New transportation device

[durbster]

The MX-5 I've driven since 2003 has finally met its match. It's been absolutely perfect in that time. It has never gone wrong, it does up to 38mpg, it costs nothing to service, it can fit all our camping gear in it and yet is bloody good fun to drive and will happily lap up a trackday or two.

However, it has now met it's match. The tiny puppy we picked up in August seems to have expanded exponentially and she is approaching the size where sitting on the wife's lap in the car is both silly and uncomfortable.

So I was tasked with finding a second car (can't get rid of the roadster of course). I spent many weeks considering about 20 different makes and models, weighing up their strengths and weaknesses but just couldn't find one car that would fit the criteria, which was as follows:
- room for a dog
- useful boot
- comfortable enough to drive long distances
- no worse than the MX-5 on fuel
- fun
- interesting

Finally, I realised this was pretty much the only car on the market that fitted the bill, so I bought one at the weekend.



Tis nice

[Vilante]

Looks sweet mate, how do they dirve? I've never had a chance to get behind the wheel of one. Always thought they look the goods though, a little different.

[Big Kev]

Nice. What'll she do, mister?

[wobblysauce]

Nice cars to drive... but now are you going to make the MX a full track car?

[GT VIRUS]

At least you haven't chosen a fag car, just the girliest car on the market!

[Shaun]

yeah have to agree with GT, my partners mum drives one of those lol

[w00dsy]

yeah have to agree with GT, my partners mum drives one of those lol

Does she use a Mac?







typed on phone

[Shaun]

nah, too confusing for her haha

[Enforcer-J]

Room for dog = 4 Doors for me!

[c.j]

Should have waited for this...

http://www.insideline.com/toyota/86/201 ... drive.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[durbster]

Looks sweet mate, how do they dirve? I've never had a chance to get behind the wheel of one. Always thought they look the goods though, a little different.

So far I'm pleased with it. I do plan on making the MX-5 a track toy so this didn't need to be particularly hardcore but it's actually good fun. The engine is a hoot - it's the 190 version with the 'lift', which is like vtec I guess. It doesn't have much torque at low revs and gradually builds as you accelerate, then when it gets up to just over 6k revs the lift kicks in yo! and it launches aggressively until you run out of revs at something like 8.2k. It's really silly but I can't stop doing it

It's slippery and wet here at the moment so I'm a bit wary about testing the handling too much but it's responsive and feels pretty grippy so far

I keep spinning the front wheels though. Front wheel drive is taking some getting used to.

Nice cars to drive... but now are you going to make the MX a full track car?

I think so yeah. It's not worth anything to sell and it still runs well, so in the new year I'll think about what to do with it.

At least you haven't chosen a fag car, just the girliest car on the market!

Don't care.

Room for dog = 4 Doors for me!

Well yes, it's not perfect for that but I just couldn't find anything interesting enough. The truly sensible option was a Subaru Forester which would have been much more practical and handy for winter, but nowhere near as much fun. Fun's my highest priority when choosing cars

Should have waited for this...

http://www.insideline.com/toyota/86/201 ... drive.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Haha yeah I was reading about that yesterday so maybe in another ten years

It's about time Toyota made some fun cars again.

[Bauer]

I think so yeah. It's not worth anything to sell and it still runs well, so in the new year I'll think about what to do with it.

nice problem to have

now solved

http://www.westfield-sportscars.co.uk/donorkit.html

[EzyRider]

I think so yeah. It's not worth anything to sell and it still runs well, so in the new year I'll think about what to do with it.

nice problem to have

now solved

http://www.westfield-sportscars.co.uk/donorkit.html

Do we have anything like this in Australia? Just so happens I can get my hands on a wrecked Sierra fairly cheap

[Bauer]

Westfield AU are in WA

It aint a cheap thing to get on the road down here, even with a cheap donor vehicle.

[GT VIRUS]

Just learn to weld and build it yourself! Great fun project that will only slightly ruin your life!

[dvestate]

One of these would be awesome, not sure if I could leave it at the Train Station

[Santaria]

Are they the ones that rev to all buggery? I remember seeing/being in one many years ago and it was idling at around 2.5k RPM. Was funky.

[durbster]

Not sure where the limiter is but the redline is marked at 8200. It was part developed by Yahama I think I read, so it is designed to be a bit peaky

I did a lot of reading and a common complaint about the 190 engine was that it was hard work to get the best out of it, and keeping it in the lift zone is apparently very difficult through the gears. That is true, you have to use the gears and there are six of them so with that and the high revs, I haven't quite worked it all out yet.

I met a guy who does Westfield conversion for MX-5s at a trackday last year. His looked like bloody good fun

[Exar Kun]

It was the last great engine Toyota built. We also got it down here in the Corolla Sportivo which was rubbish in every respect except for the engine. And, of course, it's the engine that's seen duty in the Elise/Exige for quite a while now although has just been killed off due to emissions laws. I got to drive it in supercharged form in the Exige I took for a spin and was too scared to take it to redline. Power at 7k rpm was quite enough!

[Vilante]

Awesome Durbs, sounds like a hoot. Good purchase

Exar, our personal Motor magazine wiki

[durbster]

EK, did the Exige version have the lift feature do you know? I would have thought they'd make the process less like a switch in a car like that. I assume it's designed to be a sort of economy mode while driving normally with the power at the top end for the fun stuff, but the Exige would want to be in fun mode full time

[Exar Kun]

Exige still has variable cam timing & lift I'm pretty sure. It'd be difficult to maintain any sort of driveability down low without it.

[Hz-Lab]

Do we have anything like this in Australia? Just so happens I can get my hands on a wrecked Sierra fairly cheap

How Cheap?