Too good to miss???

[Zed 44]

I have an opportunity to buy a 1.6 Mark 1 MX5 on a P plate with 80k miles, and an MOT til May. Apparently it has no rust, runs well, has had the cambelt done recently and has a hardtop all for £800. Reason for sale - upcoming marriage and the oh has suggested, insisted - not sure which. Might be a bad omen for him but sounds pretty good to me what do you guys think? I've read the guide; is there anything else I should pay particular attention to on this?

[Gilhooligan]

The 1.6 engine was detuned from 115 to 88bhp after 1994. A hardtop in good condition will sell for a few hundred quid though. So if it genuinely has no rust then it sounds good to me.

[Zed 44]

Gilhooligan said:

The 1.6 engine was detuned from 115 to 88bhp after 1994. A hardtop in good condition will sell for a few hundred quid though. So if it genuinely has no rust then it sounds good to me.

I have to admit I'm not too happy about 88bhp. Is it possible to regain sensible hp without too much cost? Perhaps even turbo charging it?

[MX-5 Lazza]

They aren't usually much slower than the 114bhp models to be fair. On dyno runs they usually make closer to 100bhp while most 114bhp engines have usually lost a few and also aren't much above 100bhp.

There are various things you can do to get a bit of the power back but the simplest and cheapest is to swap in a 114bhp engine.