- My model of MX-5 is: __nd 2.0
- I’m based near: __chard
- I’m looking for technical help or recommendations on: __
I have had my nd for about 4 months now and I am really enjoying it couple of little niggling things but my main gripe is the steering wheel it’s absolutely awful far to thin and it’s incredibly slippery. I am surprised more people don’t moan about it. if you had to pick one thing you don’t like about your car what would it be
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If it upsets you that much you could get Royal Steering Wheels or a Guardian designs to
re cover and thicken the grip for not a lot compared to the price of the car.
A search shows previous queries
I quite like the steering and haven’t got any real issue with it, but as said above, Royal steering wheels seem to be the popular choice.
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The only real niggle is that if you go to the ‘accessory’ position on the ignition button you can not turn it off without going first to the full ignition on.
It annoys me every time, but a few sessions at the shrink has succeeded in pacifying me for the time being!!
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The steering wheel is not an issue for me, but suggest you change it if you dislike it so much. There’s not much wrong with the ND as far as I’m concerned. I don’t particularly like the cup holders and have never used them, but that’s a minor issue.
I have had my ND for about 3 months and do sometimes find the wheel slippy, usually when my hands are cold, I just put leather gloves on and all is fine.
Wheel rim diameter is a very personal thing, I love small rims and hate big ones!
On a previous car I fitted an aftermarket, fitted alcantara wheel cover and the fit and look was pretty good. You can get leather ones for the ND;
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/394621339552?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-153316-527457-8&mkcid=2&itemid=394621339552&targetid=4585307093462905&device=c&mktype=&googleloc=&poi=&campaignid=554648193&mkgroupid=1307320433942731&rlsatarget=pla-4585307093462905&abcId=9323209&merchantid=87779&msclkid=d08bc4ec46661df0725aa186b3f0075b
If you fitted one on top of your wheel, you would increase the diameter so that might fix one of the problems (no idea if this would be slippy too though!). Maybe they do alcantara ones too?
Mine wasnt hard to fit but you do really need to take the wheel off to be able to work on it to do the best job.
May also be worth washing the wheel and conditioning the leather in case your wheel has something on it that is making it more slippy. Worth doing the seats too when you have bought the leather treatment kit!
Do any of you miss not having a glovebox?
I know it’s been around 7 years since I sat in one (at launch) an old gripe back then, minor irritation too I guess.
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It does have a glove box, admittedly it is not easy to get to but why insist it does not have one?
It has never been an issue for us.
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Mainly, the two drips you get on your seat when you open the door after it has rained.
But I also have these niggles:
- The volume, or lack there of, of the washer bottle
- The fact that water flows off the windscreen onto the top of the windows…
- Roof up leaves dirty marks all over the window
- Roof down leads to water in the car (you never know when you will be caught with the roof down!)
- The fact the windows have auto-down but not auto-up
- The omission of a boot release inside the car
- The removal of the mute button for a voice command button (does anyone actually use that functionality?)
Finally, it might also be worth reading this thread:
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The most enjoyable steering wheel I have ever had was on my 1965 Morris Oxford. Large, black and shiny rim, probably no more than 3/4" thick, and the real delight was the chrome horn ring.
Never noticed a particular problem with the ND however. If the rim gets too sticky or slippy as all “leather” rims seem to do from time to time, I clean it with Urad leather shampoo, let it dry properly, rub a bit of Mr JoJo leather conditioner on it. The wrappings on our Mitsubishi and Skoda are just the same and get the same treatment.
Other cleaners and unguents are available. I just happen to have other uses for these so they are at hand.
The business with the windows and the roof is a bit irritating. I understand the need for a manual closing of the half-open windows after the roof is locked down, auto-closing windows can be dangerous.
TBH I can’t think of an easy solution, but I now have my boon companion trained not to throw her door open before I have finished my routine and I’m less perturbed than I used to be!
No skin in this particular game but out of curiosity what is your prefered steering wheel that you are used to ?
Not in the slightest!
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My only real annoyance is after using CarPlay, the infotainment defaults to some base FM setting where there’s no station so you get white noise.
Even more weirdly that happens 99% but on odd occasions it does default to the last used station.
And sometimes CarPlay / Mazda take a stupidly long time to connect or need the lead pulling and trying again!
Maybe that’s two gripes! 
And a third is the lack of legroom in the passenger side. Not an issue for my wife, but for me when she drives my car. I thought I must’ve been going mad as every other car I’ve had the bulkhead was straight across; luckily (?) this forum explained that the housing for the Bose system is in the way that side, even if you don’t have Bose!
and removable, there’s a ‘how to’ floating around the interweb somewhere, maybe even on this forum.
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Ive not bought one because I need somewhere safe to put my sandwiches.
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The most sensible reply to this thread so far!!!
An update of the infotainment firmware may be required