1997 Mazda

For Sale.

Our very well loved Mk1 MX5.

We bought this car as we knew it's history, it was owned by a good friend and he had also bought it from a friend, it had been well looked after and with low mileage it was exactly what we wanted, unfortunately we are having a bit of a life laundry and I need to clear a few cars out this being one of them, I've got 2 MX5s and as we are going to be downsizing on space soon it's a bit extravagant so one needs to go, as the other has all been built up from nuts and bolts from scratch sadly it needs to be this one, which is a shame because to be honest I'd love to keep it!

So a bit about the car, it's a 1997 MK1 1.8 IS in Neo Green (Solid) with black interior, I've had a lot of MX5s over the years, from early 1.6 up to late MK2s, I personally feel the MK1 1.8 is probably the best of the bunch, it doesn't have the engine reliability issues of the early 1.6, the late 1.6 models are heavily detuned where as the 1.8 produces a lovely torquey 130BHP which is more than enough in the light shell of the MK1, plus it's a revvy fun engine. The IS model adds ABS, Airbags and electric windows which are nice for safety and comfort, as well as power steering and some nice trim pieces which the lower models miss. The 1.8 Models also benefit from substantial chassis bracing making the car much stiffer than the 1.6 and thus handle better.

This car has very low mileage, 75000 miles although it is going up slightly as I can't stop using the car in this lovely weather!

I've just MOTd the car for 12 months. And taxed it for 6 months.

I've also just changed the cambelt, water pump, auxiliary belts, spark plugs, air filter, oil filter, and oil as well as given the car a really good service and going over for the MOT which it passed with flying colours, infact the MOT tester commented how tidy the car was.

When I bought the car there was very very slight bubbling of the lower rear sill, this has all been cut out and professionally repaired, the inner sills were also checked at the same time and were in fantastic condition so it was a case of catching early to prevent further problems, there now isn't any rust in the car at all, the sills, rear arches and floor are all fantastic this is very rare indeed. Bodywork wise the car is excellent, no nasty surprises at all, as you would expect most of the paint is original with only a couple of very minor marks around the car.

The interior is nice, very little wear, a set of fitted carpet mats are included, everything works as you would expect, there is a little wear to the drivers seat bolster as usual but it's not serious. The hood fits very well and is nearly new, it doesn't leak at all, I keep the car garaged but on the few occasions it's been out in rain I've been caught in some major storms and it's not let a drop in, this is unusual for an MX5.

The boot is all in clean dry condition, no leaks or damage, all tools intact and spare wheel looks unused.

Engine bay is nice and clean, no oil leaks, doesn't use a drop of oil or water, serviced when I got the car and then just before the MOT, I tend to service cars every 3000 miles regardless of if the service schedule is longer, oil is cheap engines aren't. The engine runs sweetly and pulls well through the rev range. It has only done circa 500 miles on it's new cambelt so far so you have 5 years of worry free motoring there. Gearbox is a joy as MX5 boxes should be, it's smooth and direct. The diff is quiet as you would expect from a car with this mileage and the suspension and brakes are in excellent condition with no deterioration of bushes etc. Which are now an MOT fail and can be expensive to resolve, well worth considering on a car with shorter MOT.

The airbag and ABS system have been tested and serviced, they are working perfectly.

The car also has halogen headlights fitted in place of the original sealed beam units, giving much better lighting at night and easier replacement of bulbs. It has also had the shock absorbers and springs replaced with KYB adjustable shock absorbers and springs, these give a fantastic ride (and you can adjust them from soft to firm in seconds by rotating a knob on each shock body) and are very comfortable yet give outstanding handling and lower the car slightly, as you can see from the pictures it looks fantastic and the handling is sublime.

The car comes with a set of 14" daisy wheels with a very good matched set of tyres, it is pictured with my 15" MK2 wheels on but the original wheels fit well and look nice on the car and have much better tyres on. There is a picture of the car just after I got it wearing the daisy wheels.

The electric aerial works and a new Sony CD player was fitted about 2 months ago.

So in closing it's a well looked after, well sorted car that has no rust, a tidy body, nice interior, new hood, fully serviced and worry free, all usual MX5 issues either sorted or non present, in a really nice colour, it drives well and looks great and we will be really sad to see it go, these cars are an absolute bargain and good MK1s are starting to rise in price as there are so few out there in this condition, look after it for a few years and to be honest you should sell it for at least the same price if not a little more.

I had a Lotus Elan Sprint a few years ago which of course is the car the MX5 is famed for having captured the spirit of, with any Elan even a rough one now touching 12-15K the MX5 offering 99% of the ownership experience in a reliably modern package starts to look cheap at sub 2k.

Insurance is cheap I pay about £130 a year, and there shouldn't be any other bills to pay for a long time, I get circa 35MPG out of the car driving sensibly and the boot is surprisingly large a full weekly shop can easily go in an MX5 with 2 adults.

Please don't hesitate to give me a call and talk about the car, come and have a look you won't be disappointed, we live in Driffield East Yorkshire and are about 2 minutes walk from the train station.

Any questions please call Oliver on 07475 057913.