which MX5 would you buy?

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Discussion

horton

Original Poster:

804 posts

259 months

Thursday 20th December 2007
quotequote all
I am toying with the idea of buying an MX5 and have a couple of questions..

Firstly, I am in Japan, so I have the luxury of lots of special editions to choose from, which have pretty low mileages.

Secondly, it must be an automatic.

Thirdly, and here lies the biggest problem, I want more power - not stupid power, just 170(ish) bhp and I don't want to spend a fortune on tuning it or have something that is unreliable.

I was considering either a mk1 or 2 1.6 and putting the greddy turbo kit on it, as it is pretty cheap to buy, and so far I have not seen any cheap turbo kits for the 1.8. The greddy turbo kit seems pretty basic, are there any other parts I would have to pay for, and how much are they likely to cost?

Is a low mileage mk1 going to be a better bet than a higher mileage mk2?

As long as I don't go silly with extra power, will the standard suspension/transmission/brakes be fine with an extra 50 or so bhp?

How long/how much does it take to fit a greddy turbo kit? I don't have the skills to even contemplate fitting the kit myself so will be taking it somewhere for fitting.

Is getting a turbo a stupid idea, I know the easy route is to get the best 1.8 I can afford, but they do cost more, and I assumed in the hunt for 170bhp, the cheapest way would be 1.6 and a turbo kit.


horton

Original Poster:

804 posts

259 months

Thursday 20th December 2007
quotequote all

GHW

1,294 posts

228 months

Friday 21st December 2007
quotequote all
A 1.8 is a better base for increasing power, since they have stronger brakes and clutches as standard (although it's fairly trivial to fit the 1.8 parts to a 1.6 if you need to in the future).

There's no massive differences engine and suspension-wise between Mk1s and Mk2s, so pick the one you prefer the look of and the feel of the cabin.

Expect to pay about £1500-£2000 for a turbo or supercharger kit that'll up the power to 180ish bhp. Fitting would cost something like £500 on top of that. Performance5 tend to be the recommended people to go to for upgrading MX5s in the UK.

MX-5 Lazza

7,954 posts

226 months

Friday 21st December 2007
quotequote all
GHW said:
Performance5 tend to be the recommended people to go to for upgrading MX5s in the UK.
Yes but to get him to go to Japan to fit a turbo might cost a little more than £500 hehe

Edited by MX-5 Lazza on Friday 21st December 14:02