Offered a bargain MX5 should i?

Mattius

Mattius

Mattius

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Edinburgh
Been looking for a cheap runaround, been offered a cheap MX-5, 1990 1.6i, 86,000 miles.
But it dont have an MOT and the seller claims he hasnt had time.

Now from what i understood the mechanics in these rarely fail, is this true? is there anything i should look out for?

there is some rust but nothing im worried about i can fix it all quickly and easily.

been offered it for 600 quid, which is a bargain price.
 
Rust is a killer in Mx5's depends on its location, i've seen quite a few older ones scraped now cause the shell is totally shot.

Yes provide you change the oil the engine is a very strong unit.
 
Chuck him £50 to MOT it. If it passes, buy the car for £550, if it fails, then youve spent £50 and avoided wasting £600
 
Rust isnt bad at all, just a few bits in the usual places round the headlights etc, and even then it is just paint bubbling so not too deep set in.


also im very very used to dealing with rust, if you seen my spitfire project i re body paneled the whole thing. welding it all up.
 
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If you dont I will, for god's sake man buy it and stick a whopping great big supercharger on it.
 
hmmm it seems too good to be true, the car is at the guys mates garage, yet doesnt have an mot, hmmmm, its at a propper full on garage yet he cant mot it. hmmmm...

gonna have to have a long think about this one.

plus i've been told im not alowed to have another wreck of a car lieing about, so cant do too much work on it as i already have the spit in bits
 
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Mattius said:
hmmm it seems too good to be true, the car is at the guys mates garage, yet doesnt have an mot, hmmmm, its at a propper full on garage yet he cant mot it. hmmmm...

gonna have to have a long think about this one.
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Anyway you can view the car in person first to check for obvious faults?
 
its more the un obvious faults in suspension and drivetrain, as its not got tax or mot i cant take it for a test drive so can only do a basic inspection.
 
In gear and drive backwards and forwards, odds are its an open diff anyways.

Even if the shocks are shot its not expensive or hard to fix, loads of parts around for these.

Check the hood condition, if thats gone its £250 for a new one.
 
I asked him to do that, he said he didnt have time.

I've pretty much KB'd it now, if i had the space i would have taken it, the hood has definatly seen better days judging by the new photos he's sent, interior has been poor mans chaved up with cheap crap, it has no service history, he doesnt know about servicing on the car, and the car apparently had a knocking while driving so im thinking adding up all the evidence it seems to have a diff problem, i mean its at his mates garage, he could have had it mot'd for 75 quid at full costs (which he wouldnt pay if it was a mate) and asked double for the car so there is obv problems.
 
Ummm... "I don't have time to MOT it, even if you paid" despite the fact that it's at his mates garage and his mate will be doing the MOT, not him. Why doesn't he have the time to ask his mate to do an MOT?

OK, so maybe his mate's snowed under, but he's still supposedly a mate... I mean, if you were his mate, no matter how busy you were, surely you'd MOT your mates car for full price, especially if it's just taking up space in your busy workshop, or clogging up a space in your car park. You would just want to get it mot'd and out of the place, wouldn't you?

Sounds like a scrapper to me!!

By the way, nice piece in classics monthly. I never realised just how bad the accident was:(
 
If he hasnt got time to ring a garage and ask them to collect and MOT the car for £50 (meaning he would have to do nothing, so its utter crap about not having the time) then i would stay well away from it!
 
Mattius said:
I asked him to do that, he said he didnt have time.

I've pretty much KB'd it now, if i had the space i would have taken it, the hood has definatly seen better days judging by the new photos he's sent, interior has been poor mans chaved up with cheap crap, it has no service history, he doesnt know about servicing on the car, and the car apparently had a knocking while driving so im thinking adding up all the evidence it seems to have a diff problem, i mean its at his mates garage, he could have had it mot'd for 75 quid at full costs (which he wouldnt pay if it was a mate) and asked double for the car so there is obv problems.
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Yep does sound like a wrong un. If you had time to mess about and do it up then it would still be an ok price but if you want a runaround then it's not worth the hassle.
 
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