I’ve always fancied an MX-5, and it seems like the time will be right soon. It’ll be a second-car for me, so I don’t need to rely on it or anything like that.
I’ve seen quite a few really cheap, 2.0 Mk3s on Autotrader / PH etc, £3k, even less sometimes. I’ve read about the rust issues they can (or is it will?) have.
My rough plan is to buy something that’s road legal, but a bit rough around the edges and then bring it up to standard as a sort of hobby. I don’t have any Garage space, so it’ll have to live outside, but I’ll get a cover for the winter months, as above, I’ve got a brand new EV with heated everything so it’ll be a summer / weekend car for me. A friend has a large garage at home with his own lift I can use if I need to and Total MX-5 Repair is only about 30 mins from me. I can spanner a bit, but rust repair / welding / bodywork will have to be paid for.
My only real desire spec wise is the 2.0 for the sake of the LSD and a bit more go and not grey, the world is already grey enough, but things like nicer seat / spec aren’t really big thing for me.
Any tips, even if it’s to tell me I’m mad and to spend a bit more on a nice one.
At that price point you are likely just dropping the first installment on a bunch of invoices.
If you can stretch a bit further, you can probably side-step a lot of the journey of rust. Mechanically you shouldn’t have too much drama, it’s all about that rust.
There’ll be plenty of 2.0’s to choose from, you’ll be able to be picky.
There are plenty of Mk3’s out there at that sort of money but it is the lower end of the market and the chances are many will have quite a bit of rust. I always start by checking a car’s DVLA MOT history to see if there have been previous fails or advisories for rust. Even if there aren’t any it does not mean there isn’t corrosion but at least you can disregard the cars where it has been picked up.
It is not impossible to find a decent NC at that sort of money - likely to be early cars and fairly entry 1.8 spec - personally I wouldn’t disregard these. Obviously the higher your budget the better your chances of finding a good one. You may have to do a fair bit of searching - good luck!
If you’re willing to do your own work - pretty much everything on these other than rust is easy to fix and fairly cheap.
If you just want a fun, usable car then it is possible -I bought my NC2 2.0 Sport Tech PRHT with high miles for £4,000, and while dealing with some frustrating issues, kept it going on a daily commute for super cheap until my engine thrust bearings started to fail because of my own clutch adjustment mistake.
If you want it in great mechanical condition, you WILL need to replace all bushes (including the 10+ for the rear arms) and the ball joints aren’t replaceable without new arms. That thinking starts to get into 4-digit prices very quickly, but I’d say is worth doing.
Still, if you end up with a sorted car for £5k including a lot of cheap spares - it’s incredible value at the end of the day and a fun learning experience. Your fixed car will be more mechanically sound than all the garaged NC3s out there (hopefully, we tell ourselves!)
