MX5 for longish commute?

[Herman Toothrot]

In your case i'd advise the opposite to normal and get a UK car with taller gearing, that distance everyday with a JDM 4.3:1 diff will do your head in (or make you cruise at far lower speed than you would normally to keep the revs down).

[Wigeon Incognito]

I do 60 miles a day in a UK '98 Mk 1 1.8iS and have no problems whatsoever.

In fact, last week I drove 2700 miles around Europe (650 miles just yesterday) and haven't felt a single ache or pain nor have there been any annoyances.

[tuttle]

Herman Toothrot said:

In your case i'd advise the opposite to normal and get a UK car with taller gearing, that distance everyday with a JDM 4.3:1 diff will do your head in (or make you cruise at far lower speed than you would normally to keep the revs down).

That is a very interesting point. Much of this commute is actually on quite nice curvey A&B roads with probably only 50 miles (round trip) of mway slog. So possibly a Eunos will be fine here, initially I had more of an inclination to go the import route, insurance & such not being such a problem at my great age!
I'm not really very well versed in diff ratios etc, so any good info is welcome here. Any idea of the kind of revs a JDM Vs a UK MX5 would be pulling at say 70 & 80mph in top gear?

Edited by tuttle on Monday 15th October 16:46

[speedychrissie]

tuttle said:

Any idea of the kind of revs a JDM Vs a UK MX5 would be pulling at say 70 & 80mph in top gear?

my eunos Mk1 is at about 4k rpm at about 80 in 5th. i dont tend to cruise any faster than that for noise and fuel consumption.

[NiceCupOfTea]

From memory my 1.8 Mk.1 Eunos is pulling about 4krpm at 80mph. Wouldn't want to cruise any faster TBH.

Didn't realise UK/JDM cars had different diff ratios - presumably this affects 0-60 and top speed?

[Munter]

Sounds the same as my UK 1.8is. 4000rpm @ 80mph. The loudest thing on mine is the loose heat sheild that rattles very loudly at 70mph. So to shut it up I have to go a bit faster...or slower...[cough]

edit:I think the "really sporty" imports have the different diff. The ones with strut braces and bilsteins etc.

Edited by Munter on Monday 15th October 18:52

[MX-5 Lazza]

My Mk2.5 1.8 Sport is doing 3500rpm at 80mph

[GHW]

Munter]Sounds the same as my UK 1.8is. 4000rpm @ 80mph. The loudest thing on mine is the loose heat sheild that rattles very loudly at 70mph. So to shut it up I have to go a bit faster...or slower...[cough said:

edit:I think the "really sporty" imports have the different diff. The ones with strut braces and bilsteins etc.

Edited by Munter on Monday 15th October 18:52

Mine's a an early Mk1 1.8 sporty import with the strut braces and bilsteins, and it still does 4000rpm @ 80mph. Rumour has it that they changed the ratios a year or two after mine was built though..

[skinny]

i think mine is a bit shorter than that - around 4200rpm or even a bit higher at 80 from memory on a 91 UK model. little bit low geared for teh motorway perhaps but you get used to it.

Edited by skinny on Tuesday 16th October 15:36

[Herman Toothrot]

I don't know which ones have the variations but 4.1:1, 4.3:1 and 3.6:1 exist I'm told// sure i've read about, I think although could be wrong late S-Spec & rs-ltds have the 4.3:1 diff so are the lowest geared. Mine is one of these, speedo only goes to 110mph but i've redlined it in 5th and the speedo needle seems to only be about where 125 / 130 would be.

I get fed up cruising at anymore than 65/70 on motorways due to the high revs I'm quite sure 70mph is about 3700rpm. Means theres no such thing as lag on the motorway though, so thats one bonus

[DennisTheMenace]

one of only a few cars i can get in and do large miles with no aches

[R8FUN]

To be precise my MK1 does 76mph @ 4000rpm (Road Angel GPS)
In other words stick at 4000 & plod wont bother you.

[Planet Claire]

I've used my car as a daily driver since the first day I got it, and I've done a lot of miles - roughly 86k in just over 5 years.

Since moving house at the beginning of the month I'm now doing 30 miles to work (and then obviously back again), two-thirds are motorway. I've been monitoring my fuel comsumption over the last two weeks and have clocked up the following:

318 miles, 41.5 litres => 34.8mpg
327 miles, 42.87 litres => 35.5mpg

Not bad really!

[MX-5 Lazza]

Yeah, but you drive like a woman

[Herman Toothrot]

my turbo has returned 30.2mpg over the last 6500 miles.

[davvler]

I bought an MX5 FOR the commute. Sold my boring 6 month old 206 to make the 1hr 40 min journey more 'fun'. Anyone who says they are too loud are too old and have never owned a Mk1 Peugeot 106 - that was tyre noise. I find its no problem, even with no hard top.

[Planet Claire]

MX-5 Lazza said:

Yeah, but you drive like a woman

Cheek!

But I am driving like a right f@nny at the moment to keep the petrol costs down!

[NiceCupOfTea]

GHW said:

Munter]Sounds the same as my UK 1.8is. 4000rpm @ 80mph. The loudest thing on mine is the loose heat sheild that rattles very loudly at 70mph. So to shut it up I have to go a bit faster...or slower...[cough said:

edit:I think the "really sporty" imports have the different diff. The ones with strut braces and bilsteins etc.

Edited by Munter on Monday 15th October 18:52

Mine's a an early Mk1 1.8 sporty import with the strut braces and bilsteins, and it still does 4000rpm @ 80mph. Rumour has it that they changed the ratios a year or two after mine was built though..

Mine is a Mk.1.5 ('94) 1.8 S-Spec (Bilsteins & strut brace)... Who knows? Mine is noisy as hell at speed but I have a vinyl roof (happy with it as it's easier to clean) and crap tyres (Michelin Pilot SX) which are about 9 years old!