Mazda Eunos Roadster: PH Fleet

Haters of open top Mazdas look away now, there's some more MX-5 love coming your way

So having driven and rather enjoyed BBR's 268hp Mk3 MX-5 and re-read our previous report on the updated 221hp conversion by the same for 1.6 Mk1/NA models like mine you can probably predict what I've been thinking about of late.

Buzz from Goodwood track day still lingers

There's the small matter of pumping four times the car's purchase price into a power upgrade of course. But since when did logical arithmetic like that come into such decisions.

If I'd ever doubted the scope and taste for modification among my fellow Mazda owners popping along to a Goodwood track day co-organised by in-house MX-5 nut James Hayward as a Mission Motorsport fund-raiser opened my eyes. There were MX-5s with superchargers, MX-5s with turbos, MX-5s with ludicrous aero, MX-5s with ludicrous wheels and - in a couple of cases - MX-5s that seemed to have all of the above.

Now, I enjoyed the BBR car hugely and likewise the lurid 787B celebration Le Mans edition NA I drove for a PH Heroes piece a while back. And it's claimed that original turbo kit remains the best-selling aftermarket turbo upgrade ever sold, BBR shifting over 1,000 back in the day.

The opposite objective to the eco tyres/less grip

Would I put a turbo on my Eunos? Not sure I would. In my introduction to the BBR piece I alluded to the kind of purists who might see forced induction as not in keeping with the MX-5 raison d'etre. I'm possibly one of them but that argument was tested by the GT270 and as a package Neil's car was a blast. But I rather like mine as it is, meagre power output or not. The beauty of the MX-5 is that there are so many around and they're so cheap and easy to play with that each can do to their own and I'd never dare to opine on what's right or wrong. And with my bright orange wheels, frame rail stiffening, Performance 5 suspension and cast-off 'hybrid' exhaust system I can hardly claim purist points for my own car.

Hayward's car is very much to his taste and further down the track route than I'd want for my Mazda but I did enjoy trying out his Omex throttle body equipped car around Goodwood. Were I to look for more power out of my car this is probably the route I'd go, even if the raw numbers - around 150hp against BBR's Anniversary 221hp from the turbo - are somewhat less impressive. It sounds mega though, the high-rev howl more in-keeping with the traditional twin-cam vibe for my money. As I say though, each to their own.

Omex throttle body kit on Hayward's car tempts

It'd still be an investment of more than the car's value (£2,395 including VAT and Omex ECU) for a few more horsepower and, frankly, not especially high on my list of priorities right now. It's a couple of months back now but the buzz from that Goodwood track day I did with mine still hasn't subsided one bit, the lead photo above printed out and pinned above my desk as a reminder of why smiles per hour count more than chasing extra mph or bhp in my book. An honourable standpoint that I'd immediately abandon with the necessary slush fund to indulge in some extra power.

Anyway. With the Eunos tucked up in the garage and enjoying just the occasional outing - a roof down drive back from a party at midnight one frosty November evening a notable recent trip - I'm still of the opinion that the car is just how I want it at the moment.

Which, as anyone knows, is an inevitable precursor to pointless expenditure and fettling...

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: Time to go turbo?

Previous reports:
Dan gets back on track with his Eunos
Wheel refurb goes a bit ... colourful
Just how many wheels for your wagon?
Dan's Eunos loses its horn
Why have one wedding car when four will do?
Look, I was kidding about the downforce, right?
The Eunos returns to Scotland for another road trip
Has Dan killed his Eunos?

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VladD

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295 months