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Stunning blue early 90's MX5

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  • 11-03-2017 12:00am
    #1
    John_Rambo
    Registered Users Posts: 9,500 ✭✭✭


    Any of you peeps rolling in style on the Howth road yesterday heading towards Raheny like a beacon of style, colour, design and dignity in a deep blue early 90's MX5? Standing out in a sea of PCP white and grey Germanic robotic jissfest?

    Burbling along with your cool pop up lights, classic single finger door handles, windows open, hot chick riding shotgun?

    Nice to see.


Comments

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    #2
    goochy
    Registered Users Posts: 4,212 ✭✭✭goochy


    I know it's wrong but a MGF seems more exotic and rarer


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    #3
    650Ginge
    Registered Users Posts: 900 ✭✭✭650Ginge


    goochy wrote: »
    I know it's wrong but a MGF seems more exotic and rarer

    Nice too but they aren't that nice too drive and they are rare because they are a heap of trouble.


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    #4
    goochy
    Registered Users Posts: 4,212 ✭✭✭goochy


    They are mid engined low to ground and not Japanese you can get modified head gaskets .the mx5 is a nice car but my heart would go for a good MGf.


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    #5
    JohnBoy26
    Registered Users Posts: 8,532 ✭✭✭JohnBoy26


    goochy wrote: »
    They are mid engined low to ground and not Japanese you can get modified head gaskets .the mx5 is a nice car but my heart would go for a good MGf.

    The modified head gaskets aren't proven to cure the problem. There has been many modifications over the years to try to fix the hg issues and none of them have worked, including modified hg's.

    They also suffer from other issues such as noisy tappets and piston slap. All in all they are a dog of an engine. An mx5 is miles ahead of them, it's just a shame that they rust badly.


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    #6
    JohnBoy26
    Registered Users Posts: 8,532 ✭✭✭JohnBoy26


    LIGHTNING wrote: »
    They drive quite nicely if you know what your doing and the 1.8 VVC engine is a cracker. "Heap of trouble" is a bit over the top, sure the K series is known for headgasket issues but if you look after them they aren't that bad.

    It's not.


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    #7
    Quigs Snr
    Registered Users Posts: 4,130 ✭✭✭Quigs Snr


    Had both.. 1995 MGF 1.8, 1994 MX5 1.8.

    Loved both.

    MX5 was slowly dissolving with rust despite my best efforts and tonnes of money put in. Great and easy mechanicals otherwise. Drove better than the MGF for sure. Drove better than almost anything out there even today.

    MGF looked and felt more exotic at the time. In a strange way I preferred it to the MX5 even though I knew it was the inferior car. Head gasket blew spectacularly at 22k miles. Replacement engine block had to be sourced. Then at 33k miles the entire clutch destroyed itself, basically it pulled itself loose from its mountings. Which was remarkable because it was driven lightly its whole life. Uprated head gasket then gave trouble at 38k and I sold it not long after, at which point I was using medical tubing in the door seals to stop the roof pouring water onto the seats and mushrooms growing in the footwells. Still loved it despite all that.

    MGF = trouble ? Yes. No doubt. MX5 = rust bucket if you don't garage it (and then probably even if you do...) ? Yes. No doubt. Would I have both of them back in a heartbeat ? Yep. I might even buy one for a summer every now and then.


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    #8
    unkel
    Registered Users Posts: 64,774 ✭✭✭✭unkel


    Get a car that is far superior to drive, doesn't leak, doesn't rust. Porsche Boxster. Prices going up, but can still be had for reasonable money (albeit obviously more than an MGF / MX-5)

    Liked my MGF, bought it taxed and with very long test, sold it 2 years later no tax, very little test with a few things needed doing for twice what I paid for it. Cracking little car, but I found it hard to live with it as a daily driver through winter. K-series is a brilliant little engine though, mine was the base 1.6 and I revved the absolute bejaysus out of it to near 7k rpm all the time. Spent €0.00 on maintenance apart from the oil services I did myself and an o2 sensor. No such trouble in winter with my Boxster though, no condensation, properly working aircon and 100% waterproof.


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    #9
    ambro25
    Registered Users Posts: 5,994 ✭✭✭ambro25


    We've had our '5 17 years this year (98 mk1, one of the very last off the production line), and I can vouch that (a) it's been garaged all of that time bar a year and a half (summer '04-early '06) when we lived in Ireland, wherein it lived on the drive under a breathable cover (b) the rear sills still started to rust, that I had them done professionally in '10.

    Beside that, it's never wanted anything else than oil, filters and tyres (beside a full change of belts and fluids in summer '08, after being dry-stored in France since early '06 - had the local Mazda dealer come fetch her with a flatbed, didn't want to risk it). On 84kmiles now (bought it in Feb'00 on 14kmiles), original everything throughout (clutch, exhaust, discs, <etc> ). Some guy of the UK MX5OC had a look of it the other year under the bonnet, he couldn't believe how all 'authentic-original' it was, including this or that bit of plastic cover (can't remember myself, I'm not that anal about it tbh)

    And I've never been particularly tender (bit'o'sideways on any empty wet roundabout) or slow (racing Elises on motorways to bottom 140mph end of speedo) with it. They're very basic mechanically, and I have it on good authority that their lump was over-engineered for materials and tolerances (designed for forced induction as standard, but never sold as such as standard, bar the very few BBR ltd edition ones), which probably goes a long way to explain their sturdiness.


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    #10
    JohnBoy26
    Registered Users Posts: 8,532 ✭✭✭JohnBoy26


    Id have a honda s2000 over an both any day tbh.


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    #11
    Agricola
    Registered Users Posts: 6,547 ✭✭✭Agricola


    Bought a Mk1 Eunos last summer. Has the power steering and LSD. Good fun to drive but does feel underpowered. Youtube vids of lads with turbos in them gets me thinking, especially since they supposedly handle it easily, but it's not really worth the investment given the value of the car, and I'll probably get itchy to move it on before long anyway.


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    #12
    okistag
    Registered Users Posts: 914 ✭✭✭okistag


    Have 92 MX5 1.6 Supercharged.

    100% in the areas of reliability, fun factor, handling, just puts a smile on my face everytime I drive it.

    It does shock and surprise many much larger engined vehicles which is part of the fun like wolf in sheeps clothing. It will out brake and out handle many. Hard to find its limit on the dry in right hands but wet another story :) but still fun.

    Owned close on 8 years maybe longer covered maybe 60k. Blew a headgasket not the cars fault, but twit who owns it fault ME !!

    Regular service and maintenance is key to any vehicles life span


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    #13
    unkel
    Registered Users Posts: 64,774 ✭✭✭✭unkel


    JohnBoy26 wrote: »
    Id have a honda s2000 over an both any day tbh.

    They cost more than same year / condition Porsche Boxster. And that is just crazy. Fine car but overpriced.


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    #14
    galwaytt
    Registered Users Posts: 12,761 ✭✭✭✭galwaytt


    unkel wrote: »
    Get a car that is far superior to drive, doesn't leak, doesn't rust. Porsche Boxster. Prices going up, but can still be had for reasonable money (albeit obviously more than an MGF / MX-5)

    Liked my MGF, bought it taxed and with very long test, sold it 2 years later no tax, very little test with a few things needed doing for twice what I paid for it. Cracking little car, but I found it hard to live with it as a daily driver through winter. K-series is a brilliant little engine though, mine was the base 1.6 and I revved the absolute bejaysus out of it to near 7k rpm all the time. Spent €0.00 on maintenance apart from the oil services I did myself and an o2 sensor. No such trouble in winter with my Boxster though, no condensation, properly working aircon and 100% waterproof.

    Boxsters that don't leak or rust ? Lolz, says I with a neighbours 99 one having sills welded as we speak, and just had waterpump etc. Lots of Boxster out there with soggy carpets. ....esp if they are early hoods (pvc window).

    Boxster is still a fine car - and you know I like the P cars - but I really love my '90 MX-5.....I've been 4 Porsche's. ....but still on my first MX-5 after..18 years...that must mean something. .

    Ode To The Motorist

    “And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, generates funds to the exchequer. You don't want to acknowledge that as truth because, deep down in places you don't talk about at the Green Party, you want me on that road, you need me on that road. We use words like freedom, enjoyment, sport and community. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent instilling those values in our families and loved ones. You use them as a punch line. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the tax revenue and the very freedom to spend it that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said "thank you" and went on your way. Otherwise I suggest you pick up a bus pass and get the ********* ********* off the road” 



  • Options
    #15
    JohnBoy26
    Registered Users Posts: 8,532 ✭✭✭JohnBoy26


    unkel wrote: »
    They cost more than same year / condition Porsche Boxster. And that is just crazy. Fine car but overpriced.

    Id have one over a boxster too tbh. They are expensive though I agree with you there.


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    #16
    alpahaeagle
    Registered Users Posts: 585 ✭✭✭alpahaeagle


    Had two MGF's and have to say I found them to be a great little car, yes they could have the dreaded HGF (neither of mine did).


    Yes not the best car as a daily drive, if you have kids


    Then again I do like my Rovers....


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    #17
    Notch000
    Registered Users Posts: 1,469 ✭✭✭Notch000


    I don't think it fair to compare an MX5 to a porsche boxter in terms of perfromance, refinment, running cost, TAX!!, iniital cost etc.
    Its apples V oranges , ive a 99 Mx5 myself, there a beautifully simple, ultra reliable cheap car that handle better than most thing old and new, yes rust is an issues but i think most car 18-25+ yrs are going to start suffering from it eventually, the reason you hear so much about it is the owners are keen to moan and get it repaired, it they were 90's reg toyotsa or ford, most people woudent thing twice about scrapping them.


  • Options
    #18
    John_Rambo
    Registered Users Posts: 9,500 ✭✭✭John_Rambo


    I'm the OP poster.

    All these old cars knocking around are a pleasure to see. Innovative designs, cracking styling, nostalgic shapes and oddities, lovely burbles and sounds... I love seeing them and I'll always salute them. Keep up the good (and expensive, patient, time consuming and often skillful) work. I just hope the reasonable tax and insurance rates hold for ever.

    Just sayin. :)


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    #19
    goochy
    Registered Users Posts: 4,212 ✭✭✭goochy


    yes but the reasonable tax needs to be extended to cars 20 years or over - a cap of say €300.00 per year and a cap on 10-20 years old of about €700.


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    #20
    Red Kev
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,795 ✭✭✭Red Kev


    I was looking at something else on RTE Archives and this popped up in the side bar. It's from 1990. Just checked to see if the MX-5 at 3:00 is on the road. According to the NCT website, it's NCT is due today! Coincidence or what? 90 D 13327


    https://www.ncts.ie/check-nct-due-date/

    http://www.rte.ie/archives/category/environment/2015/0501/698132-the-age-of-the-automobile/

    BTW is that the Top Gear track at Dunsfold at 2:30? !


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    #21
    ambro25
    Registered Users Posts: 5,994 ✭✭✭ambro25


    Red Kev wrote: »
    I was looking at something else on RTE Archives and this popped up in the side bar. It's from 1990. Just checked to see if the MX-5 at 3:00 is on the road. According to the NCT website, it's NCT is due today! Coincidence or what? 90 D 13327
    Sure is :)

    I just popped our old Irish reg (98-D-74xxx) in the NCT checker which you linked for s**ts and giggles: our last NCT expired on Monday, 03 March 2008 and the next one was due on Saturday, 04 March 2017! (our MX5 was put on IE plates Autumn 2004, then back on its original UK plates since Summer 2008: it's the very 'Berkeley' ltd edition one, that might still appears on the VRT drop-down calculator (was the first of its 'kind' to go through the VRT system back then) :pac:)

    Gawd, 19 springs young! How soon I keep forgetting! Was only thinking about our car and this thread yesterday, with spring starting in anger here in South Yorks, never seen so many converts with the top down all of a sudden. Time to get it unSORN'd, methinks :)


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    #22
    Agricola
    Registered Users Posts: 6,547 ✭✭✭Agricola


    goochy wrote: »
    yes but the reasonable tax needs to be extended to cars 20 years or over - a cap of say €300.00 per year and a cap on 10-20 years old of about €700.

    Definitely. If we now live in a world where insurance companies will only quote classic policies for 20 year old cars, these same cars should, of course, have a classic tax rate applicable to them.

    But that's about as likely to happen as turkeys voting for christmas.


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    #23
    JohnBoy26
    Registered Users Posts: 8,532 ✭✭✭JohnBoy26


    Notch000 wrote: »
    I don't think it fair to compare an MX5 to a porsche boxter in terms of perfromance, refinment, running cost, TAX!!, iniital cost etc.
    Its apples V oranges , ive a 99 Mx5 myself, there a beautifully simple, ultra reliable cheap car that handle better than most thing old and new, yes rust is an issues but i think most car 18-25+ yrs are going to start suffering from it eventually, the reason you hear so much about it is the owners are keen to moan and get it repaired, it they were 90's reg toyotsa or ford, most people woudent thing twice about scrapping them.

    These and most mazdas from the mid 90's onwards rust a lot more than most cars of the same age, a similar toyota holds up a lot better in the rust department than mazda that is why you dont hear any moans.

    These mx5's are well known for crumbling chassis legs, most mazdas start to rust badly at an early age, just look at the mk1 mazda 6, some of those had rotten arches and rusty underbodies as early as 4 years old. The 3 was the same.


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