THSCC Forums

Hi everyone - just curious if anyone knows this car. It's a '00 Miata special edition, at a used car dealer in Raleigh. I keep looking at it and thinking it might be a good deal:

http://www.weavermotorsportssales.com/m ... =212092990

It seemed like the sort of car maybe someone in the club would recognize, since it has an aftermarket exhaust and a trailer hitch on it. I've never owned a Miata before, but for the money, I'm starting to understand why they get recommended so often.

My impression is that Weaver is a fairly reputable used car lot, but I have no idea how I came to that conclusion. I might have talked to them back when we bought my wife's car.

Any reasons why I shouldn't buy this one, or something like it? I'd like it to be a fun autocross car, but it doesn't have to be nationally competitive or anything. Purpose is sunny day car, street class (or maybe very casual STR) autocross car, ideally for $6K or less. Mostly so I can sell it fairly quickly, and not lose my ass on it, if this proves to be a bad idea or ends up sitting for weeks at a time.

I'm all over the place in terms of what else I'm looking at. I've had a thing for first gen RX-7s for years, but finding a nice one is getting tricky, and I worry about parts availability.

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Karl S.
2014 Baby, 2014 House, 2013 Ford Focus ST, 2013 BMW 328i, 1994 Mercedes E320
(Insert passive aggressive signature line here)

Honestly, I think $5600 is too high for that car but that's just me. The SE is basically the LS with some more fru fru stuff and a side badge and a different color. I think 99-00 LS cars go for less than $5k pretty regularly. While the SE implies special edition, the 99 10AE or the 99 sports tend to drown out the exclusivity of the SEs. I'd offer them $4700 and go from there.

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2011/2012 Autox VP
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I'll just say I agree with james. The 99 sport or the 2003 club sport would be a better choise.

Price on the that car is about on par to a little high with what I have seen for high quality on lot cars. You can find better if resale is your end goal.

For autocross, I would look for a 5 speed car. The six speed ratios are such that you will frequently be between 2nd and 3rd. I had a 2000 sport package for a while and it was a great car. 99 and 00 sports had Bilstein's, 5 speed with torsen lsd, 15 inch wheels that are easy to get good tires for.

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92 Miata 1.9L naturally aspirated. SSM 21

Is there a way for me to visually identify an NB as a Sport Package? Something like "they always have manual windows and a 5 speed," or "they always have cloth seats and a leather wrapped steering wheel." LSDs and Bilsteins (for instance) are tough to see on internet classifieds.

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Karl S.
2014 Baby, 2014 House, 2013 Ford Focus ST, 2013 BMW 328i, 1994 Mercedes E320
(Insert passive aggressive signature line here)

Great question. Given the age of those cars, most owners may not know what they have. I remember when I went with a friend to check out a sport package, the first thing I did was look under it for the tell tale yellow Billie's. Only some early 1999 NB's had manual windows but that goes for a base model or a sport, so that's not a reliable way to tell. I am not well enough versed in Miata trivia to definitively identify a sport form a non sport from an ad photo. Would a VIN search of a suspect car tell you?

Edit: My 2000 sport had a factory shock tower brace.

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92 Miata 1.9L naturally aspirated. SSM 21

http://www.quiros.net/miata/2000se/specs.htm

2000 LS: 3-spoke leather-wrapped NARDI® steering wheel, 5 speed, body kit...

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2004 Honda S2000

I think you check the door sticker for "hard s" bit it'sbeen so long I ccan't remember. Check out the garage section on miata.net. it's Full of useful stuff including a pre buyers check guid.

Apparently I talked you out of Focus SVT's ehhh?

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02 Focus SVT
STF 9

As I recall, 'hard s' (vs. 'sport') only tells you about whether it has bilsteins, the (5-10% stiffer, if any different) springs, and the front shock tower brace. "Sport" suspension (on the doorjamb) is just the regular suspension bits, not the "sport option package". I'm pretty sure that the Torsen was also on the LS (and maybe SE?), and was absolutely independent of the sport package (my LS was not factory Sport Package, but had Torsen and optional ABS). In 2000, the LS could be optioned with all the sport package (hard-s) parts, though I doubt this was common. When I was in the market mid-2000's, I called Mazda USA and they did a couple lookups for me based on VINs to confirm equipment packages of cars I was looking at - granted it was a much newer car at that point.

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Dustin Fredrickson
-- I'm a nobody --

I'd hold out for a 2001+. The coilpacks on the 99/00s tend to be a weak spot and they cost far too much. 2001+ gets you the VVT motor (bunch of extra midrange torque), 2003+ gets you sport brakes standard. If you want to know what is on the car give Mazda a call, they can tell you all the packages the car shipped with if you give them the VIN.

LS always = LSD. Miata.net has a page like this for ever year that will tell you what packages came with what standard. 6-speeds are pretty bad for autocross and ABS cars are close to unicorns.

http://www.miata.net/faq/america/2000.htm

I just picked up a 2001 with a hard top for 4.5k so deals can be had.

Thanks everyone, this is a good start. I'm assuming that nobody recognizes this specific car.



No, not necessarily. In fact, you haven't talked me out of a late model Prelude, either.



Let me see if I've got this right. "Sport" suspension is just the default? And "Hard S" is something written on the doorjamb somewhere, indicating the stiffer springs, bars, and (possibly) Bilsteins?

After about two minutes of researching suspension option packages, I think I'm coming back around to my original purchase criteria:

1. It's shiny
2. It's not a worn out piece of junk



How many miles on it, and where did you look?

I'd definitely prefer a 2001+, but I don't seem to be as able to find nice 01+ cars for that kind of money. Certainly not with a hardtop. Maybe I'm not looking in the right places? I scan eBay, autotrader, and cars.com. Craigslist sometimes too.

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Karl S.
2014 Baby, 2014 House, 2013 Ford Focus ST, 2013 BMW 328i, 1994 Mercedes E320
(Insert passive aggressive signature line here)

Craigslist was pretty much all I looked at. It has 171k miles on it. Interior doesn't look it and body/paint doesn't even look 1/2 that. Hard top has some paint issues but it's not bad at all. Mechanically it is damn near perfect. I've been DDing it for the last month or so without doing any work other than tightening some interior screws and repositioning the mounts for the hard top to quiet it down on the highways.

This one was listed on one of the triad CL regions but was about 5 minutes west of CH.

Looks like Bill Gratton's old NB. Ask him. Not sure if he ever put a hitch on it, but it was the only Merlot car that I remember at our events (I always liked that car - you should buy it).

Damn, maybe you're right. I just messaged him on FB.

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Karl S.
2014 Baby, 2014 House, 2013 Ford Focus ST, 2013 BMW 328i, 1994 Mercedes E320
(Insert passive aggressive signature line here)