Thursday 13th November 2014

Mazda Eunos Roadster: PH Fleet

As thoughts stir of moving the Mazda on Dan goes for a drive; swiftly changes mind

---

There comes a point in the ownership of every car where you have that 'I'm really not getting my money's worth out of this, it's probably time to move it on...' moment. And here's yet another benefit of running a car whose value wouldn't score you a sat nav upgrade on a typical exec saloon. You have to go a long, long way down that road before it becomes a serious consideration.

Hibernation would be a shame, right?

Having optimistically backed the Eunos onto blocks so I could get the jack under it and work on that sticking rear brake the weather broke, incentive to sit on wet tarmac in the freezing rain somewhat took the wind out of my spannering sails and the Mazda languished on the driveway looking a bit sorry for itself. And I wondered if the time was approaching.

Then came my race in the Birkett Six Hour Relay in one of Jota Sport's NC MX-5s and two consecutive days of driving up to Silverstone. Never a chore, my hour-ish back road route to the track one is of my favourite local drives and now finely honed to miss out the few bottlenecks and 30 limits. The Mazda hadn't been out for a bit, it was just me going up on the Friday practice day and it seemed appropriate to turn up on-brand and so I charged the battery and set forth on a blustery and rainy autumnal morning, roof optimistically stowed.

And had one of the best drives I've ever had on that route, one that's added at least a year to the Mazda's 'life' in my hands, if not more. Looking back, in the previous few weeks I'd done that same drive in a Ferrari 458 Spider, a lovely old Porsche, Matt's SEAT and that rather surprising Polestar Volvo to name but a few. And the Eunos put the biggest grin on my face by a fair stretch despite being the slowest by a significant margin.

Back among friends for the Birkett Six Hours

I know, the last thing PH needs is some more doe-eyed Mazda evangelising from me. But tough. I think the winning formula with this car is performance not measured in quantity but how appropriate it is for the roads and conditions. I can confidently say I drove that car literally as fast as it would go for a significant proportion of that journey and yet remained within sensible sight of the posted limit. I made an awful lot of noise. I changed gear probably far more than was strictly necessary. I hammed up unnecessary double-declutched downshifts at every opportunity. Did a couple of little skids. And just had an absolute whale of a time.

Then it tanked it down while I was on track and, with the roof up, not a drop of water leaked into the car. And as darkness fell and the skies cleared the roof went back down and I had one of those utterly blissful night time convertible drives along deserted B-roads that just makes utter sense of owning a car like this.

And, like a stuck record, I just come back to how little money it cost me.

Bloody fantastic it is.

---

Fact sheet:
Car: 1993 Eunos Roadster (JDM import model)
Run by: Dan Trent
Bought: January 2011
Purchase price: £1,250
Last month at a glance: Roof down in the rain? Don't mind if I do!

---

Previous reports:
Has Dan killed his Eunos?
The Eunos returns to Scotland for another road trip
Look, I was kidding about the downforce, right?
Why have one wedding car when four will do?
Dan's Eunos loses its horn
Just how many wheels for your wagon?
Wheel refurb goes a bit ... colourful
Dan gets back on track with his Eunos
The answer to everything?
More exhaust noise? Don't mind if I do...
Skidfoolery at Silverstone on the eco tyres
Er, more skidfoolery at Silverstone on the eco tyres!
Hibernation? Not for this Eunos!

[muckyman]

Damn you Dan!
I've just about talked myself into selling my little 5 due to lack of use (same as yours but with a few massive PH smiley stickers) and this article comes along and makes me doubt my decision :-/
Will have to rethink now.

[NDNDNDND]

That sounds a lot like my drive to work - 40 miles down windy roads, roof down in all weathers and lots of noise, unnecessary gear-changes and the odd tailslide!

Five years of ownership and I've no idea what else could be such a laugh and yet ju-ust practical enough to drive two-up to Le Mans...

Cue the PH massive saying how they're over-rated etc, etc and the epitome of driving pleasure is a chipped 335d etc, etc...

[RacingBlue]

I sold mine three days ago due to lack of use and general bodywork issues, and I've already got a hankering for another (better) one.

[Jimmy No Hands]

Wish I had not have sold mine last year, had bloody Meister R coilovers on, a stainless cat back and some sort of different manifold, really fancy another sometime soon. It did try to kill me a few times in the wet, but I put that down to my useless driving. Such a fun little car.

[suffolk009]

After 6 years, 5 European road trips, and 150,000kms, I have finally found something that the little Eunos does not do too well: Really steep hills at high altitude.



Here it is parked up for a coffee next to the glacier on the Furka Pass. Despite it's lack of power, it was still great fun.

[sanctum]

"performance not measured in quantity but how appropriate it is for the roads"

Couldn't agree more.

Modern big fast cars are all well and good, but at legal UK road speeds they're utterly boring. The only fun you can have is the 0-60 traffic light dash.

Small cars, thin tyres, great brakes and a stiff chassis with just enough power to break traction exiting a corner.

[cianha]

Just sold mine at the weekend.

I read this, then spent 20 minutes rocking back and forth in the corner whispering "What have I done?".

I'm OK now though, honest…

[HorneyMX5]

With you on the winter night top down blasts Dan, I think I prefer them to hot summer day top down blasts. Not driven mine since the SS on sunday, I might have to take it out for a cheeky blat tonight.

[egor110]

RacingBlue said:

I sold mine three days ago due to lack of use and general bodywork issues, and I've already got a hankering for another (better) one.

had did it compare to your puma?

they're both rated for there handling and being fun chuckable little cars, similar size ages and similar rust problems

[HorribleGit]

I go through moments of wanting to sell my MX, but then have a great drive and it's good for another year. Just put the hardtop on it as it is now raining permanently, makes it much much nicer in winter.

[egor110]

How much money are we looking at to have sills repaired on a mx5?

Most i see have rust issues but is it a big deal?

[X5TUU]

blasting along in the rain
blasting along in the dark ... both with the roof off

for me these are the absolute total best bits of owning a cabrio in the UK

[GordonRS200]

This is exactly how I feel about my Saxo. It's underpowered, slow, noisy and rattly, but (trackday equipment aside) it owes me absolutely nothing. People ask me why I've kept her for so long when there's so many other faster things I could use for trackdays (and getting to work for that matter...) and I start to agree while I rattle my way uncomfortably to work on the Monday, but, when that slightly damp track day comes round it's such a fun, chuckable little thing which you don't mind chucking around because it's effectively 'disposable' for the money, I fall right back in love with it again.

The Altezza is a great drive round the local Bs on a nice clear saturday, and driving my friend's E46 M3 round Donington in the wet was all good fun, but still had an air of "this could get expensive" about it.

Yay for cheap, fun motoring.

[GordonRS200]

egor110 said:

How much money are we looking at to have sills repaired on a mx5?

Most i see have rust issues but is it a big deal?

My friend is currently going through this with his Eunos RS. Apparently £80 for a new sill panel plus the labour to weld it in place (if you can't do it yourself), then paint.

[Evo]

Don't apologise, I firmly believe pound for pound it is one of the best looking, handling fun cars out there, the Mk1's still look so nice. I don't think a modern sportscar has got the power to weight to fun factor any better.

[HorneyMX5]

GordonRS200 said:

egor110 said:

How much money are we looking at to have sills repaired on a mx5?

Most i see have rust issues but is it a big deal?

My friend is currently going through this with his Eunos RS. Apparently £80 for a new sill panel plus the labour to weld it in place (if you can't do it yourself), then paint.

A good specialist in these cars will charge approx £300 a side for a fix that will last for a good many years.

[RacingBlue]

egor110 said:

had did it compare to your puma?

they're both rated for there handling and being fun chuckable little cars, similar size ages and similar rust problems

Speed wise, probably about even. The '5 has a far superior driving position, but the Puma the better engine.

I'd probably go with the Puma (purely as I've owned a standard and a racing one), but the '5 still good fun - it just takes a while to gel with it, whereas the Puma is fun from the word go.

[suffolk009]

GordonRS200 said:

My friend is currently going through this with his Eunos RS. Apparently £80 for a new sill panel plus the labour to weld it in place (if you can't do it yourself), then paint.

I had to have a sill done. £150 including paint. I'm saving up for the other side now.

[Whiters]

egor110 said:

How much money are we looking at to have sills repaired on a mx5?

Most i see have rust issues but is it a big deal?

I paid about £600 all in for both sides on my NB not too long ago. As another poster said, get a decent bodyshop to do it and it should last for years.

[Countersteer]

I came into a little money back in September and went through that 'is it time to ditch the Eunos' moments. Took my limit to ebay and surfed through allsorts of S2000's and Porsche Boxster S's, a few 2+2's just for variety amongst others and I came to the conclusion that I could buy something else..... but for why? For something different and then face crippling service costs and consumables. You know I kept the Eunos. Now: turbo or supercharger??

Would've been tempted by an AW11 or an MR2 Woodsport V6...