Mk1 scores well in EVO's top 100 Drivers cars

[heebeegeetee]

Which seems to cause some consternation here
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[Howard-]

Clarkson LOVED the latest incarnation in last week's Times as well. I think it's safe to say our cars are, quite frankly, amazing.

[GravelBen]

The comparison with Elises makes me chuckle - I'm sure its more relevant in the UK but I payed less than 1/10th of the cheapest Elise I've seen for sale in NZ.

[pbirkett]

GravelBen said:

The comparison with Elises makes me chuckle - I'm sure its more relevant in the UK but I payed less than 1/10th of the cheapest Elise I've seen for sale in NZ.

Even the cheapest Elise is four times more expensive than a really nice Mk1 MX-5. Not only that, but my supercharged RS-LTD (limited edition run of 500 cars) was half the price of the cheapest Elise too, and probably isnt a million miles away in rawness or handling terms (with its Bilstein shocks and torsen LSD), albeit a bit heavier.

They are very good cars for the money.

[Quick silver]

heebeegeetee said:

Which seems to cause some consternation here
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

There's a bad case of sour grapes for most with cars not featuring in the top 10

[MX-5 Lazza]

I think it probably takes more into account than just the handling too. If it was based purely on handling the top 30 or so would be populated with the various incarnations of Elise/Exige/VX220/Caterham/Westfield/911.
Anyone can jump into an MX5 and feel like The Stig while thrashing around some back-lanes at legal-ish speeds. Try to jump into an Elise - that's a struggle for starters - it then might be a bit more fun in those twisties but not a lot and it's then less fun driving home again on boring roads afterwards.
Notice they rated the Caterham R300 above the R500 - the R300 is more than enough for 99.9% of people whereas you need massive track expertise to make the most of any advantage an R500 might have.