I’ve had my NC Roadster for just over 14 years, from new in fact. I bought my first MX5 (a new NB) at Oakmere Mazda when they were in Winsford. A few years later when Oakmere had moved to Northwich I traded it for the new NC roadster. And yesterday I picked up my new ND2 Sports Tech from their new site in Northwich. Johnathan Bate was the sales guy in all 3 sales.
Here is the last picture I’ll take of my trusty NC, at the dealer’s yesterday, and the first picture of my new ND just before I drove it for the first time. If the ND is a trouble-free as the NC has been I’ll be well happy.
Congratulations on your new purchase, and hopefully you’ve got it just as some proper MX-5 weather may be arriving…! Is nicer over here in Nottinghamshire today
Rob
You Sir, are a cool Dad! My father wouldn’t let me near any car of his for ages, but proceeded to do handbrake turns in a car park in the snow with my clapped out Clio when I was 18
Well done and I hope the ND serves you for as long as your NC managed. I’m sure you will enjoy the ND and as a bonus you will save a FORTUNE in fuel expenditure.
Guys, I have only driven the ND a few miles so far, and had about an hour in the dealer’s demo car about a month back.
Initial thoughts are - it’s not a lot different to drive (so far - obviously I have not explored the ND’s envelope yet). Despite being allegedly smaller than the NC it feels bigger and looks ‘beefier’ on the driveway. It feels to have more width for the driver, or maybe it’s the lack of that intrusive door-mounted cup holder the NC had.
If anything, the steering feels a tad less ‘talkative’ than the NC’s, particularly around the ‘straight ahead’ position. Maybe the electric rack is not as sensitive in feedback as the NC’s hydraulic one.
Having 6 gears is a big improvement (I was always feeling to the next gear after ‘5’ in the NC) and the ‘tech toys’ are eons up on the basic NC! Pity there’s no glove box, but then I honestly can’t say I ever used the NC one except to keep the handbook in. I miss the little shelf down on the driver’s side more than I miss that (used to keep my sunglasses and window wiper chamois block there).
But I LOVE the looks - far less roundy-girly and more sharply aggressive, but not too much so. And that lovely deep soul red is to die for!
Congratulations on you brand new MX5, she looks fantastic. Soul Red is a gorgeous colour. If your thinking of a DIY coating for her I would recommend Turtle Wax Ceramic Wax Coating . Mine has had two coats now and she is staying beautifully clean and gleaming in the sunshine… when it’s out.
@Bluebird1999 We can see a sneaky glimpse of your internal trim colour in your photo, which looks very nice, have you got pictures of the inside you can show off.
Out of interest, 2 MX5s ago (17 years of continuous MX5 ownership and counting), this was my first back in 2004! According to the Gov MOT site it’s MOT’d 'till October this year so still around. Does anyone on here own it?
Mine is going in for ceramic coating in a few weeks time by a friend that runs a detailing business. I don’t have any photos of the interior but I’ll take some soon and post them.
There is a thread here talking about Ceramic Coatings:
The professionally applied route or the DIY route with many different products to choose from in between.
There are many YouTube videos on the subject too (I watched too many ).
Not sure of the cost of a professionally applied solution but the Turtle Wax Ceramic Wax Coating I bought was £18 off Amazon.
I was always going to apply the coating myself, I am a little bit fanatical when it comes to “washing” my MX5.
What would be interesting to know would be the difference in the level of “protection” offered by the professional solution verses the DIY route. My understanding of the difference so far is longevity of the protection in favour of the professional route.
However, the ease of application of the one I am using means it can be applied after every wash, effectively “layering” the protection
I need to give a further update to the thread above, but suffice to say 4 weeks on, the results are still very positive.
Unfortunately “ceramic” is a buzz word that everyone is using now, it covers such a huge range of things it’s almost meaningless beyond saying the product has some silica content that will promote water beading.
There are good ceramic sprays using SiO2 chemistry such as TAC Moonlight, Gtechniq C2v3, Gyeon Wet Coat or Kamikaze Overcoat but these are not to be confused with professional ceramic coatings that last for years; you’ll get a similar stay clean and bead effect but perhaps only for 6 months and with little scratch resistance, IMO these are more correctly “silica toppers/sealants”. Generally simple to apply with a spray on and wipe off, although the car should be very clean first - cost wise @vinny1 £15-£25 for the spray and then another £10 on decent microfibres (not the cheap nasty supermarket ones, proper Korean edgless 300+ gsm plush).
Longer term ceramic coatings that last 2+ years such as Cquartz UK 3.0, GTechniq Crystal Serum Light or Shelby Ceramic are reputable but these really need polish and decontaminate before application so they can bond properly - cost of the chemicals is circa £50.
The ones that last 3-6 years I think need professional application @vinny1 for £350-£700 as they take time to cure and if you mess up, good luck getting them off! At that price the car will be fully machine polished to almost perfect paint first. Also a point people forget is that any scratches incurred post longlife coating are very difficult to polish unless aggressively machine compounding or waiting until the coating has worn off. And they usually have specific products recommended to wash the car with after to top-up the protection, so there’s an on-going cost with them.
. Mine has had two coats now and she is staying beautifully clean and gleaming in the sunshine… when it’s out.
).
I bought was £18 off Amazon.