The steering on a ND1 does not have as much feel as my previous NB particularly in the straight ahead position.
The illuminated up/down buttons with the PRHT seem counter intuitive. Iām always pressing the wrong one.
Wish I could use it āas a carā, even within reason. The 50K + mile up! gti and a 40K + mile MINI are used in rain and salt and look better underneath than a 17K mile pampered ND. Ditto many other car Iāve had in the past.
I still wouldnāt use my ND when itās actually raining, but itād be nice if I mentally could drive it when salt was down and/or it had been raining. Granted āunderseal! underseal!ā gets shouted out now, but Iāve seen that process (if done properly) and no way am I letting anyone do all that to my car, given my experience in the past of āthere was nothing wrong with my car before I took it here for āimprovementsāā
Had my Sport Black done professionally 3 years ago and it still looks better than new.
Out in the Derbyshire rain this week and so much fun.
My reasoning is that itās there to be driven and enjoyed.
ITS SUNNY !!
and ive just remembered what really annoys me with the NDā¦.
The bloody sun visor doesnt work!! its got big gaps between the top of it and the windscreen frame, and also on the Mirror side, and the A Pillar side!
When the sun is anywhere in front of you it finds a way into your eyes.
reminds me that last year i had meant to find a way to āextendā its coverage with some black material.
Also canāt swing the visor to the side window for sunlight strobing through the trees.
Havenāt really noticed any gaps, but I never put it against the screen, I always have it closer to me which seems to get rid of any gaps on most cars.
I think in 35 years of driving Iāve put the sun visor by the side window all of 1 time.
If I put my sun visor down it blocks 90% of my forward view!
A decent peaked hat is the way to go.
Iāve gone to do it twice in this car already even in this weather and Iāve had the car 3weeks. May even swap the fittings from another car as an upgrade
Thatās as well as the nicely ruched black velvet pelmet for the windscreen as suggested above ![]()
Must be the NCā¦
Unfortunately itās an ND ![]()
Agreed, itās not generation-specific issue with the seatbelt retraction.
I put it down to a design issue, as there isnāt the usual retraction mechanism that you get in a ātin toppedā vehicle given the lack of B-pillar. So the belt has to retract horizontally in effect.
Regular cleaning and a touch of silicone spray can help, but I still end up āguidingā the belt back in, at the end of the journey. I donāt really mind personally, just a ācharacter traitā rather than an annoyance for meā¦
I think itās MX-5 specific rather than all soft tops. Iāve had multiple Z4ās, F-Types, S2000ās and none of those cars experience the issue I have in my NC, despite regular cleaning and lubrication. Iām actually surprised my didnāt fail itās MOT. Terrible.
I agree 100% with the regular cleaning, but Iād suggest avoiding any kinds of lube sprays as they often act like a magnet for dust and dirt.
The belts never stuck in my MX-5s after I fitted the later more open seat-top guides.
But then Iāve always āguidedā my seatbelts, starting in my old Fords to prevent the tang smashing against the side window as it retracted at near light-speed!
True, you do need to be careful with application.
Thereās also ND-specific seat belt cleaning advice within this article, which some may find useful. See the ā Shoulder Anchor Cleaningā section at the bottom.
The belts on my NC used to be a bit sticky and I noticed it was catching slightly on the trim so I removed the top bolt and took a spacer out which lowered the belt and cured the problem
Iāll send my mate around to retract your seat belts. He sat in the back of my new shape Defender the other day and as we were all getting out there was this almighty bang and him saying bloody hell thatās a poor design, the seat belt hits the side window, fortunately it didnāt do any damage. I said to him, how come youāre the only one who has done that, try just feed it back and not throw it off your shoulder. There was a lot more words said but I donāt think they would be allowed on hear. ![]()
I suppose it depends when and where you drive. I commute northbound on the M1 in the morning and come back south at the end of the day.
So the sun is often on my right side in the morning and again in the evening. At certain times of year I used to swing my visor over to the side quite a lot in my old car..
So while I do miss the feature on those occasions when the sun is shining in my eyes from the side, the ability to put the top down more than makes up for it!
Must be me, but when the sun is shining from the side it doesnāt really bother me because Iām looking out the windscreen, not the side windows.