Car question
 

Okay, so I need to get a decent car for work because my old one pretty much blew up on me and I can't drive a demo forever, apparently. They have this one at work that I really dig, it's a 2000 Mazda Miata with a soft top, manual with about 100k miles on it. I took a basic look at it and everything seems fine, drives pretty well and what not, but I am not any sort of expert.

Has anyone ever owned one of these? Good idea, bad idea?

seems like a lot of miles on the car

It is. I'm generally pretty frugal about my financial stuff, but I want something that even if I only get 5k~ out of it I'll have a good time. At the same time, I'd like to get real life out of it, if I can.

And thank you, Merc. The is pretty much what I was thinking about.

Well if I would give my 2 cents I would not buy it. To poor of a record. The used Subaru is a much better car. They are actually hard to find on the used car market because they are so popular. We bought one for our college aged daug a few years ago.

I'll look into it. I'm basically wanting a small convertible with good gas mileage that's fun to play with on weekends.

Also, to give you an idea of what I'm looking at here, they only want about $4k - $5k for this thing. That's a pretty decent deal, even if it is a little fucked.

Well I just would not want to turn around and have to drop 2 or 3 grand on it to make it right. We have done that with two cars for our kids (not the subaru) and I don't think I ever want to do that again. I would rather pony up the 8 grand to get something that will never have to be towed or leave one of my kids stranded without transportation.

It's a chick car.

I had a friend that had one. he got side swiped by a tractor trailer in a snow storm. he bounced back and forth between the truck and the concrete median enough times to dent all 4 sides of the car, but it never rolled, and he drove out of the collision.

girls will like to ride in it, too.

go for it.

Ahh, the crux of the matter...
reliability? No
economy? No
Value holding? No
safety? No
Will it pull chicks??? YES

Mazda Miata has reliability ratings for 2001 models that are competitive with Toyota. Only part that has average reliablity is its transmission.

100,000 on the Miata would be equivalent to about 40,000 on a GM product. Miata is also listed in Consumer Reports in "CR Good Bets" for used cars. Also useful is that no Mazdas appear in the "CR Bad Bets" list.

Cited as reliable used cars are the 1999 MX-5 Miata in the $8000-$10000 category, the 2000 MX-5 Miata in the $10K-$12K category, and 2001 and 2002 MX-5 Miatas in the $12K-$14K category.

100,000 is not much mileage among those who have long since divorced themselves from the high failure GM mentality - cars designed in the accounting department.

Once, one would buy used cars at 40,000 miles. Today, same reliability is found in 100,000 mile cars. That assumes the car is not using 1968 and 1978 technology engines in their year 2000 models.

Okay, so after reading all this, it seems like getting this car at $5k is a pretty good deal since it's what I'm looking for. I think I'll pick it up at the end of the month, take it to the mechanic and have them do about 2k~ of restorative work on it and give it a new paint job. I could probably even drop a new transmission in it (unless it's somehow just perfect still) and stay under what I would expect to ordinarily pay.

Thanks, folks. If I do get this and everything works out I'll take some pictures of me zooming around in it and post 'em here. :D

Nitpick: it's a manual, it doesn't need a new transmission. It needs a new clutch. But that's cheaper.

That's not nitpicky, that could save me a lot of money. Thanks, UT.

I might not have to spend too much money to bring this thing up nice, that's a relief.

Well, it depends. If it was abused by someone with poor shifting skills, it might need a new transmission too. But you would know that from a test drive, because it would be very difficult to get it into gear.

I strongly recommend you invest a few hundred dollars in an independent inspection. I've learned to do this - especially when buying from dealers - and it certainly saved me from a major lemon once.
Down Under, the Automobile Association provide this service. It is a little expensive, but trivial compared to the cost of, say, an engine rebuild. Best of luck.