Just thought I’d introduce myself and apologise for being here a while, lurking in the background before joining the club.
By way of introduction I used to own an MGC, had it for 16 years but, sad to say, got bored of it and wanted something completely different. I realise it can be something that is not done to change marque, but, what the heck. I found a Mk 3.5 at a year old and, with only 3700 miles on it, bought it. That was a year ago and I think it’s fantastic. I’ve put more miles on it in the last year than I did in the MG in the 4 years before. I know they can’t be compared but I really have no regrets about the change. I think my former MG owners have been a bit ‘sniffy’ about it but I really am a happy bunny with my change.
There was only one thing I missed and that was the sound of the engine, the 5 just seemed too quiet. So, having had a look around here and listened to hours of clips on Youtube, I plumped for a Racing Beat rear box. It sounds much better to me but I know that’s a personal thing. I wanted something with more presence but not too in your face. The RB does that for me. They were very helpful and even gave the 5% club discount.
Looking forward to meeting up with some of you at some point in the future.
Hello, ive come from the world of MG with having a 1979 MGB GT , i bought a mk1 mx5 in February and love it. I have still got the MG and as its a good example im reluctant to sell it. Im still in the MG owners club! I know what you mean about the B`s exhaust note!
I don’t think they can be compared really. The C was of its time and probably not a well thought out product in those BMC days when they thought we can just nail it together and it will sell. Yes it was nose heavy, a big 6 pot cast iron engine over the front wheels but modern tyres largely got rid of the mishandling and understeer. There is more room in the C as you say but the handling of the 5 means that you value the feeling of being snug, you don’t want to be sliding about the seats. The 5 feels very planted on the road, I’m never worried it might ‘skip’ going round a corner (the lack of rear leaf springs does that) and is a much safer and faster car. In terms of fuel consumption I never got more than 24 mpg from the C and frequently less, so I can drive the 5 much more! It’s a bit like comparing apples and pears but I’m very happy with my decision now.
Just signed in for the first of many visits? Please pop your location in your profile, and the year and model of your MX5 in your sig. This helps enormously when we try to answer questions…
Good move. I had many MGs back in the day, but wouldn’t want to go back. My one abiding memory of my MGAs was the quality of the gearchange, much like the MX5 [certainly the Mk 1].
I did a similar thing only my C was a tartan red roadster as a daily driver back in 1976. Great car from a completely different era of course and I loved it. A 3 week heatwave that summer with just the tonneau over at night. Low 20’s mpg like you say and down to 9 mpg in cross town traffic going to work. Big understeer which was over-easily balanced from the rear in the wet. Still great though, 8’ish secs to 60 and 125mph on the speedo, when we think what else was around, most cars were painfully slow back then. The biggest complement was once getting blown off by a Dino at the traffic lights, so nice of him to bother
Yes great cabin and recliners, spent a few nights in there In the end though it was too expensive for me. I had to take the lump out at 83K to re-ring it and change the clutch. Then the king pins and rack tie rod ball joints failed on the MOT so I had to regrind the pins, turn up bushes, and cut and shut B tie rods to rebuild the rack. Then the servo failed on holiday in Cornwall and drank all the fluid which was pretty scarey. I begged a local garage to let me make a bypass pipe, bled it in the street, and did a servo and caliper rebuild when I got home. Sold it for £600 when the £800 insurance bill came but I still remember the reg and it’s still around somewhere!
Never had a “C” but had several "B"s, both roadsters and GT’s. Probably the best all-rounder was my original MGB GT V8, a great car and very practical. Consumption was not too different from the 4-pot 1.8.
Crikey that sounds horrendous Shane, presumably you felt the pedal getting soft and had a bit of warning I hope? My fluid disappeared over-night, came to pull off cold up a slope, car stalled a bit, I hit the brakes to stop and re-set choke etc and… nothing, rolled backwards towards the edge of the car park and a 3 foot drop but fortunately the handbrake worked and we stopped before hitting the little fence. To this day I don’t know how I hadn’t noticed the lack of brake pedal before pulling off. I guess I was using the handbrake for the hill start and balancing the throttle to keep the engine going. For sure I check all the pedals as I get in these days.
The fun bit was working out where it’d gone, no leaks showing, nothing, thought someone had nicked it overnight til it finally dawned on me. Of course these things are known about now but not so much then. I think the air and fluid sections aren’t connected in that way these days!
I always wanted a V8 Nick, I bet it was good fun. Costello was the man then of course for the roadsters but they were new and well out of my price range. Yes, had a B before the C, then another just after, then a long break till the third about 8 years ago. I had the engines out of all 4 of those cars, rebuilt the boxes in 2 and the overdrive in 1. I looked at the manual for the MX5 recently and thought no, if it needs a clutch someone else can do it!
