TopAuto reader Wikus, a previous feature on the site when he purchased a 2009 Volvo XC60 almost exactly one year ago, recently sold the Swedish machine to buy a 2004 Mazda Miata.
A strange choice to go from a big five-seater family SUV to a small two-seater roadster for your daily driver, we spoke to Wikus about what led him to make this decision.
Why I bought a Miata
I recently bought a 2004 soft-top Mazda MX-5, a.k.a. Miata, with 155,000km on the clock as my only car, after my 2009 Volvo XC60 started exhibiting too many issues.
I needed a cheap daily runabout, and despite everyone’s advice of getting a new car with a factory warranty, I was looking for something more fun than the boring hatchbacks at the lower end of the market that would fit my budget.
I am also a tinkerer and I love being able to work on my own vehicles, and a benefit of older models with large aftermarket communities is that they generally have well-documented service procedures, as the owners often want to work on their cars themselves.
This saves you money and builds familiarity with your car, and if anything goes wrong, you are more likely to be able to diagnose and fix it immediately.
I came across the MX-5, which ticked all these boxes.
I did tonnes of research before buying the Miata and knew exactly what I was looking for and what I was letting myself in for.
When buying an older vehicle, it is essential to check the availability of parts beforehand as older components can often be impossible to find, leaving you stranded.
I went to view a couple of examples but they were in worse-for-wear shape, until a few months into the search I got a call from a contact at a dealership about an MX-5 “that had my name on it.”
It came with no official service record, a big red flag for most, and the fluids were all quite old when I first went to view it.
However, the price was right, and all other signs pointed to a well-maintained vehicle. The soft top had no tears or leaks and the mechanisms to operate it still worked smoothly, the gearbox made no funny noises, and it seemed completely original, which is rare for these cars.
I pulled the trigger the same afternoon and I was a proud new owner of an old MX-5.
Preventative repairs
There were zero issues on my drive home from Pretoria from Johannesburg, the Miata’s 1.8-litre, naturally-aspirated motor running perfectly without smoke or blowby, indicating good health even after nearly two decades of use.
As I do with all my newly-bought cars, I immediately popped the bonnet and started with preventative maintenance to ensure it remains operating smoothly.
The first round included performing a system flush and replacing the oil, coolant, spark plugs, radiator cap, and air and oil filters, which I did myself in less than two hours for under R1,000.
I also took it for an aircon regas, as well as to get the brakes checked up by professionals.
They performed a complete brake system flush, skimmed the discs, replaced all the pads, and rebuilt the two rear calipers which were starting to show signs of seizing.
Next up was rebuilding the shifter, as the mechanism had some play to it.
Since my Miata is quite old and has a large aftermarket following – which is partly what drew me to it – a shifter rebuilt kit was available on Amazon for cheap and only necessitated removing five screws and seven bolts as well as a bit of cleaning, and the entire process took around 30 minutes.
The rebuild took the Mazda’s remarkable little six-speed box from feeling somewhat vague to rock solid, and there is no play left whatsoever.
I’ve also installed new blue coolant hoses as well as recalibrated the engine timing, and it now runs like a dream.
The drive
A few weeks into the ownership of my MX-5, I still catch myself grinning like a child every time I take it out of the garage, which has been every day so far.
It’s not fast by any means, on paper it did 0-100km/h in 8 seconds in 2004 and now it’s even slower, but it’s an absolute joy to drive.
The lightness of the Miata, together with the rev-happy engine and manual gearbox, makes it feel like driving a racecar around a track, even when doing 40 on a suburban backroad.
It also cruises comfortably for example, when on a highway, with plenty of power to pass if you shift down a gear or two.
The wind noise with the top up is not too bad and feels similar to many other small cars on the road. Putting the top down, which only takes undoing two clips and pushing it back, changes the entire feel.
Suddenly you have infinite headroom, the wind passing through your hair, no barriers between your ears and the engine winding up to its 7,000rpm redline, and your commute feels like you’re setting a time-trial record.
I will admit it’s not that practical, but it does have enough space for a grocery run or a few overnight bags and this is all I ever did use my Volvo’s giant boot for.
The cabin is also able to accommodate taller passengers amd drivers, though a trip to the coast may be somewhat tiring.
So far, I’ve been nothing but happy with my purchase of an 18-year-old MX-5 even with all the rain we’ve been having lately.
All in, I’ve put less than R100,000 into the little Mazda, including the price of the car itself, the service items, and the paperwork to get it transferred to my name.
For a daily-driven commuter, it ticks the boxes for fun and cheap, and it’s still significantly more affordable than many of the small boring cars with factory warranties that I could have bought instead.
Keyword: Why I bought an 18 year-old Mazda Miata