Why shouldn't my next car be another mx5

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so... i'm looking at spending about 6-7k on my next car in around a months time. I was something fun to drive, yet alright to do 60mile commute in (30 each way) so probably ~350 a week or 1800 a year (inc other driving)

I don't need 4 seats, or much luggage room (the misses will have a decent sized car soonish)

I do need something that will do ~90mph fine, will be reliable, isn't any larger than a golf/focus (lack of parking space), is fun to drive and won't send me insane driving it.

I had a mrk2 mx5 previously and loved it, did a similar commute in it and found it re-vitalizing to drive home in however I don't want to write off other cars pre-emptively.

Should i be saving up more for a s2k? (can't seem to get a decent one for that sort of money) or is there anything else worth test driving for my criteria?

Running costs aren't too much of an issue, as long as monthly fuel cost are less than ~£250 i'm saving myself money (over the train) the rest i can write off as general running and enjoying of a car.....

cheers
Sam
 
I would get an s2k or an old mx-5, there is no way you will get me to spend £6-7k on one.

Are you open to suggestions?
 
Hmm, hard call, loved my MX-5 but tbh as stock they don't have enough power and i found mine a serious pain on the motorway.

Wouldn't get a Mk1 and the Mk2.5 can be a pain to MOD, you already had a MK2 so you would really be looking for another Conran.
 
Hmm, hard call, loved my MX-5 but tbh as stock they don't have enough power and i found mine a serious pain on the motorway.

Wouldn't get a Mk1 and the Mk2.5 can be a pain to MOD, you already had a MK2 so you would really be looking for another Conran.

MX5 + super/turbo then :D

I think it's fine on the motorway, but I wouldn't want to do many long journeys in one
 
If i was doing it again i would stick an M62 on it, the M45 ran out of power at the top end.

Motorway issue is the rear 3/4 visibility, you can easily misplace a car in the blind spot.

I was going to say Alfa Spider / coupe, however you might end up spending more time at the side of the road.

Something like a Clio 182 might fit the bill actually.
 
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I would get an s2k or an old mx-5, there is no way you will get me to spend £6-7k on one.

Are you open to suggestions?

no? i spent about 9k on my last one (lost 1.5k over two years, but thats life) And yes, totally open to suggestions, thus the thread :) However two cars aren't an option at the moment due to space :(

Hmm, hard call, loved my MX-5 but tbh as stock they don't have enough power and i found mine a serious pain on the motorway.

Wouldn't get a Mk1 and the Mk2.5 can be a pain to MOD, you already had a MK2 so you would really be looking for another Conran.

i probably wouldn't limit myself to a conran tbh, but would have to be a nice low milage special edition, and there would be plans (once i've built up my funds nicely) to slap a 'charger onto it, 200bhp should do it.

To give you an idea of my commute, i do about an 1 to 1.5 hrs each way, ~15 min of thats clear motorway, 30 is slow stop start and the rest is ~40mhp back roads / busy a-roads
 
I was going to say Alfa Spider / coupe, however you might end up spending more time at the side of the road.

Something like a Clio 182 might fit the bill actually.

alphas (while i know they are supposed to be much better these days) are pretty much out of the equation due to the mileage, and Renaults are totally out due to a on-going bust up between the local Renault garage and the village i live in.... the less said about it the better tbh!
 
MX5 + super/turbo then :D

I think it's fine on the motorway, but I wouldn't want to do many long journeys in one

I did several long journeys in mine - down to S.France/Italy - albeit it had nearly 240bhp + a few other mods, but it was still perfectly comfortable :)

How about a hot hatch a la 172 though obviously not a 172 since it's a Renault :p, or something like that? What about something VTEC-y?

I'd be yearning for a RWD sports car personally - I still miss the mx5 however for the moment having a bigger hatch is just so much more useful.
 
just go for the mx5 if you dont need 4 seats. As for the blindspot- keep the top down or just take some extra care. I am always extra careful that I haven't lost something in the blindspot when driving mine. Never really found it a big issue. £7000 is going to get you a really nice, sorted MX5 with some serious power and great handling. Add to that droptop for the summer and you've got a pretty awesome combo.
 
Import from the states Sam, its much cheaper i found Phil Very expensive for the kits.

Fitting isn't that hard really, most of my cost came with the ECU / Wiring / Gauges etc.

Totally changed the car, gave it the power it needed.
 
Import from the states Sam, its much cheaper i found Phil Very expensive for the kits.

Fitting isn't that hard really, most of my cost came with the ECU / Wiring / Gauges etc.

Totally changed the car, gave it the power it needed.

Plan! I guess his kits are expensive because he needs to make his money on those as there are only so many cars he is going to fit a supercharger/turbo to in one year. Which company did you buy yours from Firestar?
 
Plan! I guess his kits are expensive because he needs to make his money on those as there are only so many cars he is going to fit a supercharger/turbo to in one year. Which company did you buy yours from Firestar?

I don't think he did... IIRC it was a second hand JC kit you ended up with wasn't it?

does anyone have good sources for sc kits in the US though?
 
Aye, i snapped up a cracking deal on E-bay for a Mk1 1.8 JR Supercharger kit, i figured that if the engine from the late Mk1 1.8 and the Mk2 1.8 are the same the kit should be almost a direct fit.

Wasn't far off tbh, ended up with a Track Dog Racing tensioner bracket and the dummy TB is different, so stuck a Mk1 1.8 ICV on.

No-one wants to import secondhand American kits and wait for them to come up for sale in the UK.

Foolish move imho, i got the supercharger got a friend to rebuild it all for less than £700.

Then i had to add other bits to the system, like EMU / WB02 / Wiring harness / AFR Gauge etc etc.

All in all i think it cost 2k to supercharge the car, about the same price for a kit fitted in the UK without any electronics (just the rubbish JR fuel card).
 
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not bad at all. The BEGI turbo kits have now come done to £1200. http://www.mx5mad.com/begisturbo.php

Ok so you are really looking at £1250 by the time you've got engine management and a boost guage but its a brand new kit which will appeal to some people over buying second hand kits. A quick sweep of the internet brings up £250 to rebuild a supercharger. The issue I would have with a 2nd hand kit is that I could end up paying nearly as much for a second hand supercharger as I could get a new turbo kit for. I suppose you could choose not to bother rebuilding the supercharger but unless you know the units history that is surely a rather risky move?

I was well impressed by your DIY effort Firestar and tbh I may well go down the same route because at the end of the day apart from being cheaper it's more interesting to mod the car yourself. I don't want to drag the thread too far off topic. Sorry OP.
 
Now i know the ropes, building a turbo setup would actually be easier & more cost effective.

E-bay manifolds are easy to get hold of, i GT28 is the turbo of choice with a T2 flange i think.

Only issue is tapping the oil pan, which is something i never wanted to do or mess around with.

Been in a 350bhp Turbo Mk2.5, upto 100 not much could keep up.
 
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