Useful car window-shopping

roundthebend

LoFi said:

stickyfiddle said:

MX5.

If you don't need back seats or a roof the answer is *always* the MX5.

Unfortunately, not if you're much over 6' tall. Housemate ran one for years, and although it's brilliant to drive, in a comfortable driving position, my eyeline was level with the top of the windscreen. Couldn't drive it at all with the roof up.

Fortunately I'm only 5' 7" ish.

I found an MX5 locally which has a hard top, is that a good feature to have? I'd imagine for all-year use it makes sense.

proggy

I've had an MX5 and a series III MR2. The MX5 gave me a few problems with the battery being so small, went flat overnight on a few occasions, I ended up keeping 2 batteries having one fully charged all the time so I could swap them over when needed. If you're not bothered about luggage space I'd go for the MR2, and as @blobb said, go for the facelift model and that will eliminate any pre-cat problems that the older models tend to suffer from. I do still own a series III MR2, I've had it for about 5 years and it's been absolutely brilliant. Do it.

Electro_Ham

Fortunately I'm only 5' 7" ish.

I found an MX5 locally which has a hard top, is that a good feature to have? I'd imagine for all-year use it makes sense.

What model is it?
5' 7'' would be a great height for driving MX5. I ended up removing the driver's sun visor to give me more vision.

I kept the hardtop on almost all the time on the mk2 and went for the power hardtop on my mk3. There's advantages to it but it's a 2 person job to remove so you need someone on hand for that.

If it's a mk2, the front chassis rails rot. However, MOT test might not pick up on it as the undertray covers the rails. 

roundthebend

@Electro_Ham ;
it's a mk2 1.8S

roundthebend

Seems the hard top doesn't replace the soft top, so that's a nice extra feature if it has it.
Insurance quotes are surprisingly good too. Since I own a van-campervan project I have my NCD on that and none to use on another car, but it's coming up at <£250 for me and my wife.

Electro_Ham

roundthebend said:

Seems the hard top doesn't replace the soft top, so that's a nice extra feature if it has it.
Insurance quotes are surprisingly good too. Since I own a van-campervan project I have my NCD on that and none to use on another car, but it's coming up at <£250 for me and my wife.

Sounds good. Nothing is very expensive on MX5. If it's a sport it probably has lsd. Feel carpets for moisture. 6 speed box can be sticky when cold. 5 speed is fine I'm told. 
Just look for rust around rear arches and the rear of the sills. I guess it depends a lot on where and when the car has been driven. Winter salt can take its toll.

digitalscream

£1500 will easily get you a rust-free Ford Puma...in fact, less than a grand would do it.

Yes, I have one and so I'm biased, but they're ridiculously fun to drive, plenty economical, reliable as you like, cheap to service and the boot is surprisingly big if you need to use it (easily fits a 2x12" in there).

roundthebend

So, I took a look at a local Mazda MX-5 which fits my budget. It's pretty tidy, even had a hardtop and the soft top hadn't been used.

They're asking for close on £1500 though I can knock them down a little. It's 20 years old.

My fear is that I'm getting myself into a world of cost. I already have a project van which spends too much time feeling sorry for itself and costing me money. Maybe I'm better off buying a £750 banger and expecting nothing more than a few months of dull commuting.

FX_Munkee

Spares for the MX-5 are cheap and plentiful. The bonus of being the most produced 2 seater in the world.

Added bonus is it's really easy to work on being a fairly basic design with an in line engine.

Engines are essentially bullet proof (they were designed for the turbo'ed 323 so massively over specced for NA).

You just need to watch for front chassis rail and rear sill rust. Sills aren't structural though so not a car killer.

Hard top is nice to have in winter mainly for rear visibility, big wide screen vs small one in soft top.

Electro_Ham

You are not letting yourself into a world of cost if it looks tidy. If it's a mk2 1998-2005, it will have front rail rot. It's not something that is easy to notice on MOT check as the undertray covers them. If it's lived life on dry roads, you might be lucky.
For what it's worth, my mk2.5 never failed on front rails....and they were like Swiss cheese. Check MOT history via the free official gov/DVLA website.
Did you drive the MX5?

roundthebend

Electro_Ham said:

You are not letting yourself into a world of cost if it looks tidy. If it's a mk2 1998-2005, it will have front rail rot. It's not something that is easy to notice on MOT check as the undertray covers them. If it's lived life on dry roads, you might be lucky.
For what it's worth, my mk2.5 never failed on front rails....and they were like Swiss cheese. Check MOT history via the free official gov/DVLA website.
Did you drive the MX5?

I didn't drive it as I'm a stickler for the rules - it has no tax or insurance. The son of the owner took me for a spin around the block. I'm hoping to put some tax and insurance on it over the weekend so I can take it for a drive and make a decision.

An Audi TT 1.8 quattro has come up locally too though it's a touch more expensive. It ticks the fun and 4 wheel drive boxes.

roundthebend

I was close to buying an MX-5 this weekend but decided hold off for a bit while I think it through some more. A 20 year old car renowned for riding from the inside out and I'm not clue up enough to check it over before buying. Add to that the impracticality of a 2 seater when I might occasionally want to carry my bike. And rear wheel drive for winter commuting, I think my sensible head is telling me to think hard.

I just found this which might tick loads of boxes, and will certainly get sneers from most corners. But I think 4x4 and LPG might be a great way to get cheap motoring.

Fiat Sedici 1.6 Eleganza 4x4

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/263979006816

skullfunkerry

Bit late coming to this, but mark 1 BMW Mini. I've got a Cooper S and it's hands down the best car to drive I've ever owned. I've had Celicas, Mantas and Supras which I absolutely loved but even if I only needed 2 seats now I wouldn't change the Mini for any of them

roundthebend

Finally got details of the company car scheme. As I'm not gonna be expected to use my car for business (sales, site visits etc) I can pretty much take the cash allowance and choose anything I like.

The car allowance is £585 per month, or cash of £425 per month. Fuel is at my own cost, but business miles can be put through expenses. In my case, that will be zero since commuting won't count.

Ignoring other factors, I have no need for a car other than to get 20 miles each way to work. And I can car share with numerous friends and colleagues, and cycle occasionally too. So, I see no point in getting a flashy new, expensive, motor. So Bangernomics is my preferred choice.

The only spanner in the works to that is my wife's car is currently a PCP deal and we're looking at a change soon to something bigger and nicer. But I think I'd prefer to keep that as a private matter and not try and use the company car scheme to that end.

I trudged around some local used car dealers today. My God those places are hideous. Muddy fields, pot hole ridden wastelands, and the only clue that you're in a sales forecourt and not a scrap yard is the price tags dangling from the sunshades, which only refuse to fall off because it would mean landing on the filth encrusted passenger seat of whatever wreck it resides in.

Maybe I should blow my £1500 budget on a swanky commuter bicycle and some gear to handle the bad weather.

The Fiat Sedici 4x4 LPG is looking like my preferred option, even though insurance is inflated due to the fuel conversion and tax is a little steep because it has a 1.6 Petrol engine.

boogieman

What the hell is a Fiat Sedici? I’ve never heard of one, let alone seen one on the road. Seriously I wouldn’t be getting involved with a rare model 12 year old Fiat. Spares are going to be an issue, at 136k a lot of parts are going to be near end of life and the electrics on that era of Fiat are fragile at best. 

roundthebend

@boogieman it's a Suzuki SX4. Duh! I take your point. Fiesta or Corsa then?

roundthebend

@boogieman and, others are suggesting an MX-5 which is likely to be older. Maybe more reliable and easier to get parts

EricTheWeary

Just looking as I need to start car shopping at some point.

When I worked in a health centre the commonest car on the car park was the Mini. If you are a middle aged community nurse it's the go to car.  I do see a lot of MX5s on the car park here which is a local government office. I don't know who they belong to but there are no in house hair dressers. My brother in law is after one. He has a Mazda hatchback of some description and his Cobra replica which is worth about £20k but massively impractical so an MX5 is his compromise car. 

boogieman

roundthebend said:

@boogieman and, others are suggesting an MX-5 which is likely to be older. Maybe more reliable and easier to get parts

I agree, the Mazda is pretty bombproof mechanically plus you see hundreds of old ones still around so spares won’t be an issue. They’re a fun little car too with some poke and decent handling to go with it. I imagine the owners club is pretty active, so they’ll be lots of options for advice, upgrades and bulk buys of spares etc. Although an old two seater sports job doesn’t seem it, it’s probably a far more sensible choice than that Fiat. 

FX_Munkee

I am the only person I know of that's actually broken an MX-5 engine*. My circle of MX-5 acquaintances is fairly large too seeing as I was an active member of the owners club for at least 10 years. A lot of the others have superchargers and turbo's bolted on as well.

They really are very simple cars to maintain, (which means they usually are well maintained) and there's loads of spares available for not much money.

* I only cooked it a bit, just needs some new piston rings when I've got time, and it'll come back to life