For a few years now I’ve gone for the best of both. Rather than agonise over whether a car can be lived with or not and the questions that come of that, we both have a family hatch each (both suzuki swifts, great little cars) and I have the mx5. Total investment for 3 nice vehicles is less than your average entry level bmw (we got amazing deals on the suzukis brand new and the mx5 was a bargain tidier upper).
Not an impressive driveway by any means but we own them all and there is no associated guilt about owning or owing money on something expensive were it to be sat around unused for a time.
It’s the older generation that can afford these cars. As a youngster starting out in life you can’t afford the insurance on anything beyond a Fiesta and then as you get older you start to think practically (young family maybe) and the one car you can afford has to be multi-purpose and flexible, i.e. not an MX-5. Only the middle age affluent or the retired (and slightly affluent) can have a toy in addition to the sensible ‘core’ of their vehicle fleet! There’s also the point that younger people are generally less interested in cars (and booze among other things), the roads and regulations have become joyless and fewer people are learning on manual gearboxes.
In 1990, the average age of a new Miata driver was mid-40s.
The March 1991 issue of Popular Mechanics included a survey of 1990 Miata owners
17.4% of owners were under 29 years
66.4% were aged 30-49
I was a 20 year old young driver in 1990. Insurance was expensive then. My rusty 30 hp Mini cost me £350 TPFT to insure then; £850 in today’s money.
Today average insurance for 20 year olds:
£850… Probably for a 130hp or so Ford or Vauxhall…
Now the average age of a new MX5 is 62 years. Automatic MX5s are of course available.
The 1990 MX5 tapped into nostaligia; nostalgia for 19060-70s cars. 30+ years on, its basically the same buyers as in 1990, buying for the same reasons, and now they are 30 years older.
Younger drivers aren’t less interested in sporty cars. They are less interested in roadsters.
The same trends are found globally (MX5 sales in US, Japan in 2023 are a fraction of 1990). US owners are aging as much as UK. US doesn’t have ANPR or fixed cameras, but back in 1990, they certainly had more mobile sites, with cops encouraged to hide. US country road traffice density is more or less the same.
To which I’d add that general trends, some legislatively driven, are for more and more driver-aids and automation which runs counter, for me, to what a motoring enthusiast seeks. Cruise control is useful for the boring bits, ABS and DSC are generally unseen and unobtrusive, and undeniably add to safety. The rest is an unwelcome distraction for the most part.
I’d honestly rather keep my good-as-new 2017 Arctic than be given a current model with i-Stop, i-Eloop, lane-keeping, blind spot monitoring, cross traffic alert, DAA, autonomous braking… Mazda has I think dropped a couple of these white elephants owing to the chip shortage and AFAIK there has not been much of a wailing and gnashing of teeth from potential buyers.
The writing has been on the wall for some time for motoring fun. The Arctic is already a classic
I don’t live my whole life in the past but, basically, what I want is not a pretend supercar but a reliable, economical, 1960’s sports car that can keep up with the traffic. And I’ve got one, near enough.
However, the one thing I would have liked is the automatic emergency stop for preventing low speed crashes in dense traffic.
It might have saved my Niseko when I was brake tested by someone cutting in close in front of me on a roundabout and then he almost immediately slammed on the anchors as he exited it in front of me. I really should have expected something daft, but I was in a relaxed and sunny mood up until then.
The engine note on my dashcam footage suggests I was doing about 10mph in second! But the airbags went off and the damage they caused wrote off my dear little Niseko.
Cross-traffic alert I had on my ND2, I found to be useful when reversing out of tight spaces with cars either side.
Aircon would be the only thing I’d have if I were to have another ND. Oh and bluetooth.
I remember reading about your accident, it was a great shame the car got written off as a result. I have to say AEB gives me a lot of reassurance not just for when I’m driving but when the wife is with the children in the car. We’re only human, and sometimes we get distracted despite our best efforts. I think if the cost of continuing existence of the MX-5 is all these safety aids and features then I’m happy to ‘pay’ it. My humble 1.8 NC meanwhile has just two airbags and DSC (including I assume ABS). So I make very sure I am paying a lot of attention all the time. Which I suppose is how it should be anyway…
Airbags? DSC? ABS? Tsk. In 1989, William Wollard remarked that the new MX5 was not a purist’s sportscar as it was far too refined.
And mine, after 28 years, and 270k kms, is still proving pretty reliable. Actually right now, its starting literally on the button (no cranking) after an injector clean.
I wouldn’t count myself as a hero for regularly doing several hundred miles a day in all weathers, but with NBFL Madge being at the menders and having just done one of my regular longer jaunts in the Golf, primarily kept to ferry my no longer driving old man around I can genuinely say when travelling alone, most of the time, the MX-5 is definitely the best tool for the job in terms of comfort, my back and sanity, I can quite comfortably do a thousand miles a day in Madge, but very much doubt I could stay awake that long in the Golf. When I get out of Madge I can’t wait to get back in again, when I get out of the Golf I really hope I do not have to get back in again too often. The deciding faktor is the visceral experience for me absolutely priceless in Madge.
Interesting. I think a lot depends on mood and conditions. Nearly all the time the MX5 is exhilarating but if you’re not in the right frame of mind (argument with partner, work problem, health problem etc.) the whole effort of getting in the small cabin, working the gears etc. can be irritating and you just want something effortless with an auto box to get you where you want to go!
The 'modern ’ trinkets and frivolities I like are decent headlights, aircon, ABS (anybody still think they can cadence brake more effectively ? ), and the one thing my MX5 lacks , those blindspot indicators in the mirror. My Hyundai has those and they are invaluable - but lane assist and the rest ? Thanks but no thanks ,
Came with an airbag in the US right from the outset. Love the pre-90s globalisation economic thinking here too “I only wish it were British”!! There was still a massive scepticism of all things Japanese right into the 1980s…
Yup - definitely not fitted. Sensitive topic for me - I’m still haunted by the occasion , over 40 years ago , when I moved lane on the M1 in my Clan Crusader , blissfully unaware of the car in my blind spot. Thank God he had fast reactions - and I’ve been obsessive about checking blindspots ever since …
Definitely agree with the sanity part. The Precious puts a big smile on my face every time I drive it - or even see it sitting in my drive with its cheeky grin. I’ve done a few longish trips including motorways and never felt a twinge. I’m 73 and 5’11" but never had a problem. Love that little car.
That’s surprising, you would have thought it would be standard fit now as it’s such a handy safety feature, I don’t rely on it and always do the shoulder check but it’s a nice backup.
Blind spot etc is on my 2019 Mazda,I think you had to order it with the option pack,it is amazing and works,so only the ones that had them added as a option will have it.
Simon
That’s a fair shout. Wouldn’t interfere with normal driving. I had a hired Golf in NI that had some kind of ‘intelligent’ cruise control. It actually braked quite hard and unnecessarily more than once at vehicles that were not even on the carriageway. Hence my aversion to brake interference.
I know many like blind spot monitoring. Mostly harmless I guess and I could live with it, although MX-5’s have been coming out of the factory without it and I think it has been taken off the standard feature list now on the models that had it, briefly .
On most cars, if the door mirrors are adjusted correctly, there isn’t a blind spot. Most people however like to see the side of their own car in the mirror. I have mine angled out. When I need to see the side of the car, as when reversing, I move my head. Worth taking time with the adjustment.
What I do find a bit of a trap with driver aids is that I regularly drive 3 different cars, with differing features. In two of them I tend to rely on the park sensors. The third hasn’t got any, and I have been perilously close to reversing it into my own house a couple of times while waiting for a bleep that never comes. Two have auto lights. On the other I have to switch them on, which I tend to forget especially when setting off in hours of darkness in a brightly lit area.
Maybe I’m the common factor, but I doubt if I’m the only one.
