In 2007 I felt the need to own a sports car.
Between us we have had open-top cars since 1987 with 3 Ford Escort XR3is, a Renault 19, and 2 Renault Meganes, but apart from a short time when I borrowed an MX5 from our son Michael, we had never owned a sports car.
It was all decided one weekend and within a few days we swapped our Renault Clio for a ten year old Mazda MX5.
We did many miles in this old car including the 700 mile round trip to Cornwall mentioned in my previous post.
In my opinion the MX5 is the best of the affordable sports cars. It may not be the fastest off the mark or on top speed but it cannot be beaten for price and fun to drive. The only problem is that a ten year old car brings problems that any old car can have. Bits wear out and rust is a concern on our roads which are always salted in winter.
The engine is good for about 200,000 miles though and if you can keep the body going the car will remain mechanically sound for quite a long time.
Come 2008 and we decided that we should change the car for a newer model and cut out the added costs of keeping the older car in a road-worthy state.
A friend at work had recently changed her MX5 and had bought her latest one from an importer who brings in cars from Japan. I visited his warehouse and he showed me a beautiful car which was ready for sale.
Needless to say we bought it and to date still own it. (No, it’s not a personalised plate but we don’t want any cloning do we?) It will be coming to Spain with us.
This model features all the things that the true sports car lovers detest such as air-conditioning, electric windows, ABS, a hood which folds down in one easy motion, six-speed box etc. Me not being such a stick-in-the-mud, I love all the features and hope to keep the car for a long time.
I have been accused of exhibiting the stereo-typical mid-life crisis but heh, if it’s this much fun, what the hell ??!!