MX5 / Eunos etc.

I'm 6'2", 15st and I had zero problems driving that Mk1 MX5, or generally fitting in it. Weird eh?

Reply to
Pete M
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OTOH Phase 2 Clio 172s are cheap, and the insurance company is happy with them. At what mileage do they drop to pieces?

Reply to
Doki

They don't have height adjustable seats do they? Twas a fixed headlamp model.

Reply to
Doki

Don't think so. I found that sliding the seat right back, then tilting the backrest slightly more vertically than seems right initially made for a great driving position. Put the backrest so it lies at the same angle as the bulkhead (and is right up against it) and they're spot on.

I did about 12000 miles in that little red one and never wanted more room.

Reply to
Pete M

168,473 miles.
Reply to
DanB

I'll note that. Anything else?

Reply to
Doki

I'm 6'0 and a bit and my hair brushes the roof in my E36 with the seat right down. Dunno if the powered seats are more adjustable.

Also, mine has aircon *and* a sunroof, so I don't know if a non-sunroof version would have the extra inch or so clearance? And is my coupe roofline lower than the saloon?

Reply to
PCPaul

Headroom and legroom wise I was fine in a Mk2, but didn't have the knee clearance on the wheel. Infact it was the roomiest "small" car I've ever sat in.

Reply to
Elder

I'm the other way round, long legs, short back.

Reply to
Elder

that reminds me i only fitted my MK1 MR2 with a 350mm (i think it was) momo wheel and not the orignal toyota wheel that toyota nicked out of an old pirate ship or something. also mine was the earlier MK1 which had a slightly bigger steering wheel than the late b ones (MK1 models were refered to as a and b as there was some changes, smaller steering wheel, air box re-located to boot, different alloys ect)

Reply to
Vamp

i always found it ok and i'm taller than you, longer in the leg most likely, power seats were worse in the E36 the motors in them stopped them being able to go down low. the seat does move up and down and i found went quite low too. roofline is about the same, i know cos i used to park next to a 4 door E36 at work, sunroof i think losses an inch mind from memory.

Reply to
Vamp

Well, you'll notice the pre-2001ish cars are the older shape, they're the Ph1, and the 2001ish cars are the triangle headlights ones, so of course, they're the Ph2. The Ph1 has the same gash interior as my Vee, but obviously in a weekend fun car (or any car really as long as it has air heh) that's irrelevent. They have enough of a spec level, in that you get aircon, half leather/alacantara seats and that's about it. Maybe a 6cd changer under the passenger seat as well. The Ph2 has HIDs/climate/auto lights and wipers as well as the other stuff. They all have a shift light on the dash, little green light on the dash on the left in the Ph1 and iirc from driving my mates dad's Ph2 it's a small orange light in the bottom right of the dash.

There is also the Cup, which is Ph2 only. Less sound proofing, thinner glass, Dynamique spec interior (not very nice), all toys gone but near the end of them being for sale climate became an option and finally no spare, just foam.. They're all either blue, or there is iirc about 50 silver ones. The blue ones look far better, they show the lines more and it works better with the Turini wheels, multi-spoke style, and are standard on all Cups as they're a lot lighter than the stock 172 wheels.

The clutches on any of them feel awful, you'll think it's biting a bit low and is a bit of an on/off switch whilst also being pretty heavy. They're all like that, you'll get used to it plenty quick though and be able to use it as more than a switch in no time. The exhausts are crap, they go rotten and then when bits mong they knock and stuff, finding one with a full stainless won't mean it's necessarily been owned by a boy racer, it may have just be a sensible person.

Cambelt is 72k or 5 years, Aux belt is every 36k, I think doing both at once comes in around £500 IIRC, so it pays to get one that's already had it done. I've seen a few Ph1s selling with waaaaay over 100k on - one that sold through Cliosport was just over 150k and the same guy had owned it from new for 8 years.

Look out for the normal things such as knocking noises, crash damage etc. The basic mechanics have proven reliable, the problems you tend to see are silly electrical niggles and stuff, for example on the Vee (indeed it happened to mine), and maybe the Ph1, water could get into the rear lights and then the connectors rusted up and this leads to things like, indicating right flashes the reverse light as well and in turn this was some mad system that was done in such a way so as when the reverse light comes on, if you have the wipers on, then it helpfully operates the rear wiper heh. In the end I had a man chop the block off and make a nice new one with nice new connectors - different to the stock Renault ones, and that cured it.

They handle and drive very well, huge amounts of fun and feel really quick, especially the Ph1 and the Cups, as they're much less sound-proofed than the Ph2s full fats. They're more than capable of embarassing some much more expensive machines on some nice bendy roads on the way to a trackday, doing the trackday, and embarassing some much more expensive machines on a fairly tight track, and then getting you home again, and if you come across any expensive machinary... ;-) Many of the 'experts' in here probably don't even know what they look like, and could never admit that they're as good as an awful lot of people/magazines know they are...

Reply to
DanB

HIDs are good, auto wipers bad. I suspect they're the same ones as the 406 has, and there's no manual intermittent mode. Drive you mad because they're never, ever, right. OTOH the Ph2 looks a lot better than the Ph1 in my book.

Aye. My uncle has one in met blue. It looks mint. However I don't know if I could put up with a Cup day to day for the probably fairly slight agility increase.

Aye. They look bloody cheap for the amount of go on offer.

Reply to
Doki

I am ~6'4". I have to drive with little shoes on. My Mk2 has heated leather seats which are a fair bit bulkier than Mk1 seats and earlier Mk

2 seats.

Elise/VX220 is better for my legs but I couldn't handle getting in and out of one of them every day when I chose the MX-5.

Reply to
Douglas Payne

I could easily have driven it in boots, just the knee room was all wrong.

Reply to
Elder

I've heard about your boots. They're wrong too. Very wrong.

Reply to
PCPaul

I'm tempted to mount a seatbelt clip on the transmission tunnel and just drive around in mine sitting on a cushion. (c:

My lower thighs obstruct my hands if I'm wearing much more than slippers to drive currently.

Reply to
Douglas Payne

See that was the problem I had, and I was wearing very old slip on trainers. Very worn soles. That was why I dismissed it straight away. If I had my boots on and it was tight, I would have been fine in my slip ons.

Reply to
Elder

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