Faults:

Battery went flat first few weeks. Cost $220 Australian.

Seats wear driver side.

Timing belt must be changed at 100,000km's or sooner. Best do the water pump at the same time..

Great sports car that is not going cost you your house..

I also own 1991 BRG 1.6.. I need new rear window plastic; was burnt from sun. Need work on diff.. Alarm kept going off in the rain... Power window went up slow, needs work. Other than that, great sports car.

Most parts are cheap; there are MX5 wrecker yards all over Australia.. Also new parts as well from Mazda Australia.

I ended up selling 1991 BRG MX5 to a Mazda dealer in late 1998.. Ended up buying a Clubman in 2000.. looking at buying all colors from MX5 starting 1989 to 1997.

General Comments:

Excellent sport cars for any age.. I got my first Mazda MX5 back in 1997, haven't looked back since...

They handle like go cart - excellent... I now own Clubman black, 1 of 7 in Australia... no power steering/no air con/1.8 motor/ LSD Diff/ comes with Bilstein shocks. All factory spec made for the race track...

I also owned a 1991 British racing green back in 1997.. Tan leather seats /CD player/ 1.6 motor/ numbered as well. Only 300 were imported from Mazda Australia, only 200 had the numbers.. Don't know why?

They're great. Investment prices will go up next few years. The MX5 is world's best selling sports car.

Faults:

Rear wheel bearing at about 110k.

The soft-top can leak (very slow drip) at the rubber join half way along the drivers window - but I have a hard top now instead.

Leather seats wear quite easily. Cloth seats are better in this respect.

Not much fun if you never get a bit of empty road to play on.

These are really minor niggles - in 60k of driving (with an aftermarket turbo) over 7 years it's been rock solid!

General Comments:

Great fun to drive when traffic is light - the 1600 is even better!

I read a lot about the image issues on the forums, but the only comment I've had was from someone who thought it was a Ferrari! (yeah it was dark at the time, but still)

It's been a lot of fun tinkering with it, going from a modest sports car to a turbo-terror which can out-do most factory turbo cars with ease. A lot of parts are interchangeable with RX7s (diff, injectors), 323s (engine, wheels) and even Toyotas (wheels, injectors) and Hondas (wheels).

Have done basic servicing myself - it's never *needed* to go to the dealer or mechanic, other than to buy the odd oil filter.

Engine is seriously tough, having put up with 7yrs/65km of turbo'd driving (10psi, and about double the hp) without a hiccup.

Fuel economy is OK, 10-12km/l. Only a smidge less than our Toyota bB, but a lot faster and more fun.

If I was doing it all again I'd get an early 1600, as they are purer, fun, rev-happy little puppies!

As much as I dislike being on display, the car really does shine :) when the top is down.

Faults:

An annoying rattle from inside the a/con ducts, only occurring @ 2200 rpm (which happened to correspond to my favorite cruising speed in the suburbs of approx 65km/h). Took me weeks to hunt it down fixing with wooden wedges jammed between a/con and car body in the dash.

Left soft top clip does not lock as easily as the right clip.

Back window replaced by previous owner because it turned yellow and cracked (!!!). The new UV stabilized window is holding out in the Aussie sun very well so far.

General Comments:

A very well balanced machine with excellent dynamics; result= takes corners very well.

Stability and feel is even better with the Hard Top on.

Soft top / Hard top provides excellent seal on windows & there's no leaking problems in the rain.

Do go for the better quality and more powerful sound system on offer as you'll need to turn it up with the top down over 80km/h.

Can consume a surprising amount of fuel when pushed and the 48L tank goes very quickly.