Prior to the purchase, I had never sat in a Miata (let alone driven one) and I saw this one pop up on Craigslist 10 miles from me, so I went to take a look, as soon as I took it for a test drive, that was it, I immediately fell in love with it. I have driven a few S2000's (including a nice supercharged one) but the Miata felt more 'fun'. I ended up buying it, even though it has a few deficiencies, for 3500$.
The pros:
Paint looks pretty good.
Timing belt/water pump/thermostat done within 15k miles.
Clutch done within 15k miles.
Catalytic converter replaced 5k miles ago.
Alternator/battery replaced ~a year ago.
New soft top with glass rear window. (unknown replace date, sometime in the last 20k miles/2 years).
New radiator (~20k miles ago).
LSD (at least, I believe it's LSD, it lights up both tires on the dirt so...).
129k miles.
Brakes at 90%.
Cold A/C, Nice and warm heater.
Now for the cons...
Leaks in the trunk when it rains, this is due to the rubber seal missing in one spot.
Grinds if I rip-shift into 3rd from 2nd.
Lowered and has the roughest ride I have ever felt in my entire life.
Driver side seat needs replaced (all tore up).
Steering wheel falling apart.
Leaks oil like hell from valve cover gasket (and I believe the CAS as well).
Badly worn front tires from the lower, inner tread was showing steel belt.
Rear tires mismatched.
No cruise control.
Now for why I bought it with the above deficiencies for 3500... I have been buying used cars for dirt cheap, just to wind up spending a lot of irritating hours and countless money on trying to fix all the problems. This car had the two major things done to it, timing belt and clutch and had paperwork to prove all the work I claimed above.
I already addressed the suspension issue, I found all 4 stock shocks/springs for 50$ on Craigslist and bought them, swapped it over and now it rides awesome.
Now for some pictures! Please note the top two were taken before I swapped the suspension and removed the side skirts.
