I like that one.

It was only the imports that had LSD's wasn't it?

Yep, Eunos.

I don't think its just the imports that have lsd's. Brother has a mk2 and thats a UK one with a fancy diff.

my mates is a 1989 import on a G plate 1.6, so that'll be 115bhp?

my 318is was faster than his, but i was just thinking that it wasnt /that/ much slower, not mk4 polo slow anyway :p

your iS does have 20-30 bhp more than this though and I think more torque as well.

(yeah your Polo might have pulled away but would you be faster in the corners?),

so you just need to hope that there are plenty of testing corners around or you could be made to look really silly by some very unremarkable motor's?

Edited 30 April, 201016 yr by McLOVIN

I don't think its just the imports that have lsd's. Brother has a mk2 and thats a UK one with a fancy diff.

Just the Mk1's only had LSD's on the imports, Mk2's they probably all had them.

so you just need to hope that there are plenty of testing corners around or you could be made to look really silly by some very unremarkable motor's?

Ah modest_mouse, we always seem to duel.

Not so much that the corner is testing, more that the MX5 will be able to enter the turn quicker, go through the turn quicker and exit quicker.

I'm not really into the whole racing (used loosely) on public roads, so being made to look silly by say a Polo wouldn't really come into it for me. MX5s aren't really about straight line speed, and this really becomes apparent on the track.

haveing owend mk1 1.8 mx5 there cracking little cars if you can put up with the shit

you will get of your mates about been a hairdresser a starfish piolet among many

stick a good 4 branch manifold and exhaust system . a front strut brace .some good springs

and shocks sorted little cars id have another one any day :grin:

my next car is going to be an mx5 I'm just saving the pennies to do it,

fuck the image,

i should have a blue rinse and a piss bag when I'm driving about in my mk3 polo

but with the roads and scenery i have up here i cant wait to be driving about in my 5

so you just need to hope that there are plenty of testing corners around or you could be made to look really silly by some very unremarkable motor's?

Ah modest_mouse, we always seem to duel.

Not so much that the corner is testing, more that the MX5 will be able to enter the turn quicker, go through the turn quicker and exit quicker.

I'm not really into the whole racing (used loosely) on public roads, so being made to look silly by say a Polo wouldn't really come into it for me. MX5s aren't really about straight line speed, and this really becomes apparent on the track.

no doubt they are great on the track but how many of them will ever get on to a track? most will be driven on the roads, some of them by people bragging that they have one of the best handling car made, but for example there's a lane i hit on the way home from work if i take my 'i've had a shit day and now my car's gonna know about it' route, this lane has plenty of twisty bits but there far from testing and i can hold my jetta flat from one end to the other with only having to let off slightly for one bend. now if my jetta is quicker in a straight line than an MX5 it would surely be quicker through this lane surely? (plus it's up hill which i doubt would suit the lack of pulling power?)

what i'm getting at is it's main attribute (in this case it's handling) will only work in it's favor in certain circumstances, as soon as it's out of it's comfort zone it doesn't really seem to have much going for it? the way some people are going on about it in this thread you would think it had just feed 5000 people with a loaf of bread

Edited 2 May, 201016 yr by McLOVIN

its not like its testing either cars handling capabilities properly if they can go flat out down a piece of road tbh

no doubt they are great on the track but how many of them will ever get on to a track? most will be driven on the roads, some of them by people bragging that they have one of the best handling car made, but for example there's a lane i hit on the way home from work if i take my 'i've had a shit day and now my car's gonna know about it' route, this lane has plenty of twisty bits but there far from testing and i can hold my jetta flat from one end to the other with only having to let off slightly for one bend. now if my jetta is quicker in a straight line than an MX5 it would surely be quicker through this lane surely? (plus it's up hill which i doubt would suit the lack of pulling power?)

what i'm getting at is it's main attribute (in this case it's handling) will only work in it's favor in certain circumstances, as soon as it's out of it's comfort zone it doesn't really seem to have much going for it? the way some people are going on about it in this thread you would think it had just feed 5000 people with a loaf of bread

Well you are right.. the majority of them will never see the track and quite a few owners never drive them quickly. How many Jetta TD will see your amount of boost?

'Handling' effects all situations apart from driving flat out in a straight ish line and even then it does play a role. The road you go down if you can flat from one end to another doesn't really seem to be a taxing road. what the 5 can do is go into corners faster and come out of corners faster. This is not just on the track but on the road as well.

Its is also so easy to drive quickly because of the way it handles. it is so communicative you know what the car is going to do if the rear end is about to go or if its going to under-steer. If the rear end does go then there is no fuss and a bit of opposite lock holds in and it just comes back.

I did a BH track day in the polo, me and an mx5 where basically the same round the track. I went out with him and where I was working really hard to keep the pace this guy was driving like it was a Sunday drive.

Its as close as you can get to an Elise with out having to buy an Elise in terms of ride and handling, and that was said by a Lotus Engineer. If we were talking about an Elise here then I doubt that this thread would have been this long.

Wheel fitment is 4x100 isnt it? any difference in centre bore?

Are there cheap coilovers available for them?

yes it is and I'm not sure about the bore.. its bigger if its different.

decentish ones are £500ish

The bore is slightly smaller, the BBS on my mk3 came from a mx5 and i needed to get the centres bored out so they'd fit.

MX5 is probably the best real sports car (in the british sense) in the last 20 years. 1.8 is much better than the 1.6 The funny thing is that people with trolleys (which, lets be honest, polos are) are bitching about mx5s. Fuck the fact they look gay, beemer m3s make you look like a prickless rep, but i bet most people would still want one!

MX5 is probably the best real sports car (in the british sense) in the last 20 years.

Not being funny but are you actually serious? Have you ever heard of Lotus?

its not like its testing either cars handling capabilities properly if they can go flat out down a piece of road tbh

well yeah that was the point i was making, it's only going to be on a road with some testing twisty's (or on a track) that the MX5 is going to come into it's own and leave others in it's wake right? it's trump card is it's handling and until it get's into a situation where it can use that to it's advantage then it could quite easily be embarrassed by some rather ordinary car's. i'm not saying it's a bad car or any thing like that i was just replying to the comments about how it would embarrass every one's car on here round the twistys, it might do but they could embarrass it back in other circumstances.

max, i was just using my car as an example, there's a lot of standard car's that would leave mine for dust

Having driven an elan turbo and an mx5, the lotus is a little daft with its fwd and huuuuge turbo lag, but its still a hoot. The mx5 still wins it for me though, just cos of its go-kart like handling, and its more forgiving than the elan

Ahh I wasn't comparing it to an Elan M100, I was comparing it to the Elise....

mate with the mx5 came round to my flat last night

talking about a car swap in the future, might do it to fill the novely gap of having a cabby for when i move back to portsmouth

mclovin: you keep saying it would be 'embarrassed' by ordinary cars, they cost 1000-1500. firstly thats a lot less than a lot of people on here have spent on their cars.

secondly, saying that on one peice of road it cant use its handling to its advantage isnt a good one. my mate knows all the country lanes near his house which is in the middle of nowhere, plus he is a bit mental. followed him in his 75bhp mk4 golf 1.4 and i doubt me in my car and my mate with a 328i would go faster than him down that road, he was at the actual top speed of his car that doesnt for one second mean that a mk4 golf handles better than an e36. it just means on that road, for that short distance of time we couldnt get past him. i even launched my car about 4 ft into the air over a humpback bridge chasing him :s

thirdly, they are the kind of car you just wont understand the appeal of until youve had some experience with one i think

Gay

No 16V Polo will see off an MX5 in a straight line, let alone a corner.

The saying "don't knock it until you've tried it" is a must have with the MX5.

its not like its testing either cars handling capabilities properly if they can go flat out down a piece of road tbh

well yeah that was the point i was making, it's only going to be on a road with some testing twisty's (or on a track) that the MX5 is going to come into it's own and leave others in it's wake right? it's trump card is it's handling and until it get's into a situation where it can use that to it's advantage then it could quite easily be embarrassed by some rather ordinary car's. i'm not saying it's a bad car or any thing like that i was just replying to the comments about how it would embarrass every one's car on here round the twistys, it might do but they could embarrass it back in other circumstances.

max, i was just using my car as an example, there's a lot of standard car's that would leave mine for dust

You are right. Get to a section where its more about speed and thats where it falls down. On the road or the track. Its really common on track days. Get to the corners and you are all over people but as soon as its gets to a section where its just about raw power and its had it, which is really frustrating! :)

MX5 is probably the best real sports car (in the british sense) in the last 20 years.

Not being funny but are you actually serious? Have you ever heard of Lotus?

Well its the car that kick started the all the 2 seater sports cars that we know now and It is very close to the original DNA of the original elans.

If you had to pick between a new Elise or MX5.. you would pick the Elise with your heart but MX5 with you head. The thing is an MX5 is £10,000 cheaper is more practical, easier to live with on a daily basis, more comfortable, cheaper to run and I believe more reliable. And almost as good round the track.

mclovin: you keep saying it would be 'embarrassed' by ordinary cars, they cost 1000-1500. firstly thats a lot less than a lot of people on here have spent on their cars.

it's also a lot more than a lot of people on here have spent on their cars too, i don't see your point? and as i said i was just replying to the comments about how the MX5 would 'embarrass' every one on here's car round the twistys, it probably would but they could then return the favour once they get on to a straight, which according to max is a common problem with them on track days.

It does depends if you are in front or not. As if you are you will probably find that more powerful cars catch up on the straights but can't keep up in the corners.

this video shows it all really.

http://vimeo.com/10066900

I suppose its all depends on the kinda driver you are, quick though the corners is much more fun for me than quick in a straight line :) And being quick in the corners is very easy in an MX5 which makes it a really good car to drive.

That MX-5 doesn't look like it's being held up by inferior handling cars, more like inferior drivers.