pyrus

I am currently looking for an FD...I have found a few decent ones....one had 15,000 miles on a rebuilt motor and is being sold for $15000 and another one with 91,000 miles for $12,900. Now I am wondering what mileage is too high? Should I try and wait to find an FD with under 80k miles...i do want to stay under $20,000....thx!

moconnor

iTrader: (14)

Christ - for $20k you can have almost any FD. Ignore all the silly ads on Autotrader or on this board asking $18-25k for cars with close to 100k miles. It took me several months to figure out that these prices were unrealistic.

If you have up to $20k to spend, I would recommend spending $16-17k for a very low mileage one (condition should be close to mint in this price range) and spend $2k or so on maintenance and reliability upgrades when you get it.

There are a reasonable number of FDs out there still with around 30-40k miles, but you will probably have to pay $16-17k or so for one of these and it may take a while to find one. For $15k you should be able to find a decent car (perhaps with a recent rebuild) with under 70k miles.

casus_belli

On any given day there are 200+ FDs on traderonline. Many want way over Blue Book. Maybe they can get it: but I wouldn't pay that much - not when there's many many sellers that are more in touch with reality. Let's face it, apart from the few of us with more mechanical ability than common sense, there aren't too many people looking for a 10 to 14 year old headache.

How long it takes you to find a good one depends on how fussy you are about color and trim. You should be able, especially this time of year, to find one with ~50k miles for between $14k and $15k. That's the "Retail" Blue Book range. A private seller should expect the retail price to be the best that he can get. Heck, you may even find some dufus who's gotten his *** engaged. Future wife's piece of mind should knock it down a couple grand.

Be very very weary about a claim of low mileage on re-built engine. Something made the first/second one go. All the stuff that could have caused it went right back on the re-man core - driver included.

Snook

iTrader: (12)

you want a 94 or 95 and the lowest miles possible getting one with the stock engine is going to be your best bet because nothing was tampered with

however its a tough call if it has slightly more miles with a new or rebuilt enging it'll have to depend on who did the work

sonix7

I bought mine Dec. 93 in philly, I am in colorado for $18,000 its a black touring model with 39,000 original miles and in mint condition from an private exotic car dealer. it was owned by two people ever. had been under the care of a Mazda Master Rotary Mechanic its whole life and had service records for anything and everthing. had the tranny replaced , all tsb's done, I mean you name it. They were asking at the time $21,000. negotiate. they are going to tell you they have someone that has looked at it and is coming back, they will tell you they have better offers. just stick to your guns. you will get the one you want. if possible get a 94 or above. just better to work with than 93's. my advice is keep looking and find the one you want, exactly. for that much money on a 11 year old car you better be 100% happy with what you bought. hope my story helps.

PhoenixDownVII

Very very very Good advice. Didn't read this often when i was looking for FD's but luckily for me, Surgemonster (who's also got good advice here) pointed me in the right direction.

I was told to hunt for 94/95, preferably close to stock, reliability mods if any, and with original engine and turbo's. My car had 56k when I bought it.

She runs fine and hasn't let me down, do it right the first time, with your budget, you can find a 40-75k stock (or near stock) FD and do it to it. Good luck, hardest part is FINDING one..

scotty305

iTrader: (2)

Bought my 94 with 44k miles on it, original engine, original turbos. This was a year ago, I've put 10k on it and it's still treating me well. Paid $16k at a dealership.

-s-

casus_belli

Past, Present, Future - to help u put things in perspective.

FD #1 : 93 Touring - Black/Tan,spoilers, timer 18k miles paid $19k - 7/97
- totaled 10/97
FD #2: 94 PEG - Blue/Tan stock - 16.5k miles paid $18.5k - 12/97
- Engine @ 77k miles (coolant seal front - cooked housing) 11/02
- Engine @ 87k miles - rotor bearing - bad reman 10/03
Garaged one year (was Lazy) reman from Maloy this time have 800 miles
on it - SMOOTH - even idles right
FD #3: TBD - Want Black auto 94 - PEG, expect top pay between $9k & $11k for
one that's puffing sweet smelling white smoke (e.g.) but is otherwise
excellent. Engine transplant is no problem by now

alberto_mg

there have been a few threads along these lines over the years.

seems like everyone that has posted thus far has made some pretty broad generalizations.

When looking for an FD you really need to take the whole package into consideration - mileage, mechanical condition, physical condition, age of replacement parts, state of modification, time line of expected failure etc. etc.

I don't know why some people insist that a 94-95 is better? The differences are so minor that its almost meaningless. The 94-95s did have some slightly better interior components and better paint. I think it was 4 interior peices in total. However, age and maintenance equalizes this. I've seen my share of beat to crap 94s and pristine 93s. I've never actually seen a 95...

As for mileage, the original motor on my car went at 35k miles back around 1996. So buying low mileage doesn't really mean as much as some people make it out to be. I remember reading that MANY of these cars had blown their original motor by 50k miles which was why Mazda subsidized the prices of replacement motors for these cars. Some people (usually original owners) have gotten 100k+ miles out of theirs and I'm sure that came down to the maintenance and driving style of the owner.

I would definitely be leary of a car with a brand new motor or 1,000k break-in miles b/c you might be inheriting someone else's headache at that point. It probably blew due to poor tuning or running too much boost. Neither of which are good signs.

When I was looking (looked for a year), I checked out a bunch of "low mileage cars" and found very few worth their price. Many felt weak, some had low compression, some had low vacuum, some were blowing smoke, some were poorly modded, blown suspensions, some reaked of fuel, some flooded etc.

The two extremes (bone stock vs. totally modded) were the scariest. Consider a bone stock low mileage car with 50k miles. It has the potential of needing a lot of work soon (replace vac lines, fpd, new motor etc.). With the ones modded to the gills, you need to worry about whether all the parts work well together, whether it has been professionally tuned to be reliable with those mods and how much the stress of running those mods will decrease the life span of the associated mechanicals.

You can go and buy a 50k mile car (and pay a premium for it) and still have the risk that the coolant seals is going to crap out soon and you need a rebuild. I certainly didn't want to pay more for a car that I would be on the line to invest another $4k (parts+labor) on a new motor in a year or two, plus a new clutch, plus other wear items.

This isn't as much of an issue with other cars as they don't suffer from the FD's achilles heel - tight, hot engine compartment and insufficient factory cooling system.

Conversely, I also wouldn't go with a high mileage car that still has a lot of its original components unless I was getting it at a price that took into account how much money I'd have to drop into it.

I think a higher mileage car that has been properly maintained, upgraded with good reliability mods, with low mileage on the motor (maintenance records are a real plus) can be the safest bet and give you most bang for the buck.

Another option, which is the one I wound up taking, could be to look for a "project" or non-running car that has some upgrades. If it is going for the right price and you have time to wait to rebuild it, you could build it to your spec and tastes and be assured of its reliability and overall quality. Overall, I have about $17k in mine.

I see you are in NY. If you are in the NYC/Long Island area and need a second set of eyes when looking, drop me a PM.

Good luck.

papsmagu

iTrader: (19)

My opinion.....buy an FD for about 10-12K and then use the other 8-10K to rebuild the engine how you want it. this way you have a re-built engine to the specification that you desire