Why I love my MX-5

General Discussion Forums Life, The Universe and (almost) Everything!
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Back in the 1970s, when I was a young motor mechanic, I was always attracted to sports cars - well, what red-blooded young man isn’t?  However, at the time, I could neither afford to buy, or more to the point probably, insure one.  So I was reduced to simply coveting them.

During the decade, I was lucky enough to have worked on MGBs, Midgets and Sprites, Triumph Spitfires, TRs and Stags, Sunbeam Alpines, Morgans, E-Type Jags, Alfa Romeo spiders, Lancia Beta coupes and spiders, and also the little Fulvia models (which were successful as rally cars in the day), 911 Porsches, the odd Ferrari (loved the Dino), and the very sophisticated Mercedes Benz SLs (you know the ones, with the pagoda-shaped removable hard tops).

In the 80s, it seemed that the two-seater convertible concept was going out of fashion, as the hot hatch grew in popularity.  Until that is, Mazda introduced the MX-5 in 1990.  This bucked the trend at the time, and for years Mazda kept the whole two-seater thing going almost single-handedly.

Scroll forward to 2011, and my wife talked her boss into letting her have an MX-5 as a company car - so we chose a beautiful dark blue 2.0L Powershift coupe.  I fell in love all over again, and my wife often said that I grew a big smile across my face whenever I drove it.  After over 4 years of bliss, the lease-hire period expired, and the 5 had to go back.  Desiring something a little more practical, she opted for a VW Scirocco as the MX-5’s replacement, but once our mortgage was paid off last autumn, we decide to buy another 5 as a second car - this time to (hopefully) keep.

So, why do I love the MX-5 so much?  Well, its BEAUTIFUL LOOKS for one thing (surely inspired by the 1960’s Lotus Elan); it’s AFFORDABLE (especially as we’re both over 60 now, and insurance is cheap); it’s GOOD MANNERED, and doesn’t seem to display the handling quirks that many sports cars from my younger days possessed, which often made them difficult, if not sometimes downright dangerous to drive; it’s WELL BUILT and RELIABLE (something you couldn’t always say about many cars in the 60s and 70s - sports or otherwise); but most of all it’s FUN - I often say that’s it’s the most fun one can have with one’s clothes on !

OK, that’s my reason for loving my MX-5 - what’s yours ?

Chris Phillips

(dog with two dicks)

Somerset.

    

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Many reasons why I love the 2 we have and the other 3 that we have owned, but the main reason I love these cars so much now is the friendships they have helped Jane and I create. Friendships formed through the fact that people drive the same car, but friendships that I now covet, friendships that I think are for life.

Thank you Daphne, Anni, Kit, Grace and Belle (and Belle the track car) x.

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Hi Chris, would give you my reasons for loving the mx5 but you’ve already nailed it.

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In my youth I always wanted a MGB GT but never managed to get one until around 8 years ago when I bought a 1971 GT (a rust bucket of a car) and spent the next couple of years lovingly restoring it. I then added a Midget which again I restored and thoroughly enjoyed driving but never for more than a couple of hours. Despite rebuilding the seats and making them as comfortable as possible I always got out of the car with back ache. So, the car had to go but I still wanted the fun of a two-seater convertible. That was when I started looking at MX5s around 3 years ago. I didn’t fancy a Mk1 (never liked pop up headlights) but loved the styling of the Mk2 which, to this day I still think is the sportiest looking of all the MX5s. I found myself a cracking Mk2 in Racing Bronze and I knew from the moment I first sat in it that it was going to rekindle my love of driving. For nearly three years I enjoyed every minute of driving it (apart from when the alternator failed and the engine cut out in the outside lane on the M40!). In August last year I decided to upgrade to a Mk3 and over the last 6 months have gradually been tweaking it to get it just the way I want it. In a few weeks it’s going to have new lower springs fitted and maybe a little tune up which I’ve no doubt will enhance the driving experience further. After that, I’m looking forward to a summer of runs and weekend trips, staying off the main roads and motorways as much as possible and making the most of the car’s fantastic handling around country lanes.

I still love the MGs I had but there’s really nothing like top down driving in an MX5, either on my own or with fellow enthusiasts.    

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Hello Pete,

An interesting point you make there about some of the most iconic and classic of cars that we all have fond memories of in our youth - they were all too often, in reality, complete rust-buckets and a huge disappointments in many ways.  We still love them though, don’t we?

When working on things like MGBs and Midgets etc, I never thought them very comfortable to drive for any length of time.  So I think it’s to Mazda’s credit that have have managed to design and manufacture a car that not only gives one a great feeling of fun when driving it, but is actually very comfortable to boot !

Chris. 

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I agree. Having done the Midget/MGBGT experience in the late 60s/early 70s I seem to remember having to always
attend to something on them, be it mechanical, electrical or bodywork. The MX5 is far better in all those respects yet
retains the character of the MGs.

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Strangely enough, I really enjoy the tinkering required of old cars.

I cut my teeth (and my hands) on various old bangers, most of them off-beat, including the first one I owned which was a 1967 Singer Gazelle Mk VI, also a Morris Minor Traveller, a Triumph Spitfire, a Chrysler Avenger 1600, Triumph Dolomite TC. Etc.

So I’ll possibly be thought of as a heretic on this forum…the supercharged car I built myself provides more fun than my MX5. My wife loves the MX though, she’s the reason we bought one.

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Chris, I take your points about the 1950s, 60s and 70s sports cars, and I’ve driven (but not owned) a few; BN6-100 Healey, Healey 3000, Frog-eye Sprite, E-Type, (also Mk2 Jags, and the original Mini Coopers) and watched a pagoda-top Merc go past my bike like it was standing still (I was doing ~80).  And I once took an Elan for a few laps around the long-gone track in Salisbury, Rhodesia.  BUT, I could not afford to buy any, and having grown up in rust-free Central Africa was horrified by how quickly they rusted here in UK, so house and family came first. 

I was most annoyed when my neighbour sold his always-garaged fun-in-the-sun-only V12 E-type after he had promised me first refusal, but he then admitted the engine had been nothing but trouble and the money he had been offered was ridiculously over the top, more than twice what he had paid for it new six years earlier.  He said I’d had a lucky escape, maybe he was right, maybe not.

Years later now, with kids flown, and mortgage a distant memory, when SWMBO said ‘I want a powder blue SLK’ my heart sank at the thought of the running costs, but fortunately I knew about MX5s, and we found the Niseko after several months of searching. 

No longer do I lust after an E-type, the MX5 is by far the best sports car I’ve driven.  My experience of others is limited, but the MX5 is totally satisfying and I no longer have itchy fingers wishing to try something new.  I’ve even given up any thoughts of another bike - the savings built up for a new Triumph and fresh lid and leathers went on the Niseko.

Cool

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A very wise man indeed methinks !