Nice read, thanks for the link Iain 
Thanks for the link.
To sum up, the current mx5 has just about enough of what it does need, and not too much of what it doesnât.
If ever a car was not about numbers and more than the sum of its parts the mx5 is it.
0 to 60 in 5.8 seconds , a second faster than official quoted UK figures , are US versions faster or did they just get a good run ?
Most US road tests quote quicker times than UK ones. Reasons include lack of rigour in testing regime - different roads being used (ie not a flat test track ) , reliance on speedo figure - and the fact that the definitive UK figures ted to come from Autocar, who have a very long established testing programme . They test two up, which can make a big difference in bhp/tonne with a consequent effect on times.
In the day when 0-60 in under 10 seconds was fast , under 7 very fast and under 5 seconds unheard of the 0-60 time was a good metric . Your mumâs Mini did 24 seconds , your dadâs MGB 12 and your mateâs Elan in 8 - big gaps . But now nearly everything doe s60 in under 10 and really fast cars do it in under 4 seconds .
Standing start quarter miles give a far better insight into acceleration- as I will enjoy seeing later today at the dragstrip âŚ
But an MX5 is âmore exotic than most supercarsâ?? Delusional tosh .
Yep, far from exotic, but still one of the most engaging everyday cars, irrespective of price.
IMHO 0-60 is pretty irrelevant, and to match the comics figures is so hard on a vehicle mechanically that most would shy away from trying, unless itâs auto/awd in which case itâs really just mashing the throttle pedal. My last car had launch control, but electronics logged how many times it was used and after about 50 dialled back the torque for the sake of gearbox longevity. I never used it.
50-100 (mph) or the more used 100-200 (kmh) are far more relevant to everyday driving.
They test from a rolling start in the US, what the US actually report is 3-60 mph (although they still call it 0-60), versus Europe where we do 0-62 mph. This means all US road tests report 0-60 times that can be upto a second quicker than European tests.
US mpg always looks worse than ours, because theyâre using a US gallon (3.78 litres) versus an Imperial gallon (4.54 litres)⌠this means 40 mpg UK is only 33 mpg US. This is something utilised when advertising in Canada as mpg is not a legally defined thing there but many people use it colloquially, all the adverts use imperial mpg!
I also understand that Porsches have a data logger which records how you use your car. If it has hit the limiter (or a very similar parameter that Porsche use) it can have serious consequences as far as Porsche warranty and resale is concerned.
I have a friend who had used his as it was supposed to be used (being a sports car), but Porsche refused to trade it off him when he wanted a new car as they said it had hit the limiter (or whatever their specific parameter is). There followed a heated discussion, but he had to sell it privately.
Youâre right, itâs the number of âoverrevsâ that are measured, (amongst other stuff, time at wot, cold starts etc) and people I knew have had similar problems to your friend.
This apparent disparity in times has been queried before, and I believe itâs because the US uses a different method of testing to the rest the world (so whatâs new!),
PS: I missed it but the post from âckyliuâ sums it up!
So you buy a car with just so many lives for many many thousands of pounds & once they are used up you have a car worth nothing?
Europe use 0-100 km/h - ie 62mph. UK blunders on with Imperial - and Autocar tests are 0-60mph .
I have to be honest, this Big Brother element of the on-board electronics is one of the seriously endearing features on the 5, or at least the older models. They have none! My factory stereo doesnât even have RDS to tweak the tune on a station, let alone anything tracking where, what, or how much I use the car as it was intended. Long live the older cars!
This measurement from ~3mph is called roll out and is a function of the drag strip. The only start timing when the front wheel crosses a beam, which means that initial effort to overcome inertia is ignored and, as you say, can make a significant difference to elapsed time.
Another reason why the 0-60 time is not as relevant is that the engine position and therefore initial traction has a significant effect on it. A front engined car will always lose out to rear, four wheel drive or rear/mid engined cars of the same horse power, rear drive also loses out to the 4wd or rear/mid engined.
To me the most useful is the 50-70 through the gears, acceleration where you need it most, not off the line.
Auto Express use to publish through gear times for 30-50 and 40-60 iirc, I always enjoyed them since my Skoda Fabia vRS was quicker than a Porsche Boxster on those measures, it was an overtaking weapon! 
Itâs very true that we almost never do 0-60.
imo, it is relevant to many, as many a purchaser testing both the 1.5 and 2L version of the ND commented that they liked the 2L as it had more poke. More poke in the 2L = a shorter 0-60 time
Again, a personal thing, but it IS important to me off the line. For quick pull always at junctions and roundabouts, building up speed quickly, not to mention traffic lights if one so wishes.
And if 0-60mph time wasnât important, I wonder how many MX-5s theyâd sell if the 0-60mph times was 14 seconds.