Ebay MX5 1.6, need advice
Discussion
Ok, Colour & the seat being too worn for the mileage were the 1st 2 big ones to go off in my head, I'll not go into the others, you've explained some of them anyway, and I have no intention of getting into a pissing match with you. You'd have done better to mention the respreay in the Ad, 90% of the people looking for a car here know what they are looking at
As you (obviously) do too (I've spent longer in thhe auto industry than you BTW, and possibly not where you'd expect to find a girly either 
)I'd lose the condasending attitude if you plan on being an active member here
And, from your knowledge, I think you should stay 
How many other Ads do you see being discussed? Not many - you should be pleased that someone is taking enough interest in it to ask
Maybe you should try answering some of the questions more directly rather than just getting angry.
How do you explain the worn seat and replaced clutch on a car you claim has 36k miles?
What was the mileage (or kilometerage) at import when the speedo was changed to a mph one? Or was it just the dial face so the speedo is in mph and the odometer in kms?
Why has it had so many track-oriented changes (brace, clutch, lightweight flywheel, springs, roll-bars)?
Has it been used on track? That would be my assumption, especially as you have since admitted to being a track driver and having built a track car. Was this your first attempt?
And to put you right on a couple of things. This is not the new shape. There was a facelift in 2001 known as Mk2.5 and that was replaced in 2005 by the Mk3.
Why change the oil every 3k miles on a road car? Mobil 1 will easily last the full 9k miles on a road car without any detriment to the engine!
The Mk2 uses solid lifters not HLAs (hydraulic lash assemblies) so it won't suffer from the old Mk1 HLA rattle anyway.
So what do you consider the things to look for/look out for when looking for a Mk2? Wouldn't you be wary of a car with a claimed 36k miles with a worn seat, new clutch and non-standard paint-job (which wasn't admitted to) if you saw it in an ad?
How do you explain the worn seat and replaced clutch on a car you claim has 36k miles?
What was the mileage (or kilometerage) at import when the speedo was changed to a mph one? Or was it just the dial face so the speedo is in mph and the odometer in kms?
Why has it had so many track-oriented changes (brace, clutch, lightweight flywheel, springs, roll-bars)?
Has it been used on track? That would be my assumption, especially as you have since admitted to being a track driver and having built a track car. Was this your first attempt?
And to put you right on a couple of things. This is not the new shape. There was a facelift in 2001 known as Mk2.5 and that was replaced in 2005 by the Mk3.
Why change the oil every 3k miles on a road car? Mobil 1 will easily last the full 9k miles on a road car without any detriment to the engine!
The Mk2 uses solid lifters not HLAs (hydraulic lash assemblies) so it won't suffer from the old Mk1 HLA rattle anyway.
So what do you consider the things to look for/look out for when looking for a Mk2? Wouldn't you be wary of a car with a claimed 36k miles with a worn seat, new clutch and non-standard paint-job (which wasn't admitted to) if you saw it in an ad?
OK guys, appreciate your comments! I have decided not to sell the car, all this has made me realise that no one could possibly appreciate the car as much as I do and for three and a half grand its just nto worth sellign it, especially if I have to defend this absolutley immaculate car and no one can even be bothered to come and see it!
Seat wear - there is a cushion on the seat, both my wife and the guys who was using it for a few years in Japan are very short. The cushion is attached to the back of the seat and it has been rubbing against the bottom, hence the wear. This would have been very clear if anyone viewed the car.
Clutch, I had a lightened flywheel fitted and (as I am sure you are aware) if you are changing that you may as well put an uprated clutch in. Not everone waits until things are worn out before replacign them!
Paint - come on guys... you have to think about this. The car has been painted to CHANGE THE COLOUR!!! If it was somethign suspicious like a smash repair dont you think it would be more sensible to paint it in the original colour!!! Again, could have been explained over the phone, but people seem far more keen on slandering my car!! Very strange.... And also I was not tryign to hide the fact that the car had been respreyed, if I was do you think I would have posted the engine room photo!! Again, without viewing the car you cannot appreciate what a perfect job has been done, I would not expect to see that level of workmanship in the UK EVER.
Was there anything else.. oh yes, track days! Give me strength... My other car is a track car, in my long history with this car it has never been on a track.. I dont know what goes for a track car in this country.. but where I used to race the other one (in Japan) you would be laughed off the damn track if you turned up in a car with a full interior, lowered springs and a basically standard engine! To put it in context, the suspension alone (Quantum all aluminium) on my other car cost more than I am advertising this car for!
This car is too much fun, hint.. if you want to buy a used car, go and look at the thing! If you know nothing about cars then find someone who does.. there seem to be a few of you out there...? DONT stick the car on a forum where people will just s
g it off because no one would EVER say "thats a great car at a great price go buy it", because if they thought so THEY WOULD GO BUY IT THEMSELVES!!!! End result is you will only put doubt in your mind and that can only be detrimental as you would not enjoy the car as much as you may have otherwise.
Anyway, long and the short of it is, I am going to keep this, I have decided to sell my track car (which is an NA) and keep this one as the new project, maybe a supercharger.. definatley new suspension.. take out all that heavy Bose audio for sure.. I am quite looking forward to it now. So if any of you guys want to see a real track car then give me a shout and I may just sell you one!
Seat wear - there is a cushion on the seat, both my wife and the guys who was using it for a few years in Japan are very short. The cushion is attached to the back of the seat and it has been rubbing against the bottom, hence the wear. This would have been very clear if anyone viewed the car.
Clutch, I had a lightened flywheel fitted and (as I am sure you are aware) if you are changing that you may as well put an uprated clutch in. Not everone waits until things are worn out before replacign them!
Paint - come on guys... you have to think about this. The car has been painted to CHANGE THE COLOUR!!! If it was somethign suspicious like a smash repair dont you think it would be more sensible to paint it in the original colour!!! Again, could have been explained over the phone, but people seem far more keen on slandering my car!! Very strange.... And also I was not tryign to hide the fact that the car had been respreyed, if I was do you think I would have posted the engine room photo!! Again, without viewing the car you cannot appreciate what a perfect job has been done, I would not expect to see that level of workmanship in the UK EVER.
Was there anything else.. oh yes, track days! Give me strength... My other car is a track car, in my long history with this car it has never been on a track.. I dont know what goes for a track car in this country.. but where I used to race the other one (in Japan) you would be laughed off the damn track if you turned up in a car with a full interior, lowered springs and a basically standard engine! To put it in context, the suspension alone (Quantum all aluminium) on my other car cost more than I am advertising this car for!
This car is too much fun, hint.. if you want to buy a used car, go and look at the thing! If you know nothing about cars then find someone who does.. there seem to be a few of you out there...? DONT stick the car on a forum where people will just s
g it off because no one would EVER say "thats a great car at a great price go buy it", because if they thought so THEY WOULD GO BUY IT THEMSELVES!!!! End result is you will only put doubt in your mind and that can only be detrimental as you would not enjoy the car as much as you may have otherwise. Anyway, long and the short of it is, I am going to keep this, I have decided to sell my track car (which is an NA) and keep this one as the new project, maybe a supercharger.. definatley new suspension.. take out all that heavy Bose audio for sure.. I am quite looking forward to it now. So if any of you guys want to see a real track car then give me a shout and I may just sell you one!
Oh.. any the New SHape comment.. This is a 1998 car.. the year it was introduced.. so when people are searching through 98 cars, I thought it made sense to highlight the FACT that this is an NB and not an NA.. seemed pretty sensible at the time..
Anyway, I will just go back to my little dream world and leave you guys (and lady) to comment on any car that soem poor bugger has the misfortune to try to sell!!
Anyway, I will just go back to my little dream world and leave you guys (and lady) to comment on any car that soem poor bugger has the misfortune to try to sell!!
You seem to be getting very angry with us but you are looking at it all the wrong way. We were asked our opinion of an car advertised on ebay. We gave our opinions based on that advert. The advert shows a yellow car with grey under the bonnet with no mention of a respray. The advert mentions seat wear with no explanation of why. The advert mentions an uprated clutch & flywheel with no reason given for the change.
Have you considered that the advert could have been better worded so that these issues were answered? I did mention, before your first reply that a resprayed car isn't in itself a problem, it's the reason for the respray (that wasn't mentioned) that might have been a problem. I also said that most of the mods looked pretty good.
Based on what I could see of the advert I didn't thin k it was worth the price. For that reason I wouldn't consider going to look at it. If you'd given the reasons for the seat-wear, colour change and clutch replacement I might have come to a different conclusion. The fact that you know that it's a good car doesn't help us at all - all we have to go by is the advert!
Track days. I've been on loads of track days in my current car (226bhp supercharged 2001 Mk2.5), my previous car (completely stock Mk1 1998 Berkeley) and the PlanetMX5 Motorsports project car (1993 Mk1 1.6, mostly stock). Of these, only the project car has a stripped interior. 99.9% of cars I've seen on track days were also road cars with standard interiors.
Have you considered that the advert could have been better worded so that these issues were answered? I did mention, before your first reply that a resprayed car isn't in itself a problem, it's the reason for the respray (that wasn't mentioned) that might have been a problem. I also said that most of the mods looked pretty good.
Based on what I could see of the advert I didn't thin k it was worth the price. For that reason I wouldn't consider going to look at it. If you'd given the reasons for the seat-wear, colour change and clutch replacement I might have come to a different conclusion. The fact that you know that it's a good car doesn't help us at all - all we have to go by is the advert!
Track days. I've been on loads of track days in my current car (226bhp supercharged 2001 Mk2.5), my previous car (completely stock Mk1 1998 Berkeley) and the PlanetMX5 Motorsports project car (1993 Mk1 1.6, mostly stock). Of these, only the project car has a stripped interior. 99.9% of cars I've seen on track days were also road cars with standard interiors.
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