New NC owner in Guildford, Surrey

Hi all,
I finally got round to buying my car last week after test driving it over 6 weeks ago. These car sales people have nothing to do now except follow up on old contacts! :smiley: But I’m loving it. Roll on the freedom to drive again!
Richard

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Welcome! South Central area hold meetings in the Guildford area. When we are all allowed out come along and meet us. We operate a Facebook page called MX5 Owners Club - South Central. Keep an eye on that for information about meetings.

Thats great Richard. So, now, you’ll be joining MX5 MK3 facebook pages no doubt and reading that you have to spend to make it into a better car. Fret not. Concentrate on the basics - decent tyres (age and tread), changing the gromets on the windscreen scuttle, possibly adding the intermittent wiper function, fog lights, wind deflector, worrying about “rust” everywhere including inside the boot lid around the number plate lights. Also - depending on age/use - changing transmission fluids in gearbox etc. If the car is an older mk3 then you may want to replace the yellowed plastic coolant expansion tank unit as it can crack around the neck and bu66er the engine. Just get a new one from Mazda etc for about £50 https://www.mx5parts.co.uk/coolant-expansion-tank-mk3-35-p-4179.html . An easy job and ignore the folks who say that you MUST have an ulta expensive balck aluminium one. Oh, and did I mention spark plugs and changing the FL22 coolant? Seriously though - enjoy the knowledgeable comunity and your new MX5! If you need an idea about spending money then go to https://www.mx5parts.co.uk/mk-3-c-378.html One day you may be allowed to just go out for a drive to anywhere you want at any time. Stay safe.

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I am just along the road in Leatherhead, and would also be swanning around in a Mk3 if this covid thing hadn’t happened. Spent hours trawling through online auction sites, and other online market places/advertisers narrowing down the choice to ‘the perfect car’ only to have to sit tight and hope the car is still available in three, six, ten weeks when I can actually go and look at the thing…
Keep swaying between rag top and powered hard top… Also certain I want a copper red, or Galaxy Grey, and would like the sport model, but not too fussed, and it must be the 2.0, unless there is a perfect 1.8… you can see how I can spend hours as I don’t know what I want… Still, enjoying doing the research.

Welcome to the yacht club* :wink: (I have one too and love it).

*some in the MX-5 fraternity joke that the NC is like a boat compared to NA, NB and ND versions.

I had a mk2.5 which I sold in Feb with the intention of getting a mk3 in March… The old car certainly wasn’t a razor sharp apex carving device. Strongly suspect suspension choice (sport or standard) and condition (15 year old dampers anyone?) have a lot to do with whether the car floats like a boat or not. More so than being an NA, NB or NC.

I have a Mk 2.5 Icon and a Mk 3.5 SE and both drive very well. I have not changed suspension or lowered either of them, and am not the slowest driver, and do not find the 3.5 floaty at all. I understand that the earlier Mk 3 was a lot softer on suspension but the face lift in 2008 sorted out the problem. Correct me if I’m wrong (ready for onslaught!). :grin: :grin:

I am now in my mid-60’s, and according to one of my son’s, going through a mid-life crisis. But… I have always wanted an MX5 for far too many years, having spent a long time buying cars that my children could drive when they came of age.

That MX5 moment though came just over 18-months ago when MX5 City, now in South Elmsall, rescued me from doldrum driving moments, and ignited some fresh enthusiasm.

Enjoy looking forward to the moment when the roads are free to use again… I am!

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When I took the plunge it was for an '08 copper red 2.0 Sport with electric hard top.

I could have bought one of the same colour and vintage with a soft top, which was £500 cheaper, but the former just looked so much more elegant and stylish to view in profile.

That was 18-months ago, and it is used every day regardless of weather… and I have never regretted the decision.

Thanks for the tips Meneer, I’m sure I’ll be spending very soon! I have a 2009 Mk3.5 with 33k miles on the clock, and am looking forward to putting a lot more on.

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I feel for you, I spent absolutely ages looking for mine. I’ve actually owned a Mk3 soft top previously, and think it’s the nicest looking of all. But when looking again now the creature comforts of a Mk3.5 hard top won the day. I know people talk about always having the roof down, and as much as possible I do, but when I’ve had a long (enjoyable) day visiting family and am facing a 2 hour drive home in the rain, a hard top and cruise control just makes it so much easier.

BTW, there was a really nice copper red 2011 Sport Tech in Basingstoke a few weeks ago, around £7500, which is probably still there because of the lockdown…

You’ve just got to love a mid-life crisis. It’s actually not a crisis, just the time when your kids move out and you find you have some spare cash again, and you buy the car you always wanted :smiley:

When my daughters moved out, I bought a Mk3 MX-5, then a Merc SLK, then the SLK Mk3, then had a heart attack at the end of last year and decided I wanted a car that puts a smile on my face. Helloooo MX-5! Just popping to the shops leaves me grinning like a Cheshire cat.

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Similar here. I’d been driving a Pontiac Solstice GXP as part of a work project. Really liked the idea of having our own an open top car. So when our daughters finished Uni and became independent, we considered what was around got an SLK in 2008. We had that for seven-years, drove it everywhere including over into Europe a few times, but sold it when our eldest daughter’s children started to come along.

Meanwhile our youngest daughter caught the open-top bug from us and bought a new 25th Anniversary Edition MX-5 in 2014, which is corking little car. After driving it, we told her that we’d like first refusal on her MX-5 when the time came. So when she became a mum and needed to move on to something more practical, we took on her MX-5. Love it, not going to sell it.

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