2006 Mazda MX-5 NC 2.0 Sport
Discussion
Interested to keep updated with this thread - I owned a 2.0 NC a few years ago which I enjoyed.
I concur with all of the advice on sealing the scuttle drains and clearing the drain tubes behind the seats. I had wet carpets and the scuttle solution was an instant fix.
Rust was a problem with mine even though mileage was low; at 9.5 years old and 26k miles (IIRC) - and a full Mazda service history - I even managed to get Mazda to honour the 10 year corrosion warranty and the car was fitted with 2 new rear wings. It transpired that the one previous owner had lived in a seaside town, so I figured that probably accelerated corrosion.
In the end, I got rid and moved on to a Polo GTI because I wanted something more suited to daily driving. I do have an itch to scratch in buying another one though so I look forward to updates.
I concur with all of the advice on sealing the scuttle drains and clearing the drain tubes behind the seats. I had wet carpets and the scuttle solution was an instant fix.
Rust was a problem with mine even though mileage was low; at 9.5 years old and 26k miles (IIRC) - and a full Mazda service history - I even managed to get Mazda to honour the 10 year corrosion warranty and the car was fitted with 2 new rear wings. It transpired that the one previous owner had lived in a seaside town, so I figured that probably accelerated corrosion.
In the end, I got rid and moved on to a Polo GTI because I wanted something more suited to daily driving. I do have an itch to scratch in buying another one though so I look forward to updates.
K68 said:
Hi geraintthomas. I owned that MX5 from around 2012 to 2016 and only sold due to more seats required. I can confirm that the car never missed a beat during my ownership. The car didn't have the bass speaker when I sold it or any internal panels cut. The suspension was slightly lower than it is now as the previous guy to me had the geometry professionally set up, it was a cracking ride. Enjoy the car.
I totally missed this. What a great thing to read! Glad you enjoyed it, you'll have to have another drive at some point.Evoluzione said:
Something for you to aim for:
https://www.mazdaontrack.co.uk/donington-park--tra...
Weather permitting that will be a good day, to say the least
Very nice! I'll keep an eye on that and may pop along. That price isn't bad either.https://www.mazdaontrack.co.uk/donington-park--tra...
Weather permitting that will be a good day, to say the least
Dyl said:
Interested to keep updated with this thread - I owned a 2.0 NC a few years ago which I enjoyed.
I concur with all of the advice on sealing the scuttle drains and clearing the drain tubes behind the seats. I had wet carpets and the scuttle solution was an instant fix.
Rust was a problem with mine even though mileage was low; at 9.5 years old and 26k miles (IIRC) - and a full Mazda service history - I even managed to get Mazda to honour the 10 year corrosion warranty and the car was fitted with 2 new rear wings. It transpired that the one previous owner had lived in a seaside town, so I figured that probably accelerated corrosion.
In the end, I got rid and moved on to a Polo GTI because I wanted something more suited to daily driving. I do have an itch to scratch in buying another one though so I look forward to updates.
Luckily the previous owner had consistently cleared the drainage holes so there's no sign of damp anywhere. But the scuttles are something I'll look at next for sure.I concur with all of the advice on sealing the scuttle drains and clearing the drain tubes behind the seats. I had wet carpets and the scuttle solution was an instant fix.
Rust was a problem with mine even though mileage was low; at 9.5 years old and 26k miles (IIRC) - and a full Mazda service history - I even managed to get Mazda to honour the 10 year corrosion warranty and the car was fitted with 2 new rear wings. It transpired that the one previous owner had lived in a seaside town, so I figured that probably accelerated corrosion.
In the end, I got rid and moved on to a Polo GTI because I wanted something more suited to daily driving. I do have an itch to scratch in buying another one though so I look forward to updates.
Had chance to clean up the pad retaining clips. They were quite worse for wear, and some were bent so far out of shape that I had to spend quite a while reshaping them. Whoever changed the pads has made a complete mess of them as there were small fins bent back on themselves stopping the pads moving.
Before
Nice and shiny
All cleaned up.
After I greased them (and the pads), I put them back in. The pads could now move around far easier and relatively unhindered. Where I pushed the piston out quite far to judge the condition previously, I needed to push it back in. I took my trusty caliper winding tool and put it onto the caliper, took the cap off the reservoir, started winding and... my word, I could barely push the thing back in, to the point where I thought it wasn't going to be possible. At this point I knew it must be the caliper.
I tried it anyway. Bolted the caliper to the car, spun the wheel, pressed the brake and then checked if the wheel was free. The caliper had seized itself to the disc once again, and I couldn't move it at all. A bad piston it is, then.
I've never rebuilt a caliper before, so this should be interesting.
It didn't look bad from the surface, until I pulled the seal/piston out.
Full of rust on the areas where the seals were, and the rest of it wasn't too clever either. From here I sprayed generous amounts of PlusGas and scrubbed the pot with a wire brush and sand paper, until it was clean.
Far better.
New seals and piston compared to the old.
Thought I'd change the bleed nipple too.
One caliper rebuilt! I could push the piston back in with my thumbs this time, with a satisfying greased feeling to it. There's a knack to getting the seal on (many YouTube videos outlining it) where you slide the seal over the piston, slide it to the bottom so that it's half off the piston, put that end of the seal in the caliper, then push the piston in. It saves a lot of faff.
After some leak tests, the seal was good. Fitted back to the car, bled the brakes, and we were done. The caliper functions like new and the car drives lovely. The key it seems with these rebuilds is to ensure a properly sealed... seal, as well as to clean the pot as much as you can with plenty of penetrating fluid. I took a screwdriver to the area where the seal would sit to ensure that it was flush.
In all, for £18 it was a success, and I quite enjoyed rebuilding it too. It went without a hitch and was quite satisfying to rebuild. It's good to know as, like many of you have said, it's a weak point of the car, so it's great to know that it's fixable for £18 if it happens again. I'll keep an eye on the temperatures of the rest of the brakes as I suspect they may not be far behind.
After the test drive I locked the car and walked indoors, then the alarm went off? I walked out, unlocked the car, checked it, locked it, then 30 seconds later it went off again. To my surprise, I'd left my phone in the center console and that's what was causing the alarm to sound. This used to happen in my Toyota Celica, something to do with the metals conflicting with the alarm sensor. Is this an intended function by Mazda, or purely coincidence across two Japanese makes?
Next up, detail. I can't wait, just need two days of cloudy/dry weather and I can get that car to look as good as it drives.
Before
Nice and shiny
All cleaned up.
After I greased them (and the pads), I put them back in. The pads could now move around far easier and relatively unhindered. Where I pushed the piston out quite far to judge the condition previously, I needed to push it back in. I took my trusty caliper winding tool and put it onto the caliper, took the cap off the reservoir, started winding and... my word, I could barely push the thing back in, to the point where I thought it wasn't going to be possible. At this point I knew it must be the caliper.
I tried it anyway. Bolted the caliper to the car, spun the wheel, pressed the brake and then checked if the wheel was free. The caliper had seized itself to the disc once again, and I couldn't move it at all. A bad piston it is, then.
I've never rebuilt a caliper before, so this should be interesting.
It didn't look bad from the surface, until I pulled the seal/piston out.
Full of rust on the areas where the seals were, and the rest of it wasn't too clever either. From here I sprayed generous amounts of PlusGas and scrubbed the pot with a wire brush and sand paper, until it was clean.
Far better.
New seals and piston compared to the old.
Thought I'd change the bleed nipple too.
One caliper rebuilt! I could push the piston back in with my thumbs this time, with a satisfying greased feeling to it. There's a knack to getting the seal on (many YouTube videos outlining it) where you slide the seal over the piston, slide it to the bottom so that it's half off the piston, put that end of the seal in the caliper, then push the piston in. It saves a lot of faff.
After some leak tests, the seal was good. Fitted back to the car, bled the brakes, and we were done. The caliper functions like new and the car drives lovely. The key it seems with these rebuilds is to ensure a properly sealed... seal, as well as to clean the pot as much as you can with plenty of penetrating fluid. I took a screwdriver to the area where the seal would sit to ensure that it was flush.
In all, for £18 it was a success, and I quite enjoyed rebuilding it too. It went without a hitch and was quite satisfying to rebuild. It's good to know as, like many of you have said, it's a weak point of the car, so it's great to know that it's fixable for £18 if it happens again. I'll keep an eye on the temperatures of the rest of the brakes as I suspect they may not be far behind.
After the test drive I locked the car and walked indoors, then the alarm went off? I walked out, unlocked the car, checked it, locked it, then 30 seconds later it went off again. To my surprise, I'd left my phone in the center console and that's what was causing the alarm to sound. This used to happen in my Toyota Celica, something to do with the metals conflicting with the alarm sensor. Is this an intended function by Mazda, or purely coincidence across two Japanese makes?
Next up, detail. I can't wait, just need two days of cloudy/dry weather and I can get that car to look as good as it drives.
SlowcoachIII said:
The broken plastic is a result of someone removing the amber indicator lens so that the headlights are clear. Looks much better in my opinion but it hasn’t been cleaned up and painted to hide the marks.
I see! It does look better, I'm just not sure I'd want to split the headlights to clean it up. I barely notice it to be honest.
One thing I like about this car is driving it at night. The dashboard looks lovely illuminated in red, and so do all of the controls. It's a shame that the Bose head unit has been replaced with this Pioneer one. I've got the original Bose unit here, and it would look a lot better in the dashboard especially with the night lighting, but the Bluetooth, Apple CarPlay and SatNav capabilities of this head unit are unfortunately too good to ignore. The Apple CarPlay is something that I had in the last car, and is fantastic. The ability to sync with your phone with Apple Maps, Spotify, etc, is brilliant.
It's a shame though, as the Bose unit would look lovely.
Good work with the brakes! Mine were all similar, a little corrosion on the pistons near the pad but nothing too bad, but lots of internal corrosion. Maybe I should have refurbished them rather than throwing parts at it . Every new set of pads I've bought has come with a replacement set of retaining clips.
. Every new set of pads I've bought has come with a replacement set of retaining clips.Accelebrate said:
Good work with the brakes! Mine were all similar, a little corrosion on the pistons near the pad but nothing too bad, but lots of internal corrosion. Maybe I should have refurbished them rather than throwing parts at it . Every new set of pads I've bought has come with a replacement set of retaining clips.
That's good to know when I replace the pads in the future, I wasn't sure if they came with the carriers or not.. Every new set of pads I've bought has come with a replacement set of retaining clips.I'd definitely give them a go if they go bad again, especially since you have a garage. The main thing is the seal condition and any rust stopping the rubber from creating a good seal. When you clear the piston out, clear the runs out where the rubber sits, and put new seals in, it's essentially as good as new. I was tempted to leave them in white wine vinegar overnight as this does wonders to rusty parts, but the finish came up fine.
Plus the satisfaction of pushing that oily new piston into place was more than worth it...
geraintthomas said:
One thing I like about this car is driving it at night. The dashboard looks lovely illuminated in red, and so do all of the controls. It's a shame that the Bose head unit has been replaced with this Pioneer one. I've got the original Bose unit here, and it would look a lot better in the dashboard especially with the night lighting, but the Bluetooth, Apple CarPlay and SatNav capabilities of this head unit are unfortunately too good to ignore. The Apple CarPlay is something that I had in the last car, and is fantastic. The ability to sync with your phone with Apple Maps, Spotify, etc, is brilliant.
It's a shame though, as the Bose unit would look lovely.
airdocful said:
Subbed :-)
Had a lovely one of these last year while living in Australia, absolutely fantastic car, and amazing fun bone stock on track!
Thanks! They're huge fun. I took it to my brother-in-law's yesterday, who's a big Porsche guy (previous 911 owner, now Cayenne) who wanted one as a second car after how fun it was to drive. I don't think there's a better word to describe an MX-5 than that.Had a lovely one of these last year while living in Australia, absolutely fantastic car, and amazing fun bone stock on track!
Just over a week into ownership, so I thought I'd give my thoughts so far. I'm by no means a professional though, so take my comments lightly.
To drive: Beautifully balanced on tighter bends with plenty of information through the whole car. You feel as if you're sitting directly in the middle of the car, with the car moving around you as you push it through corners. There's a lot of feedback. There's not much that's in between you and the road surface, which is lovely. The gear stick shakes on idle that allows you to feel what's going on in the transmission. To give an idea of how much you can feel, you can actually feel the windscreen wipers through the pedals. It's quite raw, without being compromising for a daily driver for some. Part of me thinks that this is due to the nature of it being a very cheap (for what it is) and light weight car, to which you naturally won't get much damping between what's happening to the wheels and what you feel in the cabin. The other part of me thinks that this is quite intentional from two previous - and successful - generations of the MX-5, being already based on a successful British recipe. The gear shift feels bolt-action like, and whilst the 2.0 block doesn't have much brute force behind it (160bhp for a 2.0 N/A is quite weak), the torque that you feel through the car is impressive. It pulls from any gear and puts the car exactly where you need it in terms of speed throughout bends. I haven't yet thought "Come on, quicker quicker!" whilst on a drive, and that's coming from owning a Boxster S. For the size and capability of the car, the engine suites it very well. The ride can be a little bouncy on some surfaces (the A4232 in Cardiff, if anyone's familiar) where other cars would absorb this, but if this is the cost you pay for the feedback you get, then that's fine by me.
To live with: I drove into work today and it was hammering down with rain. This is mainly due to the novelty that still hasn't worn off with a new car, so I find the need to drive it everywhere. Even so, I can see how people drive these as a daily. The clutch is light, seats are comfy, steering as a lovely weight and visibility is good for a convertible. It's got more storage than I thought it would have. Two cubby holders behind the seats, one in the middle of the seats, storage in the center console, the glove box, and the rear boot is far bigger than I thought it was from the photos. You could fit a decent sized suit case in there, and let's not forget the boot rack you can purchase, too. I do like the deep cup holders in the doors as well. In all, it's a lovely place to be. It's not bad on fuel, it's reliable, and cheap to run/maintain. If I'm being picky, I'd like a clock that's not built into the radio as, once you change the radio, you don't have one. My Pioneer has one, but I drive with the screen off at night which takes the clock away. Speaking of the dashboard, the oil pressure gives no use to me, especially as it's only an indication of what the oil pressure should be doing, and not an actual reading. I'd much rather see oil temperature here. The seat belts have a tendency of cutting into my neck a little (I'm 5'8"), so further investigation is needed with either repositioning or some simple belt straps. The roof mechanism being so easy to retract from the drivers seat is a welcome addition, and I'd choose this over the PRHT any day of the week. Push the button, pull the handle, and throw the roof behind you, and you don't even have to get out of your seat. It quite literally takes around two seconds. However, it's very hard to pull the roof back up from the drivers seat, so you have to take off your belt and swivel in your seat, trying to grab the roof, or you have to get out of the car to do it. The only reason why I'm commenting on this is that it's so easy to put the roof back when you're seated that it would have been lovely to have the same simplicity when putting it back up, too.
To look at: Really pleasing. It's not trying to be something that isn't, which goes for the rest of the car too. It's a small, fun, two seater sports car, and looks like one too. It's not lavished with indications that this is some sort of sleeper. What you see is what you get. The flared wheel arches and bulging bonnet makes it look quite handsome from angles, and looks great from a rear quarter view. The bumper and skirts curve inwards towards the bottom, making it look a little boat-like, but were rectified in later versions with better designed skirts and bumpers. However with it being black, it's a little more subtle than that of a brighter car, so it doesn't bother me much. The suspension is far too high from stock, I think we can all agree on that. Projector headlights help not only with driving at night, but help with the design of the headlamp as there's no need for a large and fussy reflector bowl. The rear lexus lights were something I was never a fan off (the later NC2 and NC3 nailed it), but they don't terrible. I'd wrap them red if I could. They look far better on a silver car mind. The interior is designed quite well, with long running lines throughout that reflect not only in the doors, but the center console and the seats too. It's functional. The piano black dash is a nice touch, though I can see this being easily scratched. Not much more to say with the interior, everything is where you need it, nothing is in an awkward position, and there's nothing oddly designed that won't age well.
In all, it's exactly what you'd expect the car to be. Reliable (hopefully), fun to drive, easy to live with, cheap to run. I can see why there's such a following behind these. Hopefully I've given a little insight into the car for anyone who's wondering what it's like. Even if you're simply considering buying one, then you're already in the mindset of enjoying a 2-seater convertible, and if that's what you enjoy, then you'll no doubt love the MX-5.
To drive: Beautifully balanced on tighter bends with plenty of information through the whole car. You feel as if you're sitting directly in the middle of the car, with the car moving around you as you push it through corners. There's a lot of feedback. There's not much that's in between you and the road surface, which is lovely. The gear stick shakes on idle that allows you to feel what's going on in the transmission. To give an idea of how much you can feel, you can actually feel the windscreen wipers through the pedals. It's quite raw, without being compromising for a daily driver for some. Part of me thinks that this is due to the nature of it being a very cheap (for what it is) and light weight car, to which you naturally won't get much damping between what's happening to the wheels and what you feel in the cabin. The other part of me thinks that this is quite intentional from two previous - and successful - generations of the MX-5, being already based on a successful British recipe. The gear shift feels bolt-action like, and whilst the 2.0 block doesn't have much brute force behind it (160bhp for a 2.0 N/A is quite weak), the torque that you feel through the car is impressive. It pulls from any gear and puts the car exactly where you need it in terms of speed throughout bends. I haven't yet thought "Come on, quicker quicker!" whilst on a drive, and that's coming from owning a Boxster S. For the size and capability of the car, the engine suites it very well. The ride can be a little bouncy on some surfaces (the A4232 in Cardiff, if anyone's familiar) where other cars would absorb this, but if this is the cost you pay for the feedback you get, then that's fine by me.
To live with: I drove into work today and it was hammering down with rain. This is mainly due to the novelty that still hasn't worn off with a new car, so I find the need to drive it everywhere. Even so, I can see how people drive these as a daily. The clutch is light, seats are comfy, steering as a lovely weight and visibility is good for a convertible. It's got more storage than I thought it would have. Two cubby holders behind the seats, one in the middle of the seats, storage in the center console, the glove box, and the rear boot is far bigger than I thought it was from the photos. You could fit a decent sized suit case in there, and let's not forget the boot rack you can purchase, too. I do like the deep cup holders in the doors as well. In all, it's a lovely place to be. It's not bad on fuel, it's reliable, and cheap to run/maintain. If I'm being picky, I'd like a clock that's not built into the radio as, once you change the radio, you don't have one. My Pioneer has one, but I drive with the screen off at night which takes the clock away. Speaking of the dashboard, the oil pressure gives no use to me, especially as it's only an indication of what the oil pressure should be doing, and not an actual reading. I'd much rather see oil temperature here. The seat belts have a tendency of cutting into my neck a little (I'm 5'8"), so further investigation is needed with either repositioning or some simple belt straps. The roof mechanism being so easy to retract from the drivers seat is a welcome addition, and I'd choose this over the PRHT any day of the week. Push the button, pull the handle, and throw the roof behind you, and you don't even have to get out of your seat. It quite literally takes around two seconds. However, it's very hard to pull the roof back up from the drivers seat, so you have to take off your belt and swivel in your seat, trying to grab the roof, or you have to get out of the car to do it. The only reason why I'm commenting on this is that it's so easy to put the roof back when you're seated that it would have been lovely to have the same simplicity when putting it back up, too.
To look at: Really pleasing. It's not trying to be something that isn't, which goes for the rest of the car too. It's a small, fun, two seater sports car, and looks like one too. It's not lavished with indications that this is some sort of sleeper. What you see is what you get. The flared wheel arches and bulging bonnet makes it look quite handsome from angles, and looks great from a rear quarter view. The bumper and skirts curve inwards towards the bottom, making it look a little boat-like, but were rectified in later versions with better designed skirts and bumpers. However with it being black, it's a little more subtle than that of a brighter car, so it doesn't bother me much. The suspension is far too high from stock, I think we can all agree on that. Projector headlights help not only with driving at night, but help with the design of the headlamp as there's no need for a large and fussy reflector bowl. The rear lexus lights were something I was never a fan off (the later NC2 and NC3 nailed it), but they don't terrible. I'd wrap them red if I could. They look far better on a silver car mind. The interior is designed quite well, with long running lines throughout that reflect not only in the doors, but the center console and the seats too. It's functional. The piano black dash is a nice touch, though I can see this being easily scratched. Not much more to say with the interior, everything is where you need it, nothing is in an awkward position, and there's nothing oddly designed that won't age well.
In all, it's exactly what you'd expect the car to be. Reliable (hopefully), fun to drive, easy to live with, cheap to run. I can see why there's such a following behind these. Hopefully I've given a little insight into the car for anyone who's wondering what it's like. Even if you're simply considering buying one, then you're already in the mindset of enjoying a 2-seater convertible, and if that's what you enjoy, then you'll no doubt love the MX-5.
Law of sod applies here. I replied that the only problem outside servicing had been an EGR valve. Well used it twice on Saturday & returning the second time as I reversed I felt it stop the minute I took drive off. Quick walk around feeling wheels & the NSF was red hot. Booked it into my Mazda Indie & just picked it up.
Seized NSF calliper replaced, service & A/C regas. £450 ouch.
Seized NSF calliper replaced, service & A/C regas. £450 ouch.
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