Who's taking their 5 off the road this winter?

[Gilhooligan]

Hi all

Ive got a fairly rust free mk1 which I took off the road last winter and gave it a good lick of paint and underseal whilst it was up on axle stands, so its all nice and shiny under there.

But that time of year has come again when our roads get inundated with a mega dose of sodium chloride, which has me wondering if its worth it to buy a 'shed' for winter transport? What with last winter being so mild (I only got two opportunities to abuse the handbrake in my £400 Ka ) and my car all sealed up, how bad will driving it through this winter be for my 20 year old piece of Japan's finest?

Being a student, if I bought a winter shed this year I'd probably not have much - if any - money to spend on mods for the mx5.

So what is everyone else doing?

[St. Anger]

How much would you spend on a shed?

How much would you spend welding underneath if you ran the mx5?

IMO, just run the mazda!

[MX-5 Lazza]

I have a Mini as well as the MX5 but I still use the MX5 all year around, I just don't use it in bad weather.

[Gilhooligan]

St. Anger said:

How much would you spend on a shed?

How much would you spend welding underneath if you ran the mx5?

IMO, just run the mazda!

A few hundred quid

A few hundred quid

Yeah I'll probably just have to wash it every week and hopefully go sideways everywhere this winter haha.

[Eighteeteewhy]

Mines staying on, I've taken my M3 off the road. I have got a Pug 205 diesel that I can use if it the weather gets really bad though.

[Digby]

I always did.Never enjoyed it as much in crud weather anyway and just couldn't see much point in chucking something old and precious out into the cold.I always have a selection of snotter motors for that (another hobby of mine!)


It will definately be off the road again this winter, seeing as it's in my garage written off.

[mneame]

Just putting mine back on the road. I missed what little good weather we had. If I leave it any longer I'll get bored and sell it.

[KelWedge]

With a choice of a V6 2.6 Auto RWD Omega and a TVR Wedge 4.6 RWD the Mazda is King!

[PlayersNo6]

I don't drive mine over winter. Frustrating as I'd like a second, fun car that I can use in all weathers. Z4 maybe?

[Richair]

Mine is coming off the road again this winter. Last winter I welded up the Swiss cheese sils and this winter I will be adding power, but not in the conventional mx5 way

I have my mk2 golf gti for winter fun!

[jamhow79]

PlayersNo6 said:

I don't drive mine over winter. Frustrating as I'd like a second, fun car that I can use in all weathers. Z4 maybe?

Just spent the last 2 years in a z4 after deciding to "upgrade" from an 04 plate mx5. Worst decision ever, they drive like crap compared to the mx !
I always likened it to having a page 3 girl for a mrs, looks great when your out and about but nothing going on upstairs when you want a proper conversation. Stick with the 5 seriously .....

[Probbie]

My Mk1's coming off the road at the end of the month. I'm lucky enough to have a second car, but the main reason is that I don't quite trust myself with RWD in poor conditions just yet.

Plus it will be in a garage which I don't normally have access to, so I should be able to get some of my odd jobs done. Reading the comments on Dan's blog did make me think twice, but I think I'm better storing her

[Gilhooligan]

Well despite convincing myself that keeping the 5 on the road this winter I've ended up buying a 100 quid honda civic. Plans are now to poly bush the 5 over the next few months .
Anyone else who has taken theirs off the road doing anything to their '5 whilst its not being used?

[thecremeegg]

Ran mine all last winter, was fine apart from the heater being piss poor! Will probably use the missus's Yaris more tbh, much nicer in the rain!

[MG CHRIS]

Im putting mine back on the road next week rwd with winter tyres and a lsd in snow can't wait. Will be taking my kit car of the road for a full rebuild.

[Bitofbully]

Spend what you'd have spent on a winter hack on a spare set of wheels and winter tyres.

I'm running my Spider all winter - the winter tyres are going on next weekend.

[MX-5 Lazza]

thecremeegg said:

Ran mine all last winter, was fine apart from the heater being piss poor! Will probably use the missus's Yaris more tbh, much nicer in the rain!

Really? In that case I suspect it needs a new thermostat. MX5s have amazing heaters that can almost melt the soles of your shoes! If yours is "piss poor" then something is wrong.

[Gilhooligan]

Well everyone, after writing this topic and convincing myself that it will be ok to drive my 5 through the winter, I've went and bought a winter runabout haha. A guy at my work knew someone who was wanting rid of a honda civic and was only wanting £100 quid for it.

I'm kind of glad I'm going to be able to keep the 5 off the road as I live in a semi rural area where the roads are almost constantly full of mud from farmers fields. Plus the bushes on my 5 seem to have disintegrated after 5 months of installing rock hard coilovers.

So it looks like I'll be spending yet another winter on my back in the driveway hitting my head off the underside of the car and swearing at rusty bolts, let the polybushing commence!

[St. Anger]

Have you already bought the polypushes?

If not, have a read up before buying them, my mate has a fully poly kit on his '5, couple with the coilovers it's a back breaking ride... Perhaps a set of new standard bushes would be better?

Civic looks pretty good, can't argue for £100!

[MGZRod]

Unfortunately a **** of a salesman in a Juke has taken mine of the road for good