Faults:

Soft top leak.

Excessive fuel consumption.

Sub-frame recon.

General Comments:

MX-5 is a fine little sports car for summer use only!

I bought this a few years ago and used exactly as intended, but ended up having to use it more than I thought. It's not unbearable or anything, but it's far too noisy at speed on the motorway, and near useless in winter.

Summer days however this car comes into its own. Very fun to drive. Not fast, but handles like a dream.

Good looking in grey, nice alloy wheels.

Too expensive to tax, and not that great on fuel. But otherwise cheap to buy and run.

Do your homework carefully before buying one!

Faults:

CD player has stopped working.

Idle and tensioner pulleys became noisy around 2000 RPM; self replaced, an easy job.

General Comments:

The 1.8 engine feels underpowered, but can be taken to high RPM. Handling is very good, great with the (hardtop) roof down.

Fitted Continental Contact Premium 2 tyres - not sure if that was the best choice.

Apart from the CD player fault and noisy pulleys - has been totally reliable.

Would consider buying another, but only with a 2 litre engine.

Stormy blue pearlescent paint looks good, but chips very easily.

Faults:

Nowt.

General Comments:

Like me, many owners will be changing from MK2 (NB) MX5 to a MK3 (NC) MX5. So what will you like and what will you dislike?

I changed from 1.8 Sport Mk2 up to a 1.8 option pack NC.

Well for starters, I do not find any noticeable difference in performance between a 1.8 NB and 1.8 NC, honestly!

I hear the 2.0L is very fast, but if you go from a 1.8 you won't find much difference. 9.9 secs 0-60 is much less in real life. I'm looking at around 8.0 secs, which isn't bad as the old MX5 was 7.9 secs.

The NC is much plusher inside and feels a quality motor. I went for smaller wheels (16's) and standard suspension. It is great and not a problem at all. Where I live, there are lots of potholes, so this is so much nicer than the very solid 1.8 Sport.

I also do not miss the limited slip diff. The 1.8 still goes round corners well and delivers almost 40 MPG as standard, which is vital these days with UK petrol at £1.40/litre.

The downside is the looks. The MK3 is not a pretty car, not as curvy as the 1.8 Sport Mk2 - I really rated that car for its looks. At some angles it was very TVR or Jag XKR, which wasn't a bad thing. And MK3 is a bit of a throw back to straighter lines.

The cabin feels a bit more cramped, and the wheel feels a bit bigger than my old Nardi, but nothing major.

So if you have a 1.8 Mk2 - a 1.8 Mk3 is a good choice. Its mid range pull is perfectly adequate, unless you're racing on a track. Speed these days is pretty pointless if we all get stuck behind trucks.

Faults:

Small rattling sounds at low RPMs. It's because all the little heat shields closely wrapped around the exhaust pipes. I fixed it by wrapping heat taps around the pipes between the heat shields, and pried some shields open wider. It worked well.

Little power at low RPMs. You can feel the power kicking only after 4000 RPM. I would recommend the Soft-Top model, because it is 80 pounds lighter, and therefore faster and feels more powerful. I got PRHT because of my wife…

Windshield should be bigger for better visibility. When top is closed, the narrow windshield makes you feel cramped, but it’s actually quite roomy inside.

General Comments:

Power Retractable Hard Top 6 speed.

In general, it’s a very nice car. There is no other sports car that’s good on gas, rear wheel drive, fun and reliable. The whole idea is that if you can have fun at kid’s go-kart tracks driving less than 50K/Hr (most go-karts don’t go faster than 50K/Hr), you should be able to do the same on road. This car tries to give you that feeling of a go-kart on the road (especially after you lower it).