We have a Mk 3. Great fun to drive and comfortable as well. But it is a two seater car with a ‘smallish’ boot – I would never class it as practical. Never driven the Mk 1, 2 or 2.5 so no way of comparing which is ‘better’, but still very happy with it. We have a the tin-lid one – makes winter travel far nicer!

We have a the tin-lid one – makes winter travel far nicer!

I believe the next iteration will be hard top only, which takes away some of the frantic fun of dropping the roof from the driver’s seat at the traffic lights….

I used to gig in a Mk1 – Fender Twin and lead bag in the boot, guitars in the passenger seat. Ace car.

Look at the owners club classifieds – you’ll pay a little more but get something cared for or at least an honest description of its faults.

Did the guitars not get too hot? (I’ve heard that the heaters are really powerful). I’ve got a Deluxe Reverb, so that would easily fit in the boot if your Twin did!

But it is a two seater car with a ‘smallish’ boot – I would never class it as practical

I’d have to disagree, the boot is very good, and the hood goes into it’s own compartment so doesn’t affect using it, ours can happily take a big weekly shop for the five of us, and still leave room for a bike in the passenger seat.

It’s not an ideal bike lugger though, there’s no provision for a tow bar, so that sort of rack is out, and the hard top models aren’t supposed to use a boot lid rack, in case you open the lid and mangle the roof or cover against the rack or luggage.

We had a 2.0 Mk3 ‘Sport’ model for about 5 years from new. Previous car was a first gen BMW Mini Cooper S Works, and compared to this the MX5 felt very dull and pedestrian – although much more comfortable, and with effective brakes! Having driven a Mk2.5, I felt the Mk3 was pretty cr*p. Main reason the Mrs and I went for the Mk3 is because we’re both over 5’10”, and in the Mk1 & 2’s we tried, it felt like I was in a kiddie car – head poking out of the roof job.

However, after chatting to people in the local MX5 owners club, I bought some Eibach springs and anti-roll bars for our Mk3 and took it to a suspension specialist – this completely transformed the car, and basically it felt very similar the Mk2.5. If you do get a Mk3 that hasn’t been lowered, I’d strongly recommend you have the suspension upgraded; FWIR, it cost about £600 including the proper set-up. The latter is well worth getting an MX5 specialist to do. We had a ‘fast road’ type set-up and it was mint – loads of controllable grip, cornered really flat, but was also still a much more comfortable and less jittery than the MCS Works.

The only other thing I can think of at the mo., is that, again FWIR, the Mk1 and 2’s engines are easier to tune than the Mk3’s (2.0 anyway). The 2.0 engine is a bit of a characterless lump, but there may be some more tuning options available now – I think someone was developing a supercharger kit for the Mk3 1.8 engine:)

Anyway, I think what I’m saying is, if you find that you can get comfy in Mk2.5, I’d get a good late example of one of them rather than a Mk3.

HTH and good luck.

But it is a two seater car with a ‘smallish’ boot – I would never class it as practical

I refer mu honourable friend to the first photograph I posted on page 1.

That’s the makings of a 7ft workbench in there!