Found a website (www.dandycars.com) offering imported Eunos Roadsters
for sale, looks like a genuine guy with some very clean cars on offer.
(I'm mainly looking at the Eunos rather than a UK MX5 because I want
Air Con..)

What are they like to own, run & drive? I'm expecting the usual
"they're a hairdressers car" or "you must be gay to drive one"
comments and I'm not really interested - constructive comments
appreciated

How well do they hold value? I mean, if I put £6.5k into a 1995/6
Eunos with a good spec (air con, electrics, CD, leather..) am I likely
to loose out in a big way over, say, three years?

A competitor seems to be the MGF. For about £5k - £6k I can get an MGF
1.8 VVC with Air Con & leather on an N/P plate. I think the MGF looks
nicer, has a nicer interior - apart from the awful fake wood on some
-(and I love the twin pipes lol), but am slightly concerned about the
reliability of Rover/MG vs. Mazda; plus I doubt the MGF would be worth
as much in three years?

What do you think?


/felix

MX5 is the worlds best selling 2 seater/roadster, so its obviously a pretty
good car, downside is that there are lots of them about, so its a buyers
market rather than a sellers.

Putting 6k into a 8/9 year old car sounds a bit pricey to me, especially an
import, Im not up on prices of 5s so it may be what its worth but Id tread
carefully.
Consider the implications of buying an import, higher insurance, has it been
properly converted (speedo needs changing as do headlights) ? crashed in
japan ? stolen and bought over here ? is it really worth all that for air
con in a convertible car ? ( never really saw the point of that myself.. )..

MGF is a horrid nasty thing, iirc it usually comes bottom of the pack in
every review. I'd avoid it like the plague.

If I was after a 2 seater I think I'd go the RX7 route..

"felix.t5" <felixs94 (AT) yahoo (DOT) co.uk> wrote

snip

What do I think? I wish my 9-year old car was still worth 1/3 of the new
price!!!

"Mark" <nospam> wrote

Yea - get an RX7

Previously, <af9984bc.0403010439.4f70005e (AT) posting (DOT) google.com>, felix.t5
<felixs94 (AT) yahoo (DOT) co.uk> dipped their finger in oil and wrote:

MX-5 and MG-F values are about the same, and generally your biggest cost
of ownership difference will be maintenance. The MG-F on an N/P plate is
a bad idea; it had just entered production, they have 'issues' - and
they rust. I've seen a T-plate sell for £6K. Rear windows are plastic on
both these cars at this age, so they are prone to cracking.

MG-F is less comfortable, though the low speed ride is not as harsh. Did
I mention they rust? Great fun and excellent handling, but they have
cooling pipes on the floor that even on 3 year old cars can show signs
of rusting through, and head gasket failure is not uncommon. They're
buggers to work on, too - to get to the engine you have to remove a
panel underneath the roof.

Spend the money on an MX-5, the newest UK car you can afford with
history. You'll love it. I like the MG-F, but they're just too much of a
liability compared to an MX-5 - the MX-5 is just that good, rather than
the F being a bad car.

Richard
--
'04 VW New Beetle Convertible - triple-black. |\ _,,,---,,_
Citroën XM Exclusive - still awaiting repairs. /,`.-'`' -. ;-;;,
Toyota Sera - for sale, £2,500 ovno. |,4- ) )-,_. ,\ ( `'::.
Awaiting return - 306 Cabrio (due back 5/4/04) '----''(_/--' `-'\_)Morticia

For when you want aircon on and don't want the roof down ?

It is no such thing.

It does no such thing.


--
Lordy

Shame you posted in a public forum then...

It *is* a hairdresser's car and you normally *do* have to be gay to
drive one, or at least a high percentage effeminate. Whether or not you
think that is important or not is down to personal choice, but cars are
about image so you can't really stick your head in the sand and avoid
it.

It's a fantastic car, you won't regret it.


--
Lordy

Bought a P reg MX5 for the wife two years ago - on the advice of this
group - they were right!
About the same time someone local bought a MGF and it's often seen parked in
the local garage for repair. The mechanics hate it! The MX5 has only needed
a set of plug leads and front disks (wife does not brake hard enough) in
that time. I did the cam belt and it took 30 minuets. It now needs new
tyres - £30 ea, so I treated the corrosion and repainted the wheels whilst I
was at it.
The only big expenses I can see coming up are a new exhaust in the next two
years (£400) and a new hood (£500 ish) will be needed some time.
I Waxoiled it last year and now expect it to last forever :-)

Slatts

felix.t5 wrote:
Just completely forget about depreciation - you always lose out in a BIG
way - it's part of owning a car.

In 3 years, said car will be 12 years old, and as such, worth about 10p.

Infact, £6500 seems VERY expensive to me for an almost 10-year old car !

I had a look around in Autotrader, and they do seem to hold thier value
exceptionally well - £5k will buy you a '95 M plate wil reasonable mileage.
A '93 K with proportionally higher mileage willstill get nearly £4k, so by
the standards of most cars the MX5 is almost a good investment :-)

An equivalent age/mileage family car of the same initial value would be
worth about £1.5k-2k by now. Having said that, the 'Eunos' imported
version doesn't do quite as well, which isn't suprising given that you know
NOTHING about it's life before arrival in the U.K.