Turbo'd MX-5 MK4
I haven't done one of these for ages, but its still with me although hardly being used these days:
Its 10.5 years old now (71.5k) and it had a major service last year including new brakes front and rear, as well as being remapped to 290bhp which has given it a new lease of life with me. I've had it approximately 8 years and have covered around 52.5k in it, the longest I've owned or driven any car I've had which speaks volumes about how good a car it is.
Things that have gone wrong:
3 Glow Plugs (although I suspect the third was wrongly diagnosed and this turned out to be the Glow Plug Control Module)
Glow Plug Control Module (Newer module isn't prone to failure)
3 Replacement Turbo Seals
1 Inlet Port Shut Off Motor
A couple of suspension bushes and 2 Ball Joints
Rear Springs
Things I've had replaced for good measure:
Both batteries replaced
Front springs replaced
Driver's seat cover (lower section) replaced due to cracking/splitting of the original
New Petrol Cap (original's retaining cord was about ready to split in half)
Wheels professionally refurbished
All in all not bad for what it is, if you keep on top of the problems and don't let them build up, avoid Mercedes dealerships (I had a 3.5k bill from them when it was diagnosed for the Inlet Port Shut Off Motor failure) and use a good independent its been relatively cheap to maintain although I'm obviously a less than average user (averaging 6500miles a year but probably around 2500-3000 these days). Future plans are to just keep with it maintaining it as usual until I've saved up enough pennies to replace it with a V8 Mustang which I plan on keeping forever.
Its 10.5 years old now (71.5k) and it had a major service last year including new brakes front and rear, as well as being remapped to 290bhp which has given it a new lease of life with me. I've had it approximately 8 years and have covered around 52.5k in it, the longest I've owned or driven any car I've had which speaks volumes about how good a car it is.
Things that have gone wrong:
3 Glow Plugs (although I suspect the third was wrongly diagnosed and this turned out to be the Glow Plug Control Module)
Glow Plug Control Module (Newer module isn't prone to failure)
3 Replacement Turbo Seals
1 Inlet Port Shut Off Motor
A couple of suspension bushes and 2 Ball Joints
Rear Springs
Things I've had replaced for good measure:
Both batteries replaced
Front springs replaced
Driver's seat cover (lower section) replaced due to cracking/splitting of the original
New Petrol Cap (original's retaining cord was about ready to split in half)
Wheels professionally refurbished
All in all not bad for what it is, if you keep on top of the problems and don't let them build up, avoid Mercedes dealerships (I had a 3.5k bill from them when it was diagnosed for the Inlet Port Shut Off Motor failure) and use a good independent its been relatively cheap to maintain although I'm obviously a less than average user (averaging 6500miles a year but probably around 2500-3000 these days). Future plans are to just keep with it maintaining it as usual until I've saved up enough pennies to replace it with a V8 Mustang which I plan on keeping forever.
