Price difference I reckon would be +£1k over the soft top.
Does it cost a lot to repair the surface rust?
It’s not the surface rust you need to worry about, it’s any rot under the car and particularly in the lower rear wing/sill area. Some of these earlier NC’s are or getting on for 16 years old so bear that in mind. Any car that age if not looked after will have rust issues, Mazda doesn’t do undesealing well.
Anything I should particularly look out for with high mileage cars?
My answer to question 1 really and of course most stuff you would look at when buying an old high mileage car. The extra stuff to look for on a two seater would be water ingress around the hood area and any damp stuff inside the cabin and boot areas.
Wow, thank you very much, that was very insightful. I really appreciate your time and effort into this response. I think it’ll be worth the hard top then simply due to the vandalism. Just to be a bit more on the safe side. Cheers
I’m sure others will chip in with pointers for you to consider, what is considered a good buy. There’s lots of other stuff to mention that needs consideration, would be here all night explaining.
Do go through the forum searching stuff, it’s the best way of learning if you know very little about these cars. Ask away on any specifics, my answers are only touching the surface really and just a general reply to the basics.
What exactly do you consider high mileage? I bought a 2013 75k mileage which I consider high however it came with full Mazda service history. It drives like a dream.
A high mileage vehicle may need some consideration given to wheel bearings/hub wear. I picked up an NC1 with 106k but was fortunate it had 2 rear bearings replaced 3yrs previous. I’ve since put a further 18k miles on top of it and with oil and filter changes every 2k miles, it hasn’t missed a beat. I also took the initiative to change gearbox, brake and LSD fluid in the first few weeks of it coming to me.
To me, it’s a 2nd car for weekend use but I’ve also done 10 track days with it in the last 15 months and it really has amazed me just how reliable it has been,
It appears it’s been looked after what with the stack of service documents it came with and I’m more than happy to keep that up because I want it to remain tip top,
Thanks for the insight, it’s really interesting to hear your experience with a high mileage NC. Just one question, is changing the oil every 2k miles mandatory or what is the usual/recommended amount of mileage before an oil change? I assume you’re doing it just to look after your car well. As for the other fluids, do you change those often too? Cheers
I looked at loads of NC PRHT’s before finding one that I was happy with bodywork/rust wise and also less than 50k on the clock, rust was the main issue I was bumping into and some were really bad indeed.
I bought a 2 litre 2011 PRHT ‘Miyako’ and would do that again. 2 litre has more torque and that I prefer.
Watch as many Youtube videos by MX5 Restorer and others for the NC (MK3) cars and you will get a good idea where to look for rust and other potential issues. Here is a very bad rust example on the video link below.
Good luck; keep finding ones to look at and keep going, good ones are out there.
Correct. I did my homework and it was suggested that the MZR engines in these cars need regular red line trips to stop the oil rings gumming up thus leading to failure. Oil is the life blood of the engine and is so cheap (inc filter) in life terms, it seems mad not to replace it as often as practical.
A good fully synthetic 5w30 given many good runs will effectively clean out any crud in your system.
Obviously, the engine will not last forever but if I endeavour to give it as much care as I can, it’s looking like it’s paying off.
I change gearbox and diff fluids every 5k miles also in the belief that it gets any gunge out with the old stuff.
Some might think it’s overkill but I drive the car hard and I’ve always been a firm believer in looking after all my vehicles and they’ll look after me. I’ve never, in near 40yrs of driving, had a mechanical failure on a vehicle. Consumables yeah, but nothing engine related.
The NC1 engine which is where your budget takes you (2006-2009 I think) are not really know for their ability to be high mileage motors, a few seem to suffer a death that’s probably due to poor maintenance but that’s where your budget leads you. Is a 3k MX5 MK3 going to have Full Service History. Yes there are people on here at 150,000 but they are car people who understand that a service is worth it.
A lot people come on here with a similar budget, to me it’s totally unrealistic unless you want to buy something that needs a lot of work and you can tinker on it yourself ending up with something decent.
4k should start to get you in to okay territory but 3k I don’t think so, maybe just me and SE prices, could be different where you are.
The rust can be expensive to fix if it’s coming through the rear arches, they tend to not weld those panels as they are so thin so it ends up being a replace and respray the whole panel job. That would get expensive fast. It’s £100 for the panel, then paying someone for welding, painting, going to end up close to £400 I’d imagine per side. The other place is the rear sill area, where water is absorb buy the carpet and ends up rotting the metal but is hidden by that same carpet.
Body work is always expensive, labor cost I guess.
Even if you spend 10k on a lower mileage example, well looked after etc, if the owner is clueless you can run in to the same problems.
Right now 5k seems to be a good starting point and as the time passes and we get away from the winter you can expect people to start asking for a bit more.
I hear what your saying about regular oil changes but every 2000 miles really??
The oil on my car has barely changed colour after 2000 miles, many would say that’s excessive. Same for the gearbox and diff.
Another point is to consider the environment. All that used oil has to go somewhere and be re-processed and disposed of as do the bottles, packaging and the spent filters. If your lucky some of that old oil is refined and reused but probably most will be burned as low grade fuel.
Like most things in life its about finding a balance.
I go by the recommended service intervals in the manual, I’ll look at my NC manual later and post what it says in that.
Changing engine oil a tad earlier than the book says maybe is a good scheme but every 2k miles seems a tad OTT to me, important to always change the filters too though.
If it is an old engine and uses oil then keeping it topped up is important.
Just to chip in about oil, do what you want basically, at least meet the service schedule.
I was advised (by a well respected MX-5 specialist) change the diff oil at regular intervals, especially if doing lengthy motorway jaunts. Gearbox not so regular but certainly sooner than the service schedule says.
I change the engine oil every year, I only ever achieve around 5k miles in that time. Gearbox I’ve done that at around 20k and diff would every 2 years or in my case around 10k miles.
My daily driver gets it’s engine oil changed at around 5k miles too, it’s not an expensive operation if doing it yourself and I feel good in keeping the oil relatively fresh in the engines.
Thank you, a very honest response. It seems like it will be quite some work then. Does this apply to the NC2 as well? or are they better in terms of the engine (I assume the rusting should be similar right?)
Yeah, really. It doesn’t take much reading what with the power of t’internet to learn about the strengths and weaknesses of many things…including oil rings and bearing failure on MZR engines. This car come to me with 106k on it and service history but I’m of the mind that if it was gunged up, very regular changes of new synthetic detergent content oil will only do it good and I’m very happy to report…that seems to be the case so far. As I said, I regularly track my car so it has to remain in tip top condition.
For the sake of 30 quid or less and 20 minutes work, I’m safe in the knowledge that it’s as clean and free of cr@p as it can possibly be as I frequently hit 7k revs in my bid to get some pleasure in life. We all got different ideas, obviously, but for the relatively small cost, I’m good to go.
If you’re looking for the various model specs then the guide below shows the various models available in the UK and what to expect re trim, engine size and suspension 5 or 6 speed boxes etc.
These are going from NC1 to NC2 and through the various upgrades to the model end in 2015, then the ND was introduced.
Then there is the specifics about the engine changes when the NC2 (facelift) was introduced 2009 onwards. It was an improved, apparently stronger engine. Nowt wrong with the NC1 engine if looked after just little more prone I guess if not looked after in the engine oil department.
See below the NC2 changes.
Agreed the internet is a wonderful resource but its also full of passionate compelling opinions not backed by any evidence plus all sorts of other biases. I’m not faulting your logic, clean oil in a hard working engine is a good thing but will your car engine really live much longer than mine for all of that extra oil used?
Anyway I think my point was slightly missed or evaded but I’m pleased you’ve got a reliable engine.
Regarding buying an NC, they are great little cars for the money, there’s a whole host of good reading regarding buying one if you search Google and on this site of course.
