No Love: 1990 Mazda MX-5 Miata

I don’t want to be one of those people who says I told you so…but…no strike that.  I do want to gloat about this one.  Let’s rewind.  In Sept of 2015 Jesse from Barnfinds picked up a 6,000 mile MX-5 Miata from a ranch in Sun Valley, ID and then sold it in November of 2015 for $8,100 on eBay. We picked up the scent in March 2016 when it was offered in Mountain View, CA for $15,000 firm, but that may have been a scam after I reached out to Jesse for confirmation…however, now the exactly same car is now listed  in San Jose, CA via craigslist, this time with new pictures and more legitimacy.  Find this 1990 Mazda MX-5 Miata with 8,000 miles offered for $11,000 via craigslist.  Tip from Matt V.

This owner has put about 2k miles on it in the past few months, which has probably been a great experience for the owner, but he/she is likely aware that each mile put on drops the potential resale by a not-too-insignificant amount.  What we’ve got here is the ultimate car to park for 20 years and sell when the MX-5 is a classic..but what kind of a life is that for a car?  And in the meantime classic 911s are going to triple in value (haha…wait…that isn’t funny at all), so if you are going to add a car to your savings/investment porfolio, does the MX-5 really make sense?

And therein lies the conundrum of the 6,000 8,000 mile Miata — for $8,100 $11,000 it seems like a cool deal but each mile you put on it drives it closer to the 100k mile $1500 Miatas littering craigslist, so you are buying the nicest example of a car you can find, but you can’t drive it.  Save your cash, buy a $4k example with 50k miles and drive it to 75k with zero loss in value.

See this car for sale again?  It is only a matter of time.  tips@dailyturismo.com