Is getting an MX 5 a good idea for first car. (2 Viewers)

[astroman]

Yeah cause the rotary engine is reliable and would have lasted that long. ..

rotary is reliable, it's just a guzzler of fuel and oil

 

[turntaker]

rotary is reliable, it's just a guzzler of fuel and oil

Its not they last up to like 100,000ks

 

[astroman]

Its not they last up to like 100,000ks

 

[Drifting95]

Meh, get an SA22C instead...

Love them

Did you even look at the ads? Notice a trend, most for sale have "recently built" or "new" engines.


blue car-

engine was rebuilt and ported around 4 months ago still haven't tuned it

white car-

13B Bridgeport (Rx4 Motor)
•New Motor 5000km

 

[astroman]

nop

 

[wannaspoon]

Love them

 

[brent012]

The only problem with the SA22C and that era of late 70s/early 80s cars is that they just dont look as good and havent aged as well as the cars they replaced - rx3, S30 Z (240Z/260Z), 1st gen (ta22, ra22/23/24/28) Celicas.

 

[Havox]

The only problem with the SA22C and that era of late 70s/early 80s cars is that they just dont look as good and havent aged as well as the cars they replaced - rx3, S30 Z (240Z/260Z), 1st gen (ta22, ra22/23/24/28) Celicas.

I couldn't live with the constant fear of catastrophic engine failure.

 

[anomalousdecay]

Rotary engines require frequent rebuilds as the housing wears off really easily given the engine dynamics. This isn't an easy or cheap job as the housing is huge and the best bet is to use a new housing altogether as re-conditioning is really difficult and not as effective.

 

[brent012]

I couldn't live with the constant fear of catastrophic engine failure.

Not sure about the celicas, but there's nothing different about the engines in the other two. RX3s came with 12As just like the SA22C, the Nissan 280ZX also used a slightly improved (+0.2l, EFI) engine in the exact same series as the 240Z and 260Zs engine. If you didnt care about originality and/or had the engine fail its straight forward to swap in one of those later engines.

Lot more to go wrong in an 80s car, and more complicated to fix. The only thing to worry about with the early 70s cars is rust, but that's still a problem with much later cars too.

 

[Graney]

I own a 1999 nb mx5, ask me anything

you can get one for 4000-7000
I am talking about the first gen 1989-1998.
Also they are economical since its a 1.6 litre engine. I dont think the insurance is that much higher. If it was a coupe it would be a lot

Also honda civics are pretty expensive concidering their age and size.
Parts are really expensive on hondas.

They're not economical compared to other 1.6 and 1.8L cars, mazda tuned them in an uneconomical fashion for some reason. It's still a 1.8 though, so it's better than any v6 or a turbo 4 of similar size.

Lol 4000-7000, gl with your 250k KMs and rust which is an apparent problem with old mx-5s
First gen ones are the ones that you see old people drive, it just doesn't fit the uni student mold (it really doesn't look that good - the first gen ones)
1997-98 onwards its a 1.8L engine.

Parts aren't much cheaper for mazada either, especially old MX-5 parts - not to mention old MX-5s have a history of clutch problems

Rust isn't really a problem for Australian mx5s, in countries where they salt the roads rust is the biggest cause of death of mx5s, which gives them that reputation, but it doesn't apply here. My 99 has zero rust.
250k kms isn't too much for an mx5, they can do 500k kms pretty easily. For closer to $7000 you can get one around 150k kms.

parts for mx5 are very cheap I think. like replacement 1.6L engines are only ¬$800

Have you driven one or just heard from the internet? It might be fun to drive for that once in a while cruise around royal nasho but for daily driving i don't think so. They are a weekend type car and not really something you'd want to deal with everyday.

My mate has one and it's such a nugget that his gf's yaris is quicker. Forget trying to merge lanes or overtake in normal conditions but they're gutless and have no torque.

Not trying to be overly negative but just consider how you will feel driving it everyday. My mate made that mistake and is selling his now because it's just too uncomfortable. If you can handle the negatives and will use it how it's meant to be driven (nasho runs etc) then go for it but for a daily cruiser there are better options.

Some common faults
-leaky roof (you'll love that wet seat surprise in the morning when you drive to the train station).
-rust
-buggered electric windows
-worn out rubber seals causing leaks everywhere (e.g the boot)

I find it fun to drive every day.
For a daily driver, pros:
- Reliable
- economical
- handles better than anything else I've driven
- it accelerates on par with modern small cars like the mazda 2, which in my opinion are very fast
- sort of comfortable
- easy to park
- good visibility all around
- no leaks anywhere, no rust, electric windows work
- fun to drive
- adequate storage capacity, better than many sports cars, I moved to Sydney from hours away with everything I own in it.

cons:
- not a ute
- I'm a bit big for an nb at 6 foot tall, you can modify them to fit better, which I'll do one day. I can't sit fully upright, I have to slouch a bit, my head is only an inch from the hardtop roof. I feel claustrophobic some times.
- It's loud compared to hardtop cars, much quieter than my old hilux though.
- very expensive to buy, could get a much newer hot hatch for the same price.
- more expensive to maintain than the average hatchback
- less fuel efficient than small hatchbacks

The faults you mention do occur and you need to check for them, expensive to fix, but it's not that hard to get a car without those faults either, the mx5 leaks less than any other convertible, and all electric windows fail after 20+ years of use, the mx5 windows aren't any worse than any other car.

Are you serious?

I was looking at 2005-09 models a few months ago and the cheapest I could find was $18k.

He was referring to the price of civics

It's definitely not a daily driver.

A more comfortable daily driver would be a Mazda 3 or Corolla or Impreza, etc.

It definitely is a daily driver

Not sure if srs...

If you've driven one you'll quickly realise that you won't be able to get it sideways (on wet grass doesn't count). As for drag, you'll still get beat by your mum at the lights.

This is true. They have such high grip levels, they don't slide in the dry. And they're very twitchy if you slide it in the wet, it's not very controllable.

 

[Graney]

The mx5 is pretty fun to own and is practical for my needs, but it's also not as good or as fun as I fantasised, it's not the jesus car or meaning of life. I thought it would be heaps exciting every day, but it's sort of a quite similar feeling to driving fwd hatchbacks.

I enjoy driving my mums mazda 2 just as much, maybe more. I think I might like a hot hatch like a polo gti or fiesta xr4 at least as much as the mx5.

For the price of my 1999 mx5 with hardtop you could get a 2006 fiesta xr4 or polo gti with half as many kms.

I think maybe it is the best car, but maybe I just don't really enjoy driving cars at all ever. I'd need to drive something like a cayman to confirm whether this is true. The mx5 is definitely more enjoyable and a better buy than turbo subarus, or fords with massive straight 6s and many hundreds of HP.

It's not so good that I'd ever spend half a years wages, like some people do on cars. I would feel very depressed if I'd committed a large amount of money to this.

It was the culmination of years of fantasy, I've wanted one for 20 years, I felt I needed to have one, it was the one and only material thing I wanted. If I have to own a car I might as well own the one I really want.

I feel like when you buy a 'sports car', you're only improving your life by incremental degrees, it's only slightly more satisfying than a basic car. Like, if you had no car, in our society you might have some problems and sometimes be inconvenienced. So if you go from having no car to having a very basic car, it could be extremely satisfying and fun to use, cause it solves all these problems and is a real change. But when you change from a very basic car, like a yaris, to a sports car, you might spend ten times a much, but it's a relatively minor change compared to having no car at all. So you get diminishing returns, you were really happy to get a basic car, but when you upgrade to a sports car it'll only make you a little bit happier, even though you might spend 10 times as much, because it's not as dramatic a change.

I was already on the path of disavowing consumerism. This car is really the last nail in the coffin, a fancy car is the pinnacle of consumerism, and it left me with a hollow unsatisfied feeling. I will never spend money for enjoyment again. This mx5 will make me a very wealthy man, through it's unsatisfying reminder of the folly of consumerism. It's impossible to jump in this car and go buy a new playstation, as you drive along you're constantly reminded of how unsatisfying such a purchase would be.

 

[seremify007]

I think you need to find more interesting places to drive perhaps rather than just suburban streets of traffic congested places. You're driving an open top lightweight two seater. Everything from being able to drive roof down (I miss this!) to just enjoying slightly more twisty roads.

Ps. Also worth noting that for a lot of people the sheer power of a more powerful car is enough to get them interested again lol. Moving from the daihatsu terios to an 06 civic was great as suddenly the car could corner a bit and you learnt to push it within limits, and then moving on to the Evo was amazeballs. Moving to luxury diesel sedan was a bit more sedate but so enjoyable as I found little bits of convenience and well thought out things over time. Different things appeal in different ways over time.

That all being said. Not everyone enjoys cars.

 

[Dupain]

mx5 are so beautiful.. they zippy cars,small and compatible.

hnggggggg

lol your wheels on your NA6, offset all wrong.

 

[Drifting95]

lol your wheels on your NA6, offset all wrong.

fully sik Mexican jdm stance, it's a style yo

In other news, a decent mx5 build

http://www.redbull.com/nz/en/motorsports/stories/1331668209193/mad-mike-building-the-ultimate-drift-machine

 

[anomalousdecay]

fully sik Mexican jdm stance, it's a style yo

In other news, a decent mx5 build

http://www.redbull.com/nz/en/motorsports/stories/1331668209193/mad-mike-building-the-ultimate-drift-machine

That's like what my team does, except not on an MX5 lol.