And this just popped up barely 10 miles away! 1.8 101000 miles and only£2500
Worth a look as it’s just down the road. Not a great spec, but at that age I guess condition is king. If it passes your general and corrosion inspection, be prepared to have to fully overhaul the brakes immediately - MOT history indicate it has issues and has done very few miles in the last couple of years, not really a good thing, a full service with all fluids is a must. Price looks fair taking this into account. Good luck.
Plenty of MOT failures indicates lack of maintenance especially brakes, no rusty bits mentioned though.
It’s close but don’t let that cloud your judgement, obviously inspect the underneath it’s gonna be crusty unless it’s had the treatment under there, at what level, well it never bothered the MOT station.
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Well as I drew into the pub car park she did look great in the sunlight so passed the first test. A close look at the wheel arches and there was no rust. However, the paint was bad on the bonnet, which needed to be repainted and a bit of rust on the boot lid. Underneath surface rust but nothing that could not be fixed. I was left alone to do a test drive so I took off. The first problem was the fierce clutch, as soon as my foot lifted the clutch engaged fully. It could just be a case of needing some work on the hydraulics. The engine was ghosting, idling erratically, not a problem until you sat in neutral. It was a warm day, the heater was on hot for some reason but the temperature gauge hardly lifted off cold. The noise from the rear hub was indescribable! A hard crunching noise, I did have a similar problem on my old NC where the rear drain valve on the left was shot transmitting all sorts of noises from the road. I had high hopes for this car but they were dashed. Another wasted journey but thankfully a short one!
The clutches on these are quite fierce. I found every one I test drove wanted to go at the slightest lift of the pedal. Can be adjusted to make it less aggressive.
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Ah well, it was worth a look.
Just goes to show what some sellers interpretation of ‘drives and runs perfect’ is… (!!!)
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Looking at this little one tomorrow, only 90 minutes by car… Tyres, discs, calipers, and all oils have been changed along with coolant in the past year. 73000 full service history. The rear subframe has been “treated” but I think it will need to be redone. This time I got the owner to WhatsApp to send me plenty of pictures and the bodywork appears good. Hopefully,
this may be the one!
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Fingers crossed!
It’s had some recent underbody treatment, a quick application to cover the rusty suspension/subframe bits.
Looks ok along the sill shown. As always get down and dirty and take a peek along the rear most part of the sills and upwards into the wheel arches.
By the looks on the pictures, the rust hasn’t been removed on it, but just covered with the under seal.
Get underneath and poke around. Any rust bits will fall off along with the black stuff!
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Who done the underside, looks like a basic job as @Wilier1 mentioned. Drips on rear tyre means wheels weren’t removed!
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Again, thank you for all your replies. After a 90-minute early morning drive across rolling Kent countryside, I found the little MX5 waiting for me
with her metallic paintwork sparkling in the sun. The bodywork was almost flawless for a 2007 car. I spent around 30 minutes examining the car. Yes, the rust prevention job had been a spray of Lanoguard over the rear subframe but the MOT did not mention it as they sometimes do. Her alloy wheels were flawless along with the service history. A test drive revealed no problems. The only thing I could find wrong was a discoloured door handle. The underneath rust treatment would have to be redone, but the bodywork condition more than made up for this. My offer was accepted and I pick her up on Tuesday. After a five-year gap with BMW Z4s, I have returned to a Mazda.
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Congratulations! Gorgeous colour.
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Good find, enjoy
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Lovely looking car, the icon spec is really good with a great colour and finish. Welcome back…
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Great to hear. Congrats 
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I love a story with a happy ending 
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Good to see you found what you are looking for, wishing you many smiles per mile ! Zoom zoom !
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After getting lost in Ashford station, I managed to pick up the car and drive her home. I nearly hit a deer but what a difference from my old car, a Z4. Thank you for all your advice and help. I am still reading through a mountain of paperwork on the car, it has been well looked after. Only problem is that the valve in one of the rear drain holes is not working so she is a bit noisy
, however, it is an easy fix.
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