How reliable are mx5's?

You always want what you dont currently have i give it 1 year before your searching the classified for a z4m or cayman
 
I had a mk2.5 1.8 sport from new in 02, was fantastic - one of best handling cars I have owned, just not enough power but perfect for my limited abilities.

Wife owned a mk3 from 07, 2.0 sport. Not as good as the 2.5 in my opinion, steering too light and the 2.0 no improvement over 1.8. Better overall package wise but not as good driver wise.

No experience of folding hard top but that's what the wife wants when it's my turn to drive the sensible car.
 
Andy - I looked at them (current shape folding hard top/soft top) when I bought my Zed and agree with all the comments - they are a hoot to drive!

However the downside if you are using it as an everyday day is they are very "basic" - the fabric roof is just that - a piece of thin not very well insulated fabric, they are very noisy on the motorway and lack what you might describe as creature comforts - even to the point that the interior light goes off as soon as you close the door - now that might seem like a minor point but things like that would irritate me after a long day at work facing a drive home.

For a weekend car - :thumbsup: for me as an everyday car :thumbsdown:

Just my thoughts!
 
As others have said nice car but quite small with roof up and in boot. I'm only 6 feet tall and it felt narrow with two up. Not really suitable as a long weekend away car for us anyway.
 
I think that is an exact description there. The car is a cheap car, and with cheap cars you have to accept the shortcomings of those.

I am sure you can only get them in flimper spec as well, so more comparable to a Z3 I would say.
 
They are a cheap drivers car that hardly ever goes wrong though, unlike a lot of "prestige" cars! :wink:

A guy at work has had them for years. Has one of the latest folding hardtop ones now. I can't recall any time he ever complained of anything going wrong with the ones he's owned!

Only thing to check on is the drainage holes under the sills from the upper body. Make sure they are clear as they can block up and cause rust problems.

The guy in the office pointed me to this thread: http://mx5life.com/community/threads/drain-hole-guide-keep-them-clear.239/
 
My wife must be very unlucky. She had 2 Mk2s, the first was stolen and used in a drive by shooting :? Weird car to chose for such a job.

Got an insurance pay out and bought another. Both side windows fell out when the cables for the electric windows broke, the rear screen heater stopped working, had several cam sensor failures which would cause the car to misfire and just before it was traded it developed a mystery fault whereby it would only run on 3 cylinders.

The second car was an absolute lemon.

My dad had a Mk1 Miata import that had done 150k miles and ran like a dream.
 
Mafoo said:
Its a shame you have had so many issues and would be an even bigger shame if you left the fold. :cry:

Hiwever, I agree on the Mk1. I had an imported S Spec for a couple of years. The only think to go wrong was the ECU (surprisingly cheap to fix).

As with all cars - there are a number of common problems. The below link seems to be a good resource for them.....

http://www.amxastonish.co.uk/buying_an_mx5_23.html

Certainly not the quickest of cars but wonderfully balanced in the corners. As mentioned above space is premium. The boot can hold very little.

One word to sum up - FUN.

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Aww cheers mate-trust me i dont want to be zedless,its just that when i get to trust the car again(without seeing the light for over 2000 miles)
it goes and does it again with still no known cure :roll:
Even SWMBO said "You cant get rid of your zed-who will you talk to on a night?" :roll:
 
Stick with the Z'd andy, much better looking than the MX5. TBH I went and looked at a brand new one back in 2007. Glad I opted for the Z4 though.

The Mk3 just looked to girlie and with the arches shaped as they are it looks jacked up.
 
srhutch said:
Stick with the Z'd andy, much better looking than the MX5. TBH I went and looked at a brand new one back in 2007. Glad I opted for the Z4 though.

The Mk3 just looked to girlie and with the arches shaped as they are it looks jacked up.
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:)
 
Mowflow said:
My wife must be very unlucky. She had 2 Mk2s, the first was stolen and used in a drive by shooting :? Weird car to chose for such a job.

Great arc of fire :rofl:
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I,ve had 2 MX5s.....a MK 1 which did 120,000 miles and still drove like a nearly new car , great fun as long as you kept under 100 MPH....above that speed the front went light,
Had to have both lower rear part of the sills welded and repaired (it wasnt bad but I wanted to get it sorted before it got bad)

Bought a very low mileage MK2.5 ( 2004) 1 owner , full Mazda service history and an official UK car ...... at 6 years old it had to have the rear lower sills repaired with new panels......They rust from the inside out , so can look immaculate
They rust like a 1970s Lancia......mechanically they are bomb proof...... but dont take my word for it speak to Garath ...at the MX4 restorer
http://www.themx5restorer.co.uk/

I cant see anyone being happy with a MX5 after owning a Z
 
here's a pictorial comparison - my mate's car and mine . He loves it but then he's only about 5'8" - I'm nearly a foot taller and couldn't even get behind the wheel !

001-1.jpg
 
FWIW, I thought both of my wires MX5s were utter shite. Yes, you could slide them about no bother at all which was fun to a certain extent. But I was only comparing it to my EP3 type R at the time and they were soooooooo gutless.
 
liked mine - and what we have to remeber is the MX-5 made it in to Car's 50th Anniversary Edition - the Z4 didn't :oops:
 
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