2006 MX-5 2.0 Option Pack
Discussion
Purchased for an upcoming European holiday. I spotted it Friday, arranged a test drive for the following morning and dragged a rather understanding wife off for a 4 hour round trip to deepest darkest Lincolnshire.
The previous owner, a chap in his 70s had purchased the car just 6 weeks earlier as a 'final fling' after a lifetime of sports cars and was selling for health reasons. This sounded slightly dubious at first, but after meeting him I'm fairly sure he was genuine. He suffered from glaucoma, it had recently taken a turn for the worse and he no longer felt comfortable driving.
He sent the two of us off on an test drive. It drove well, was priced as one of the cheapest MK3s for sale and he instantly accepted my slightly cheeky opening offer. We paid up, taxed and insured it and headed back to Oxfordshire.
The good:
Long MOT with no advisories and a remarkable clean MOT history (nothing but a single advisory for a worn tyre years ago)
HPI Clear
Lots of history - recent brembo discs and pads, tyres, wheel refurb, oil service and geometry
Came with a removable hardtop
Everything still seems to work, aircon included
It has an LSD
What was described as a 'minidisc player' was actually an iPod interface - hurrah!
The bad:
Slightly tatty bodywork. The bonnet is the worse, it appears to have been bent backwards and repaired on the cheap at some point.
90k miles - although I guess that isn't terrible on a 10y/o car.
The rear tyres are brand new budget tyres, the fronts are nearly new Rainsports, I predict this will be an interesting combination in the wet!
The underside of the aluminium boot lid is covered in duct tape. I suspect it's covering some corrosion, there are some similar patches underneath and on the edge of the alu bonnet.
The previous-previous owner was a member of an owners club. I found quite a lot of information about the car online before purchase. He owned the car for a number of years and made some good additions, and some bad ones. More on that later.
Driving back we stopped at the first pub we came across and I took stock of my new purchase:
The pub had a BBQ going and turned out to be another good addition to the morning:
Getting closer to home we stopped off to grab a coffee near Northampton. It would appear that I have a thing for blue cars at the moment. I had attempted to fit the hardtop from the MX-5 in the back of the 1 series before we left Lincolnshire so that I could drive back with the roof down. No chance. Turns out hardtops are huge!
It got me home without drama. My experience of MX-5s up until now was fairly limited - a brief drive of a supercharged MK1, a passenger ride in a MK2 and a test drive of what was at the time a nearly new MK3.5 Coupe from a Mazda dealership. I don't know if it's the smaller wheels, recent geometry or rose tinted specs but this MK3 drives a lot nicer than my memory of the 3.5.
We removed the hardtop that evening and it got Mrs A's seal of approval...
Whilst not the most popular of MX-5s the MK3 seemed to make sense for European trip. It was no more expensive than an average condition Mk1/2, should hopefully be slightly more rot resistant and potentially a more refined car do a big trip in.
I feel like I should be 'prepping' the car by replacing all serviceable items, but most of the basics appear to have recently been done. I don't have any evidence of the spark plugs or diff oil being swapped so that might be something to consider.
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links.
The previous owner, a chap in his 70s had purchased the car just 6 weeks earlier as a 'final fling' after a lifetime of sports cars and was selling for health reasons. This sounded slightly dubious at first, but after meeting him I'm fairly sure he was genuine. He suffered from glaucoma, it had recently taken a turn for the worse and he no longer felt comfortable driving.
He sent the two of us off on an test drive. It drove well, was priced as one of the cheapest MK3s for sale and he instantly accepted my slightly cheeky opening offer. We paid up, taxed and insured it and headed back to Oxfordshire.
The good:
Long MOT with no advisories and a remarkable clean MOT history (nothing but a single advisory for a worn tyre years ago)
HPI Clear
Lots of history - recent brembo discs and pads, tyres, wheel refurb, oil service and geometry
Came with a removable hardtop
Everything still seems to work, aircon included
It has an LSD
What was described as a 'minidisc player' was actually an iPod interface - hurrah!
The bad:
Slightly tatty bodywork. The bonnet is the worse, it appears to have been bent backwards and repaired on the cheap at some point.
90k miles - although I guess that isn't terrible on a 10y/o car.
The rear tyres are brand new budget tyres, the fronts are nearly new Rainsports, I predict this will be an interesting combination in the wet!
The underside of the aluminium boot lid is covered in duct tape. I suspect it's covering some corrosion, there are some similar patches underneath and on the edge of the alu bonnet.
The previous-previous owner was a member of an owners club. I found quite a lot of information about the car online before purchase. He owned the car for a number of years and made some good additions, and some bad ones. More on that later.
Driving back we stopped at the first pub we came across and I took stock of my new purchase:
The pub had a BBQ going and turned out to be another good addition to the morning:
Getting closer to home we stopped off to grab a coffee near Northampton. It would appear that I have a thing for blue cars at the moment. I had attempted to fit the hardtop from the MX-5 in the back of the 1 series before we left Lincolnshire so that I could drive back with the roof down. No chance. Turns out hardtops are huge!
It got me home without drama. My experience of MX-5s up until now was fairly limited - a brief drive of a supercharged MK1, a passenger ride in a MK2 and a test drive of what was at the time a nearly new MK3.5 Coupe from a Mazda dealership. I don't know if it's the smaller wheels, recent geometry or rose tinted specs but this MK3 drives a lot nicer than my memory of the 3.5.
We removed the hardtop that evening and it got Mrs A's seal of approval...
Whilst not the most popular of MX-5s the MK3 seemed to make sense for European trip. It was no more expensive than an average condition Mk1/2, should hopefully be slightly more rot resistant and potentially a more refined car do a big trip in.
I feel like I should be 'prepping' the car by replacing all serviceable items, but most of the basics appear to have recently been done. I don't have any evidence of the spark plugs or diff oil being swapped so that might be something to consider.
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links.
Edited by Accelebrate on Thursday 23 January 15:07
The following day I started the process of de-tatting the car. The owners club owner seems to have made quite a few small changes to the car over the years, some of them are worth having (RX-8 intermittent wiper stalk) but a lot were cosmetic additions that weren't to my taste.
These had to go...
As did the faded Mazdaspeed badge on the front grille, an elbow cushion that was glued to the drivers doorcard, a piece of carpet on the passenger side cupholder, metal valve stalk covers, door edge bump strips etc, etc.
I then moved onto the seats...
I dyed the bolster and then used some Gliptone cleaner and conditioner. There was also some wear on the top of the leather gearstick that got the same treatment, but I forgot to take any before photos
I gave the car a quick wash so that I could polish some of the finer scratches out. They came up well. There was a small amount of cloudiness on the headlights, I assumed I might need to invest in a 3M restoration kit or similar but regular polish seems to have removed all of it.
It looks reasonably smart from a distance
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links
These had to go...
As did the faded Mazdaspeed badge on the front grille, an elbow cushion that was glued to the drivers doorcard, a piece of carpet on the passenger side cupholder, metal valve stalk covers, door edge bump strips etc, etc.
I then moved onto the seats...
I dyed the bolster and then used some Gliptone cleaner and conditioner. There was also some wear on the top of the leather gearstick that got the same treatment, but I forgot to take any before photos
I gave the car a quick wash so that I could polish some of the finer scratches out. They came up well. There was a small amount of cloudiness on the headlights, I assumed I might need to invest in a 3M restoration kit or similar but regular polish seems to have removed all of it.
It looks reasonably smart from a distance
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links
Edited by Accelebrate on Thursday 23 January 15:08
I had a free evening, so armed with the history file and Google I set about cyber stalking the cars previous owners. 
One slight surprise, given that we travelled a reasonable distance to collect the car, was that it was originally supplied by our local Mazda dealership in Oxford. Originally on an OU56 plate. It lived in Witney for the first four years, owned by the director of a space instrumentation company. I presume it was probably his main car as he clocked up 50k in that time.
The car then changed hands 3 times in two years, I've got little history for it during this time. It covered 20k.
The next owner was the guy who belonged to the owners club. He owned an antiques shop in Lincolnshire that specialises in watch and clock repairs, hence the 'Tock' numberplate. He kept the car for four years and covered 20k miles.
Finally it moved onto the elderly chap I purchased it from. An associate of his 'trusted mechanic' sourced the car for him. I found the advert from when the car was for sale in May. Looking at the bill of sale from the mechanic £1000 was added to the price, but then I guess that's what car dealers do.
One slight surprise, given that we travelled a reasonable distance to collect the car, was that it was originally supplied by our local Mazda dealership in Oxford. Originally on an OU56 plate. It lived in Witney for the first four years, owned by the director of a space instrumentation company. I presume it was probably his main car as he clocked up 50k in that time.
The car then changed hands 3 times in two years, I've got little history for it during this time. It covered 20k.
The next owner was the guy who belonged to the owners club. He owned an antiques shop in Lincolnshire that specialises in watch and clock repairs, hence the 'Tock' numberplate. He kept the car for four years and covered 20k miles.
Finally it moved onto the elderly chap I purchased it from. An associate of his 'trusted mechanic' sourced the car for him. I found the advert from when the car was for sale in May. Looking at the bill of sale from the mechanic £1000 was added to the price, but then I guess that's what car dealers do.
I've been trying to put as many miles on the car as possible before our trip to hopefully highlight any issues. I took it to Reading on Monday and Uxbridge yesterday. Apart from short on the aux cable everything seems fine, unlike our other cars the cabin seems to be devoid of any rattles.
Once home I pulled off the duct tape that covering up the underside of the alu bootlid. I expected to find some crusty aluminium and I wasn't disappointed.
It appears to just be surface corrosion, I attacked it with a small wire brush in a Dremmel.
The car came with a big bottle of touch up paint, I've daubed that on for now. It actually dried a lot better than I was expecting. I'll order some spray and sand/smooth it back with a bit more care when I get chance, but for now it's a big improvement on peeling duct tape.
There were a couple of small bubbles on the inner edge of the rear wheelarches, I treated them to the same Dremmel and touchup routine, should hopefully stop them from progressing any further.
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links
Once home I pulled off the duct tape that covering up the underside of the alu bootlid. I expected to find some crusty aluminium and I wasn't disappointed.
It appears to just be surface corrosion, I attacked it with a small wire brush in a Dremmel.
The car came with a big bottle of touch up paint, I've daubed that on for now. It actually dried a lot better than I was expecting. I'll order some spray and sand/smooth it back with a bit more care when I get chance, but for now it's a big improvement on peeling duct tape.
There were a couple of small bubbles on the inner edge of the rear wheelarches, I treated them to the same Dremmel and touchup routine, should hopefully stop them from progressing any further.
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links
Edited by Accelebrate on Thursday 23 January 15:10
The handling is good in the sense that the steering is lovely and direct and gives a nice amount of feedback. It's a revelation compared to the M135i in that you actually have some sense of what the wheels are doing. Compared to our MINI that's a similar age but lower mileage it somehow feels a lot 'tighter', maybe the suspension has been refreshed relatively recently. It also doesn't seem to suffer with scuttle shake that a lot of MK3 owners report, possible from the geo work.
However it is undoubtedly softly sprung, and the ride height is amusing. I'm currently weighing up going down the WIM route, or ordering these and getting a local garage to fit/align:
http://www.mx5parts.co.uk/eibach-30mm-sports-sprin...
Whilst also trying to remember that this was meant to be an exercise in budget motoring.
However it is undoubtedly softly sprung, and the ride height is amusing. I'm currently weighing up going down the WIM route, or ordering these and getting a local garage to fit/align:
http://www.mx5parts.co.uk/eibach-30mm-sports-sprin...
Whilst also trying to remember that this was meant to be an exercise in budget motoring.
I hadn't paid too much attention to the stereo in the MX-5, other than being pleased that it came with an aftermarket iPod interface connected. A colleague pointed out that the 'Bose' badge was peeling off the headunit.
I went online to see if this was something I could replace, only to discover that this post should probably be cross-posted into the 'misbadging cars' thread.
This is a proper Bose stereo, fitted to the Sport model, it's a similar headunit but also includes an amp behind the seats and additional speakers:
This is a cheap sticker:
Oh the shame! It was quickly removed. Along with a similar badge on the doorcards.
I think the speakers might have been altered at some point. There appears to be two speakers in each door, and a couple between the seats. From some brief internet research I don't think the seat speakers should be included with the standard stereo.
I'm now approaching the end of my first week with the 5. I've covered 450 miles, mostly with the roof down and have thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm off to the Nurburgring tomorrow morning, if it wasn't for the fact that I need to carry two bikes over there for Rad am Ring I'd probably be leaving the M135i at home and picking up the keys for the MX-5 instead.
The cheapest/oldest car has now gained garage privileges.
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links
I went online to see if this was something I could replace, only to discover that this post should probably be cross-posted into the 'misbadging cars' thread.
This is a proper Bose stereo, fitted to the Sport model, it's a similar headunit but also includes an amp behind the seats and additional speakers:
This is a cheap sticker:
Oh the shame! It was quickly removed. Along with a similar badge on the doorcards.
I think the speakers might have been altered at some point. There appears to be two speakers in each door, and a couple between the seats. From some brief internet research I don't think the seat speakers should be included with the standard stereo.
I'm now approaching the end of my first week with the 5. I've covered 450 miles, mostly with the roof down and have thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm off to the Nurburgring tomorrow morning, if it wasn't for the fact that I need to carry two bikes over there for Rad am Ring I'd probably be leaving the M135i at home and picking up the keys for the MX-5 instead.
The cheapest/oldest car has now gained garage privileges.
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links
Edited by Accelebrate on Thursday 23 January 15:12
CABC said:
Odd that the OP's 5 still has suv ride height (where mazda just upped the height for eu regs without adjusting anything else), which in my experience totally ruins a great car and is easily fixed. so i'm now confused as well...
Give me chance, I haven't had it a week yet! Feels good to me, nice quick steering, the cheap rear tyres slide and squeal at amusingly low speeds, an engine that needs to be worked hard and the wind in your hair.
I've now put over 800 miles on the MX-5, with the exception of the journey back from collecting it with the hardtop in place they've all been with the roof down. I'm looking far too tanned for an office worker
It has proved a hit with my nephew...
I've decided to service a few bits before we take it to Italy. First up was a set of Bosch Aerotwin wipers.
The gearbox oil was last changed by Mazda in 2012 - 30k ago, it's a bit notchy when cold. Internet wisdom suggests this Castrol oil might help.
I haven't got any evidence of the diff oil being changed, so I decided to swap that as well for good measure. I realised after I'd filled it back up that I'd ordered the 'advanced' version of the diff oil but Amazon had sent the regular. Oh well.
What were people saying was wrong with the ride height?
This pump made filling the diff with limited access a doddle. I ran out of time to swap the gearbox oil last night so I can't comment if the shift has improved yet.
I popped a clean air filter in tonight...
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links
It has proved a hit with my nephew...
I've decided to service a few bits before we take it to Italy. First up was a set of Bosch Aerotwin wipers.
The gearbox oil was last changed by Mazda in 2012 - 30k ago, it's a bit notchy when cold. Internet wisdom suggests this Castrol oil might help.
I haven't got any evidence of the diff oil being changed, so I decided to swap that as well for good measure. I realised after I'd filled it back up that I'd ordered the 'advanced' version of the diff oil but Amazon had sent the regular. Oh well.
What were people saying was wrong with the ride height?
This pump made filling the diff with limited access a doddle. I ran out of time to swap the gearbox oil last night so I can't comment if the shift has improved yet.
I popped a clean air filter in tonight...
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links
Edited by Accelebrate on Thursday 23 January 15:14
These guides were rather useful for changing the diff and gearbox:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paTU5izaZx4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NevRCo1bWEs
I'm also planning to change the turret oil, and replace the rubber gearstick boots if required:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8LGGRuvgLM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paTU5izaZx4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NevRCo1bWEs
I'm also planning to change the turret oil, and replace the rubber gearstick boots if required:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8LGGRuvgLM
Swapped the gearbox oil tonight. I took the car for a spin beforehand to warm the oil up before draining. It might just be a placebo effect but a clean air filter seems to have made a noticeable improvement to the way the car drives. There used to be a bit of a flat spot when pulling away or crawling in traffic, it appears to have all but disappeared.
Anyway, the gearbox oil was last changed by a Mazda dealership in 2012. It would appear they didn't tighten up the fill plug very well, it was barely more than finger tight.
The magnetic drain plug had caught quite a bit of muck.
Filled up with Castrol Systrans which should apparently improve cold shifting. Just the turret oil left to do now.
I also popped out one of the spark plugs. It was branded Mazda/NGK. I *think* I read somewhere that the original plugs were FoMoCo branded so I believe they've been replaced during a dealership service at least once. They looked to be in good shape so I'll leave them for now.
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links
Anyway, the gearbox oil was last changed by a Mazda dealership in 2012. It would appear they didn't tighten up the fill plug very well, it was barely more than finger tight.
The magnetic drain plug had caught quite a bit of muck.
Filled up with Castrol Systrans which should apparently improve cold shifting. Just the turret oil left to do now.
I also popped out one of the spark plugs. It was branded Mazda/NGK. I *think* I read somewhere that the original plugs were FoMoCo branded so I believe they've been replaced during a dealership service at least once. They looked to be in good shape so I'll leave them for now.
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links
Edited by Accelebrate on Thursday 23 January 15:17
Craikeybaby said:
It is interesting that you prefer the handling of the mk3 to the mk3.5, I was the other way around, although my mk3.5 was on the 16" wheels.
The mk3.5 I test drove was the RC, on big wheels and a demonstrator that the salesman admitted to 'ragging everywhere'. It was also at the time an 18k car, which might have made me more critical!Deerfoot said:
Can I be vulgar and ask roughly how much you paid for it?
I paid 3k, mentally I consider it to be a 2.5k car and a £500 hardtop, although I doubt I'll sell the hardtop and I'm not sure I'd get £500 for it as there don't seem to be that many blue cars around for it to generate any interest. glenmore3685 said:
Interesting you intend to do a Europe trip in yours I love mine but I'd struggle to go too far in it as its not the most comfortable car for extended use. The fact my clutch pedal gets very notchy in traffic doesn't help, I need to look into it, could be the master/slave cylinders.
Otherwise I want to get mine Waxoyld before the end of the summer but may leave it for next year. Rust seems to be the main killer of these cars.
It should be fine. It obviously isn't the height of luxury and comfort but you tend to forget that if the sun is out and the roof is down. I'm over 6ft and the seating position is about right once pushed right back. The previous owner has unclipped the springs from underneath the seat base which supposedly puts you a little lower down.Otherwise I want to get mine Waxoyld before the end of the summer but may leave it for next year. Rust seems to be the main killer of these cars.
We're off to Italy but punctuated with overnight stops in France and Switzerland, it shouldn't be too arduous in terms of mileage and hours behind the wheel each day.
Waxoyl or Dinitrol is a good shout. The rear subframe and suspension components are quite crusty for a relatively young car. Skuzzle Motorsport seem to offer a good range of underseal options depending on how much you want treated/to spend so I might get it booked in there before the winter.
http://www.skuzzle.com/motorsport/index.php?page=u...
Changed the turret oil tonight, it was already at the right level and quite clean so potentially a wasted hour. Nice to do a job that wasn't underneath the car though.
The shift boots were in good condition.
I put 100 miles on the car today, I'll tick over 1000 during my ownership tomorrow. The gearbox oil and clean air filter have definitely made a noticeable improvement.
I checked the battery voltage. The original Panasonic has been replaced with a cheap 'Powerline' battery, seems to be in good health though. I also found my ODBII wifi adapter and scanned for fault codes, there was nothing stored.
Despite previously claiming I wouldn't replace the spark plugs ECP were having a 30% sale earlier. A set of NGK plugs for £35 seemed worth doing.
The car came with a set of side tonneau covers, I assumed they were part of the hardtop until I spotted them on MX5 parts. I can't quite believe they cost £85!
http://www.mx5parts.co.uk/cloth-side-tonneau-cover...
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links
The shift boots were in good condition.
I put 100 miles on the car today, I'll tick over 1000 during my ownership tomorrow. The gearbox oil and clean air filter have definitely made a noticeable improvement.
I checked the battery voltage. The original Panasonic has been replaced with a cheap 'Powerline' battery, seems to be in good health though. I also found my ODBII wifi adapter and scanned for fault codes, there was nothing stored.
Despite previously claiming I wouldn't replace the spark plugs ECP were having a 30% sale earlier. A set of NGK plugs for £35 seemed worth doing.
The car came with a set of side tonneau covers, I assumed they were part of the hardtop until I spotted them on MX5 parts. I can't quite believe they cost £85!
http://www.mx5parts.co.uk/cloth-side-tonneau-cover...
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links
Edited by Accelebrate on Thursday 23 January 15:18
I think my main concerns would be the rear arch lips and what's going on underneath the plastic side sills. The alu bonnet and boot also seem to corrode, particularly around the rear numberplate lights (see my earlier post), although it's easily rectified.
The underside of mine is covered in surface rust, particularly the rear suspension components and subframe. It doesn't look great but as far as I can tell it is just surface rust and not an immediate issue.
The underside of mine is covered in surface rust, particularly the rear suspension components and subframe. It doesn't look great but as far as I can tell it is just surface rust and not an immediate issue.
New plugs arrived with the usual ECP/DHL speed...
Engine cover and coils popped off easily enough.
Old plugs, essentially the same part as the NGK plugs I ordered but Mazda branded. I think I stated this before but I believe they would be FoMoCo branded if they were the original plugs, so they have been replaced at least once. I only have a detailed summary for what I think was the last main dealer service in 2012 and they weren't done then.
Coils back in and bolted down...
Managed to get another little job done tonight - a variable wiper stalk from an RX-8. I thought when I first collected the car that this mod had already been done, but I was mistaken.
It's a straight forward swap, there are three screws to separate and remove the trim around the steering column and then a couple of screws and a connector on the stalk.
I'm hoping that the new stalk combined with the new wipers will mean we won't see any rain on holiday.
I also swapped the light/indicator for one with front foglight control. The car has had foglights added to the front by means of some additional wiring and a small switch mounted down low next to my left knee. This is apparently unnecessarily as hopefully when I remove the arch liners I should find the connectors already attached to the loom - you just need to add the stalk and fogs, so I'm hoping to be able to remove the rather messy wiring that was added.
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links
Engine cover and coils popped off easily enough.
Old plugs, essentially the same part as the NGK plugs I ordered but Mazda branded. I think I stated this before but I believe they would be FoMoCo branded if they were the original plugs, so they have been replaced at least once. I only have a detailed summary for what I think was the last main dealer service in 2012 and they weren't done then.
Coils back in and bolted down...
Managed to get another little job done tonight - a variable wiper stalk from an RX-8. I thought when I first collected the car that this mod had already been done, but I was mistaken.
It's a straight forward swap, there are three screws to separate and remove the trim around the steering column and then a couple of screws and a connector on the stalk.
I'm hoping that the new stalk combined with the new wipers will mean we won't see any rain on holiday.
I also swapped the light/indicator for one with front foglight control. The car has had foglights added to the front by means of some additional wiring and a small switch mounted down low next to my left knee. This is apparently unnecessarily as hopefully when I remove the arch liners I should find the connectors already attached to the loom - you just need to add the stalk and fogs, so I'm hoping to be able to remove the rather messy wiring that was added.
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links
Edited by Accelebrate on Thursday 23 January 15:20
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