Faults:

Replaced the original Mazda vinyl hood after eleven years, and a new set of original OE 14" Mazda alloys to keep her looking smart. Other than that, just keep changing the consumables during servicing.

At 60,000 miles, Mazda recommends new bushes, mine seem fine.

General Comments:

The end of the line for the Mazda MX5 MKI was the poverty spec 1.6 (90Bhp). Slower than its bigger, often better appointed 1.8 130 Bhp sister. However, don't discount it. Cheap insurance, 42Mpg and only 940Kg; the car is still hilariously fun to drive, and that's where it counts. As Top Gear's Mr Clarkson put it, "The MX5 is more fun at 30Mph than most cars are at 100Mph". The Five was never about speed or power, it's all about the handling, and the pure fun of driving a well sorted, nimble, lightweight sports car.

A good useable MKI five currently starts at two thousand pounds, but beware prices are climbing as classic status looms. It's useable and practicable enough to be everyday transport, yet provide thrills at a track day or B road fun at the weekend due to its un-burstable reliability.

Look past its "it's a girls car image" and remember that more MX5's will be racing this weekend on a track somewhere, than any other single model of car in the world.

Faults:

Needed to replace the top at 58,000

The seats wear out on the side edge.

General Comments:

This car is great for around town. I have taken it on a couple of road trips and it was noisy. I got a wind screen for between the seats, a good idea for lowering the noise level.

Faults:

I have added a large Garrett turbo and am making around 300whp (about 330-350 crank). Although I upgraded the clutch to compensate for the increased stress, nothing has broken and the car doesn't overheat or break down. The engine, transmission and rear differential are completely unmodified.

The spark plugs and plug wires wear out slightly faster than on a normal car.

I had to wrap the brake reservoir in insulation after adding the turbo.

Otherwise completely bulletproof.

General Comments:

Stock, the car could hold its own around a track against much higher hp cars. The car handles incredibly and loses very little speed going through even the sharpest corners.

The car's only real weakness is a lack of accelerative ability. Cars that are much slower through the corners can still pull away from a stock Miata very strongly.

With the hp tripled, there are few cars that can keep up on the straightaways and thanks to racing tires, still fewer that can keep up in the corners. The car is a monster.

My only complaint is that tire sizes are limited due to suspension geometry and fender size and the car has poor aerodynamics, becoming slightly unstable above 130mph. Still, there aren't any comparable sports cars in this price range. Total cost to complete car (including car itself) was about 15000 American dollars.

Faults:

Virtually nothing. My wife complained of a wet bum one morning when it had been parked outside overnight in the rain. I could not replicate the leak by hosing the car down for nearly an hour, however even though the dealer failed to make it leak, they still replaced all the rubber seals around the hood under warranty without me asking them to.

Actually they even replaced the windscreen wiper rubbers after 12 months under warranty, because I happened to mention I thought they weren't up to much...can't say fairer than that.

General Comments:

I don't think I will ever sell this car. It's super fun in the summer, especially with the top down which takes less than a minute to drop down and in winter it is comfortable.

Original Dunlop tyres were very dodgy in the wet... now fitted with Goodyears and it's much improved.

Faults:

Small rust spots under the rubber stoppers in the boot. Cured with success by the dealer.

Unreliable central locking.

Cracked dashboard. Replaced by the dealer.

General Comments:

Great handling, but needs more power on the straights. Feels like it can handle more BHP.

Very reliable.

High 'head turning to £££ spent' ratio.

Faults:

Exhaust heatshield rattle, that's it!

General Comments:

Great fun car to own, straight line performance could be slightly better(10-20 bhp more) but great handling.