A little Background
The last time I owned an MX-5 it was circa 2005 and I purchased an NA (ie the 1st generation) reg /year ? I cannot recall now, but it was pretty ropey, with a roof that blew from shut to open at 70 mph on a Spanish Autoroute, mediocre handling from probable tired suspension, lastly a terminal issue when coolant disappeared, rapid overheating ensued, the car was towed to a Spanish garage never to re-appear.
Story Continuation
Following the miserable experience with the MX-5, a few years elapsed until circa 2016 when I decided to have another go to purchase an affordable convertible. This time I avoided MX-5, so the 'affordable' Roadster/Convertible category consisted of Fiat X1-9, Fiat Barchetta, BMW Z3 and Z4 , and finally my choice Toyota MR2 mk3 .
This Toyota had only 12k miles, silver with a hardtop, located in a different part of the country :- Edinburgh, whereas I live in Mid-Wales. 3 train journeys taking at least 6 hours later, I was met by the seller at a train station and after a few hours of checking the car out I was happily driving home with the hardtop on at a steady 75-80 mph.
The MR2 was a source of great joy, but 2 factors combined to take away from the driving experience, namely I always ended up with quite severe headaches after a 1-2 hour drive, this turned out to be down to 2 factors :- cold on the forehead when driving with the roof off, secondly, lack of good sunglasses to reduce the glare. BUT I only discovered these were strong factors as I sold the MR2, and didn't replace the convertible until maybe a further gap year, and an Audi TT convertible bought.
The higher screen of the Audi took away any blast onto my forehead, also the wearing of headgear helped. . Quite a few Audi TT later of various guises of fwd/awd and from 160-300bhp varieties, I decided that although the cabin quality, general ambience, good paintwork it really couldn't overcome the lack of joy and fun that the TT gave to the driver .
Further on again I decided to go back to MR2 mk3 , this time suitably attired to avoid the headache issue, I owned maybe 6-7 for various periods of time, indeed I was that besotted with how very good a mid-engined rwd could be, I ended up with four at once :- madness!!
Story Conclusion
Full circle and back to the MX- 5 story
Today, I bought an Orange 30th Edition with 15k miles on the clock, crucially it also came with a raft of BBR kit(s)
220 bhp engine kit
Big Brake kit with cf pads
Exhaust + manifold kit
Ohlins suspension kit
Great geo done by the previous owner
This is just what I can recall 'off the cuff' . The upshot is though, its a wonderful relaxed cruiser , 6th gear at 70mph = ~ 2800 rpm and very economical at those speeds , maybe high 40's-low 50's mpg .
But the car transforms into a supremely planted, very rapid sportscar, when the revs rise over say 5500rpm - I did see 7500rpm today , with a delicious accompanying howl .
The car has exceeded all expectations with it's multi-faceted character , I travelled on a few well-known to me back-roads today, at a far higher speed than with any other vehicle I have owned previously, achieved without any fuss or drama, such was the excellence of the chassis/ride and roadholding .
So what will I do with my existing MR2 mk3 (2 off) ?
I'm very strongly considering selling both, as their virtues and strong points are at least matched by the MX-5
The MR-2 is a less common sight on UK roads, and just maybe the driving position is a tad more generous than the MX-5, but these would be the only area where my existing cars have any very slight advantage.
Maybe a Final Twist in This Saga though
A friend who was a previous MR-2 owner purchased a well sorted and kept, but ancient 05 reg Porsche Boxster 987 2.7 engined car in mid Summer last year. I drove the car and was suitably impressed with the very solid nature of the car in terms of pedals, switchgear and so forth , maybe overly heavy in fact, but the overall driving impression was very positive. Little did I imagine less than 9 months later that the car now belongs to me. So as I was driving along today, did I need to also have the newly bought MX-5 as well. The previous owner of the MX-5 did indicate that he would like to have 1st refusal if ever I wanted to sell. So.....what to do? enjoy all of my crop of cars over the Summer and then see what to do for the best!