Hello from East Grinstead in West Sussex. Thank you for letting me in. I will be fully paid up as soon as I have my car.
I’ve put a deposit on my first MX5 which I am due to collect next week. It’s a 2014 1.8 Sport/Venture in black with the hard top. I’m a biker at heart so looking for a different type of fresh air driving. For the last 6 years I’ve owned a 1.6 Suzuki Swift Sport from new which I have loved and to be honest, worried I might miss when it’s gone.
Things on my list:
4 Wheel tracking for spirited road driving. I’ll be looking up the specs to pass to my local place.
Probably spray under the car and under the bonnet with ACF50 where I can reach without a lift
locate the drainage holes, inspect and clear
I’ll probably keep the Alpine head and update it to an Alpine
Update the maps for above
Find a decent phone holder to use for bluetooth - music and radio streaming to the above
Hello and welcome from Nottinghamshire… I thought I would miss my 2016 Fiesta ST2, but as soon as I got my MX-5, the Fiesta was very soon, if slightly fondly forgotten…!
That’s what MX-5 ownership does…!
Welcome to the forum.
I have the 2013 Venture Edition 1.8 PRHT and I guess you are going to miss the Swift’s accelerations, but otherwise you should be very happy with your new car.
I haven’t updated the satnav maps on mine, as I use Google maps on my phone if stuck.
Im a fan if the quadlock mounts, I have one in the car and on my motorbike/pushbike. Theres a case/mount part for your phone so its really easy to use across multiple vehicles, and there’s a wireless charging adapter which has been convenient on my bike.
Thank you for the welcome. I pick up the car next week and can’t wait.
I’ve given up on the idea of purchasing and installing updated maps. I don’t think it’s worth the money or the hassle. My current car has the original maps and it’s good enough. For the phone mount I have already purchased one of those mounts that fit inside the CD slot. Alternatively I will try to work out if I can get something to hold it sit in the little tray in front of the gear knob. I’ve tried quadlock mounts and do like them.
Regarding missing the Swift Sport- I’ll definitely miss the acceleration and I do use it to surprise some more expensive cars. The handling is pretty sharp too but I gather the MX5 will be at least as good, if not better.
Reading around, it looks like I’ll need to consider some rust protection at some stage. I’ll try to find the drain holes and make sure they’re clear as soon as I have the car. Rust proofing will be in a few months.
Oh, and I’ve asked my wife to find herself a good hat
Re rust, have a look at the MX5Restorer in Pevensey - they offer free inspections but get booked up. There’s some great A & B road runs off the A22, too!
Thank you again for the warm welcome. I picked up the car up today and went for a nice long enjoyable drive to the south coast with the top down. What a nice car!
Firstly I don’t think that I will miss the Swift Sport. I don’t feel a lot of difference in acceleration. Not having compared the specs on paper I’d say the torque must be at least equal to or maybe even more than the swift. The springs are softer and the car wallows more than the Swift, but still handles better. I wasn’t able to drift the back out as easily as the Swift. The interior of the MX5 is much higher quality.
I’ve managed to upgrade the AVN2 firmware tonight and it’s sounding a lot better, admittedly now with the roof up. There was a bit of moisture in the satnav screen when we started off this morning. I know the car has been stationary for at least six months and it was jet washed for me this morning. The fogging has gone now. The carpets all feel dry so that’s a mystery. I think with the combination of a radio app on my phone and bluetooth I can make up for the lack of DAB that I had on my outgoing car. There is some stuff in the manual about map updates via TomTom Mapshare but I can’t find this facility on the head unit. I’ll investigate this as I don’t want to pay the £80 (ish) for the formal map updates.
I’m not sure the dimming rear view mirror works since I couldn’t get the light on despite several tries. I’ve seen a harness to take power off this for a camera. I’ll be investigating this for a nice clean setup.
I’m going to an undersea specialist for a check and quote on Friday morning. They’re currently booking for March. By March I will be sure if the car is a keeper or not. I am fairly sure it will be.
I guess I’ll just have to wait.