The $5,000 Mecum Miata
Think you need a huge budget to buy a car at a Mecum collector car auction?
Think again.
Our 2010 Mazda MX-5 Miata Grand Touring joined the jamzDOTnet collection in one of the most fun ways we’ve ever purchased a car. We went to a Mecum Auction with a budget of just $5,000, and instead of me deciding what to buy, I gave Jack an important job:
Pick out a car.
He picked the Miata.
We bid on it.
And we won!
That’s how a 2010 Mazda MX-5 Miata Grand Touring unexpectedly became part of the jamzDOTnet collection.
Going to Mecum With a $5,000 Budget
Mecum auctions are filled with incredible cars. Muscle cars, Corvettes, exotics, trucks, classics and six-figure collector vehicles regularly cross the block.
But I wanted to find out something different:
Can a regular enthusiast show up at Mecum with $5,000 and actually buy something fun?
Rather than simply walking around looking at cars we’d never bid on, we registered to buy and started searching for something that fit our budget.
There were plenty of possibilities, but I decided to make the experience even more interesting by letting Jack help choose the car we’d go after.
His choice was a Mazda Miata.
It turned out to be a pretty good one.
We Won the Miata!
There’s something completely different about buying a car at a live auction.
Once the car comes up, everything happens quickly. The auctioneer is talking, bids are coming in, the price is climbing, and you have only seconds to decide whether you’re still in or you’re out.
In our case, we stayed in.
When the bidding stopped, we were the winning bidder on a 2010 Mazda MX-5 Miata Grand Touring.
We actually did it.
We went to Mecum with a $5,000 budget and came home with a car.
More importantly, we came home with a car that’s genuinely fun to drive.
Why the Mazda Miata?
There’s a reason the Mazda MX-5 has become one of the most loved sports cars in the world.
The formula is incredibly simple:
Small car. Low weight. Rear-wheel drive. Manual sports-car philosophy. Convertible top. Just enough power.
Rather than chasing huge horsepower numbers, Mazda designed the MX-5 around balance and driver involvement.
Our 2010 belongs to the third-generation MX-5, commonly known as the NC Miata, which was produced from the 2006 through 2015 model years.
The NC is larger and more substantial than the original NA and second-generation NB Miatas, but it retains the basic philosophy that made the MX-5 famous.
It’s a car designed around enjoying the drive.
2.0-Liter Four-Cylinder Power
Under the hood of the 2010 MX-5 is Mazda’s 2.0-liter DOHC four-cylinder engine.
It produces approximately 167 horsepower with the manual transmission, or approximately 158 horsepower when equipped with the automatic transmission.
Those numbers might not sound particularly impressive in an era when family SUVs can have 400 horsepower, but horsepower isn’t really the point of a Miata.
The car weighs roughly 2,500 pounds.
That relatively low weight means the Miata doesn’t need enormous horsepower to be entertaining. The engine is mounted up front, power goes to the rear wheels, and the chassis was engineered to deliver balanced handling.
It’s the classic sports-car formula.
Rear-Wheel Drive Done Right
One of the best things about the MX-5 is that Mazda never tried to turn it into something it wasn’t.
It’s a two-seat, rear-wheel-drive roadster.
The driver sits low, the car is compact, and everything feels much more connected than it does in a typical modern vehicle.
Put the top down, find a winding back road and suddenly the horsepower number doesn’t seem very important.
That’s what makes these cars so much fun.
You don’t have to drive ridiculously fast to enjoy one.
The Grand Touring
Our Miata is the Grand Touring, placing it toward the top of the 2010 MX-5 lineup.
The Grand Touring added some of the comfort and convenience features you might want in a car that’s going to be used regularly while maintaining the lightweight roadster character of the Miata.
Depending on configuration and options, Grand Touring equipment included features such as leather-trimmed seating, heated seats, automatic climate control, upgraded audio, fog lights and additional interior appointments.
That makes it a great combination for us.
It’s still a small, lightweight sports car, but it’s comfortable enough to actually take somewhere.
2010 Mazda MX-5 Miata Specifications
Generation: NC, third generation
Model Year: 2010
Trim: Grand Touring
Body Style: 2-seat roadster
Engine: 2.0L DOHC 16-valve inline-four
Displacement: 1,999 cc
Horsepower: Up to approximately 167 hp
Drivetrain: Rear-wheel drive
Seating Capacity: 2
Wheelbase: Approximately 91.7 inches
Overall Length: Approximately 157 inches
Width: Approximately 67.7 inches
Curb Weight: Roughly 2,500 lbs., depending on configuration
The numbers tell part of the story, but they don’t really explain why people love Miatas.
You have to drive one.
A Different Kind of Car for the Collection
The jamzDOTnet collection has plenty of unusual vehicles.
There are old Land Rovers, trucks, classics, projects and vehicles that occasionally require a questionable amount of optimism just to get them home.
The Miata is different.
It’s small.
It’s simple.
It’s inexpensive to enjoy.
And most importantly, it’s fun.
Sometimes the most memorable car doesn’t have to be the rarest, fastest or most expensive vehicle in the garage.
Sometimes you just need to put the top down and go for a drive.
More Than Just a $5,000 Car
The best part of this car isn’t necessarily what we paid for it.
It’s how we bought it.
I could have gone online, searched for a Miata and bought one from a private seller. Instead, Jack and I went to a Mecum collector car auction together, walked through the cars, picked something out, stood there while it crossed the auction block and actually won it.
That’s a memory attached to the car forever.
Years from now, it won’t simply be the Miata.
It’ll be the car Jack picked at Mecum.
That’s worth a lot more than the winning bid.
Proof You Don’t Need a Fortune to Enjoy the Hobby
Collector cars can get incredibly expensive, and watching televised auctions can make the hobby look like something reserved for people with enormous budgets.
Our Miata proves that doesn’t have to be the case.
We went to one of the biggest collector-car auctions in the country with $5,000 to spend and left owning a genuine rear-wheel-drive sports car.
No, it’s not a six-figure muscle car.
It’s not an exotic.
It’s not a museum piece.
It’s something better for what we wanted:
A car we can actually drive and enjoy.
And because Jack picked it out, this little Mazda has already earned a special place in the jamzDOTnet collection.
Welcome to the collection, Mecum Miata!