Bought my 16 yr-old son an MX-5
Discussion
Well, more correctly it's a 1990 Mazda Eunos imported from Japan with 120+K miles on the clock. We paid £1100 for it.
He's just started an engineering BTEC course and I thought it would be good 'hands on' engineering experience for him to prepare it for track days and drifting. He can't drive it yet but starts learning in two months time. I've been helping him work on it and we are making good progress. We have both learnt lots! He's getting more competent with the tools (which was the whole point) and we have started tackling some bigger jobs. Water pump replacement and camshaft timing belt are next on the list.
We have already done one trackday to test it out. I was quite impressed with the little car really. It's a lot slower than my Fisher Fury R1 but it was a lot of fun on track. Between us we are maintaining his website on progress and work done here: http://ethancollingridge.com/MX5/ (something else he is learning)
Quite a long way to go yet buy it has been money well spent. I'm not really investing in the car but in my son's education. It's brought us closer together too :-) And it has kept him off the PlayStation for long periods over the summer holiday!
Already planning our next track day :-)
He's just started an engineering BTEC course and I thought it would be good 'hands on' engineering experience for him to prepare it for track days and drifting. He can't drive it yet but starts learning in two months time. I've been helping him work on it and we are making good progress. We have both learnt lots! He's getting more competent with the tools (which was the whole point) and we have started tackling some bigger jobs. Water pump replacement and camshaft timing belt are next on the list.
We have already done one trackday to test it out. I was quite impressed with the little car really. It's a lot slower than my Fisher Fury R1 but it was a lot of fun on track. Between us we are maintaining his website on progress and work done here: http://ethancollingridge.com/MX5/ (something else he is learning)
Quite a long way to go yet buy it has been money well spent. I'm not really investing in the car but in my son's education. It's brought us closer together too :-) And it has kept him off the PlayStation for long periods over the summer holiday!
Already planning our next track day :-)
I don't mean to be a party pooper and I know the car wasn't bought just to be driven but any idea what the insurance for that is going to be like when he passes his test?
Might be worth getting a quote now pretending he is 17 and has literally just passed. If it is expensive now you know what to expect by the time he passes.
This is of course no problem if it is not intended to be his first car as well as a learning tool/hobby but it read that way to me a bit.
Might be worth getting a quote now pretending he is 17 and has literally just passed. If it is expensive now you know what to expect by the time he passes.
This is of course no problem if it is not intended to be his first car as well as a learning tool/hobby but it read that way to me a bit.
The car is taxed and insured for me to drive on the road at the moment. Insurance for me is <£100 as I'm old ;-) Road tax is a bit more though. The plan is to SORN it after this initial year is up and not to insure it or drive it on the road. It might be hard to insure anyway as we are stripping it out and fitting a roll-bar, race seats and harnesses, etc. It will be put on a trailer and taken to events.
He will have to learn in something else, which will be much cheaper to insure.
Rob
He will have to learn in something else, which will be much cheaper to insure.
Rob
This is 100% something I would like to do with my son, it is something I did with my dad when I was younger, we had a mini, and bare metal stripped it and built it up again, taught me loads about basic mechanics, what parts do and also brought us both close together during the difficult teenage hormonal years.
actuall, we still do things like this together now with my brothers, latest example being we have imported a full air suspension kit and have allocated a weekend to put it on my brothers 08 5 series...
none of us have ever done it before, should be erm.... interesting...
actuall, we still do things like this together now with my brothers, latest example being we have imported a full air suspension kit and have allocated a weekend to put it on my brothers 08 5 series...
none of us have ever done it before, should be erm.... interesting...
Similar experience with my dad, he gave me free reign to pick a car upto £2k (for my 16th in 1998) ... he was into his fast fords and had a Sapphy Cossie as his daily at the time. I however was going to be using this instead of the quad on their caravan site so plumped for a 1986 Suzuki SJ410. Totally stripped it, cut the roof off, roll bar, loads of chequer plate and a 3" lift kit. Taught me loads on driving styles, centres of gravity, high and low ratios etc... Top Dadding!!
I had thought about garaging something like a good condition mx5 for my daughter for when she is older (2 in a couple of weeks) as a cool first car but unsure of the likelihood of keeping an mx5 for another 15yrs as a garage queen once resto'd
I had thought about garaging something like a good condition mx5 for my daughter for when she is older (2 in a couple of weeks) as a cool first car but unsure of the likelihood of keeping an mx5 for another 15yrs as a garage queen once resto'd
That's woodbridge aint it from that photo was there on the 11th of this month for the javelin sprint series.
If and when he passes and you pair fancy some timed sprint events without the msa cost then highely recommend the javelin sprint series. Can run 2 drivers per car so be good to have some competition between the pair of you. There is one rd left this year at snetterton if you yourself fancy trying it out first.
I run a mx5 as a daily and track a mev exocet turbo which is a mx5 based kit the market is huge for mx5 tunning and upgrades, everything you could possible need is within a few miles of you someone near by will have parts.
Good luck and have fun with the car and track events hopefully we may bump into each other at one point do keep us updated on it though.
If and when he passes and you pair fancy some timed sprint events without the msa cost then highely recommend the javelin sprint series. Can run 2 drivers per car so be good to have some competition between the pair of you. There is one rd left this year at snetterton if you yourself fancy trying it out first.
I run a mx5 as a daily and track a mev exocet turbo which is a mx5 based kit the market is huge for mx5 tunning and upgrades, everything you could possible need is within a few miles of you someone near by will have parts.
Good luck and have fun with the car and track events hopefully we may bump into each other at one point do keep us updated on it though.
I miss my Roadster so much - all grown up now with a big company car and sensible mini mpv on the driveway 
all at the age of 27!
Fantastic way to introduce your son to cars and spend some quality time together too. I think, without wanting to be a party pooper, you can forget being able to insure your son on it (for road use) until at least 21 though! With 4 years NCB and a clean license I was looking at a 4-figure sum and this was over 5 years ago!
all at the age of 27!Fantastic way to introduce your son to cars and spend some quality time together too. I think, without wanting to be a party pooper, you can forget being able to insure your son on it (for road use) until at least 21 though! With 4 years NCB and a clean license I was looking at a 4-figure sum and this was over 5 years ago!
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