A Reformed MX-5 Hater............
Discussion
JWH said:
So - my apologies to all you doubters. I've got £3000 spare, is that going to be enough to get me a reliable superecharged or turbo'd MX-5?
Welcome to the club. 
There was one available on MX5 Nutz a few weeks back for less than £3k, so they are available.
Easiest thing to do is get a £2K Mk1 which are plentiful and spend your change on a turbo and mappable ecu. You'll not get massive power but you'll have enough to send you sideways on a dry staright road.
S2000 is faster, that doesn't mean it's better. Steering and feedback is better on MX-5. Power can be added if desired, handling is more difficult to improve.
Back to OP. The Mk2.5 1.6 will have the best chassis of any stock MX-5 of any vintage up to (and possibly including) Mk3 apart from the Mk2.5 1.8 Sport which has additional stiffening/bracing. It's also the heaviest - again apart from the Mk2.5 1.8 Sport, so the lack of power (about 110bhp I think) will be a bit more obvious. The 1.8 has 146bhp and that is just about enough to make it easy to fully exploit the chassis.
For £3k you will be looking at a Mk1 or Mk2. Mk1 would be best, especially if you are looking for SC or Turbo. If you can find a BBR Turbo that would be spot on but they tend to hold their values a bit better.
Back to OP. The Mk2.5 1.6 will have the best chassis of any stock MX-5 of any vintage up to (and possibly including) Mk3 apart from the Mk2.5 1.8 Sport which has additional stiffening/bracing. It's also the heaviest - again apart from the Mk2.5 1.8 Sport, so the lack of power (about 110bhp I think) will be a bit more obvious. The 1.8 has 146bhp and that is just about enough to make it easy to fully exploit the chassis.
For £3k you will be looking at a Mk1 or Mk2. Mk1 would be best, especially if you are looking for SC or Turbo. If you can find a BBR Turbo that would be spot on but they tend to hold their values a bit better.
stigmundfreud said:
s2000 is better 
Well, naturally Having just sold my Mk1 Roadster S-Spec and bought an S2000 to replace it...
The 'best' performance car out of the two above is a forced-induction Mk1 MX5 with sorted suspension and brakes. Having driven both a 220 bhp Mk1 turbo and another with a Jackson Racing Supercharger and nitrous injection, imagine having the adjustability and chuckability of the Mk1 MX5 with endless power-slides just a throttle-twitch away and TVR Chimaera straight-line go.
Faced with the choice of FI'ing my Mk1 or the S2000, I much prefered the looks of the Honda and the noise and power-all-the-way-to-the-9000rpm-redline character of the chainsaw engine on steroids under the bonnet of the S2000. But I'd agree that the MX5 has much better steering feedback, very slightly better turn-in and is certainly more forgiving.
speedtwelve said:
stigmundfreud said:
s2000 is better
The 'best' performance car out of the two above is a forced-induction Mk1 MX5 with sorted suspension and brakes. Having driven both a 220 bhp Mk1 turbo and another with a Jackson Racing Supercharger and nitrous injection, imagine having the adjustability and chuckability of the Mk1 MX5 with endless power-slides just a throttle-twitch away and TVR Chimaera straight-line go. 
I bought a my 5 because it was cheap and I didn't mind sticking it on the odd track day rather than risking damaging the S
If I had to sell one now it would be the Honda with out a second thought
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