One NA, two holidays, 3000 miles - one change of heart...
Discussion
I bought Mitzy, our MX5, just under a year ago. To be a little more specific, she is a 1992 Eunos 1.6 Special; never welded, owned by a couple of mature folks since import, tidy and everything works... a good sound example then - nothing flash, but I was more interested in the fact that she'd been serviced and not abused... I bought her for a particular purpose - to take on a special holiday with my other half, we were renting a castle in Yorkshire for a week... My Spitfire based kit car had been almost totally reliable for the last ten years but I fancied something modern, more comfortable and with greater ground clearance that would allow us to enjoy a week of motoring round the moors even if it rained! I was looking forward to a big windscreen with two speed wipers, decent headlights and particularly a decent heater as we rarely have the top up.
Well first impressions weren't that good... lousy packaging meaning that she had less space for passengers and luggage than the amateur built Spitty, an appalling ride quality - especially on the Yorks back roads to the castle (turns out the Special had a limited edition spec' super crashy suspension) , a dull interior, claustrophobic and limited visibility with the top up and even less ground clearance than the car that she replaced... and the headlights were crap... all in all a bit disappointing but she was cheap, went well, handled nicely and could be sold as soon as we got home. Except the other half loved her. So we kept her for a bit longer and the better half used her every day but the fanaticism of the MX5 fans eluded me...
Fast forward to last week and we had a holiday up in the Lake District. This time round we had great weather, the top stayed down all week near enough and things really came together. We managed Hardknott and Wrynose, Kirkstone and various other passes, all the quieter lakes and some fantastic roads over the Fells - she still rattled fillings over cattle grids, lacked any real luggage space (but we took less stuff this time) and touched down on mild bumps but somehow that didn't seem to matter. With the sun out she is transformed, on traffic free but tight twisties the suspension set up made perfect sense, the motor and box superb - I haven't enjoyed driving for the sake of it so much since I took my modified 1500 Spitty to Scotland over a decade ago. She could have done with a tad more grunt in places, and despite supposedly having a l.s.d. she struggled to grip whilst climbing Hardknott - 1 in 3, corrugated road surface and damp - but I'll forgive her for that... especially as she still managed mid thirties to the gallon over the course of the week.
So, she's a keeper? No, actually. I can't afford to keep two moderns on the road and my Scooby pick up is far more useful to me - however, I will really miss Mitzy and that is something I never thought I'd say.
Well first impressions weren't that good... lousy packaging meaning that she had less space for passengers and luggage than the amateur built Spitty, an appalling ride quality - especially on the Yorks back roads to the castle (turns out the Special had a limited edition spec' super crashy suspension) , a dull interior, claustrophobic and limited visibility with the top up and even less ground clearance than the car that she replaced... and the headlights were crap... all in all a bit disappointing but she was cheap, went well, handled nicely and could be sold as soon as we got home. Except the other half loved her. So we kept her for a bit longer and the better half used her every day but the fanaticism of the MX5 fans eluded me...
Fast forward to last week and we had a holiday up in the Lake District. This time round we had great weather, the top stayed down all week near enough and things really came together. We managed Hardknott and Wrynose, Kirkstone and various other passes, all the quieter lakes and some fantastic roads over the Fells - she still rattled fillings over cattle grids, lacked any real luggage space (but we took less stuff this time) and touched down on mild bumps but somehow that didn't seem to matter. With the sun out she is transformed, on traffic free but tight twisties the suspension set up made perfect sense, the motor and box superb - I haven't enjoyed driving for the sake of it so much since I took my modified 1500 Spitty to Scotland over a decade ago. She could have done with a tad more grunt in places, and despite supposedly having a l.s.d. she struggled to grip whilst climbing Hardknott - 1 in 3, corrugated road surface and damp - but I'll forgive her for that... especially as she still managed mid thirties to the gallon over the course of the week.
So, she's a keeper? No, actually. I can't afford to keep two moderns on the road and my Scooby pick up is far more useful to me - however, I will really miss Mitzy and that is something I never thought I'd say.
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