Miyako 2.0litre

great fun, extremely reliable, extremely uncomfortable.

The choice was between an MX5 and a BMW 1series MSport convertible....I chose the MX5 having had a mk1 and mk 2.5 previously. After a few days I realised how uncomfortable it was with a curious driving position requiring being far too close to the offset steering wheel and pedals for comfort if the clutch was to be fully depressed. This meant legs bent awkwardly with slightly odd pedal feel resulting in a tingling sensation in my right foot. Soon I was at the doctors with sciatica caused by.....yes, that seat. Not amused. If you think I am alone, MX5 forums hold much the same complaints and the US J D Power survey puts the mk3 MX 5 near the bottom for comfort compared with all cars sold there. So there is obviously a problem.
Not wanting to get rid of a brand new car I had a coach-trimmer make a new seat base (£200) which was less sharply inclined. He knew all about the seat problems......he had had others to improve, and he owned an MX5!
A revelation! The flatter seat moved me back from the steering wheel and meant my legs are straighter, but I would still shy away from a long drive in it. By contrast I had a chance to drive a mk1 again; it was so easy to get perfectly comfortable. I must stress I've never had any trouble like this with any other car.
Now the good points. Great fun to drive, terrific handling and roadholding. On a nice day, no better way to travel, even in winter with the roof down, the very effective heater is more than up to the job. But at a cost....on 17inch wheels/45 section tyres a very hard ride, which on poor roads can be quite jarring. As with other reports, elsewhere, extremely noisy, a boomy engine and a lot of road noise from the rear. On the recommendations of MX5 forums tried sound proofing the car, but to little effect. On a motorway it gets very wearing, and the radio needs to be very loud to drown it all out.
Economy isn't a strong point, 33.9 average mpg from new can easily be bettered by other cars with 2litre engines giving even more power. Insurance is relatively cheap, road tax an eye-watering £300 due to poor emissions. Extremely reliable, nothing whatever going wrong under warranty. Service costs reasonable (put a K&N air filter in). But if a £7 headlamp bulb fails expect a large bill to replace it, or a painful and exasperating hour on the drive inside the wheelarch liner.......and then again on the other side when the washer bottle has to be removed too.....a ludicrous piece of design.
It is very well built apart from some scratchy plastic trim in the cabin which marks easily, and the seat belt buckle easily gets trapped and badly scratches the door trim. The paint is far less prone to scratching and stone chips than the soft paint on my BMW320d. The boot is what could be expected from a sports car, the weekly shopping easily fits in. Actually it's about the same size as many small hatchbacks to put it into context.
Compared with BMW, the dealers leave a lot to be desired; from my experiences with my previous MX5 it all seems a bit amateurish, and doesn't inspire confidence. To date with this car though,they have been OK.
I enjoy driving it immensely, but I wish someone had pointed out the problems before purchase.....then I'm fairly certain that the 1series convertible would be in my garage now. One can only hope the MX5 mk 4 addresses the problems later this year.

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