Long story. Skip to the end for the question if you’re not bothered.
In 2004 I sat in the passenger seat of a 1994 1.8 White NA as my Dads friend flew around the mountains of Cyprus (father following behind) to watch the WRC. I was 14 when I learned how to go sideways in my mates mums NB Arizona on the salt flats next to the Akrotiri RAF base. We got in rather a lot of trouble (now all I think about are clogged up drains & salt in the sills 
).
I live in South London and a young lad who just passed his CBT wrote off my Volvo C30 D5 that I had for 6 years in July, I loved and spent copious amounts of money on that thing. (bloody ULEZ, bloody DMF)
I bought a 2.0 06 Soft Top NC in August last year with the money from the insurance company. Horror on the M4 when the NSF Caliper locked up randomly. It released with some persuasion and the piston & pins got a bit of TLC new set of pads the next day plain sailing (bar a few evenings swearing at a trombone brush). It doesn’t have FSH (I tend to keep cars for a while so it doesn’t bother me massively)
I love the thing, naturally the car has become rather…. Londoned. Street parking only and it’s a tiny side road at that. The Chelsea Tractor brigade still don’t quite understand what that loud increasingly quick beeping is when they’re parking.
I really really want to keep it. It’s been across the country & into France. I’m a freelancer and I have several big clients in and around Birmingham thus it’s had another 25k appear on the Odometer. I’ve also done a horrendous amount of miles in Vans this last year.
We’re buying a place in Hastings (I’ve already secured a garage as we’d only have street parking on the seafront) a further 60 miles from Birmingham.
I don’t have cruise, it’s a 5spd, I do a lot of miles realistically it’s a bit tight on space for the amount of kit I take with me. I wasn’t home for a month with back to back jobs and I had a passenger seat full of bags for the duration. It is also my only car.
Being able to finish a 12 hour day get in the car drop the roof in one second and feel the same feeling I felt 20 years ago, total joy is incredible. It’s my dream car and always has been.
Question is, do I shop around for a 6spd hard top with lower miles, (mines at 125k) FSH, cruise etc etc. so that I can keep the joy of daily driving an Mx5.
Or do I do the sensible thing and buy a V50/Passat/ Transit Connect etc to do the donkey miles for work and keep the Mx5 I’ve got, tidy it up and just take it out in the summers (my busiest work period).
I’ve rented vans every weekend this year so far.
I have all the bits to do a full brake overhaul with a week to refurb the calipers (& swap some bushings) in August but if I’m keeping her she needs a respray with an experts poke around the arches and sills, new or refurb for the alloys and a bit of interior TLC and a reseal underneath. My parents have a driveway & enough space to get to one side of the car at a time inside the garage.
As it stands I could probably sell this one for around £1800/£2k in May next year. And look to buy a 2010-12 NC over the winter months.
I’ve got budget for around £12k whichever way I decide to split it. A tidy one, a not so tidy one ripe for a BBR225 
an NA/NB/NC for the weekend with a cheap runabout for the week. Etc etc.
Also, HELLO I’ve had the member badge in the window for a month and a half and I was gutted to miss the 30/35th anniversary.
Ps I was working at Silverstone this year (who is it that was camping with an NC in a tent with all the dates of the races written on the side of the tent?
