Friday 14th February 2014

MX-5 at 25: Time For Tea?

Resistance is futile; 25 years ago this month a certain little Mazda was born

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It's easy to be envious of Jay Leno's incredible collection of cars and the means he has with which to indulge it. But it's very hard to fault his sincere enthusiasm and open-minded approach. Sure, he was among the first to drive a P1 and has an F1 of his own alongside many other amazing cars. But he looks just as happy tootling about in his NA Miata as he does in any of his more exotic cars. Car snob he is not. And this little vid bringing together project talisman Bob Hall and designer Tom Matano is just beautifully pitched. Yes, reverential, yes, proud (not without reason) and, from Leno, full of heartfelt enthusiasm.

Matano, Hall and Leno look back a Miata history

Hell, he even manages to enthuse about the whole Miata/MX-5 thing without coming across like some boorish evangelist. No claims about it changing the world or being the last world in driving dynamics. It's just a fun car, end of. Blimey, even Harris might be won over by this... You there Chris?

(And, yes, this anniversary is going to be celebrated properly. Haters weren't going to get off that lightly!)

See here.

 

[j_s14a]

• goes off to look at mk1 (NA) MX-5s... *

I've been considering one of these recently, I'm especially forn of the M2 'Cafe racer' versions.

[mattman]

Had a UK 93 MK1 1.6SE black and tan a few years back, ABS was standard - oooh - lovely car, still one of the most fun we've owned

[tombstone]

I've had several now, and Mk1's still a great drive today, even compared to more modern and expensive cars!

[j_s14a]

A good link here on the various M2 cars.

http://mazdaroadster.net/showthread.php?12-M2-CORP...

[Liokault]

I love my 1990 car, drove it as a daily for years, even when I was commuting 150 miles a day. Can't bring my self to sell it now

[ambuletz]

There's also this video done by autoblog.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-dN4kVGPT8

a shame they didn't spend more time looking around that mazda car park!


And here's a little celebratory speech from mazda.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ip_iK4mfSF4

[Furyblade_Lee]

Everyone should bag a decent MK1 with LSD for £1,500 while there is still a few clean ones left, tuck it away for prosperity but occasionally bring it out to blow off the cobwebs. And marvel at the good old days when you could actually drive a car at 10/10ths, bouncing off the limiter, heel and toe down a manual gearbox, drift around roundabouts and 2nd gear corners with no annoying driving aids reeling in the fun with the top down, wind in your hair. Just because you can for fifteen hundred quid. Because cars like that are few and far between. And laugh at when most people years ago thought they were crap and just for girlie hairdressers!!

[juansolo]

I still stand by that it's all the sports car you need for UK roads. I've had two and keep looking for another. Shame the Mk1's are all so leggy/rusty now.

[Munter]

I miss my mk1.

[MG CHRIS]

Furyblade_Lee said:

Everyone should bag a decent MK1 with LSD for £1,500 while there is still a few clean ones left, tuck it away for prosperity but occasionally bring it out to blow off the cobwebs. And marvel at the good old days when you could actually drive a car at 10/10ths, bouncing off the limiter, heel and toe down a manual gearbox, drift around roundabouts and 2nd gear corners with no annoying driving aids reeling in the fun with the top down, wind in your hair. Just because you can for fifteen hundred quid. Because cars like that are few and far between. And laugh at when most people years ago thought they were crap and just for girlie hairdressers!!

Agree apart from tucking it away. Nothing worse for a car than being sat for long times not moving.

Ive had 8 over the last 3 years 3 to break for parts, 1 is now a kit car, 1 daily, 1 sold to my mate and got a limited edition Berkeley which needs new rear arches this will be for sale come may.

Great little cars that are so much fun even on the commute to work, specially with a few mods. Brilliant to have the roof down in the summer and great fun on the mountain roads. The fuel economy is the only down side to them and the rust.

But some companies are starting to import fresh mk1s from japan due to the demand for them. So grab them while they are this cheap before prices start to rise again like the mk1/2 escorts did back in the 90s.

[Webby39]

My mk 1 "classic" edition has performed without fault for four years, it has been the cheapest form of car transport I have ever owned. Close to zero depreciation, very possibly showing signs of going up in value already. Far more fun than the Leon FR which is our family car, although no where near as quick. This little car makes us smile and as such I think we will keep it for years. Good ones are disappearing now, even the imports have been subjected to too much road salt and the rust on the arches and rear sills is affecting them. Get a rust free one and enjoy penny pinching fun for a few years, great little cars :-)

[em177]

Munter said:

I miss my mk1.

I miss all 9 of mine!! :'(

[V8RX7]

Seems a bit strange that they are talking about standard MX5s and then driving Jay's which clearly is heavily modified including a supercharger.





Albeit mine is supercharged too and faster than Jays

[MarkRSi]

Liokault said:

I love my 1990 car, drove it as a daily for years, even when I was commuting 150 miles a day. Can't bring my self to sell it now

Well given that it appears to be in a dark cupboard underneath a load a crap and on it's side you might have difficulty shifting it....

[BeirutTaxi]

I own a Mk2 and it works well every day. Pretty good ride, good visibility, excellent heater and all the controls are easy.

It's hard to think of anything I would rather have for the money. Is it the perfect car dynamically? No. But then its easy to find the limits of grip at low speed and it feels faster than it is. Engine is a lovely thing too, raw and loves to rev.

[Gorbyrev]

Got to love Jay, a proper petrolhead. His videos are a weekly must for my viewing. What a collection of almost everything. Can't grudge him a Jackson supercharger on his MX-5 - wouldn't you if you could?

[RDB]

Furyblade_Lee said:

Everyone should bag a decent MK1 with LSD for £1,500 while there is still a few clean ones left, tuck it away for prosperity but occasionally bring it out to blow off the cobwebs. And marvel at the good old days when you could actually drive a car at 10/10ths, bouncing off the limiter, heel and toe down a manual gearbox, drift around roundabouts and 2nd gear corners with no annoying driving aids reeling in the fun with the top down, wind in your hair. Just because you can for fifteen hundred quid. Because cars like that are few and far between. And laugh at when most people years ago thought they were crap and just for girlie hairdressers!!

This pretty much sums up why I bought one (other than the tucking it away bit!). I paid under a grand for mine but I will need to spend a bit to get the rear sills sorted in the spring.

[Bobdenero]

RDB said:

Furyblade_Lee said:

Everyone should bag a decent MK1 with LSD for £1,500 while there is still a few clean ones left, tuck it away for prosperity but occasionally bring it out to blow off the cobwebs. And marvel at the good old days when you could actually drive a car at 10/10ths, bouncing off the limiter, heel and toe down a manual gearbox, drift around roundabouts and 2nd gear corners with no annoying driving aids reeling in the fun with the top down, wind in your hair. Just because you can for fifteen hundred quid. Because cars like that are few and far between. And laugh at when most people years ago thought they were crap and just for girlie hairdressers!!

This pretty much sums up why I bought one (other than the tucking it away bit!). I paid under a grand for mine but I will need to spend a bit to get the rear sills sorted in the spring.

I bought a Mk1 last Summer for just £850, it was owned by an enthusiast who had sorted the rust issues on the arches and sills, its a 1.8 UK car with leather and it runs and goes perfectly, in fact it came with a hardtop which i sold for £300, a strut brace which went for another £10 and a private plate which should be worth another couple hundred!
For the fun of driving its the best car I have ever owned, a list that includes a 911sc, 993, two 944's, 205 gti, Impreza sti and wrx. as others have commented you dont have to be driving stupid fast to appreciate and enjoy it.
I have no intention of selling mine

[suffolk009]

Just about to do the 250,000th km in mine.

It needs a bit of rust attending to, and paint and a hood repair, but it has been - by a long margin - the most reliable, and most enjoyable car that I've ever owned. I've owned it for the last seven years.

It's the perfect second, or third, or even fourth car!

[GravelBen]

I've had two and loved both of them - one fairly standard (rollbar, chassis braces, 15" wheels + ditchfinders) and one very modified 250+ bhp turbo one on semislicks, adjustable suspension etc.

I plan to have another at some stage, will probably go back to a standardish one though - the turbo one was brilliant but straight into licence-losing territory if you even looked at the accelerator and only really came into its own on track, the basic one was just big cheesy grin fun everywhere. Remarkably good gravel car too! A Mk2 RS might be a good in-between balance.

Edited by GravelBen on Saturday 15th February 09:15