I seem to have found the perfect car, it is a 1990 “G” reg with no PAS or electric windows.
My only concern is that the car will be shared as a 2nd vehicle between me and my wife and the thought of no PAS is putting my wife off ?
Can anyone advise how much of a “parking” nightmare this could possibly be ?
Thanks
Paul
Hi Paul, its very easy and cheap to retro-fit PAS to a Mk1, I recently bought a complete kit of everything needed (except the fluid) from a car being broken for spares on ebay for the princely sum of £20.00 +£15 p+p . Fitting time is only around 2-2.5hrs so not exactly pricey…
Will need to re-track the front afterwards so add another £25.00 or so…
Dr. Eunos
Standard wheels and correct tyre pressures and it shouldn’t be too bad but get our wife to try it.
You can get a power steering ‘kit’ from Autolink though - parts sourced from cars they’re breaking.
I didn’t realise how much difference there was between a car with and one without…i’d choose with though all day long.
Having driven both MK1’s both with and without PAS recently I would say that without is do-able but not pleasurable at low speeds. either find a car with PAS or as others have suggested retro fit it. After all driving a 5 is all about the SMILE.
Get her to test drive it. Then if she still hates it buy it anyway and promise to retro-fit PAS “later”.
I don’t have PAS and it didn’t make it on to the list of things Mrs Muppet hates about driving the car.
I have both, 96 UK Mk1 without and a 93 Eunos with PAS.
They are both different, the Non pas is really good at feeling the road and what is happening albeit on standard 185/14 but it is difficult to try and turn the steering wheel whilst stationary you need to be moving. I did try 195/15 and it did make it very hard parking into a tight spot.
my first 3 mx5s have all had power steering, my current one is manual, as has been said, wheel size does play a part in the issue : with 15" wheels on, mine is heavy to manouvre round a car park, i’ve just put my 14" winter wheels on and the difference is significant, much easier to park etc. on the open road and the track, the manual steering feels great, i had planned to change the steering rack for pas but have decided not to bother.
the size of steering wheel will also play a part, i fitted a wooden rim nardi wheel that is a slightly larger diameter to the standard momo and found it did help. looks lovely, too !
Mine doesn’t have PAS, my girlfriend drives the car with no issues at all… like others have said you do need to let the car roll before turning the wheels really as dry steering can be a little tough.