Which is a Future Collectible: the Mazda MX-5 or the Toyota 86?

Now is a good time for an ordinary car guy to start his car collection since there are two cars available in the market that fit the description of "future collectible"--the Mazda MX-5 and the Toyota 86. That's because, priced at around P2 million (P1.916 million for the AT-equipped 86 finished in White Pearl, P2.180 million for the MX-5 RF), both vehicles are relatively attainable for everyman. But which one can be called an "instant classic" and is kept by its very first owner longer?

To find out, we first turn to our very own online car portal Carmudi.com.ph where we filtered our search for a used unit--or what is called today as 'pre-loved'-- and this is what we found out:

For the Mazda MX-5, only one 2016 unit is posted with a price of P1.668 million, just over P300,000 less than a brand-new unit for the soft-top AT variant priced at P1.980 million. The two other units listed were older models: a 1996 first-generation MX-5 and a 2008 third-gen unit.

For the Toyota 86, not a single 2016 unit was posted. A telling sign though was that 13 units ranging from 2013 to 2015 are listed.

For the sake of fair play, we also looked at other online car sales portals.

One site had no used-car listing for an MX-5 of any particular vintage whatsoever whereas a search for a used 86 only yielded four units of either 2013 or 2014 models.

We also searched through another site where we found only one 2016 MT-equipped, soft-top Mazda MX-5 listed at P1.4 million and 13 units of the Toyota 86 ranging from the 2013 to 2015 model year.

Granted that the 86 was sold in 2012 which would account for it having a lot of second-hand units in the market, but still, to let go of one that's only around three years old is a telling story: either the joy of owning one has faded or it didn't live up to its promise--or to be more precise based on stories we've heard from its owners, their misplaced expectations on what the 86 supposedly promised to deliver.

On the other hand, the current-generation MX-5 has been around since 2015 and yet there are hardly any second-hand units being sold online which means its first owners are happily keeping it in their garages. And besides, the near-absence of the MX-5 of any model year being sold online also means that even the previous-generation models are still being kept by its faithful owners.

If you had to choose between the two cars, which one would you keep for the long run: the Mazda MX-5 or the Toyota 86?