Here is a more detailed write-up:
So I contacted them and drove over to check it out. Sales lady (first female sales agent I've ever dealt with) knew nothing at all about cars, and was pointing out features like "it has crumple zones!" :rofl: Until she realized that yeah, I actually not only knew more about cars, but knew quite a bit about that one in particular, and ended up asking me more questions.
There were some clear flaws right up front.
- Carfax shows 2 accidents, one front in 2004, one rear in 2009. No solid indication of severity
- The front bumper took a bit of a hard scuff on the left front at some point, possibly the accident in 2004, and the front bumper is a bit off alignment on the front left. Not much, but just enough that the hood line and fender line aren't quite right.
- Both fog lights are missing
- The driver's door has a couple circular spots where the paint appears to be peeling back, like a drop of water on concrete spreads out.
- There is an electrical issue that triggers the 'lights on' warning and the hazards when the door is opened, from either side. The gauge cluster and audio backlight flash alternately with the hazard lights, and the hazard icons on the gauge cluster do not light up when this occurs (but do when I manually turn on the hazard lights). This fades after a bit, or when you start driving. The dealer said it did not do that before having to jump start it a couple weeks ago, so they think something got messed up there. Might be an aftermarket alarm installed that is stuck on triggered? I don't know enough about alarms to really know, but didn't see any odd wiring.
- The engine bay is quite dirty/dusty, a big collection of leaves under the cowl gap
- typical rocker panel rust bubbles
Mechanically, the car seems pretty solid. Smooth idle and fast start ups, hot and cold. When cruising at various points in the RPM range in various gears there weren't any hiccups or stumbles anywhere. Each gear pulled smoothly and strongly. Clutch engagement was normal for what I'd expect from my 99, shifting felt better than my 99.
And it's modded. Not quite obviously to the dealer, but it has
- a Flying Miata boost gauge on the A pillar
- FM catback exhaust (couldn't tell if any other exhaust parts were as well),
- the intake was aftermarket and is farther up toward the firewall than the stock one, I believe in the same spot as the FM intake kit. No air box, just a large filter. I couldn't identify any branding. The filter appears to be the same one in FM's complete intake kit, however none of the piping was polished like they are in FM's picture. It's probably the FM kit
- aftermarket horns behind the passenger side headlight
- White shocks and springs with progressive coiling, appears to be the FM stage 1 suspension at least. Red sway bars, but smaller than my Racing Beat tubular front bar, so unknown if they are aftermarket either. I did not get a chance to really lean on the suspension through a corner to determine roll amount
- XM satellite receiver
- Double diagonal roll bar, couldn't determine branding
All in all, I think it's going to be a pretty good deal when I talk them down some money for the paint issues and missing fog lights. That electrical needs to be solved, or I know what the fix will be needed, for me to ignore that point.
On the test drive, the sales lady told me she trusted my driving, saying it appeared that I was a good driver, so told me to go ahead and push it. I used that license to push on the turbo a bunch, but with dark limited road familiarity, and really unsure where her limit was, I wasn't going to push the suspension yet. When we got back, the sales lady was laughing, said it was the funnest test drive she has ever been on. :rofl:
She had me talk to her manager, and I brought up a compression test request to confirm engine health, and he told me that if I wanted to do one, that's fine they can, but they have had engine damage from them before so if anything goes wrong the repairs are on me, even if I don't buy the car. :bang: Pretty sure he was just feeding me a line to get out of having to do it. I don't have any suspicions about the engine, just a peace of mind bit. And outside of doing something stupid, I don't think there is a real risk of engine damage from a compression test.
Thoughts? Other points to discuss with them or things to look for on the car?