Summer cars

stickyfiddle

Jalapeno said:

As I got some inheritance money, I got a BMW 435 M Sport XDrive last year and I bloody love it - yes it's a bit of a hairdresser's car, but I don't care !   The 3-litre straight 6 makes a fantastic noise (for a diesel). I got it s/h, stuffed with every imagineable option, and as a deisel it was silly cheap.

(not mine pictured)

Those things are *awesome*, even for 4-seat convertibles which are usually pants. We got a 430i as a rental in the US (free upgrade from a Mustang) and I didn't want to give it back. 

Dodge

+1 on the MX5.  I've had a Mk1 and a M3.5 RC with the Sport Tech upgrades - both of which were excellent cars.  They are quite small though.

My most recent fun cars were my two Caterhams.

1.6 Monaco Ltd Edition (The Mk 3.5 MX5 is actually under the cover)

Superlight R300 2.0

Not sure what'll be next, probably another 7.  It's just the best driving experience I've ever had in a car, and I've driven all sort of exotica.

jacksonunited

stickyfiddle said:

Jalapeno said:

As I got some inheritance money, I got a BMW 435 M Sport XDrive last year and I bloody love it - yes it's a bit of a hairdresser's car, but I don't care !   The 3-litre straight 6 makes a fantastic noise (for a diesel). I got it s/h, stuffed with every imagineable option, and as a deisel it was silly cheap.

(not mine pictured)

Those things are *awesome*, even for 4-seat convertibles which are usually pants. We got a 430i as a rental in the US (free upgrade from a Mustang) and I didn't want to give it back. 

Great photo!

ICBM

blobb said:

How about something a little different?

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49825473687_65e555efd6_k.jpg

Thread winner . Is that yours?

blobb

It's my brothers, we sort of did it together. It's a Hotchkiss.

stickyfiddle

jacksonunited said:

stickyfiddle said:

Jalapeno said:

As I got some inheritance money, I got a BMW 435 M Sport XDrive last year and I bloody love it - yes it's a bit of a hairdresser's car, but I don't care !   The 3-litre straight 6 makes a fantastic noise (for a diesel). I got it s/h, stuffed with every imagineable option, and as a deisel it was silly cheap.

(not mine pictured)

Those things are *awesome*, even for 4-seat convertibles which are usually pants. We got a 430i as a rental in the US (free upgrade from a Mustang) and I didn't want to give it back. 

Great photo!

Ta! Wasn’t planned at all, we just got out at a lookout point on the Blue Ridge Parkway and realised it was like a car ad when walking back to move on

Lodious

octatonic said:

Lodious said:

octatonic said:

I've had a couple but honestly this is where motorcycles are better.
They take up less room and are MUCH more fun.
Buy two.

Its the serious injury / death part which is seriously unappealing.

The overwhelming majority of motorcyclists don't die from motorcycling.
It is riskier though- there is no getting away from that.
Worth it, I think, especially if you take it seriously and ride intelligently.

I've thought about taking my CBT a few times, I love the idea. Maybe with Coronavirus lurking I should just grow a pair and get on with it. 

strtdv

octatonic said:

I've had a couple but honestly this is where motorcycles are better.
They take up less room and are MUCH more fun.
Buy two.

I've been there/done that but changing priorities (a 9 month old in particular) means it's a risk I'm not prepared to take at the moment. It's not me coming off I'd worry about, it's drivers pulling out or making a right turn when oncoming without seeing me

spark240

Dodge said:

+1 on the MX5.  I've had a Mk1 and a M3.5 RC with the Sport Tech upgrades - both of which were excellent cars.  They are quite small though.

My most recent fun cars were my two Caterhams.

1.6 Monaco Ltd Edition (The Mk 3.5 MX5 is actually under the cover)

Superlight R300 2.0

Not sure what'll be next, probably another 7.  It's just the best driving experience I've ever had in a car, and I've driven all sort of exotica.

Like to try these, I’ve been passenger a few times on track days...sadly they’re a little pricey for fun cars, ...may a Westfield to start !

Dominic

 In former years I worshipped the bright red Ferrari , Silver Porsche type of sports car .Not now.
I used to think that they were for tweedy, beardy old farts trying to be a bit Gung-ho .......BUT ,I find myself curiously and increasingly drawn to a Morgan with a thumping V8 .
.........strokes beard ,fills pipe.................oh.hang on

sinbaadi

I had an NC (MK3) 2.0 Sport for about eighteen months until around September last year.  

I had recently sold my motorbike and my car lease was up so I thought I'd get an MX5 for a laugh.  It was my daily driver.  The only thing that went wrong on it was the thermostat stuck, symptom being that it wouldn't hold temperature.  That was more expensive than you might expect but not ridiculous.

Otherwise a really fun car.  I wanted a cloth top Sport so I had to go for an earlier car.

Not that fast, given how thirsty they are, less refined than you might expect, they need a suspension modification even if you get the Sport on the better Bilstein dampers.  (Ride height).

But the steering is lovely, they're ridiculously chuckable.  

Watch out for colour deviation on bumpers!  Mazda weren't great at painting small parts.

I really enjoyed mine and put nearly twenty thousand very cheap miles on it.

JerkMoans

Dominic said:

 
.........strokes beard ,fills pipe.................

Few pleasures more exquisite than a rough shag in the briar.

breezytele

I’ve had my 3.75 (final facelift) MX5 in Dolphin Grey for a couple of years now and love it.
minimal running costs are a plus, as is reliability.
Being a Sport Tech Nav, it has all the goodies too

You can fit a cased Les Paul in the boot of the Mk3:  I doubt you can in the Mk4.
The cabin feels largest of all the variants

The biggest plus of the mx5 though, is that it’s fun at legal speeds. 

If OP goes for one, make sure it’s 2009 onwards after all the important revisions over the original Mk3

breezytele

JerkMoans said:

After dicking about with the bottomless pit that was a Maserati 4200 for 6/7 years, this is (now) my only car: works fine as a daily runabout.  Based on the Mazda MX5 chassis, with a spot of Italian design in the body and engine.  Cheap, cheerful and a ton of fun to hoon around in: my Fiat 124 Spider.

I’ve  always thought the Fiat version looks better than the MX5 Mk4. Lovely colour too

munckee

blobb said:

How about something a little different?

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49825473687_65e555efd6_k.jpg

That’s more like it. Great vehicle. 

Wolfetone

GuyR said:

https://i.imgur.com/gT7fY0T.jpg

Can’t beat a car owned purely for pleasure. Have used mine pretty much every day recently.

https://i.imgur.com/bqC2xdi.jpg

Forget the white banger. I am drooling over the gold Roadster in the background.......yum.

strtdv

Had more of a look round and have basically narrowed it down to 3 options: an NB MX-5 (couldn't make the man maths work on an NC 3.5 for this year), an MR2 mk3, or on an unexpected tack, a MK1 Audi TT.

There's a couple of reasonable examples of both nearby, a couple of MX-5s, both 1.8s with about 80,000 miles on them and allegedly no significant rust, a late MR2 that a private seller is looking too much for and a dealer one with an aftermarket leather interior, or a TT coupe in 1.8 quattro manual guise. The seller says it's a 240 but I'm pretty certain it's a 225 (not sure if there's an easy way to tell just looking at it?).

What should I be looking for if I take a closer look? 
I already know about the mk 1 TT dash pod issues, and one of the cars looks to have the problem so if nothing else a starting place to get the price reduced by the £200 it takes to get the unit repaired..

sinbaadi

Be careful with earlier MK3 mr-2s, they're famous for the pre-cats disintegrating.  Later ones are allegedly better.  They're great to drive, though, really nice driving position too, even for tall folk.

FX_Munkee

NB MX-5  points to look for

1: Rust at the rear end of the sills, it's where the roof drains out, if the drain tubes get blocked water collects.

2: rear parcel shelf/deck check for signs of damp, again due to roof draining. It has an internal "rain rail".

3: specifically for the NB check the front chassis legs for rust.

strtdv

I'm going to look at an Mk2.5 MX-5 this morning. It looks clean, it's a 1.8 Sport (with the 6 speed and factory fitted LSD and Bilsteins), very low miles (53k), and only 2 owners.

Prior to coming over to NI from England it had passed all MOTs with not so much as an advisory and the seller states it's been garaged since.

None of this guarantees it won't be rusted to death when I go to see it, but it sounds promising.

If it's not rusty then chances are I'll buy it and treat it to some Dinitrol wax to the sills and underbody if not already done