astroman
Well-Known Member
rotary is reliable, it's just a guzzler of fuel and oil
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Is getting an MX 5 a good idea for first car. (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter turntaker
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turntaker
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Its not they last up to like 100,000ks
astroman
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Drifting95
Should i change my DP?
Love them
Did you even look at the ads? Notice a trend, most for sale have "recently built" or "new" engines.
blue car-
white car-
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wannaspoon
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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
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I couldn't live with the constant fear of catastrophic engine failure.
anomalousdecay
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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.
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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.
I own a 1999 nb mx5, ask me anything
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
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.
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.
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
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.
He was referring to the price of civics
It definitely is a daily driver
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.
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.
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.
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seremify007
Junior Member
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.
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.
lol your wheels on your NA6, offset all wrong.mx5 are so beautiful.. they zippy cars,small and compatible.
hnggggggg
Drifting95
Should i change my DP?
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
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That's like what my team does, except not on an MX5 lol.