This is a long read so grab yourself a cup of your favourite brew before continuing with the rest of the post.
My Midlife Crisis
Back in 2018 I went through what I assume was my midlife crisis. I’ve been driving “boring” cars for over 30 years. They did their intended function of getting me from A to B without too much stress or hassle. The most powerful car I owned was a rather heavy VW Passat 1.8T producing 150 bhp. It was comfortable and an undemanding car to drive. In my mind I’ve always thought something with 200 bhp or more would be fun and exciting to drive. So now we come to my midlife crisis moment.
I bought a Kia Stinger GTS. It’s a beast with 3.3l Twin Turbo V6 producing 365 bhp and bucket loads of torque. The spec says 0-60 time of 4.7s. I tried launch control on a safe stretch of road and can confirm it’s fast. Is it 4.7s fast? Who knows, I wasn’t timing it and I’m not sure I’d notice 1s or 2s difference. You just feel the kick and being pushed into the seat. Was it fun? Yes for the first time and maybe the second time. After that it’s a little too predictable and short lived. After driving this car for 3 months, I realised something was still missing. How could this be? I’ve always wanted a car that has over 200 bhp and there I was with a car with much more power and something was still missing. What’s missing?
I talked cars with a colleague and he suggested I test drive an MX-5. He himself owns one. At the time I wasn’t immediately attracted to this idea. With small kids to drop off at school, a two seater wasn’t a family man’s idea of practicality. I made “excuses” to not go for a test drive citing family reasons. However the “missing hole” grew bigger and bigger as the weeks passed, until one sunny Sunday morning I got up and decided today is the day I’ll book a test drive. Life’s too short to be driving boring cars. Trawling through the various used car trading websites I found an MX-5 for sale that’s within 30 miles of me, it’s a MK3.75 1.8. I called the dealership only to be told the car will shortly be test driven by a prospective customer and he’ll call me back if it’s still available in the afternoon. I never got that call! Looking back now it was serendipitous that I didn’t get to test drive that car. I discussed this with my colleague and he advised me which suitable model year and engine combination to look for. For the MK3 he recommended the 2.0 engine. So on with the search for a suitable MX-5 that’s close to where I live.
Two weeks later another MX-5 popped up in my search. It was a MK3 2.0 Z-Sport model and was just around the corner from where I live. I called the dealer and booked a test drive. I can still remember that fateful morning of the test drive. It was raining when I headed over to the dealership. While waiting for the car to be prepared and some paperwork to be completed, the sun came out. I got to test drive the car with the top down! Five minutes in to the drive I told the salesman I’ll take it!
What a car! I couldn’t believe driving could be this level of fun. I was having fun with a smile on my face no matter what speed I was driving at. Driving the car makes you feel alive! Initially I’d be driving slower than the speed my brain was registering. I slowly built up my confidence with the car. Soon I would be taking on a few additional roundabouts on my way home from the gym. I never really understood or appreciated what an LSD (Limited Slip Differential) does to a car until now. With the DSC off it was buttery smooth round roundabouts. In the three months of owning the MX-5, I drove about the same miles as my Stinger GTS did in 6 months. Every time I got back in to the Stinger GTS, with over 200 bhp more power, I hated it. It was so boring driving around town. Putting it in Sports mode made it more tiring to drive around town. Too much non-linear power causing neck strain. I had to get rid of it. Life’s too short to keep a car you hate. So I sold it.
The hole I had been feeling finally disappeared. Turns out the solution to my midlife crisis was an MX-5!
I still require a family car but which one? I didn’t want to go back to driving boring family cars. I thought maybe a Mazda 6 or even the CX-5 would give me a little bit of that MX-5 fun. After all Mazda’s design
philosophy is based around driver engagement. Having test drove the 6 and CX-5 I didn’t get any level of enjoyment resembling my first time with the MX-5. So I continued with my search until an odd ball decision came in the form of the Skoda Octavia VRS Estate. Within a few minutes driving down the road I was smiling. Could this be my new family car? Yes, yes it was! I’m not sure what Skoda has done to this car but it’s so much more engaging to drive. So much so that the MX-5 gets less drive time because of it. With the purchase of the Octavia VRS I had some change left over from the sale of the Stinger GTS. Time to upgrade the MX-5!
Searching through mx5oc forum I came across mentions of BBR and their tuning kits. I knew I didn’t want forced induction. I wanted the direct driver to engine response of the naturally aspirated engine, so opted for the BBR Super 200 package. Booked my appointment and drove the 60 odd miles to Brackley to have the upgrade surgery done on the car. Driving home that afternoon I realised I had to adjust my driving style. It was all too easy to spin the rear wheels in 1st gear. There’s a particular country route I take when I want my weekly dose of fun. It has a twisting uphill climb section. Previously on stock power I could feel the car was struggling a little on this section. However now with the extra power and torque, it was a blast powering through this uphill section. Whereas before I’d almost red-line in 3rd, now I have to ease off. Fun just went up a level!
An Expensive Lesson
All previous cars I’ve owned were regularly serviced. Oil was usually changed during service. I rarely check oil levels unless the oil warning light came on. Can you guess where I’m going with this narrative? Before I bought this MK3 MX-5 I did read up on how the engine can easily suffer issues from low oil level. So I made sure to check the oil level more regularly than any of the other cars I’ve owned in the past. The car was serviced and new oil put in. I drove it hard a few times before lock-down was enforced. Once lock-down was lifted I made up for loss time. I found another level of fun. Revving past
red-line as often as possible, speed limit permitting. With the BBR Super 200 upgrade the engine now revs up to 7200 rpm. Stock engine red-lines at 6800 rpm. So I was literally revving past the red-line on the rev counter. A lesson I soon learnt was that oil consumption not only increases with miles travelled but also on how much you rev the engine. Surely oil couldn’t have been consumed all that much if I’ve only done 500 miles since service? I was wrong.
During the end of a particularly long freedom celebration drive against an Abarth 500, I heard a strange rattling/knocking noise whenever there was a quick change in rev. I checked the oil level and found none! No sign of oil anywhere on the dipstick. Puzzled, I checked the oil pressure gauge. It was
reading normal. As I read postings on various online forums regarding “NC Oil Pressure Gauge”, I came to the realisation that sometime clever engineers can really be “stupid”. I mean who the heck designs an oil pressure gauge that doesn’t actually measure the actual oil pressure. Worst still they thought it’d be a good idea to not have a low oil level warning light!
A quick trip to the local garage for an inspection and I was told it sounded like a big end bearing issue. Only way to be sure is to open it up and if confirmed the solution was a replacement engine or full engine rebuild. Both options were not cheap. After a few days going through all the emotional stages
of being hit with bad news, I pulled myself together and called BBR GTI in Brackley for a second opinion. Maybe they might have a different diagnosis since they did the engine upgrade and something might have come loose. During the call I told them what I was hearing and what the local garage had
said. I wasn’t sure the car can make 60 miles to Brackley but was reassured yes it can and if drive more gently.
I nursed the car all of 60 miles to Brackley where they investigated the source of the rattling noise. Didn’t take them long before Neil came in and said he has some bad news. Although I’ve prepared myself to hear what was to come it still stung a little though.
So the decision came down to a replacement engine or fully rebuild the existing engine. I’ve long decided I wasn’t going to sell this car so all the money spent on it is really for my enjoyment of the car. That afternoon I took the train home.
MX-5 Reborn
After waiting patiently for almost 8 weeks, I went to pick up my car. Neil told me to take it easy and roll through the gears for the first 500 miles or so. Driving the 60 miles back home while keeping rev below 3500 rpm I could tell this is not the same car that I had dropped off 8 weeks ago. Indeed it wasn’t as I had other upgrades done at the same time as the full engine rebuild.
Before leaving the car in the capable hands of the BBR GTI team I discussed with Neil about installing sway bars. He asked me what was it I was looking for in installing sway bars. I told him I wanted the car to feel more planted but not so stiff as to remove body roll entirely. I like the existing Bilstein shocks/spring that came with the car but thought maybe sway bars would stiffen up the chassis a little. Neil told me the factory fitted Bilstein weren’t all that good and suggested to opt for their sports suspension upgrade. He said their sports suspensions will keep the car more planted but at the same time still be compliant on our great British roads. Since my suspensions have done over 100k miles it’s time to change them.
The other upgrade involved installing sports brake upgrade kit. Slotted brake discs, yellow stuff pads and braided hose.
Jinba Ittai
You keep hearing this phrase “Jinba Ittai - horse and rider as one” when talking about Mazda’s design philosophy for the MX-5. I’ve never really experienced it. Not until one Thursday night while taking the car out for its engine running in period, driving with the top down and rev kept below 3500 rpm. It was dark and the B-road was empty. The car and its driver was one. I didn’t notice the car anymore. The slightest touch of the accelerator or brake pedal translated in me going that bit faster or slower. The lightest touch of the steering wheel would direct me in the direction I wanted to go. I didn’t need to look at the speedometer. The sound of the engine and the position of the gear lever would tell me how fast I was going. I was hugging the undulating road, my body would lean slightly left or right depending which bend I was taking. Complete driving bliss! I have finally found MEE (Motoring Emotional Engagement). Or have I?
Rethinking the Definition of Fun
Here’s a question I’ve been pondering on for a while now. What’s more fun, when the driver is more capable than the car or when the car is more capable than the driver?
This question arose after I had a chance to drive a friend’s standard NC 1.8. I drove his, he drove mine on the way out and we’d swap on the way back. We had a blast that evening.
Something was gnawing at the back of my mind three days later. How could his 1.8, with 130 bhp against my 210 bhp, felt more fun than mine? I recalled the edginess and the need to work harder with the 1.8 whereas with mine it’s lost some of that edginess and is almost effortless in they way it does it.
I now appreciate Mazda engineers design philosophy regarding driver engagement. More power does not equate to more fun. More grip does not equate to more fun. Lack of body roll does not equate to more fun. When you as the driver is more capable than the car, you need to work harder, hence more engagement on your part, to make the car do what you’re asking it to do.
I’ve not driven my reborn MX-5 as hard like I used to, the car is now way more capable than the driver! There’s really no road where I can red-line in 4th without the possibility of losing my license and no twisties or roundabouts where I can enjoy that drift feeling without the possibility of overcooking the manoeuvre and ending up in the ditch or swiping some stationary objects.
I need to up my game, hopefully I am able to attend track days in 2021 to get to know my MX-5 more then recalibrate my fun meter.
Final thoughts on MEE. It doesn’t really matter what car you drive, fun means different things to different people. Some like being fast in a straight line, some like the G-force of high-speed cornering, others like the floating feeling as they cruise along a road. Unless you’re someone who loves to tinker with cars, fun means getting in the car, go for a drive and have that emotional engagement with your car.
-Hien
