MX-5... don't laugh!

[yertis]

A guy who works for me wants one of these. Before you ask, I do not run a hairdressing salon.

Anyway, does anyone know at what mileage things start to go seriously awry with these little things? He's looking at what appears to be a very tidy Mark 2 with 71000 on the clock, with FSH. Is it just run-in, Audi style, or at half-life, or on the downward slide to falling apart? TIA

[Whoozit]

I've just sold a 1990 with 110,000 miles, 40,000 of which we did in the past five years. In the past two years we've had to replace discs, clutch, cat, radiator, hood. However these are all wear items, apart from that it was running like a dream. No electrical problems, tight engine and gearbox, lovely handling.

[dcb]

A guy who works for me wants one of these. Before you ask, I do not run a hairdressing salon.

Anyway, does anyone know at what mileage things start to go seriously awry with these little things? He's looking at what appears to be a very tidy Mark 2 with 71000 on the clock, with FSH. Is it just run-in, Audi style, or at half-life, or on the downward slide to falling apart? TIA

A mark2 won't be that old - only 2-3 years.

Which means it's been up & down the motorway a lot.

Which means that it's about as tired as a car with 40-50K
on the clock.

I'd recommend it, 71K isn't a lot for this kind of
car. I had one round to 66K, and it felt
like I'd only just run it in.

[Glyn]

Cheeky sod!

<---Owner of 1996 1.8

The milage seems high for a Mk2, mine has 50k.

TBH MX-5's dont have many common problems. Just look at www.mx5oc.co.uk and go through the links.

And it may not have a big engine, or TVR on the front but it is quick, cheap and above all convertible!

[kenny chim 4]

And it may not have a big engine, or TVR on the front but it is quick, cheap and above all convertible!

---

I completely agree- I had an early MX5 (1.6) as a company car (music business) for a number of years and, due to much of the bodywork being aluminium, the power to weight ratio resulted in a nippy, fast, controlable 2 seater. When Mazda then put the 1.8 unit into virtually the same chassis, that aluminium was replaced by steel and the PTW ratio was just about negated- resulting in the same torque, speed etc. I never really saw the point of that..
In all the time I drove it (61'000 miles), the only AA call-out was for a snapped cam belt. They don't leak (in all departments!) and they're IMHO, great VFM.