people are always asking me about little sports cars which ones are good
dependable today I'm gonna talk about this classic 2001 Mazda Miata check it
out this baby's 19 years old the paint's still in excellent shape now typical the
top store and you got to replace the tops on any rag tops every so often
that's just how it is but look the chrome on a gas cap still in good shape
this thing is an immaculate shake Mazda Miata are the best selling sports
two-seaters of all time we're back in 2016 they saw their millionth one how
did they do it let's go back into history people love British sports cars
but they were very unreliable many times people say Scottie what doesn't somebody
put a Japanese engine in a British sports car well ma so what wasn't better
they made the whole car all made in Japan Check this one out what does it
say man Japan no they didn't do it by even being super fast
these aren't serious race cars although people do race them they have racing
circuits with Miatas wearing all of the same engines and everything so it's more
skill of the driver than the car itself they saw them because they're dependable
fine they're not that expensive eyes when new this thing was about $21,000 at
142 Horsepower it's good horsepower for a little like car like this yeah you go
classic and have a standard transmission you don't really want one
of these in automatic they're dogs the early ones the automatic transmissions
had a tendency breaking when I got older the standards pretty dependable you get
a lot more zipping really they're a lot more fun to drive around with a standard
check under the hood well the sticks gone with this so I'm
gonna have to get my own stick no big deal I got sticks all over the place
easy to work on double overhead cam imagine this is metal this isn't cheap
plastic crap pretty well set up now he did modify it because the old plastic
radiators cracking so he put one of these Mishimoto solid aluminum radiators
smart move since they sold over a million of these things there is an
insane aftermarket for this if you really want to go faster there's a
bolt-on supercharger kit mounts and cheap cost you over a couple grand but
you want to put some extra power in it that's bolt-on power realize the
supercharger can bump this from 140 to 270 horsepower a lot of difference now
if you're serious about that then you're gonna have to do the engine internals on
an old engine like this it could get super expensive too but it can be done
and there's many parts available doing it if you want to go that far but if you
want to have fun as it stands now that's fun with 142 horsepower because it's a
classic rear-wheel drive Sportster engines in the front transmissions in
the middle and the drivetrain is in the back and they're all right top so you
got a convertible if you want and if you pay extra you can get the ones with a
hardtop shell for driving in the winter in places and that you can put
the shell in your garage when you're done and leave it as a convertible and
like I said earlier realize you get any ragtop convertible the convertible top
is a wearing out item it will wear out you want to keep them nice you got to
replace the tops it's not that cheap but that's the life of having a ragtop
convertible and as I said these things they're also dependable the AC on this
thing still blow it's freezing cold the engine strong the transmission strong
and this is texas so hey no real rust got a few dings where people got mad and
bashed in here and there we'll take it for a little ride yeah we
go inside it's 19 years old you can see seats out some wear and tear on them
they can always be done over or put covers if you want well snare up typical
old japanese car start showing up fancy stereo system you might as well I mean
like I say there's a big aftermarket for these things those things got some
mileage on 178,000 lap and the check engine lights on which I'm gonna fix
later but as you see when it takes off it still got some zip to it
they make a nice little putt-putt sound and they do handle really well these
things are made for cornering the tech nice tight corners now of course it's a
short wheelbase of course car it doesn't ride all that Creek no small
sports car has that great of ride they're made for handling they're not
made for long distance trips unless you like bouncing around a lot
for nineteen years old this thing is still a lot of smiles per gallon driving
it and if you keep them pretty much stock like my customer has they can be
very dependable very cheap maintenance car stick and go quite some time get
good gas much but still have some fun without shelling out a ton of money I
know a lot of guys say oh those are girlie sports cars hey it's not purely
like an old Volkswagen Beetle that they don't make anymore that look like a push
pram for pushing babies around it pretty much English sports car style design
except it starts and it doesn't break down all the time like the English ones
did and if you look at the prices of them 2020 a brand new one starts at
26,000 this one was twenty one thousand thumps twenty years ago they ever raised
the price all that much and it's got 181 horsepower a little bit more than this
one has it's still affordable and to me I had a lot more fun when I pay less
money for something that if I paid more and you can see the quality I mean and
the paint on this thing still is excellent shape they build them
correctly in Japan and yeah the rag tops a little bit worn but check out this
Mazda had class glass window in the back I hate those rag tops with those cheap
plastic ones that crack and look like junk you want a glass window it's gonna
hold up so much longer look so much better picture it's an economy sports
car you know it's got some class and it's got your big tac and speedometer oil
pressure gauge it's a nice car for what it is it's fun to drive like I say it's
a two-seater nobody can fit in the back of this baby
but that's what it's made for none of this BS electronics with a convertible
top you just don't snap the thing haha look
at that don't worry about an electronic crap braking and a coaster with the
Mercedes his metal convertible top broke it costs them thousands to fix that
stupid thing look at this flip we're talking nothing
to get it off and put it back on look I want to pull it back up I reach back
pull it on snap in place that's it why on earth would you need more technology
than that for a little two-seater convertible
brilliant design still works nineteen years later with no money spent on
thousands of dollars for motors and like trying to controls that most modern
convertibles have no I do have to sound more a motorcycle guys and a little
sports car guy but if I was a little sports car guy I certainly would buy one
of these things to Tory around and they're too much fun for such a low
price used so not yet all the truth about Mazda Miata sports cars why they
may be the absolute best sports car used car you can buy and here's some bonus
questions and answers 247 says hey Scotty what do you think of a 2003
wrangler 4-cylinder 143 miles it's a decently reliable for weekend
beach trips four-cylinder i'm so it's an automatic transmission it's probably on
the end of its lifespan you can find mechanic like me to check it out that
was before fiat took over chrysler they were making a little bit better than as
the mechanic says it's okay and you're only gonna use it on a weekend for beach
trips don't pay much for it it's not worth much I would add
4-cylinder automatic that's worth practically nothing if you can get it
cheap enough and the mechanic says it's okay for now and you're only gonna put a
few miles on it you could try but me I wouldn't about is your money now whatever
you want was but definitely have a mechanic check it out before you even
think about buying that thing could be the guy selling it because it's got an
engine or tranny problem and it's on its way out you don't want to buy one of
those they need to be throwing good money after bad fixed on it if it was
you know $3,000 transmission or a $5,000 engine job you wouldn't want to get
involved in that how are those Young's gone says a 2012 Nissan Sentra
check engine lights on has code P Oh 101 alright there's a part on the car called
the mass airflow sensors it measures how much air goes of the engine so the
computer knows how much gas to spray into the engine to match the air for if
you're lucky you take off the mass airflow sensor and you could clean it
with mass airflow sensor I've got a video just type clean mass airflow
sensor Scotty you'll see exactly how it's done simple job can be done with
can of maf spray cleaner cost you seven eight
bucks it's easy to do if that doesn't solve that odds are knowing Nissan's
you'll need a new sensor and you can get them at places like autozone and
stuff relatively cheaply enough and they just bolt on and bolt off unhappy a call
there's no reprogramming you don't need to pay a mechanic like me to reprogram
it when you plug it just plug in and you drive the thing try cleaning it first
thought you might save a lot of money doing that rather than buy another one
Charlie's trying hard sell I got an 05 Mazda 6 v6 I need a radiator and it's
all buried deep in the front end is it gonna be a really hard job well actually
not it's not like a more modern car where sometimes the radiator and air
conditioner condensers all one-piece and they gotta take the air-conditioning
system part it's a pretty simple car the main thing is take off the upper and
lower radiator hoses have drain pan to catch the crap and you take the plastic
shroud and the electric cooling fans off and get them out of the way and once you
get them out of the way it's pretty simple they're just a couple bolts
holding the radiator swings and comes out you got to take if it's it automatic
transmission you gotta take the cooling lines off they just unbolt them they
come off too but it looks a lot worse than it actually is now there's some
vans at oh man you gotta Jack the van up in here and you got to pull the radiator
from the top under the bottom to get it out but that's a pretty easy job it just
looks bad once you start taking those parts off like I said you'll see once
you get that shroud off but the cooling fans it's a pretty simple job it's not
that hard on
so if you never want to miss another one of my new car repair videos, remember to
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