2001 Mazda MX5 1.8iS from UK and Ireland - Comments

One off weird problem. Came out to the car in the morning and it fired up immediately as usual. However, it coughed and stalled, then refused to restart. Tiny boot-mounted gel battery has virtually no reserve capacity so it went flat after a minute or so of intermittent cranking. Left it for the day (and got a lift to work). Came back that evening and put a set of jump leads on from my neighbour's car. It fired up immediately and has been fine ever since! Dealer checked it over and found nothing amiss.

Fun, good looking little soft top with a decent turn of speed and with amazing handling.

Real old-school fun car with a rorty engine note, hairtrigger throttle response, and a classic front engined, rear wheel drive chassis which responds exactly as such a thing should. Sharp, but not intimidating, with very quick steering and an absolute refusal to understeer. Reels in all kinds of more expensive machinery given a good set of challenging B-roads.

It makes me laugh to read about the all electric hoods on more expensive rivals. The manual system on the 5 is so easy it renders such a heavy and complex contraption completely unnecessary. The hood can be raised or lowered in about 5 seconds without leaving the driver's seat. Push a button on each of the two catches near the top of each A-pillar and pull the catches back, then simply lower the roof over your left shoulder. To refit, pull it up into place from behind you, make sure the catches are lined up with the holes and click them shut. Less than 5 seconds to drop the hood and less than 10 to refit it. Who needs electrics?

Apart from a weird starting problem that occurred once and never came back, it's been totally reliable. Doesn't need a drop of oil between services, returns an average of 30 mpg (not great, but not bad) and sounds fantastic. But the best thing is it's the only one of today's soft tops that captures the essence of what the traditional 60's British sports car was about. Lightness, simplicity, amazing balance, seat of your pants chassis communication, and of course, enough power to leave the average car standing, without being so quick as to be prohibitively expensive to run or insure. It's also a totally useable everyday proposition with a cracking heater, no leaks or damp smells, supportive seats, and the same level of toys as you'd find on any mid-spec repmobile. 60's fun with Noughties reliability and quality.

Why, oh why didn't the British think of it?!

Thanks for a great no nonsense review, it's nice to read a review that isn't littered with childish expletives and references to how much better it is than this or that. I've always liked the MX5 and it really has a great interior, dashboard etc... and a lovely retro feel that is not at all contrived. Thanks again, very informative.

The British DID think of it! The Mazda MX5 is modeled on the Lotus Elan. The Japanese have never made any secret of this.

To the commenter of 9th Feb 2005, I think you missed my point. No British company has thought of taking that classic recipe of affordable, simple front engined, RWD sports car that we used to do so well, and combined it with modern levels of dependability, ease of use, and build quality. There are dozens of examples from the 60's and 70's, (the best of which is the Elan that you mention) but you wouldn't seriously want to rely on any of them to get you to work and back in the torrential rain or depths of winter without breaking down, leaking or failing to start. You can rely on the MX-5 as daily transport just as you can a Mazda 323 or any other Japanese runabout, but still go out in the good weather and have the kind of fun that the old Elan will allow. To my mind, it's exactly the sort of thing that modern day Lotus or (especially) MG should be doing, regardless of what other products they have.

I think my review made it clear that I'm a big fan of the MX-5 as it is, but if it were an MG or a Lotus, it would be so much more special. The MX-5's sales figures have proven beyond doubt how much appeal a "traditional British sports car" that doesn't leak, break down or go wrong every couple of days has? Imagine how many more they'd have sold if it was actually British. Hence my question, why didn't we think of it?

We've had the MX-5 (bought new) since 2001. It's been an awesome car. The handling is wonderful on those twisty country roads. The performance, though not earth shattering, is well suited to the vehicle.

One small issue keeps coming up though. There is a fair bit of clutch shudder when taking off from standstill - in 1st or reverse. It's particularly bad when first starting the car in the morning, but it sometimes rears its head later on after it's warmed up. The first clutch was replaced under warranty - we were told that Mazda had engineered a fix. Nope - same issue still comes up. The only way to avoid it is to put a LOT more revs on board when lifting the clutch. It's annoying because people assume you can't drive!

Other than that, awesome vehicle. Highly recommended.

I think the clutch judder is a Mazda thing particularly with the 1.8-litre engine, which I presume your Mazda has. We had a Premacy 1.8 and had 2 clutches replaced under warranty.

The clutch judder is a known issue with the 6 speed 1.8 MX-5's.

The only cure is a replacement clutch.