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i went to look at that 93 se again, this time in daylight. I was ready to buy but after seeing it in the light made me second guess the mileage (46k). The steering wheel, shifter, and mats all had some good wear on them. Drivers mat had hole in middle from foot and worn spot through carpet under hole. Cloth on door looked mint though. So im wondering is this wear normal for an mx-3 se with 46k miles? Or is it possibly odometer rollback? Also, the paint had lots of flecks out of it, bubble looking spots elsewhere. Is this a common probem for the se paint? Looked like a bunch a pencil eraser size chips all over the car, with the bubbles being darker purple color. Anyone know a cost to repaint it? If that wear is normal i will probably buy it cause of the low miles. Thanks for your help,<P>Brian

depends what the car was used for, and how well it was looked after.. mine has 175,000kms.. and is damn near immaculate.. <P>it is possible that this is the wear and tear of 46k miles.. however it is also possible it is not.. <P>get the engine checked out before you buy it.. get a compression test done.. this will let you know a fair bit about the condition of the engine..<P>hope this helps..<P>@ds

supposedly the guy bought it for his wife and she hated driving a stick, so she hardly ever drove it. Then he traded it to a guy for a motorcycle and some cash, now the guy is selling it (~5 months later). Where would i go about getting a compression test done at?<P>brian

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by brooksto:<BR><STRONG>supposedly the guy bought it for his wife and she hated driving a stick, so she hardly ever drove it. Then he traded it to a guy for a motorcycle and some cash, now the guy is selling it (~5 months later). Where would i go about getting a compression test done at?<P>brian</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Go to the Mazda dealership. They know the most about the specific cars. It cost me like $35 to get mine done. Also, do a Carfax ( <A HREF="http://www.carfax.com" TARGET=_blank>www.carfax.com</A> ) report done. It will tell you what the car has been thru. I think it may be like $15 for one, and $20 for unlimited reports. It's alot better to pay $20 now and figure out that the engine is gunna blow cuz it's really got 200K on it, than to spend $3K and another $2K for an engine transplant.

yes get it checked...<p>[ February 13, 2002: Message edited by: 92mx-3 ]

do the carfax report because you can check the miles out that way. I bought my SE with 68k miles on it and was unsure if it was possible because my old 93 rs had 130k miles on it. carfax confirmed it was correct and will also point out any other probs like accidents and stuff.

i had done the carfax report already, unfortunately since there was only one owner it wasnt too helpful since it only showed the first title, then the 2nd issued title which was at ~45k miles. So basically the first owner could have rolled it back before he sold it and carfax wouldnt know. Though the whole carfax thing was valuable, ive checked several mx-3's that i was interested in only to find out they had been totalled or failed emissions checks. Any other suggestions? Another thing, the leather seats were in excellent shape, just a small amount of wear on the left side. The main thing that sent up the red flag in my head was the very worn floormat. Do any of you 5sp owners have the same amount of wear on yours? If so what mileage<P>Brian

i meant one owner till october 2001, then 2nd owner, now he is selling it.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by brooksto:<BR><STRONG>i had done the carfax report already, unfortunately since there was only one owner it wasnt too helpful since it only showed the first title, then the 2nd issued title which was at ~45k miles. So basically the first owner could have rolled it back before he sold it and carfax wouldnt know. Though the whole carfax thing was valuable, ive checked several mx-3's that i was interested in only to find out they had been totalled or failed emissions checks. Any other suggestions? Another thing, the leather seats were in excellent shape, just a small amount of wear on the left side. The main thing that sent up the red flag in my head was the very worn floormat. Do any of you 5sp owners have the same amount of wear on yours? If so what mileage<P>Brian</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Well I have a 92 MX-3 GS 5speed with 45k REAL miles, have all the past Mazda dealership receipts that record mileage on it. According to a receipt, the floor mats were replaced at 1,284 miles because they were coming apart at the seams (extra little reinforced rectangle where heels go). These are the monogrammed floor mats. That owner could possibly have had the same problem with the floormats and never had them raplaced. The current ones I have cannot hold their shape well, they curve too easily when in a position for more than a few minutes and are slightly coming apart at the seams. I abusivly shift in my car and have been since 31k miles and they look decent. If you'd like, I can take pictures of my 44k mile old floormats and email them to you. jon8rfc@yahoo.com<BR>BTW, I had bought my car and had a complete checkup done to prove the 31k miles and they said the motor was in great shape, only needed new motor mounts. You might just have another person that doesn't drive the car much like I did.