Show us your MX-5
Discussion
I picked up a fairly cheap Mk2.5 at the weekend to use as my daily driver for a while. It's a Euphonic so it already has the necessary LSD. I hate open differentials so not being rotten and having the LSD were pretty much the only criteria I considered. I drive over 60 miles per day on B-roads or smaller mostly with a bit of city driving so I wanted something lighter and less detached from reality to do it in. I had been through a fleet of 6 cars at one point including a TVR Cerbera 4.5 and Jag XFR-S, but a change in income required a reprioritisation of spending so the expensive cars went and I realised I was more into not spending much on cars. I'd love to have the Cerbera back but I wouldn't be so keen on having its annual servicing costs - I recall spending £1000 on a set of brake discs and pads just for the parts - and that's just one example. I had receipts for nearly £14,000 over 3.5 years of ownership and no, nothing blew up - there was no engine rebuild or anything in there - one just doesn't realise how much money such cars can consume.
I have lately been commuting in a 14 year old, 125,000 mile Jag 3.0 V6 which I bought 9 years ago as a temporary car and kinda just never got rid of. The MX-5 gives me options again so should one need time off the road for unplanned maintenance it's not a killer. There are no public transport options where I live ( 4+ miles from nearest village, on top of a hill, with no neighbours) so a private car is an absolute necessity!
This is actually my second Mk2.5 MX-5, having previously owned a 1.8i Sport around 11 years ago. Meanwhile my father's had 2 Mk1 1.8s, the second of which I did a tonne of welding on which is something I'm not too anxious to do again soon!
It came with some of the worst tyres I've ever driven on, and they were mismatched front and back. The car felt imbalanced and showed a tendency to break away suddenly but this is common on s
t tyres so I took a leap of faith that the geometry and bushes were ok. I did around 450 miles on these since the weekend and last night had some fun in a quiet area polishing some more tread off them. Today these tyres were disposed of and it has a new set of winter tyres fitted (I live in northern Aberdeenshire and IMHO anyone on summer tyres should just stay at home in wintery weather). There was no locking wheelnut key and the other 12 nuts were daft shallow things. Also the spigot rings for the aftermarket OZ wheels were missing and 2 of the centre caps were glued on with silicone. Barring the centre caps which will need replacements ordered, the rest is now rectified. The car is driving much better tonight on matching tyres (and not to mention rubber compounds better suited to cold, damp roads coated in salt).
The car had some home-made bracket on the front tie-down eye. I am told this is how ricers like to mount number plates. It matters little now - I cut it away and binned it.
It also had a fake roll-over bar. This is a) dangerous because there's no structural attachment - it's just something to fold over onto me should I ever have a wheels-up-landing in it, b) annoying as it stopped me reaching the roof from the driver's seat to close it and c) adds useless ballast to an already under-powered car. It's now removed. I did cut the brackets off just so I could re-fasten the upper seat belt anchor bolts down in lieu of the OE spacers, which I shall source later and reinstate. The rest of the chromey junk was tossed into a pile that will be skipped in a month or two.
Overall I'm fairly happy with it though. The paint isn't very good, but it seems to have already had new sills. My magnet stuck to all the places I wanted it to when checking the car over including under the floor ahead of the rear wheels, round the lower seat belt anchor points and in behind the front wheel arches etc.
I happen to have in my rather large garage a spare 42,000 mile 3.0 Jaguar V6, so should I eventually replace the X-Type sometime later next year, I may buy the Rocketeer kit for this and treat it to new paint. I have to admit, if I had a time machine I'd do a Terminator and go back in time to kill the person who invented the inline 4 - I hate them. Engines should have 6 cylinders or more, and an MX-5 with a naturally aspirated over-square aluminium V6 sounds really rather splendid. I've done something like 200,000 miles behind those V6s and they are lovely, lovely engines unlike the harsh 4-cylinder under the bonnet of the MX-5 which is the only thing that lets the car down really (apart from an enthusiasm for rusting)...
I have lately been commuting in a 14 year old, 125,000 mile Jag 3.0 V6 which I bought 9 years ago as a temporary car and kinda just never got rid of. The MX-5 gives me options again so should one need time off the road for unplanned maintenance it's not a killer. There are no public transport options where I live ( 4+ miles from nearest village, on top of a hill, with no neighbours) so a private car is an absolute necessity!
This is actually my second Mk2.5 MX-5, having previously owned a 1.8i Sport around 11 years ago. Meanwhile my father's had 2 Mk1 1.8s, the second of which I did a tonne of welding on which is something I'm not too anxious to do again soon!
It came with some of the worst tyres I've ever driven on, and they were mismatched front and back. The car felt imbalanced and showed a tendency to break away suddenly but this is common on s
t tyres so I took a leap of faith that the geometry and bushes were ok. I did around 450 miles on these since the weekend and last night had some fun in a quiet area polishing some more tread off them. Today these tyres were disposed of and it has a new set of winter tyres fitted (I live in northern Aberdeenshire and IMHO anyone on summer tyres should just stay at home in wintery weather). There was no locking wheelnut key and the other 12 nuts were daft shallow things. Also the spigot rings for the aftermarket OZ wheels were missing and 2 of the centre caps were glued on with silicone. Barring the centre caps which will need replacements ordered, the rest is now rectified. The car is driving much better tonight on matching tyres (and not to mention rubber compounds better suited to cold, damp roads coated in salt).The car had some home-made bracket on the front tie-down eye. I am told this is how ricers like to mount number plates. It matters little now - I cut it away and binned it.
It also had a fake roll-over bar. This is a) dangerous because there's no structural attachment - it's just something to fold over onto me should I ever have a wheels-up-landing in it, b) annoying as it stopped me reaching the roof from the driver's seat to close it and c) adds useless ballast to an already under-powered car. It's now removed. I did cut the brackets off just so I could re-fasten the upper seat belt anchor bolts down in lieu of the OE spacers, which I shall source later and reinstate. The rest of the chromey junk was tossed into a pile that will be skipped in a month or two.
Overall I'm fairly happy with it though. The paint isn't very good, but it seems to have already had new sills. My magnet stuck to all the places I wanted it to when checking the car over including under the floor ahead of the rear wheels, round the lower seat belt anchor points and in behind the front wheel arches etc.
I happen to have in my rather large garage a spare 42,000 mile 3.0 Jaguar V6, so should I eventually replace the X-Type sometime later next year, I may buy the Rocketeer kit for this and treat it to new paint. I have to admit, if I had a time machine I'd do a Terminator and go back in time to kill the person who invented the inline 4 - I hate them. Engines should have 6 cylinders or more, and an MX-5 with a naturally aspirated over-square aluminium V6 sounds really rather splendid. I've done something like 200,000 miles behind those V6s and they are lovely, lovely engines unlike the harsh 4-cylinder under the bonnet of the MX-5 which is the only thing that lets the car down really (apart from an enthusiasm for rusting)...
Whoops, I found a good deal locally and have returned to the world of MX5s! 
A very tidy NB RS 6-speed with 72k miles on the clock.
I'm not a big fan of the white wheels so I might look for something else to replace them (I think bronze or darker coloured wheels look better with silver cars) and I'll get the alignment adjusted to my preferred sharper than factory spec, other than that its just nice to be driving one again.
A very tidy NB RS 6-speed with 72k miles on the clock.
I'm not a big fan of the white wheels so I might look for something else to replace them (I think bronze or darker coloured wheels look better with silver cars) and I'll get the alignment adjusted to my preferred sharper than factory spec, other than that its just nice to be driving one again.
Latest update from me before it got taken off the road post MOT for some fettling before summer:
IMG_20200124_103753_621 by Scott Reid, on Flickr
IMG_20200127_001642_163 by Scott Reid, on Flickr
IMG_20200124_103753_621 by Scott Reid, on FlickrIMG_20200127_001642_163 by Scott Reid, on Flickr
![](https://thumbsnap.com/sc/Si4heDre.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="https://thumbsnap.com/2osHeGGD" Target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[img]https://thumbsnap.com/sc/2osHeGGD.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="https://thumbsnap.com/2osHeGGD" Target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[img]https://thumbsnap.com/sc/2osHeGGD.jpg)
Went out for a cheeky night time hoon, but it was too foggy to have much fun so I stopped for a photo instead.
MX5 in the fog by Ben, on Flickr
MX5 in the fog by Ben, on Flickr
Emmons said:
Had a wheel refurb, fitted some skirts and stripes. Roll on summer and more chances to use the damn thing
That paint really needs wet sanding and polishing to remove the orange peel , it could look so much better, if it's not a job you're keen to take on a decent detailer could do wonders. Love the wheels those are looking spot on!!!
snotrag said:
The bottom half of an Mk1 is painted in stone chip type textured paint - that's exactly how it left the factory and looks spot on!
I can understand painting the sills but the area above the side decal up to the swage line is too much for me. Maybe without the side decals the difference in paint finish is more subtle and that's perhaps why I've not noticed it stand out on other cars as much as the pictures make it appear. Gassing Station | Mazda MX5/Roadster/Miata | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff