Option or Sport?
Discussion
Having sold my "fun car" last year to buy a family barge (A6 Avant Tdi) to haul our baby kit around, I have been hacking to and from work in my trusty old 1.8tdi Focus. It has been a great car to me for the past 6 years and can't fault it whatsoever.
However, now that business is going well and I'm missing the wind in the hair feeling I'm looking to get into an LSD'd 2.0 MK3 MX5. I will do a couple of simple mods on it, such as taking it to WIM, sorting intake/exhaust to improve the soundtrack, and possibly buying a nicer set of rims. If things carry on well at work I may treat myself to some Jenvey throttle bodies in a year or two......
Before I start test driving 2.0 Option Pack and 2.0 Sport models I wanted to pick the brains of people who have driven/owned both models.
As well as prefering cloth seats over leather, I am leaning towards the Option Pack for two reasons. The ride and the gearbox.
The under-tyred/over-wheeled feel of many modern cars (having owned a Suzuki Swift Sport & BMW 123D Msport as examples) drives me nuts. As a daily driver I can't be bothered with this. It is why I sold the Swift. It was a wonderful little car, just totally let down by the crashy damping/tyre/wheel combo.
The 2.0 Sport MX5 has been criticised by some as feeling too nuggety due to the large rims. I know they look good, but for me substance is more important than style. What do you think?
The second reason I lean towards Option over Sport is talk of the 6-speed 'box in the Sport being inferior to the 5-speed 'box in teh Option Pack car. I have owned two earlier MX5s (both 5-speeders) and they were slick as butter! I don't do loads of motorway miles so am not fussed about an "overdrive" 6th gear for economy. Any thoughts on differences between the 5 and 6 speed MK3 box?
However, now that business is going well and I'm missing the wind in the hair feeling I'm looking to get into an LSD'd 2.0 MK3 MX5. I will do a couple of simple mods on it, such as taking it to WIM, sorting intake/exhaust to improve the soundtrack, and possibly buying a nicer set of rims. If things carry on well at work I may treat myself to some Jenvey throttle bodies in a year or two......
Before I start test driving 2.0 Option Pack and 2.0 Sport models I wanted to pick the brains of people who have driven/owned both models.
As well as prefering cloth seats over leather, I am leaning towards the Option Pack for two reasons. The ride and the gearbox.
The under-tyred/over-wheeled feel of many modern cars (having owned a Suzuki Swift Sport & BMW 123D Msport as examples) drives me nuts. As a daily driver I can't be bothered with this. It is why I sold the Swift. It was a wonderful little car, just totally let down by the crashy damping/tyre/wheel combo.
The 2.0 Sport MX5 has been criticised by some as feeling too nuggety due to the large rims. I know they look good, but for me substance is more important than style. What do you think?
The second reason I lean towards Option over Sport is talk of the 6-speed 'box in the Sport being inferior to the 5-speed 'box in teh Option Pack car. I have owned two earlier MX5s (both 5-speeders) and they were slick as butter! I don't do loads of motorway miles so am not fussed about an "overdrive" 6th gear for economy. Any thoughts on differences between the 5 and 6 speed MK3 box?
I don't know anything about the 6-speed on the Mk3 but on the Mk2/2.5 6th isn't an "overdrive". Yes it's a higher final drive than on the 5-speed so a little higher geared in 6th compared to 5-speed 5th but it's a closer ratio gearbox with all 6 gears spaced evenly rather than being a 5-speed with an extra gear bolted on.
Rodders who races the mk3's prefers the 6 speed boxes. He recommends the Sport as the one to go for. That sold it for me 
Does the Option have the bose sound system too? As it is an awesome piece of kit. Oh and although I find the leather in the sport not to be the best quality, they do look good and the heated seats are very nice. Plus you're forgetting about the Bilstein shocks on the sport, that the Option pack wont have I believe?
Does the Option have the bose sound system too? As it is an awesome piece of kit. Oh and although I find the leather in the sport not to be the best quality, they do look good and the heated seats are very nice. Plus you're forgetting about the Bilstein shocks on the sport, that the Option pack wont have I believe?
I test drove both 5th and 6th speed Mk3s. I found the 6-speed box a bit clunky, and ended up missing gears at times.
I like the ratios on the 5-speed. 2nd redlines at 63, 3rd at 89 (as I found out on the drag strip), so ideal for pushing-on out of roundabouts onto dual carriageways. Coming off roundabouts in the 6-speed, I hit the rev limiter too quickly, and 3rd was far too sluggish to pull from 30.
Are you looking at new or second hand? One option for you is to get one of the special editions (apart from this year's two) as the have 5-speed and often have sport-level trim.
I like the ratios on the 5-speed. 2nd redlines at 63, 3rd at 89 (as I found out on the drag strip), so ideal for pushing-on out of roundabouts onto dual carriageways. Coming off roundabouts in the 6-speed, I hit the rev limiter too quickly, and 3rd was far too sluggish to pull from 30.
Are you looking at new or second hand? One option for you is to get one of the special editions (apart from this year's two) as the have 5-speed and often have sport-level trim.
deeks73 said:
SBird... your idea of the special editions is an interesting thought. I'm buying used so the car will likely be pre-2008.
Did you find the 6-speed clunky on all shifts? or down shifts only?
'Clunky' might have been the wrong word, but I tended to end up in the wrong gear on upshifts. I didn't find the gearshifting to be as precise as the 5-speed. For balance, though, I've also mis-shifted the 5-speed (but not as often) and seen someone else do this (on their car) too.Did you find the 6-speed clunky on all shifts? or down shifts only?
I went for a '08 Niseko R/C, so got everything except 6-speed and bilsteins. Got a set of lowered bilsteins added, and am near enough at sport spec. It did probably work out more expensive than going for a sport, but I got a nicer interior (brown leather).
I've read about the 6-speeds improving somewhat with a simple clutch adjustment (apparently the clutch engages too low in many cars resulting in the flywheel failing to engage the cogs) and a transmission oil change. If that's the case I guess it's less of an issue than I expected....
Regarding the 17" v 16" wheels I guess I just need to try them out and see what I'm happy to live with. One option that I would consider is buying an mx5, changing them to a nice set of aftermarket 16" rims, fitting an eibach stiffened ARB. It's a common upgrade made by miata.net user Stateside and seems to improve turn in reduce body-roll :
http://www.mazdatalkforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=818&...
With the Eibach springs and alignement at WIM, I suspect this might provide me with the kind of daily ride I am looking for.
Regarding the 17" v 16" wheels I guess I just need to try them out and see what I'm happy to live with. One option that I would consider is buying an mx5, changing them to a nice set of aftermarket 16" rims, fitting an eibach stiffened ARB. It's a common upgrade made by miata.net user Stateside and seems to improve turn in reduce body-roll :
http://www.mazdatalkforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=818&...
With the Eibach springs and alignement at WIM, I suspect this might provide me with the kind of daily ride I am looking for.
oh dear.... I'm going to have to find another £1k for these in black too!
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ENKEI-RPF1-16x7-Racing-W...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ENKEI-RPF1-16x7-Racing-W...
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