1997 Mazda Eunos review from South Korea

Nothing so far.

Bought the car in Korea in June 2008. It was imported into Korea from Japan in 2004 (given as a gift by a Japanese businessman to a young Korean woman - I didn't ask what line of work she was in).

The car is 11 years old, but has only managed to do just over 50,000 miles in that time. I'm going to double that in less than 2 years, if I keep it that long.

There is a small but fanatical group of Eunos owners in Korea (around 100 in the country), but many of them modify their cars beyond recognition (gullwing doors, Frogeye Sprite-type headlamps, hot pink paint jobs, enormous front spoilers), so it was nice to find a near 100% stock Eunos with super-low mileage. The only changes are:

1) the paint job, which was originally British racing green but is now black. I know the original colour thanks to the shoddy quality of the respray, which chips off if I look at it wrong, and doesn't cover areas like under the boot carpet, and.

2) the addition of an ugly-but-useful roll bar which, although in a nasty black rather than a tasteful chrome, does a good job of increasing the rigidity of the car.

The car's condition is superb for its age. The leather seats are scuff-free and the interior has no marks. The only 2 problems I can find inside are the CD player display, whose buttons no longer light up with the rest of the interior, and the interior light cover, which falls off regularly despite being reattached. If those are my worst problems on an 11 year old car, I'm laughing. Externally, the window in the soft top was cracked, thanks to the previous owner not unzipping it when folded (this should be punishable by death), but I kept the hard top on until I persuaded a fellow Eunos owner in Korea to sell me his spare window for a knockdown price.

Under the bonnet, I felt I wasn't getting the fuel consumption I should have been, but that was improved greatly by a new set of spark plugs. I'm not crazy about the auto gearbox, but I share the car with my girlfriend and she can't drive a manual. Also, she has had one or two altercations with road furniture (barriers, lamp posts, walls), but nothing a trip to the local body shop couldn't fix.

I'm not looking forward to getting parts, as there is obviously nothing in Korea (Mazda has no presence here thanks to the protectionist taxes on car imports), so anything I get will have to come from Japan. That might be an adventure, since I speak no Japanese.

On the road, it's obviously very nice. The power isn't overwhelming, but that's not what the car is about. It handles beautifully. It draws lots of admiring glances, since there are no convertibles made by Korean manufacturers. It also means that no-one has any idea what it is.

Overall, this car is greatly recommended for anyone who actually wants to enjoy the car they drive, not just endure it.