V5C & MOT details

General Discussion Forums MX-5 Chat
2

Ok so my V5C states that I own a Mazda MX5, which clearly by the badges on the car I don’t.

Normally I would not be too bothered as I understand that this is a common problem but add in a first registration date which is the same UK first reg date and a different date on the MOT database along with a few other abnormalities and I have a mind to try and get things changed.

I have started with the DVSA who inform me that I must pursue the matter with the DVLA, so having looked at their website I have started to gather the relevant facts. A local Mazda dealer has kindly accessed the EPC for Japanese cars and sent me a screen dump, so I now know the exact build date which tallies with the VIN spreadsheet on here. Unfortunately, they can’t tell me the first reg date as this piece of paper would have been sent to the DVLA when it was imported and they don’t keep it.

My question to the experts on here is exactly what do I own, is a Mazda or a Eunos, Is the model a Roadster or a Roadster Ltd-G, or some other combination of these names. Everything, V5C & MOT database state Mazda MX5 but the car badges state otherwise, interestingly the b-post sticker says neither.

So what do I put for Make & Model?

Thanks in anticipation

Dave

3

If you had the original factory fitted roof, the zip states “MX5”.

Your car appears to be Eunos Roadster G-Limited. It was not built by Eunos, but by Mazda. Eunos was just a marketing wheeze. There is no such model as “Limited-G”.

G-Limited brochure:
http://www.atelier-nii.com/cars/rs_catalog/jp/1994jp_Roadster_G_limited_brochure.pdf

For insurance purposes, the identities used in Japan are irrelevant. The salient details are that your car is not UK specification. The ABI has created its own model range for JDM cars:

Mazda Eunos Cabriolet

“Mazda Eunos V-Limited” (1.8 only)

“Mazda Eunos V-Special” (1.6 only)

Manual and Auto variants.

Note, “V-Special” does not exist in Japan, and appears to be a catch-all for later special editions.

This company claims to be able to generate a HPI-style report for imports:
https://carvx.jp/

Not used, can’t verify. Tried one random VIN for a Series 1.5 car, and it gave (erroneously) the car as SR-Limited. I tried another, and interestingly it gave me a RS-Limited. Another known VIN, which I know doesn’t appear in the other decoders, for an early NA8, also listed it as a SR-Limited. In most of the other decoders, there is a massive gap in the database covering NA8C cars. I suspect this database is using the same dataset as the Russian VIN decoders.

In theory you can get a report like this:
https://carvx.jp/sample-report

They state their reports won’t stand up in a court of law, so basically spend £23 to assuage curiosity.

Probably this is useful if you have already found your car on another database, and want to know if its radioactive or not, but I suspect for cars where the free report is nonsense, its a waste of money.

4

Interesting & thanks for your comprehensive reply, unfortunately the soft top is long gone so no help there.

I also have a copy of the brochure which states G-Ltd but the sticker on the B post

States Ltd-G, so still no wiser.

I have tried https://carvx.jp/ as suggested and it would appear that I also have an SR-Ltd, so no help there.

I am tempted to let the subject drop but the date issues bug me so perhaps I will leave the make & model alone and pursue the other errors/omissions.

Out of interest any one have anything different on their V5C?

Dave

5

I think both of my Roadsters are logged as MX5s. I know what they are, and that’s all that counts. I don’t think I’d like to know how many crashes in Japan they had been in 20 years ago.

The other, slim, chance you can get details on your car is via BIMTA. At one time, when imports had achieved a reputation as being all brought over by crooks, they had a certification system for cars imported by their trade members. Maybe they have something.

Also, try googling the vin number. You never know what might come up. If you know who in Japan had exported the cars, sometimes, through the webarchive, you can find the car on an old archived page. Graham Berry sent over a lot of interesting, and sometimes dodgy, Roadsters:
http://www.gcar.co.jp/

They had various web addresses. I recall they sold a white R-Limited to a UK buyer that had a front inner wing stitched together from various bits welded.

You can also spend hours browsing through Minkara/Carview, which is a Japanese collection of owners cars, and maybe you will find your car, provided it has something unique about it.

http://minkara.carview.co.jp/car/mazda/eunos_roadster/usercar/

There was a forum member who had a Tokyo Limited, which had unique custom gauge faces (literally, a one-off). We managed to track down the Japanese Owners Club that this car had come from. the head of the club confirmed some of the members back in the day had special clock faces made up with their names on it, and this car was one of them. Unfortunately, the rest of the story wasn’t so good, because that chair person recalled that the Tokyo was in a bad wreck that the owner was lucky to walk away from, and assumed the car was scrapped, not turning up in the UK 15 years later… Sometimes, you are best just not knowing.