Step son decided first car will be MX5

[chris watton]

My 18 year old step son is taking driving lessons, and last night, he decided (and after checking insurance quotes) that a 1.6 MX5 (MK2) would be a good first car.

I also helped with this decision, as I think it is a good car to learn to properly drive, rather than the standard Clio's.

Now, I did tell him that if he buys one, I will get a Quaife LSD fitted for the car, as we have one in both the TVR and MG, and the extra traction is quite a revelation - and I think would be a good upgrade for the MX5.

What about suspension? I am assuming that the standard set up would be a little tired on a car over a decade old, so what would be the best mid-range coil and spring set?

I don't want the car to have any more power for now, so are there any other decent handling upgrades to be had?

Cheers

[chris watton]

Cheers.

I am assuming insurance will be unaffected as, if possible, the suspension I may want to replace would be close to like for like. All I want is for the car to handle as well as it did fresh from the factory.

[chris watton]

MX-5 Lazza said:

In that case just fit some new springs. The shocks should be fine, they don't tend to wear out.
As for the dif - it would be much cheaper to fit a TorSen dif from a 1.8. A Quaife in a 110bhp 1.6 is a bit of overkill. Not so sre it's needed at all for a 1.6 though. All it will realistically do is add to the drifting fun. Traction won't be much of a problem on a 1.6 with open dif.

Thank you

I will see how he gets on after fitting new tyres (if needed) and geo checked.

I like the Quaife because, although overkill in most situations, we do live out in the sticks, with 5 miles of twisty B-Roads before reaching an A-Road. Over the winter, the roads can be quite bad. The Quaife would be purely for those situations, when it's needed most (It's why I had one fitted to my wife's MG - but I was so impressed, I had one fitted to my Tamora!)

Have always liked the MX5, and I'm pleased my step son wants one - I put him off an MG as they are a pain to work on, whereas the MX5 isn't, and is a perfect introduction to sports cars, I think.

[chris watton]

Are there any good online shopping websites for the MX5? I have found this one:

http://www.mx5parts.co.uk/index.php?gclid=COKS77Gi...

Anything better?

[chris watton]

vx220 said:

Anything not Mazda or pattern replacement will increase his insurance, and noticeably so

Cheers, can you still buy standard MK 2 shocks/springs, though?

ETA - Just checked, it appears you can....

Edited by chris watton on Wednesday 10th September 15:34

[chris watton]

skinny said:

have you looked into the cost of the quaife diff? you're looking at £800 just for the internals. and it's a gear-based torque biasing unit, the same as a stock TorSen diff, which you can pick up for under £300 as a complete diff in the housing - honestly, i can't see it being significantly better. i'd certainly start with that before committing to upgrade any further.

stock suspension might be a little tired but the mk2 bilsteins are pretty hardy.

I know - I have already bought two of them (Quaife ATB LSD's) and had them fitted

However, he may go for a 1.8, which has the TorSen diff?, so I'll see how that pans out (insurance only £300 more!)

[chris watton]

OK, cheers,

So the general consensus is leave the car alone, otherwise the insurance would be a killer, no matter what the upgrades may be?

[chris watton]

OK, to be clear, I thought the Quaife LSD would be a good idea because it makes the car a little more predictable, especially on rain-sodden windy B-Roads that we have around here in the Forest of Dean. It was the reason I chose to fit one to my wife's MG (even though she never seems to go over 4k revs...).

I was very surprised at how it transformed the traction. I was so impressed that I just had one fitted in my Tamora diff. I know that 99% of the time it is perhaps not needed when driving normally. However, it's good to know that you have that extra bit of traction if and when it is needed - and can't wait to try both the TVR and MG on a track day at some point - and in time, my step son too in his MX5.

I never once considered the LSD as a 'go-faster' feature, but more of a safety feature - a mechanical, rather than electronic form of traction control.