For the sort of miles you do, trading down will have no ill effect.

Many MX5 owners say they swear by Yokohama Advans. Not sure that they are much cheaper though. Toyo tyres also get good reports.

Personally, I think the Avon ZV5 represents a good balance between premium quality and value for money. They have a fairly soft compound so low noise and good ride comfort, but they will wear slightly quicker

I would avoid budget brands with Chinese sounding names like Linglong (tiddle-aye-po)

I can't recommend Toyos highly enough. My wife and I run a Eunos as a 'fun' car (which it is!) and I'd had Toyos recommended by several MX5 owners. I took the advice when I first needed tyres for the car and I've been extremely pleased - so much so that I switched to Toyos for my Honda Accord as well and have found them excellent on that, too.

My impression (and that's all it is) is that Toyo is a top class brand still trying to break into the 'big time' in the UK, so selling for below major brand prices.

Incidentally, the latest Toyos I've bought (two for the Honda earlier this month) were Japoanes-made, as have been all the MX5/Eunos sized versions. I may be wrong, but I tend to trust Japanese anufacturing quality over some other sources!

Edited by A. Badger on 19/07/2012 at 00:24

Turn them front to back and do another 5 years!