2005 Mazdaspeed MX-5
Purchased:  June 20, 2006      Sold:  July 12, 2012
 

Early in 2006 I discovered that Mazda had recently finished a production run on a factory turbocharged Miata, which they were calling the "Mazdaspeed MX-5" (MSM).  As I searched the Internet, I discovered that these limited edition MSM's were manufactured for model years 2004 and 2005 only.  4,000 were produced for model year 2004, and although another 4,000 were planned for 2005, only 1,428 were produced due to a fire at the Mazda factory.  I further read that even though the 2006 MX-5's had been for sale at the dealer's lots for over six months, there were still a few new 2005 MSM's available.

The MSM is the only Miata ever produced with a factory turbocharger, making it the most powerful Miata ever made by Mazda.  In addition to the turbocharger, notable standard equipment includes a 6-speed transmission, air conditioning, and a 225 watt Bose AM/FM/CD stereo system with a built-in 6-CD changer.  The only option offered by Mazda was their GT package; a cloth top and leather upholstery (vs. vinyl top and fabric seats).  After thinking it over for a few weeks, I decided that if I could ever find a NEW 2005 MSM in Velocity Red with the GT package, and could talk the dealer down to a reasonable price, I would purchase the car and sell my 2001 BMW M Roadster!

It took better than six weeks of browsing the Internet and making long distance telephone calls to locate the exact MSM that I wanted within a reasonable distance from our Tucson home.  The car was found at Freemont Mazda in Newark, California (21 miles south of the Oakland airport), about 900 miles from Tucson.  The sticker price was $27,460, but Freemont had actually been asking $29,455!  I searched the VIN on Car Fax and discovered that the automobile had been on their lot for 17 months!  With this information, I was able to negotiate their price down to $22,000.  In retrospect I believe that had I kept bargaining with the salesman, I could have gotten the price down a bit more, but I'm satisfied with the price I ultimately paid.  Of course added to the $22,000 price was CA sales tax, as well as the additional premium I paid to extend the warranty to a full 8 years, 100,000 miles, giving me a final price of $25,500.

6/20/06 I flew to Oakland, was met at the airport by my salesman who drove me to Fremont Mazda, and we closed the deal at the agreed upon terms.  From there I drove 30 miles north to Danville, CA to spend the rest of the day and night at my in-law's beautiful home.  The next morning I began a leisurely and enjoyable 2-day, 917 mile drive with my new MSM through central California and northern Arizona, south to Phoenix, and back to Tucson.

The BMW ultimately sold to a fellow in New Hampshire, who had it shipped from Tucson to his home.  He paid $26,500 for the car, which meant that I was $1,000 to the good after buying the MSM and selling the BMW!  All-in-all, I was very pleased!  :)

After purchasing the MSM, I started reading posts in the Internet's Mazdaspeed Forum.  I was amazed to read that the MSM was fairly easy to modify and that it could be transformed into an VERY powerful automobile without spending too much money.  This is tempting, but many of the modifications could void parts of my new car warranty.  Since my "need for speed" was satisfied with the power offered by the factory turbocharged engine, and since I have an extended warranty which I don't wish to invalidate, I've decided to leave well enough alone.  But of course I had to make a couple of modifications just to keep in practice!  :)  So far I've removed the "baby teeth", replaced the factory MSM shift knob with a Voodoo shift knob, installed an Audiovox cruise control, and replaced the dinky little MX-5 horn with the much more powerful Nautilus compact twin tone air horn.  In the future, I will probably continue to make minor modifications, but of course only those that will not affect my warranty.

If you're interested in more information about production numbers ~ MSM #1 for model year 2004 (the very first MSM) was built January 28, 2004.  #1428 for model year 2005 (the very last MSM) was built December 20, 2004.  My MSM was built November 23, 2004 and is #1190 of their 2005 vehicle production run.  Click 2004 MSM production numbers or 2005 MSM production numbers if you wish to see all of the production numbers in PDF format.

Unfortunately, the original 17" wheel with thin tires make the car look like a motorcycle to me!  Although I know that this style is popular nowadays, I still prefer smaller wheels and fatter tires! This was reinforced when I ran up a 2" curb at 20 MPH and dinged a wheel!  Since I replaced the factory wheels with Chaparral wheels, I get at least one request a month to buy one or more of the original wheels.  It seems that a LOT of MSM owners are dinging their wheels much as I did, unfortunately I've had to tell them all that the original wheels were sold on eBay.  The last four pictures on this page show the car with the new wheels and tires.

To create this web page I took about 275 pictures, but as described in my photo tips page I deleted all but the following 32 pictures.


NOTE:  During 2008, Bill was diagnosed with 4 melanoma skin cancers.  They have been completely removed, but the sun is now Bill's deadly enemy.  Additionally, Bill had a right knee replacement which made it nearly impossible to maneuver into and out of either car.  Because of these facts; on 11/15/08 the 1997 Miata was sold, Bonnie took over the 2005 Mazdaspeed MX-5, and Bill purchased a 2006 Ford Explorer with heavily tinted windows and no sunroof.  The Explorer is actually a nice vehicle, but it is not a fun ride like the Miata!  :(

(Click on picture to enlarge)

Welcome to AA4M.Com!	Top up pictures.	Safety glass with a heating grid ~ sure beats a plastic back window!  :)		The top is heavy duty canvas ~ great for insulation and sound deadening.
Top down pictures.		Our house at the right ~ 3,000 sq. ft. on 1 floor!	As described above, I'm not keen about these original wheels and tires!	Nice big trunk . . . for a sports car!
Convertible top boot.	Wind deflector; one is supposed to take the top down to let in the wind and put the wind deflector up to keep out wind ~ does that seem odd to you?  :)	8" Bose speakers in the door panel with a tweeter directly below the small triangular window.	Comfortable seating with red accent stitching and leather upholstery.	Dual air bags for safety!
Two cup holders.	Fat leather-wrapped steering wheel ~ feels great to me!		Put the metal to the pedal?  :)	Bose radio with a nifty (no magazine) built-in 6-CD changer.  I've replaced the factory shift knob with the Voodoo knob that you see in the picture.
Even the back of the cockpit mirror is red!	I added the small convex mirror.	The back of the passenger's side mirror showing the metal flake paint.	Close-up of metal flake paint.  If you thought the car was red, it is actually reddish orange applied over silver, gold, and yellow metal flake!
	Gas tank lid.	Exhaust tip; the red paint at the upper right is reflecting the gravel driveway.	That's a lot of engine for such a small car!	All shined up and . . .
. . . put away for the night.	The end!
(4+ months later)  I mentioned above that I did not like the big wheels and small tires on my MSM.  So I started shopping around and found a reasonable deal on a full set of Chaparral 15-7 silver wheels and BF Goodrich g-Force Sport 215-50-15 tires.  This is a good combination since I now have my preferred fat tires and smaller wheels, but the diameter of the new tires is exactly the same as the old tires, thereby introducing no additional speedometer error.  Of course younger people will look at this new setup with horror, but more mature people such as myself will like it!  :) November 2, 2006 I installed the new wheels and tires, then took the following 4 pictures:
Now that's a wheel and tire I can live with!	Center cap ~ in 1959, Mazda created this classic center cap logo "hm" to coincide with the launch of its first passenger cars.		Bonnie in her 1997 M-Edition Miata and Bill in his 2005 Mazdaspeed MX-5.

You may use any of the above pictures for any purpose and may do so without giving me credit.  Note that these pictures have been downsized for those with slow connection speeds.  If you'd like copies of the original JPG pictures, send me an E-mail telling me which pictures you want and I'll be happy to send the original pictures to you at no charge!  Also, if you would like html code to add the "zoom-zoom" to your web page, I'd be happy to forward the necessary code.