leviathan
Snores like a puppy
Many here already know what's up, but to summarize:
- My Tesla preorder is at least another year out
- My previous car was a large diesel in Germany, and needed to go for multiple reasons
- I decided I wanted something small, cheap-ish, fun and preferrably convertible, to last at least until the Model 3 rolls around, and possibly after as well.
An MX-5 fit the bill perfectly. After some research, I decided I wanted an early-ish NC - seemed to be the healthiest combination of not too old, affordable, well enough equipped to be a daily driver, and still small and fun, because MX-5. Having searched around Frankfurt and seen a few cars, I found this one, and promptly bought it:


Less shitty pictures coming in a few days (including proof pic), once the weather clears up. It's been sunny today, right until I went to actually pick it up. Driving out of the dealer lot, I suddenly found out that the softtop can actually be raised from the inside, when required immediately
Some numbers:
2008 Mazda MX-5 2.0 MZR (NC1, 5MT)
1999 cc, petrol, I4, N/A
160 hp (118 kW) @ 6700 rpm
188 Nm @ 5000 rpm*
1155 kg "Leergewicht" (wet, including a DIN-standard 75kg driver, which incidentally fits quite well)
215 km/h top speed*
8.3 s 0-100km/h*
7.7 l/100km*
* Numbers sourced from Wikipedia.
Optional stuff present and accounted for:
- Bose audio (actually sounds way better than I expected)
- Full A/C (climate control)
- Heated leather seats
- Parking sensors in the rear (why one would ever need them on a car this size, I don't know, but it has them and they work, quite loudly)
- LSD (I think it was stock on all German NCs, not sure)
The car has 105'000km on it. Condition is very nice, no mechanical issues of any sort (car had a T?V in March and was only driven ~5k since, stood in the lot for a while), paint and interior is good, soft top is very good after some thorough cleaning by the dealership (and definitely watertight, as today has proved already). Tires were absolutely gone when I test-drove it (almost looked like they were factory tires, age fit as well... yeah), so I had them put on new winter rubber for me, and will get a set of good summers next year.
So far very happy with it. Drives great, not slow by any means and quite nimble - though the soft winter tires do reduce the responsiveness quite a bit, it was much more direct on the test drive on old summer tires. That'll be rectified next summer season.
List of things to do (eventually):
-Install AUX cable for the audio system (I don't have any CDs left, and radio gets boring after a while) done
-Get a fitting phone holder (the one I have doesn't fit the tiny air vents, and I'll be using my phone for music and navigation) done
-Replace side indicators with clear ones, the yellow dots on the side do annoy me a little. done
- Have the underbodythouroughly checked and rust-proofed before winter (car has apparently never been driven in winter before) - I looked everywhere I could during the test drive and failed to find any rust, but better to be certain. checked, all is well, still possibly planning on rust-proofing to be really certain
So, yeah - the Miata camp has grown again
Genuinely excited to see how I'll get along with it - it'll be my daily driver for at least a year.
- My Tesla preorder is at least another year out
- My previous car was a large diesel in Germany, and needed to go for multiple reasons
- I decided I wanted something small, cheap-ish, fun and preferrably convertible, to last at least until the Model 3 rolls around, and possibly after as well.
An MX-5 fit the bill perfectly. After some research, I decided I wanted an early-ish NC - seemed to be the healthiest combination of not too old, affordable, well enough equipped to be a daily driver, and still small and fun, because MX-5. Having searched around Frankfurt and seen a few cars, I found this one, and promptly bought it:


Less shitty pictures coming in a few days (including proof pic), once the weather clears up. It's been sunny today, right until I went to actually pick it up. Driving out of the dealer lot, I suddenly found out that the softtop can actually be raised from the inside, when required immediately
Some numbers:
2008 Mazda MX-5 2.0 MZR (NC1, 5MT)
1999 cc, petrol, I4, N/A
160 hp (118 kW) @ 6700 rpm
188 Nm @ 5000 rpm*
1155 kg "Leergewicht" (wet, including a DIN-standard 75kg driver, which incidentally fits quite well)
215 km/h top speed*
8.3 s 0-100km/h*
7.7 l/100km*
* Numbers sourced from Wikipedia.
Optional stuff present and accounted for:
- Bose audio (actually sounds way better than I expected)
- Full A/C (climate control)
- Heated leather seats
- Parking sensors in the rear (why one would ever need them on a car this size, I don't know, but it has them and they work, quite loudly)
- LSD (I think it was stock on all German NCs, not sure)
The car has 105'000km on it. Condition is very nice, no mechanical issues of any sort (car had a T?V in March and was only driven ~5k since, stood in the lot for a while), paint and interior is good, soft top is very good after some thorough cleaning by the dealership (and definitely watertight, as today has proved already). Tires were absolutely gone when I test-drove it (almost looked like they were factory tires, age fit as well... yeah), so I had them put on new winter rubber for me, and will get a set of good summers next year.
So far very happy with it. Drives great, not slow by any means and quite nimble - though the soft winter tires do reduce the responsiveness quite a bit, it was much more direct on the test drive on old summer tires. That'll be rectified next summer season.
List of things to do (eventually):
-
-
-
- Have the underbody
So, yeah - the Miata camp has grown again
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