MAZDA MX-5 1.6i 2dr (1995)

MX-5 - It's just a load of fun, not majorly practical, just fun

There's nothing quite like having the roof down and winding your way through hill roads with the stereo on and the sun beaming down. That's what the Mazda MX-5 is good at and that's more or less all it's good at! That's not really fair, it's fine really for one or maybe two people commuting or taking a short trip, but mainly it's a car for good fun drives in the country. That joy turns to misery when it rains, you just don't feel all that protected from the elements, I mean obviously with the roof off but even with it up it's a bit exposed, and if it rains really badly then there can even be some leakage.

But it depends what you're looking for really. This isn't our only car, we've got another one for more practical purposes, and we (well, I) just wanted one for a good fun time. I also didn't want one that was going to have loads of mechanical problems all the time, and I'd always known Mazda to be reliable so I went for the MX-5. Mine is about 15 years old or so and really doesn't feel a day over five. I do most of the servicing myself, and generally keep it in good nick, but I'm not sure the last two owners were all that careful and it still seems to have come through just fine. It's needed the odd thing here and there, new roof, cam belt, something to do with the brakes that I let the garage do,

The Mazda MX-5 doesn't drink fuel, doesn't smell bad, and won't slide off the road as soon as a drop of rain falls (although it is quite light so make sure you get a feel for the limits before doing anything daring).

The roof is an absolute doddle to put up and down, that's another reason we went for this one over some other convertibles. The boot is also not ridiculously small. It's not big but it's not small, just a decent size, easily enough for the two of us to get our stuff in if we're going to visit friends.

The one warning I'd give is never to leave anything at all on show. Someone jacked in the lock on ours once just for the phone chargers that were hanging out! And the car didn't seem to put up much of a fight. The MX-5 isn't actually all that valuable itself these days though so I'm not too worried about someone nicking the car. Only other thing is there's some rust developing around the wheel arches and underneath, but really it's not that bad for a car of this age.