Finally!! .....My MX5!!!!!!!!

vector

Alun wrote:

Probably just reflectors that caught the flash from the camera maybe? BTW, I know someone with an MX-5 who had to tape these over to pass her NCT

Yep, I'd say reflectors

I was thinking maybe they were "U.S. amber running lights" which are flashing in the image because yer man just opened the door using a key fob

py2006

vector wrote:

Yep, I'd say reflectors

I was thinking maybe they were "U.S. amber running lights" which are flashing in the image because yer man just opened the door using a key fob

Didn't I already say they were reflectors!

py2006

One thing I noticed is that the petrol gage stays up when the engine is off! Is this normal for MX5's or should it be go down when engine is off and pop back up when engine is turned on?

prospect

RE: Reflectors/Lights:
They are reflectors, that look like lights either because the camera flashed or because we actually had some sunlight over the last few days.

RE: Fuel Indicator:
I'm not sure, I'll have a look at mine this evening.

py2006

prospect wrote:

RE: Reflectors/Lights:
They are reflectors, that look like lights either because the camera flashed or because we actually had some sunlight over the last few days.

RE: Fuel Indicator:
I'm not sure, I'll have a look at mine this evening.

Cool, thanks! Also, I find that I am driving in 5th gear more now as the rev counter seems to want to go passed 3000 very easily!

EDIT: Uh oh, startin to rain on my MX5 for first time

ambro25

py2006 wrote:

One thing I noticed is that the petrol gage stays up when the engine is off! Is this normal for MX5's or should it be go down when engine is off and pop back up when engine is turned on?

It's normal. One downside is it shown 'bad guys' how much juice is in if they're thinking bad things...

PY2006, one *big* thing in passing, as it's starting to rain and (by your previous posts) you seem to have been a FWD man so far: watch yourself on the wet with the MX, and treat the go-pedal with gentleness and care

py2006

ambro25 wrote:

It's normal. One downside is it shown 'bad guys' how much juice is in if they're thinking bad things...

PY2006, one *big* thing in passing, as it's starting to rain and (by your previous posts) you seem to have been a FWD man so far: watch yourself on the wet with the MX, and treat the go-pedal with gentleness and care

Whatcha mean? Are they MX5's dangerous on wet roads? Or should I say do I need to more careful than I normally would be with any car on wet roads?

Ernie Ball

Read this. You'll find it helpful.

unkel

Ernie Ball wrote:

Read this. You'll find it helpful.

Very good article, Ernie. It should be compulsory reading for anybody posting here. Quite funneh as well:

Front-wheel drive cars are like bad sex. Rear-wheel drive cars are like good sex

Even bad sex is fun. But why choose it?

Squirrel

Good article, but I learned alot about FWD and RWD cars off Gran Turismo. And that progressed into real cars, for a 16 year old I've driven a disproportionate amount of high performance cars, both FWD and RWD, Rear all the way

ambro25

py2006 wrote:

Whatcha mean? Are they MX5's dangerous on wet roads? Or should I say do I need to more careful than I normally would be with any car on wet roads?

What I'm saying is that I am supposing that you've gathered a good bit of your experience on the wet in that Focus of your dad's.

It's a very good hatchback, I've never driven one but hold from a good source that it has rather superior road manners for a car in its class, in all conditions. I'd have one as my family car if I wasn't already sold on Imprezas' .

Compared to your new Maz' , however, the Focus has got (again supposing it's a 1.4 or 1.6)
_less BHP ('power')
_a higher centre of gravity
_is slightly heavier
_and the front wheels do all the work (they pull and steer the car: I'd gues that if you mash the go-pedal in a turn on the dry, the steering will start to feel quite heavy, power-steering or not, and on the wet it will eventually understeer, e.g. go in a straight line even though your wheels are turned)

Now, with your Maz', more BHP + lower center of gravity + lighter car + all power to the back wheels on the wet = adherence limit 'zone' much more tight than in a FWD. By that 'zone', I mean the combination of physical forces resulting from your accelerating that are just a fraction below 'out-of-control oversteering', i.e. depending on the turn you're making, the speed you're at and whether you're accelerating or not, where your Focus would so far have gotten out of the turn with no bother, your Maz' just *might* loose its ass... It's a bit dark for an explanation I know, but that article of Ernie is quite good (if not quite specific enough about wet driving with RWD, but you'll get the principles). As a tip, I usually have my tyres 0.1 to 0.2 bar below the recommended tyre pressure in autumn/winter = slightly larger tyre/road contact size, less propensity to loose grip.

Best advice I can give you is something I always do when I get a new car: find a nice, big (very big), empty car park someplace and put your motor through its paces to find its limits before they find you in the middle of traffic

Ernie - most excellent read, nice linkie

prospect

py2006, you have a bit of a habit of starting obscenely long threads

py2006

ambro25 wrote:

What I'm saying is that I am supposing that you've gathered a good bit of your experience on the wet in that Focus of your dad's.

It's a very good hatchback, I've never driven one but hold from a good source that it has rather superior road manners for a car in its class, in all conditions. I'd have one as my family car if I wasn't already sold on Imprezas' .

Compared to your new Maz' , however, the Focus has got (again supposing it's a 1.4 or 1.6)
_less BHP ('power')
_a higher centre of gravity
_is slightly heavier
_and the front wheels do all the work (they pull and steer the car: I'd gues that if you mash the go-pedal in a turn on the dry, the steering will start to feel quite heavy, power-steering or not, and on the wet it will eventually understeer, e.g. go in a straight line even though your wheels are turned)

Now, with your Maz', more BHP + lower center of gravity + lighter car + all power to the back wheels on the wet = adherence limit 'zone' much more tight than in a FWD. By that 'zone', I mean the combination of physical forces resulting from your accelerating that are just a fraction below 'out-of-control oversteering', i.e. depending on the turn you're making, the speed you're at and whether you're accelerating or not, where your Focus would so far have gotten out of the turn with no bother, your Maz' just *might* loose its ass... It's a bit dark for an explanation I know, but that article of Ernie is quite good (if not quite specific enough about wet driving with RWD, but you'll get the principles). As a tip, I usually have my tyres 0.1 to 0.2 bar below the recommended tyre pressure in autumn/winter = slightly larger tyre/road contact size, less propensity to loose grip.

Best advice I can give you is something I always do when I get a new car: find a nice, big (very big), empty car park someplace and put your motor through its paces to find its limits before they find you in the middle of traffic

Ernie - most excellent read, nice linkie

ehhhhhhh (me thinks me needs to read that one a few times)

py2006

prospect wrote:

py2006, you have a bit of a habit of starting obscenely long threads

Well it wasn't that long when I started it!!!

I guess I just create popular threads that leave plenty of scope for thought provoking discussion............and all that crap!

Ernie Ball

To echo what ambro25 is saying:

Your MX5 will, in general, handle a lot better than the Focus, due to the factors ambro25 isolates. However, when it does go (i.e. when you lose control), it will tend to happen more suddenly and more dramatically than on the Focus. And this is particularly true in the wet. A lot depends on how your car is set up, but if you push it too hard in the wet, you'll probably find that the rear wheels lose traction and you'll spin out. If you're anyplace where you don't have lots of room, spinning out is a Very Bad Thing. As that article makes clear, this is different behaviour to what people have grown used to after years of FWD cars and it takes some adjustment.

In short: take it easy in the wet.

py2006

Ernie Ball wrote:

To echo what ambro25 is saying:

Your MX5 will, in general, handle a lot better than the Focus, due to the factors ambro25 isolates. However, when it does go (i.e. when you lose control), it will tend to happen more suddenly and more dramatically than on the Focus. And this is particularly true in the wet. A lot depends on how your car is set up, but if you push it too hard in the wet, you'll probably find that the rear wheels lose traction and you'll spin out. If you're anyplace where you don't have lots of room, spinning out is a Very Bad Thing. As that article makes clear, this is different behaviour to what people have grown used to after years of FWD cars and it takes some adjustment.

In short: take it easy in the wet.

ahhhhhhhhhhhh, you speak English too!! Thanks for the translation.

I will be careful, I am a careful driver as it is.

I drove the Focus again today. My god I felt like I was driving a tank. I was soo high up.

py2006

Here is a clearer pic of the interior for anyone thats interested:

vector

py2006 wrote:

Well it wasn't that long when I started it!!!

I guess I just create popular threads that leave plenty of scope for thought provoking discussion............and all that crap!

if only you could put the same effort into your homework

py2006

vector wrote:

if only you could put the same effort into your homework

Ok, are you suggesting that I am a school kid or are you pertaining to the fact that I have little knowledge of whats under the hood and all that nonsense that doesn't really make a difference to somebody who just wants to drive the feckin thing!

Borzoi

unkel wrote:

[Mod Baiting]
Wasn't that an infamous quote by Saab engineers about a decade ago that FWD and engine > 200bhp are not compatible?[/Mod Baiting]

Then they went and made liars off themselves - up to 250BHP in the 9-5 Aero with a 2.3 litre HOT (High Output Turbo) - Nyom

But anyway, nice car py2006 and as with all convertibles half the fun is had just showing off

ambro25

I shall keep dispensing snippets of MX5 ownership wisdom as they re-surface, py'06 ...

...and one which is very important is DO NOT PARK in supermarkets 'parallel car parks', if you want to avoid door dings.

i) some people do it on purpose (jealousy is a sin, and all that... - once caught a guy doing it on mine and the rest of the story isn't pretty)
ii) some others plain don't care/can't avoid (notably mums with baby seats)
iii) on an MX5, the doors are curved, so dings get much worse than on 'normal cars' with near-vertical door panels

franksm

ambro25 wrote:

on an MX5, the doors are curved, so dings get much worse than on 'normal cars' with near-vertical door panels

is right !

Plus the panels on the '5 are paper-thin, so they tend to dent much more easily than a "normal" car. I park as far away from others as possible, even if it means a walk.

RicardoSmith

ambro25 wrote:

....some people do it on purpose (jealousy is a sin, and all that... - once caught a guy doing it on mine and the rest of the story isn't pretty..

Tell us...Ah go on go on go on...

py2006

ambro25 wrote:

I shall keep dispensing snippets of MX5 ownership wisdom as they re-surface, py'06 ...

...and one which is very important is DO NOT PARK in supermarkets 'parallel car parks', if you want to avoid door dings.

i) some people do it on purpose (jealousy is a sin, and all that... - once caught a guy doing it on mine and the rest of the story isn't pretty)
ii) some others plain don't care/can't avoid (notably mums with baby seats)
iii) on an MX5, the doors are curved, so dings get much worse than on 'normal cars' with near-vertical door panels

Thats good advice. I was always wary of supermarket carparks. I have a friend who MUST park as close as possible to the door even if that means squeezing into the narrowest of spaces. I always park a bit away to avoid scrapes and scratches.

hawkmoon269

Ernie Ball and Ambro are right, be careful in the wet.

I can remember my own early Mx-5 days - testing the car's capabilities I lost it a couple of times myself, luckily no harm done.

py2006

hawkmoon269 wrote:

Ernie Ball and Ambro are right, be careful in the wet.

I can remember my own early Mx-5 days - testing the car's capabilities I lost it a couple of times myself, luckily no harm done.

Thanks hawkmoon. Don't worry, I am a careful driver :cool:

Ernie Ball

I hesitated to post this but it is too good to keep to myself.

You may have read in the radio review column in the Irish Times on Saturday about a woman who drives the N11 while curling her hair.

I saw this woman on the N11 last week and she was using a curling iron while stopped at a light.

I won't tell you what kind of car she was driving.:D Suffice it to say it was Japanese, red, low, sporty and had a removable hard top. And it wasn't an MR2.

Kind of gives new meaning to the term "hairdresser's car."

prospect

@ Ernie Ball


Heard that last week on the Today FM breakfast show, and was expecting you to come bursting into the forum with it LOL


Ah well, if you can't beat them....
Must find my wifes hair straightner...

py2006

Ernie Ball wrote:

I hesitated to post this but it is too good to keep to myself.

You may have read in the radio review column in the Irish Times on Saturday about a woman who drives the N11 while curling her hair.

I saw this woman on the N11 last week and she was using a curling iron while stopped at a light.

I won't tell you what kind of car she was driving.:D Suffice it to say it was Japanese, red, low, sporty and had a removable hard top. And it wasn't an MR2.

Kind of gives new meaning to the term "hairdresser's car."

ahahahaha, I was getting my hair cut there on saturday and I got into the conversation with the nice lady who was cutting my hair about my new car. She went on to say what a lovely car they were and that "She used to have one herself". Then I went, oh no its true...its a hairdressers car!! But then she went on to say that she "crashed it into everything. Walls, lamposts, other cars etc". So then I realised that its not a car for women at all!

ambro25

RicardoSmith wrote:

Tell us...Ah go on go on go on...

I'd get banned considering the amount of highly-opinionated right-thinking Forum members reading these here pages

Suffice to say his paintjob must have turned out much-much-much more expensive than mine (along with a new set of 4 tyres and screen wipers)... as the Big Man™ said, an eye for an eye and the whole face for a tooth