Strange that the high standard you require from the written journalism you consume is in no way reflected in the prose you deliver.

More than happy for you to share your opinions on anything I write, although it would be handy if you supported them with some more rigorous analysis, and also took the time to understand the semantics of the 'blog' as opposed to the magazine article. Given how agitated my work makes you, it might be wise to steer clear of it for a while.

But I'm slightly at a loss as to what you've contributed to the MX-5 debate - that being the reason for this thread.

Do you like them? Do you agree that they're overrated? Would you have an MR2?

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I took ownership of a MK2 mx5 a couple of years ago via a friend who was emigrating, it'd never crossed my mind to actively seek one out before, but it thought "what the hell!" It was sub 2k to buy, costs under £200 pa to insure so wasn't exactly a costly proposition. At the time I had an Alfa GT selespeed for my daily driver and a Sharan V6 4motion for lugging the kids etc. Both OK cars but neither what I would term as inspiriational. The mx5 quickly took over as my daily, 40k miles over two years, never missed a beat and never failed to raise a smile, even if confronted with a lengthy late drive home. In fact, it inspired me to lower my general outlay on cars and now resides beside a 94 E320 coupe (and inevitably the Sharan!) Obviously even 2 years down the line I continue to be ridiculed by mates, but I can take it - hell, I've even been known to wear a pink floral shirt!

Fat fingers and crap keyboard do not help. You're right I've contributed nothing to this thread, so here's my thoughts.

Any company that produces rear wheel drive open top driving for the masses cannot be dismissed as you originally did. Not all of us will mortgage up to the hilt to get our dream car and for many this is the only way into a light weight sports car with RWD.

There are not many options now, lots of cars available now remove the driving pleasure completely. I myself drove an TTRS recently and felt like it was ok, quick, but not as fun as my RX-8.

What I think is missing why people buy them, why ppl now spend a grand on a MX-5, spruce it up (many old MX-5's will need new parts) cheaply and then they have an almost perfect light weight RWD sports car.

I'm just an odd shape to fit in a Mk1 properly...

No.

Curse my comically short arms...

Mr Upside-Down Head doesn't get the opportunity to take the piss very often.

Let him have his moment in the sun.

>plots<

I think it is quite difficult to take modified MX-5's out of the equation when you are dealing with a car like this, the oldest of which is now fast approaching a quarter century old. With the need to replace knackered bits, an active owner community and tuning scene, modest standard performance, and the sheer cheapness of the car wiping out any concerns over loss of value by modding, I would imagine even the most outwardly standard cars have non-OEM or different spec parts on them somewhere, or else properly shagged original bits such as dampers that don't, and bushes that have turned to cheese.

It's probably quite a challenge to find a mk1 nowadays, as with any other 20+ year old car) that drives exactly as a typical example did when new. And I believe the MX-5 is also very sensitive to geometry setup.

I like the idea that was posted earlier in this thread about the car being a blank canvas. It provides you with a cheap, light-ish front engined, RWD platform, with sound basic engineering a given. It is then up to you whether you just blat about in it as is and enjoy yourself, or chuck a bit of money and effort at it, and make it faster, pointier, grippier, slidier, whatever. The point being, the base platform is ripe for whatever you decide to do, and the base car will cost you about the same as a major service plus a set of pads and discs at a Mercedes dealer.

If it's not too much to ask him to revisit the car and his thoughts AGAIN, I would like to see Chris do a proper road test of a well modded example (perhaps forced induction), with properly set up geometry. I wonder if the extra grunt and optimal settings would appeal more. I take Chris's point that modded examples of cars are not normally relevant, but the 5, for all the reasons above, is a car that does get modded in big numbers, and therefore reflects the reality of the experience for most owners.

Just my fourpenneth.
Cheers

This, the 17th post has nailed the all-important question. And will we see Mr Harris behind the camera for a Neal road-test in the 599? Or should we wait for April 1st?

And to gloss over the rest - nice side-step of a definition between sportcar and Roaster - what do EVO (etc) say on that in their section at the back? Also - point taken on the modification bits. What if the mods were OEM+ stuff?

Getting out of a 599 and into an MX5 must feel like getting out of Halle Berry and into Bella Emberg ?