Mk3, Corrosion, wisebuyer accurate?

Buying a ‘5 and Insurance advice Buying Advice
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New to the forum and looking to buy an Mx-5 Mk3 and would really appreciate some advice.

I have had a look at just one mx5 so far, which was a 58plate 2.0 at PD Naggingtons, Market drayton up at £6k. Not a bad car, cloth seats, 2 scuffed alloys, one alloy corroded, 2 parking dents in the drivers door, rear bumper keyed but overall good nick except corrosion bubbling through on the boot lid!

I have read about corrosion on the wheel arches but not the boot lid, is this a problem area as well?

Scouring the used car adds in all the usual places the asking prices seem quite a bit above the prices that http://www.wisebuyers.co.uk quote, usually about 1- 1.5K above.  I am going to look at an 06plate 2.0 sport with 67k, this has had the rear brakes done last year and a stainless backbox fitted, full service record, he is asking 4K start bid on fleabay but it books at 3.4K on wisebuyer…is the seller being overly optimistic?

Any advice really appreciated.

 

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Checking out your link to Wisebuyers, their prices did not seem to me to reflect reality. Just my opinion of course but comparing with actual adverts by reasonable advertisers they seem a little low to me anyway.

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http://www.mx5nutz.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=107711

Have a read above link it will give toy some pointers 

also the link you posted seam low prices 

 

I looked at at least a dozen before I purchased mine looked at spending around 5k 

check the body work rear archs rear sills 

you are going to get chips and parking dings on the body work you are also going to see a lot of surface rust on the sub frames this will cause you issues if the alignment bolts are seized (I chose to replace the sub frames)

check the oil if it low walk away 

any rattle from the engine walk away

any rust on arches walk away 

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Boot lid is aluminium and is a well known problem under the lip between/around the lights. Not a deal breaker and can easily be rectified. Regarding prices, the old cliché of " the cars worth what someone is prepared to pay " applies here. You don’t always get the opportunity to compare like for like though, for example, a higher mileage car could be practically perfect in every way (Mary Poppins) whilst a lower milage same model/year could be a right dogs breakfast! We certainly should not have our cars talked down in price by anyone, they represent IMO, fantastic value anyway as it is. Buy on condition is my advice and if that attracts a premium, then so be it! If you’re in for the long haul, it will pay off in the end 

 

Barrie

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Price reflects the condition.

When I bought mine last December I thought I’d payed too much for it at £6k delivered on an 06, but it was a two litre auto that I wanted and this one looked to be in great condition. Now that I’ve had the car for nearly five months I know it well, it’s low miles, had new tyres and it’s been really well undersealed with very little rust underneath and no paint bubbling or external rust, so it was worth it in the long run.

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I would guess at paying somewhere in the middle of Wisebuyers and the dealer forecourt prices for a decent Mk3 with average miles. Of course as mentioned is all about condition. Look at members car, they tend to be in better looked after condition.

The boot lid corrosion is common but not a big deal. They are aluminium so it’s oxidising under the paint rather than steel rusting under there.

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Re MickAP’s comment above, the PRHT Mk3 has a steel bootlid (mine has) , they still rust just the same under the lip by the number plate lights.

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Hi there - if you’re looking for a mk3 with £6k to spend then I would accept nothing short of immaculate, no rust in sight. Lots of people only use their MX5s in good weather, and hence have low miles on salt free roads, these people generally get their cars serviced on the dot at Mazda main dealers as well. So if I were looking I’d search out a private sale with low miles, full service history and from the lower half of England, a nice leafy suburb address would be nice, as would only 1 or 2 owners. Mot history on line is a good tool and a run of straight passes is nice to see. One I saw on Autotrader whilst just glancing:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201704134380573?seller-type=private&advertising-location=at_cars&postcode=fy52uw&model=MX-5&sort=sponsored&make=MAZDA&onesearchad=Used&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=New&price-to=7500&minimum-badge-engine-size=2.0&price-from=4500&radius=1500&page=1

Hope this helps, good luck in your search, Colin 

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^^^ Check that one carefully, it could have lived by the sea…Blackpool.

At that age wherever they live they need checking underneath, I’ve seen pictures of early Mk3’s holed with rust.

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I repaired an 06 NC 4 years ago with perforated rear arch rims, it had lived all its life in NE Scotland which is one of the harshest climates in the U.K. for cars. If you can find one (should be straightforward) that has lived in better climes then it should be fine.

I traded an NB 2.5 at 4 1/2 years old that was bubbling in the quarter panels too…

Theres a reason my ND was stripped down and treated in it’s first couple of months of ownership.

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I’d get underneath the car.  I saw several before buying mine, and the older ones had huge amounts of underseal missing from underneath, and a lot of surface rust present.  They seemed to be worse where the chassis rails met the floor pan, just behind the front wheel arch area.  These looked like a lot of work to me, to remove the flaking underseal, treat with rust converter, then underseal, so I walked away.  They also rust on the front door quarter light bar, these can be replaced, but I’d imagine its a pain to do.  

The above comments are correct, that cars exist that have only been used in good weather, I bought one, 10 years old and no rust at all, except on one of window quarter light bars has slight corrosion.  This was my fault as I thought the car was perfect and never went over it as closely as I did the other poor examples that I had viewed.  Still it’s minor.

I’d walk away from anything that I thought was fairly poor.  I viewed eight of them, and was getting fed up of it.  I found mine on the off-chance, was expecting it to be another ropey one, but was pleasantly surprised.  The thing is with these cars, it that there is a lot of choice. 

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Sorry if the link I posted failed miserably -  it was supposed to show a 1 lady-owner 2006 mk 3 2.0 option pack in Galaxy Grey with FSH and 29000 miles in Sutton Coldfield for £4550 - now that’s just what I’d look for - obviously just a starting point, test drive, full inspection needed etc ( but when I bought mine the Mazda main dealer had listed any faults on their inspection at the last service - and, I suppose,looking for business they’d listed all sorts of niff-naff ) Just an example as I say - but you can’t possibly pay top money for a vehicle with all the faults listed in the original post. Just to sum up - £6000 will buy you a crackin’ mk3 - though it won’t get you any mk3.5 worth driving - IMHO 

Colin 

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Hi Fellas,
Overwhelmed by the number of detailed replies, many thanks, much appreciated.

I Hadn’t realised Mazda penny pinched and didn’t galvanise the body, no wonder the bodies rust, reminds me of a Triumph spitfire I had which needed new sills, front/rear wings and door skins at just 5 years old! I also used to own an Rx8, which had light surface corrosion underneath, I couldn’t get the dealer to do anything about it before the warranty run out as mazda said it was acceptable, I did get all the wheels changed after 12 months as the paint was peeling off! When I sold it at 6yrs old it still looked like a brand new car except if you looked underneath…I am now going to look very carefully at any potential purchase.

Prices seem to be all over the place with some private sales more than dealers with a warranty…condition and mileage count for everything but there are some jokers out there! I use wewantanycar and webuyanycar to provide a trade figure so this gives a good idea where dealers are for their profit margin, when they start adding on £4k they are taking the mick on such a low priced car.

I have noticed from cargurus that there are a lot of mx-5’s still sat on dealer forecourts months after first advertised, this one sold quick…the morning I rang up about it, damm! http://www.pctcars.co.uk/carsforsale/mazda-mx5-niseko-roadster-coupe-2008/334.htm
The reason it sold, firstly it is mint, secondly the forecourt price was £6k, only £600 above wisebuyer, so with cash and no px a bit of haggling would get you very close or at wisebuyer price. Other nisekos are advertised at £1K to £2K more and they are still for sale and have been for months on end.

This morning this one I intended to look at now sold, double damm! http://www.motors.co.uk/car-44994562/?i=5&m=sr Looked good with hardtop, lowered suspension and the previous oowner fitted stainless front grill and painted the calipers…points to having been loved. webuyanycar offer price £4.6 so at £6.2 sticker price a reasonable profit for the dealer, I think I missed a good one there!
With over 1200 mx-5’s for sale on autotrader alone it is more of a buyers market and will be aiming to get a good deal, there are so many I’ll just walk away until some one takes a reasonable offer for a good car.

Colin, thanks for the link to the low mileage grey mx-5, I had seen that one, only 40 miles from me, but I am looking for a sport with heated leather seats otherwise I would have a look at that one.

Once again fella’s many thanks for the advice, rust seems to be the enemy and I shall tread very carefully!

If anyone has a pampered mk3 2.0sport with reasonable mileage for sale please contact me

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I may be among the minority but I don’t think the MX5 suffers that badly from rust and if it’s been reasonably well looked after you should be fine. remember, most Mk1s are over 20 years old, Mk2s are over 10 years and early Mk3s are now hitting the 10 year mark. Inevitably, there will start to be some rust issues but you can pick up any number of decent cars with a bit of searching. You mentioned Nisekos being high priced. I’m afraid this is the problem with so-called ‘special’ and ‘limited’ edition models. Owners think because they had to pay a little extra that they maintain their value. The problem is, Mazda produce so many special models they’re practically as common as standard models. I looked at a number of Nisekos when I was searching for a Mk3 last year and almost without exception, they were all listed at £8-10k (dealers and private sellers). I even spoke to a couple of dealers who said they’d had them on the forecourt for months but because they offered a higher PX value when they acquired them they then couldn’t afford to drop the price without losing money.

Sills and wheel arches are the common rust areas and in that respect MX5s are really not much different to most other cars on the road. I’m not sure how many manufacturers underseal cars these days. Most cars seem to have plastic undertrays and covers fitted so no need for it. You can go through the expense of getting the car undersealed but as one garage owner said to me, underseal itself can hide a myriad of problems. Each to their own of course, but I’ve not bothered with either of mine. The occasional check and clean underneath is enough.

Good luck in your search. You’ll find one soon I’m sure and as you say, it’s a buyer’s market so you can easily afford to walk away from duff cars knowing there are plenty more around.

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I only had a look at about 4 or 5 before purchasing mine (2006 mk3, 57k, new MOT and service). It was stated that there was some surface rust underneath but nothing major, alignment bolts had seized so needed them renewed and got arms and bushes at the same time under warranty. Car cost £4.5k and, to be fair, the body work is surprisingly good. There’s no bubbling at any point and body work is straight.

The take home message is, if you get the chance to buy from a dealer, ask them to align it or take it for an alignment straight away. For between about £60-100 you can have an idea whether you need to complain about seized alignment bolts or similar and can usually get them done under warranty.

I, personally, wouldn’t spend £6k on something with bubbling, even if it’s good in most other aspects. There’s also no harm printing off the wisebuyer valuations and taking them in. You can usually get a nice bit of wiggle-room.

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^^^ Or buy from that man in Sheffield (location dependant of course) where I got mine from. He let me have a look underneath (on his ramp) pointed out all the areas I should be interested in, basically left me to it to have a good old gander, no pressure. After a deal was struck he then lowered and aligned it for me at a very reasonable price, done properly. I’ve still got the car and it’s been a good buy, no regrets.

Contact Mr P Roddison.

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Hi Andy - Just in case you’ve not got one yet - Have you seen the BBR listed at £8000 on the for sale section ?  - Cheshire - not too far. (couldn’t PM - your inbox is full)  Colin

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Hi Andy - Your inbox is full  just in case you’ve not got one yet - what about this on the forum - not too far away in Wirrell  either :

https://www.mx5oc.co.uk/forum/yaf_postst101207_2010-MK3-5-SPECIAL-EQUIPMENT-2-LITRE--ONLY-22-000--MAZDA-SERVICE.aspx

Colin