1996 Miata Miata Roadster Convertible

1996 Mazda Miata roadster convertible. 143,000 miles. Red, five-speed, cold air, good heater, good mechanical shape, pop-up headlights, power windows, great stereo with Bluetooth and USB, runs and handles wonderfully. Good tires with plenty of tread, four-wheel disk brakes with new pads and new slotted and drilled rotors. Wheel locks. AM/FM/CD. Limited slip differential. Top has no tears or cracks. Newer battery. Instrumentation works. Everything works. Many parts have been replaced.

If you’ve ever wanted a roadster convertible but couldn’t figure out how to afford one, here’s an inexpensive car for you! It’s a rear-wheel drive two-seater convertible with a dual overhead cam in-line four-cylinder that generates 131 horsepower, a five speed manual transition, limited slip differential, four wheel disk brakes, and independent double-wishbone four-wheel suspension, and alloy wheels. It’s a great-handling automobile and a joy to drive.

I am not a dealer or a speculator in vehicles, just someone who is selling my everyday driver for the last seven years. It’s a great car and has been and will continue to be an economical and reliable daily driver and a boatload of fun to boot. It starts, runs, shifts, steers, and stops perfectly.

Like any 20-year-old car, it isn’t perfect. Much of what’s not perfect can be inexpensively and easily repaired or replaced. It’s not a project car by any means, but a few dollars and a little TLC will certainly spruce it up. Still, it looks good and functions perfectly.

Here’s the car in detail, as best and as honestly as I can describe it.

The Good

Mechanically most excellent. I have driven this car since 2009 with no mechanical problems whatsoever. It starts right up and runs and corners like a banshee. Stops great with four-wheel new brakes and drilled/slotted rotors. All around one-year-and-a-half old Tiger Paw Touring tires with plenty of tread. Aluminum seven-spoke wheels. Wheel locks. New battery last fall. Stainless exhaust with great sound. Glass is perfect. Passes NJ emissions just fine with recently replaced oxygen sensors, catalytic converter, and EGR. Great gas mileage! All instruments work properly. Shifts smoothly through all gears and clutch is in good condition with no slippage. Uses no or almost no oil and the coolant system works perfectly, with no leaks or loss of pressure. A/C blows cold. Compressor and dryer are 3-4 years old. I have the A/C charged once a year. Vent eyeballs are firm in their sockets and stay where you point them. Miatas are known for their round vents, which are forever drooping. Not these.

Some 1996 Miatas have limited slip differentials. I phoned Mazda to check, and this one does. That’s a great feature.

The top is sound with no rips or tears. The rear window needs treatment to make it clear again, but it’s still supple and can be looked through. Windshield and window glass are perfect (new windshield in 2015). Windows go completely up and down. Seats and carpet are a bit worn but serviceable. Spare tire and jack are fine. Stereo sounds great (see discussion below). Power mirrors work fine. Gauges and lights all work fine.

I removed the power antenna and installed a short rubber antenna that looks much better. I installed a leather boot over the parking brake mechanism, which looks great.

The Bad

I’m going to go into annoying detail here. Some of the problems are inconsequential; others can be easily and inexpensively fixed. There’s absolutely nothing here that should stop you from buying the car.

Mechanical

When the car has been sitting in cold weather for a number of days, there’s very occasionally a lifter sound for 15 seconds or so after the initial start. It immediately goes away and does not come back. It has gotten no worse after seven years. It’s a harmless quirk of the car, and I’ve come to like it. It could be fixed with a new lifter, but there’s no real need. Come to think of it, I’ve not heard the sound for some months now. I assure you, it's not a problem.

The speedometer cable sometimes makes a noise when the weather is cold, but the gauge does not jump or jitter and returns an accurate reading. A new cable would fix the problem, and perhaps even a lube of the cable would do the trick.

Oil and filter have been changed every 4000 miles since I have had the car. I check the oil on occasion and sometimes add a little to top it up, but it’s good on oil. It’s filled with full synthetic, 0-40 wt.

This is a perfectly sound, great performing car with no mechanical issues. The buyer will be able to drive it absolutely anywhere, coast to coast even.

Appearance

This is a 21-year-old car and has the usual wear and patina. Don’t expect a new car, just a nice 20-year-old one with the usual patina and a few scratches and burbles. The paint waxes up nicely and it overall looks great.

There are two narrow cracks in the dash (see photos). I found a good-looking leather dash pad on eBay for less than $50, but never bothered to buy it.

The driver’s seat is worn, but it sits comfortably, no stuffing coming out or anything like that, just worn cloth on the driver’s side seat. The bright spot on the passenger seat photo is the sun, not a spot at all. The adjusters for both seats work just fine. The top is not new, but looks good and goes up and down just fine. The top fastens tightly. with no rips and tears. The rear window is not as clear as it used to be and could use a good polishing. The trunk and interior stay pretty dry, even when it rains heavily. When opening the driver’s door after a heavy rain a little water drips from the channel, but hey, it’s a convertible! They all do that. It’s part of the charm!

The carpet has a small bare place where the driver’s foot goes (about one inch around) and is pulled loose along the left edge, but overall it’s in very good shape. A dab of black paint would visually get rid of the spot or a floor mat would cover it up.

The electric windows move up and down slowly. The motors seem fine. The tracks need to be cleaned and lubricated and perhaps new guides installed. I have a set of new window guides which I will include in the sale.

The cruise control does not work, hasn’t since I have owned the car. I had the system examined at a Miata dealership and was told the control module needs to be replaced. Replacement modules sell for less than $100 on eBay and can be installed by an amateur mechanic.

The valve covers on the engine are not pretty, and could bear removing and painting to make them look better, but are certainly perfectly mechanically sound. The exhaust was not perfectly centered in the cutout at the rear of the car when installed and the plastic on one side of the cutout has melted a bit to conform to the shape of the exhaust pipe (see photo).

The bottom of the driver’s door shows some bubbling, an early sign of rust. Ditto the front wheel well on the driver’s side. It’s not yet unsightly, but might be in a few years. The paint on the car shines up well, and the car looks great for its age. It really is a sweet, sweet car.

The Damage

In May 2016 I hydroplaned the car on an entrance ramp to I-287 and the nose kissed the guard rail at about 10 mph. Oopsie! Some paint was removed and things shifted around a bit. Please keep in mind I have no expertise in body work, but the front end doesn’t seem too bad to me. The front bumper cover took some damage, but it doesn’t affect driving and could easily be replaced by a talented amateur mechanic. Used and third party parts for this car are plentiful and reasonably priced, and bumper covers go for $300 and less on eBay. The driver’s side pop-up headlight cover is no longer flush with the fender, but pops up and down just fine and headlight alignment is not affected. The hood isn’t damaged and opens and closes. The lower bumper cover is fine. I expect the various body parts will need some adjusting to make things perfect (although I drove the car for months just as it is). Please look at the photos carefully and keep in mind I purchased a brand new replacement running light which will come with the car.

The Stereo

If you don’t know much about car audio, this section might be confusing, but I’ve written in as best I can. You can choose to have a very good stereo without adding anything, a great stereo by adding headrest speakers, or an exceptional amped and subwoofer stereo by adding headrest speakers and an amplifier.

I ran a high-end stereo in this car and have removed the amp and headrest speakers. Still in place is the head unit, a Sirius-ready Sony MEX-N5000BT in-dash stereo receiver and CD player with removable face plate and remote. It has Bluetooth and a mic is wired in so you can talk hands free with your phone and get audio messages from your GPS. There are USB and Aux connections, so you can plug in your MP3 player or a flash drive. I would put hundreds of albums on a flash drive and they would play for six months without repeating! The sound was wonderful, with 17 watts RMS delivered to each speaker!

The door speakers are Sony 6 ¾” coaxials. They are out of the car at the moment for reasons I will explain below, but you will get them with the car. There was a pair of 3” speakers in each headrest. I have removed them, but the wiring is still there so any 3” speakers can be easily plugged in.

An 8” subwoofer is mounted in the rear deck. It remains with the car.

Because the car was wired for a trunk-mounted amplifier which I removed, power no longer goes to the door or headrest speakers, but to the trunk where the amp was. I made a judgment call and left wiring as was rather than rewiring for door speakers only so someone who wants to use an external amplifier can simply hook one up to the battery (which is in the trunk) and plug in the inputs waiting there. The wiring is all in still in place for an amplifier setup.

If you don’t wish to use an amplifier (you can pick up a pretty good one for about $100, or maybe you already have one), the leads from the door and headrest speakers will need to be reattached at the back of the head unit before they will receive power. That’s why the speakers are out of the door. If you opt not to use a power amp, it will be a straightforward job to hook everything up. If, on the other hand, you wish to use an amp, it will also be a straightforward job to hook it up. Because it would be an expensive and difficult and confusing process to run wires again for an amp, I decided to leave the wiring amp-ready rather than rewiring for the non-amp setup. It was a judgment call. By the way, if you decide not to use an amp, the Sony head unit has plenty of power (17 watts RMS x 4) to make the Sony door speakers dance, and can power headrest speakers as well. But wow, how it sounds with headrest speakers and an amp and sub! I loved the headrest speakers and miss them!

The car looks great for its age and I got compliments almost every time I took it out. “Nice car!” “Sweet ride!” Now it can be yours! You can get right in and drive it home, no matter how far away your home might be!

If you are close by, feel free to message me for an appointment to see the car. If you are far away, the photos will tell you what you need to know. I’ll be happy to answer any questions.

Payment of $500 is due within 24 hours of sale. Payment in full is due 7 days after the sale. You can come pick the car up and drive it home or arrange to have it transported. If you fly in I will pick you up at at Newark Airport.

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