why won't it die!!!!!!?
Discussion
i bought wifelet a 1993 eunos roadster about 5 or 6 years ago... it had about 30k on the clock and is now approaching the ton (she has a fair old daily commute).
since buying it, she has managed to dent every single panel, lose a wing-mirror, drive it into a ditch, knacker the air-con and on a number of occasions, run it almost dry of oil and coolant...
...but does it die?|... no chance!
in nearly 70k, the car has never once broken down... it has only needed routine servicing and ancillaries (such as new tyres, new brake discs/pads, a new hood and various other bits and bobs.
i was secretly hoping that it would fail it's mot last week so i could buy her a newer mkII model... am i that lucky?... no... it failed on only having half an exhaust, needing a new wiper, worn rear discs (metal to metal.. lol) and a steering rack gaitor... £400 later (cost of mot, replacement parts and a quick oil & filter change... the first in 2yrs / 30k miles!!!!) and it's running sweet as a nut.
no new mx5 for her then (but a nice new tvr chim' for me instead! lol)
the reason for this post is for the benefit of all those thinking about taking the plunge with one of these little cars... in all my years and countless cars, i have never seen anything so tough and mechanically reliable as a mx5...
have fun!
since buying it, she has managed to dent every single panel, lose a wing-mirror, drive it into a ditch, knacker the air-con and on a number of occasions, run it almost dry of oil and coolant...
...but does it die?|... no chance!
in nearly 70k, the car has never once broken down... it has only needed routine servicing and ancillaries (such as new tyres, new brake discs/pads, a new hood and various other bits and bobs.
i was secretly hoping that it would fail it's mot last week so i could buy her a newer mkII model... am i that lucky?... no... it failed on only having half an exhaust, needing a new wiper, worn rear discs (metal to metal.. lol) and a steering rack gaitor... £400 later (cost of mot, replacement parts and a quick oil & filter change... the first in 2yrs / 30k miles!!!!) and it's running sweet as a nut.
no new mx5 for her then (but a nice new tvr chim' for me instead! lol)
the reason for this post is for the benefit of all those thinking about taking the plunge with one of these little cars... in all my years and countless cars, i have never seen anything so tough and mechanically reliable as a mx5...
have fun!
They built them right. My take on it is that Mazda didn't have a lot of money back then. So they built the MX5 whith old tried and tested components (323 engine, and other bits and bobs lying around in the parts bin). They didn't try and be fancy, but kept it simple(and cheap to develop). And it paid off in reliabilty. Fuel economy suffered a little. But who cares!
Did a super job of making it all work well together, when compared to some other contemporary roadsters, that, imho, didn't quite hit the mark - Fiat Barchetta (it's a Punto, or is it the larger one, can't remember), BMW Z3 (it's a 3 series, with the older rear suspension).
Mind you, I think in reality the MX5 got a huge number of MX5 specific parts, it's not based on another platform, the engine, from memory, was 'based' but clearly also different from the 323 Turbo motor.
Virtually indestructable, apart from (fair enough for a car approaching 20 years old) some issues with tin worm, they are simple to work on, a joy generally, and parts are cheap, added you don't normally need said parts that often either.
I hope mine does not self destruct now I've said that...
Mind you, I think in reality the MX5 got a huge number of MX5 specific parts, it's not based on another platform, the engine, from memory, was 'based' but clearly also different from the 323 Turbo motor.
Virtually indestructable, apart from (fair enough for a car approaching 20 years old) some issues with tin worm, they are simple to work on, a joy generally, and parts are cheap, added you don't normally need said parts that often either.
I hope mine does not self destruct now I've said that...
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