The OP has already chosen and purchased a car!!!
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You might want to consider Mark @ Amore TVR specialists near Bristol. He sold my 98 Griff 500. Takes all the hassle out of trying to sell privately, he just takes a commission. I drove mine down from W Yorks, caught the train back & a few months later he transferred the money.
Yes, and I got the VAT calculation wrong too. I said the £6415 saving is ‘all the VAT and a bit more’, but I calculated that on the pre reg, not the new price lol.
Hi R8Fun,
That’s exactly who I was planning to use too!!!
That’s great to hear you had a positive experience. The insurance runs out in mid July so I’m figuring I will drive it a bit this month and then get it over to him early in July. I’d love to chat to you offline about things like how long it took to sell, price achieved etc and how you’re finding life going from TVR to MX5??
I will try to drop you a PM if that’s OK…
Brg, Birdseed
Congrats @Birdseed007
and in case it helps ease your mind further about buying 2nd hand…
2 years ago I bought an RF 2017 in Seoul Red with slightly high mileage - so far so good, no issues.
Regards your current car I have shortlisted the GT86 as my next car when my legs get too creaky to get in and out of the MX-5!
I also used to have a TVR Griff500, (its many years ago now) when I brought it I had it inspected by Rob Ingleby ( he still does TVR inspections according to his web site). When I came to sell it 3 years later I called him he did an inspection for me and within 2 days had a buyer that came and brought the car. I don’t imagine the market is as active now days but maybe worth a call.
You will love your MX5 but miss the V8 sound of the Griff!.
At the time he only charged the inspection fee.
Given in the grand scheme of things, there isn’t the most massive number of convertibles to choose from, it’s a category which of course is nice to win, but in the same way/gravitas as being chuffed that a woman picked me when I was the only guy left ![]()
I did that “Skyfall” road back when I owned the red NC. We think we got the spot and took some pics, it was a guess to know exactly where that spot is TBH. Anyways all in vain, I lost the pics somehow, all of the pics of that and more when in Scotland👎
Enjoy your newly purchased ND, it’s a stunner in that colour combo.![]()
Hi Mick,
So pleased to hear you had a trip up to the Skyfall Road but very sorry to hear you lost all the pics. I think ironically that’s one of the dangers of digital pictures in that it is all too easy to forget to back them up, or perhaps you change computer, suffer a hard drive crash etc and lose them.
The one good thing about old film and paper prints was that most of us kept our most important pics in photo albums and tended to look after them better by putting them on bookshelves.
Thanks for you kind words re: the car! I can’t wait to get it actually!
Brg,
Jonathan
On the subject of film and paper prints, many years ago we were at an Elton John concert in Spain, we had front row seats. Our view was obstructed slightly by press people etc taking photos and generally getting in the way. Elton decided that he didn’t like them and stopped playing and chased them off, accompanied by a few expletives like, "These people have paid, you fu**ers haven’t. We started cheering and clapping etc, and he was really great looking directly at us posing and smiling while my brother in law took loads of photos. Next day we got the news that said brother in law had dropped the camera in the sea…absolutely gutted! Paper prints are only more reliable if you can safely get them into an album in the first place. ![]()
Well the day is almost here to collect the MX5 I placed a deposit on almost 3 weeks ago and I’m very excited to collect it tomorrow at 13.45 from the local Mazda dealer…
2022 ND2 convertible GT Sport Tech in crystal red metallic with cream Nappa seats and BBS alloys. I have had the aluminium pedal option done and the dealer has ceramic coated the paintwork. One finishing touch I have been contemplating is to have the Brembo brakes painted red and stickered in white like the later cars. Had a quote of about £376 ish from a place with a great reputation for their respray work but that doesn’t include stripping the calipers off the car and I have no idea how expensive that might be… Anybody know?
Have also bought a nice secondhand drone for the Scottish trip - the challenge is going to be fitting everything in this car even with a boot rack.
Grateful for the warm welcome here!! Look forward to meeting some of you in person now I have joined the MX5 owners Club. My Sister has a 2008 NC and it’s her second MX5 so I plan to come along with her…
Birdseed007 I must have spent over a 100 hours watching every youtube video I could find on the MX5 and staring at my phone snaps of the car I took on our test drive!! I got a better price from a dealer in Nottingham for my GT86 than the Mazda dealer offered, so yesterday drove her North for a final road trip in that magnificent Toyota machine (and be under no illusions the GT86 is a magnificent machine…) I don’t mind admitting that my wife and I both shed tears at saying goodbye to a car that has been such a faithful servant and fabulous to drive… I even had a bit of a wobble yesterday questioning if I was doing the right thing given that my commute is 45 miles of A3 and M25 to Heathrow each way up to 15 times a month. I started worrying the MX5 would be unbearable (and less safe) for such a journey. Hopefully though my next plan is to swap the missus 15 year old Saab 9-5 for an electric SUV from Tusker and I will use that quite a lot of the time as the missus is working from home more nowadays.
After we get over the emotional rollercoaster of parting with the GT86 I think driving the MX5 will help cement our decision. Our plan is to start an epic road trip to Scotland for the NC500 and some touring around from the end of next week in it… Can’t wait to do this bucket list trip for me!!
In other news the TVR Griffith will be going too, so I had a friend who is an esteemed photographer and film-maker come down and film some shots of the TVR earlier this week so I will have a video to remember her by. He sent me a short clip of just a bit of what he’s compiling and I have to say it blew me away and gave me goosebumps!! A fine send-off for the old gal!
Here’s hoping tomorrow’s handover goes smoothly.
Bit of a curved ball, so late in the day and just thinking aloud, but given you loved the GT86 and have many found memories of it, did you ever consider buying the GR86? A natural evolution and
apparently better in pretty much all aspects. There are quite a lot of those on Autotrader.
I sat in one of those twice and thought it was nice. In fact, back in the summer of '23, I got the email to say I could reserve one when the new (second) batch came along. On that infamous initial opening say, I think about April of '22, I put my name on the reserve list, after the initial batch sold out in an hour or so. Anyway, a year or so later my ‘chance’ came, but I passed as I like my/the ND a lot, and it isn’t my daily runabout. I thought given the GR86 wouldn’t be either, it’d be silly to change the ND.
Hi ND12 and thanks for your input. I did consider a GR86 when it was launched and like you I was given the chance to order one, but the fuel economy is significantly worse than the GT86/MX5 and with a long commute that makes a big difference. I’m also something of a convertible obsessive! When the TVR goes I want to still have a convertible in the fleet, hence the MX5.
The thing about the MX5 is that it’s pretty much unique at its price point - reliable, cheap, fun to drive, convertible…
No wonder they sold over a million of them!
Birdseed007
It seems only fair to post some pics of the new wheels, we’re delighted with the car! I’m going to pick up some new floor mats tomorrow before our trip to Scotland. When I picked the car up I noticed a tiny crack in the front lower diffuser so the dealer is replacing that after our trip to Scotland. I also decided to purchase the Mazda aluminium milled pedals so they fitted those in time for our collection.
The only mildly disappointing thing is the dealer has a policy of not doing any roof refurbishment so I should probably give it a clean, colour and reproof with Renovo just to bring it up to the standard of the rest of the car.
Birdseed007
I don`t think you can better it as a driving experience, sure it does not make the noise of a TVR but the overall experience makes up for that.
I still miss my Chimaera for its quirkiness but they are leagues apart in the driving stakes.
Always been a fan of the cream interior. Enjoy your new 5!
If you need to reproof a roof, you’ve more issues than a temporary lick of a ‘waterproofer’ will solve.
Your hood is made from Haartz Stayfast C so technically re-proofing achieves little other than a nice water beading which may be a good enough reason to do it. Otherwise a clean with baby shampoo or other light soap regularly (twice a year) is a good idea.
Looking good! Do like a bright interior, the cream offsets nicely against the red.
Don’t sit in the car wearing new blue or black denim jeans! Light coloured seats are very vulnerable and very difficult to clean.



