Mazda - please don't ruin the MX-5

AT 2am tomorrow morning (4 September) petrolheads will be treated to an event that’s only happened three times in the past quarter of a century. Mazda will unveil a new MX-5!

Regular followers of Life On Cars will already know I’m a big fan of the rev-happy Japanese roadster and its appetite for British B-roads. In fact, I’m now on my second MX-5 (and before points it out, I know it’s badged as a Eunos), and I’m yet to tire of its never-ending appetite for a blast down the nearest country lane.

It is the one car which - no matter how many times I hear the hairdresser gags – earns the respect of even the most hardened cynics by blending traditional sports car thrills with pretty much unshakeable levels of reliability. I’m the fifth motoring journo I know at Classic Car Weekly’s offices to have owned one, and even a mate who’s been firmly of the MGF-is-better mentality for years surprised me by rocking up in a Mk2 1.8 Sport version the other day. The MX-5 is, I’ve long maintained, the best small sports car ever made.

That’s why the unveiling of the fourth generation car in the early hours of tomorrow morning is such a big deal.

Mazda itself said itself earlier this year the winning formula for what’s gone on to be the world’s best selling sports car is a lightweight design and perfect front-rear weight balance, so every keen driver from Norfolk to North Virginia will be hoping Hiroshima’s best engineers haven’t forgotten how to make a cracking car.

Jeff Guyton, Mazda’s European president, said: “The MX-5 is the product that best epitomises Mazda’s convention-defying spirit and our love of driving. “It has been grabbing people’s attention for 25 years, and with the new generation model we’re aiming to share this passion with yet another generation of drivers.”

Fingers crossed, then. Mazda, please don’t muck it up!

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Life On Cars takes on the Nürburgring

YET ANOTHER Porsche 911 screamed past as I dived into a tight right-hand corner on the world’s scariest race track.

My passenger was grinning like an overexcited schoolboy, but I couldn’t help but thinking what I was doing was slightly mad. There I was, beginning a lap of the longest, most challenging – you could even argue most dangerous – race track in the entire world, with half of Europe’s BMW M3 owners closing in from behind. What’s more, I wasn’t at the helm of the latest supercar. I was in my own car, a 25-year-old Mazda MX-5 I bought for a grand six months ago, and I was mixing it with 911s, hot Audis, superbikes and even the odd Ferrari or two.

Yet this is exactly why, if you’re a committed petrolhead so into cars you might as well have GTX Magnatec coursing through your veins, you simply HAVE to drive the Nürburgring at least once in your life.

It is, with 13 miles and 73 corners to contend, easily the longest race circuit in the world. The F1 circus abandoned it after Niki Lauda’s horrendous accident – heading to the much shorter, newer and safer Nürburgring Grand Prix circuit next door. It still amazes me that a place deemed too dangerous for F1 is open to just about everyone else, at £20 per no-holds-barred lap.

A friend and I had just fired up the MX-5, stuck it on an overnight ferry, and driven it down from Rotterdam the previous morning, which goes to show that it’s no harder to get to Europe’s motoring playground than it is to get to Cornwall or the Scottish Highlands. In fact, the overwhelming majority of the cars queuing to get onto the track – despite being in deepest Germany – had British registration plates.

As soon as I got onto the track it wasn’t hard to see why so many Brits make this automotive pilgrimage. It is, as long as you keep your wits about you and make sure your car’s up to the job, one of the few places in Europe where you can really put a car through its paces.

I’d love to brag in the pub about doing a blistering lap, but in truth I was overtaken by just about everything, as I had no idea which way the 73 twists and turns went. However, the MX-5 absolutely reveled in it, and revealed depths in its steering and handling I genuinely didn’t know it had.

There’s no logic whatsoever to a 13-mile race track where just about anyone can turn up and have a go, but I loved it anyway. 

It’s a challenging place you underestimate at your peril, but go prepared – and make a foreign holiday of it by taking your own car over – and it’s one of the most spectacular things you can do with a car.

Read more in the 20 August, 2014 edition of Classic Car Weekly

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Mazda Eunos Roadster - a return to form for Life On Cars

After very reluctantly getting rid of a 1990 Mazda MX-5 last April, Life On Cars writer and Classic Car Weekly news editor David Simister has done the sensible thing - and bought another one.

Click to enlarge...

Originally published in the 29 January edition of Classic Car Weekly. All rights reserved

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Seven cars shortlisted for European Car of the Year 2014

SEVEN very different cars have all been shortlisted in a contest to find Europe’s favourite automotive arrival from the past year.

Judges of the European Car of the Year award confirmed this week the Citroen C4 Picasso, Mazda3, Peugeot 308 and Skoda Octavia, which are all family-friendly and focused on value, would be going up against the eco-orientated BMW i3 and Tesla S and the luxurious new Mercedes-Benz S Class.

The winner will be announced at the Geneva Motor Show in March.

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End of term report: Mazda MX-5

THE roof has been lowered one last time. The revvy little twin cam engine has been switched off. I have, after nearly two years of small sports car fun, sold my Mazda MX-5.

Due to getting a new job - more on that in a few days, because that's another story for another day - one of the Life On Cars fleet had to go. The MGB GT, despite still being in winter hibernation, is my passport into a world of classic car shows and authentically old-fashioned driving experiences, and even though it hasn't moved in months I'd rather sell my right arm than get rid of the old warhorse. The Rover, meanwhile, has earned its keep by taking a small forests' worth of old wooden furniture to be recycled and taking hundreds of miles of motorway driving in its stride, so it's proved too comfortable, too practical and too useful to get rid of.

So it's the Mazzer, a small, two-seater roadster I bought back in 2011 after years of wanting one on my driveway, that had to go. Which is one of the hardest motoring decisions I've ever made, because I've loved almost every mile it's covered.

It hasn't, don't get me wrong, been plain sailing all the way, after a combination of cheap tyres and tail-happy handling prompted one repair and a split hose prompted another, but once both these issuse had been tackled it's proven one of the most enjoyable cars I've ever owned. If you pick a good 'un and look after it, an MX-5 is arguably one of the best automotive recipes ever concocted - authentically British sports car thrills topped off with bulletproof Japanese reliability!

The Mariner Blue, 1990 Eunos Roadster - meaning it found its way onto Britain's B-Roads as a grey import after starting its life in Japan, but don't let that put you off - has proved a perfectly reliable companion, which just happened to have a soft-top roof you could chuck down in seconds. Which is exactly what I did when I used it on my advanced driving test.

What's more, even in the company of more exotic machinery and grand automotive stages it's never been anything less than sublime. In the company of a Ford Racing Puma, a supercharged Volkswagen Polo G40, a Metro GTi and some stunning Welsh scenery in certainly didn't embarrass itself. It tackled the Buttertubs Pass and felt right at home, and even took the more boring stuff - like motorway tailbacks - in its stride. Not once has it so much as thought of refusing to start.

Would I point an aspiring petrolhead in the direction of an early MX-5's pop-up headlights? Definitely, given it's one of the cheapest routes into the world of authentic, rear-drive sports cars thrills (and, I suspect, a lot more reliable than a similarly priced MGF!). There's plenty of them out there, so choose one that hasn't succumbed to rot and shows signs of being looked after mechanically. Don't skimp on the tyres - particularly the rear ones, where the power goes - because it makes a big difference to how it behaves. Most of all, treat it with respect, but if you do the MX-5 is one of the most rewarding modern classics on the market.

My Mazda was a cracking little car. I miss it already.

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How cold is too cold for driving a convertible roof down?

IT WAS somewhere near Bala, as the road climbed ever higher into the mountains, that the temperature really started to drop.

The outside temperature gauge in my friend's Saab - a car built to cope with a harsh winter if ever there was one - had dropped its reading from a toasty five degrees to just above freezing. Thing is, where his car had a powerful heater and a plushly trimmed interior, mine has a floppy roof that goes up and down and as a result the answer to a question I'm sure you've been itching to find out. How cold is too cold for driving around with the roof down?

I was, in the noble interests of Life On Cars research, more than kitted out for the job; whereas I'd happily drive my Mazda MX-5 in the climes it was designed for in jeans and a t-shirt, last weekend I had gloves, a big coat and the heater on at full blast. Logic dictates that tackling a snowy mountain pass with the roof down should be unbearably uncomfortable but here's the truth in the (very) cold light of day - it really wasn't the hellish experience you'd think.

True, the air was very cold that afternoon but the really chilly stuff was being whipped over the Mazda's windscreen, leaving me to enjoy the warmth whirling into the interior from the heater. It's a bit like going skiing, but with the added luxuries of electric windows and a CD player. It was only when I pulled over to take a few photos that the cold caught up with me, because as soon as I got out I was no longer in a cosy car interior, I was hundreds of feet up, in the middle of nowhere in the midst of the cold snap currently engulfing most of Britain.

In fact, being the motoring masochist I am, I was actually enjoying it. There are lots of things I love about Wales, like the unpronouncably brilliant names for the villages and the Welsh cakes on offer in just about every bakery, but best of all they do roads quite unlike just about anywhere else in the UK. Coming across a set of twisty roads draped over some stunning scenery and having a couple of great cars to tackle them in is one of the best feelings in motoring.

So the answer to the question is that it's never really too cold to drop your roof down, as long as it isn't raining - or in my case, snowing - of course. Blummin' freezing but big, big fun.

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2012 has been a year of great motoring moments

STRANGER things, I guess, have happened, but I’ll share it with you anyway. As the clocks chime midnight and drunks everywhere usher in a New Year, the most popular Life On Cars piece of 2012 was about the Raleigh Chopper. Which isn’t a car at all.

Still, there were plenty of proper motoring moments – you know, ones involving cars – which I’ve enjoyed over the past 12 months. Here’s ten of my favourites:

1) Doing an advanced driving lesson... in a Lotus Evora S 

2012 marked the year when I took the plunge with the Institute of Advanced Motorists and did their advanced driving course (thoroughly recommended, by the way). I did all of the lessons in my Mazda MX-5 – which was fun in itself – except for the one week when I had a supercharged Lotus Evora S at my disposal. There are probably more sensible choices for what’s basically a driving lesson than a mid-engined supercar, but I used it anyway. Big fun...

2) Setting a blisteringly fast lap time in a Wigan cotton mill 

Literally, as the sharp pain in my hands – shot to bits from fighting furiously with a tiny steering wheel – proved for hours afterwards, but a karting race organised a birthday treat for Yours Truly was well worth it. If you’ve ever fancied flinging a go-kart around a two-storey track crafted from an old cotton mill, give Elite Karting in Wigan a bell. Then again, the three seconds my mate shaved off every lap over mine meant he lapped me twice in our 40 minute race. He still hasn’t let me live that down...

3) Driving a Rover which refuses to give up 

The MGB GT and the MX-5 are undoubtedly the glamour models of the Life On Cars fleet, but when the going gets tough it was always the ancient Rover 214 that’d be called upon – and it delivered, time after time, without a whisper of complaint. In February, it drifted its way across a Cumbrian snowdrift which had defeated a much newer BMW 1-Series, a MINI and a SEAT Leon. Then it sailed right the way across the country to deliver two people and a week’s worth of camping gear safely in Norfolk, and got back again, without a hiccup, and only last month it freed a far heavier Mondeo Estate from a muddy campsite. Not bad for a car costing £300. Rover and Honda engineers of the late Eighties... I salute you!

4) Pitting sports cars against hot hatches in Mid Wales 

We took four performance hits to the utterly wonderful A44 and found four very different ways to get your motoring kicks. Given the choice between a Volkswagen Polo G40 (ultra rare hot hatch from the people who brought you the Golf GTI, with added supercharger whine), a Rover Metro GTi (affordable, rev-happy and goes like stink), a Mazda MX-5 (slowest of the bunch but the only one with rear-drive and the option of driving al fresco) or a Ford Racing Puma (pretty, rare, quick and controversial – see number nine) which would you pick?

5) Going back in time 

Obviously not literally but on the few occasions when I brought the MGB GT to the right road, on the right day, it really was like driving in a simpler bygone age. This heady blend of high-octane petrol, 20w50 oil and Rostyle wheels - which proved a big hit at this year’s Ormskirk MotorFest – provided a nostalgic treat, which is best expressed in moody, monochrome pictorial form. Like the shot you see above.

6) Discovering that you don’t need four wheels to make a great car 

 A couple of people have already asked me how a three-wheeled car with a 1920s body, skinny tyres, a motorbike engine bolted to the front and an absence of any doors, windscreen, windows or roof can possibly be good enough to be named as the best thing I’ve driven in a year that’s produced such hits as the Toyota GT-86. But it just is. Take a Morgan Threewheeler out for a blast down on a country lane on a sunny day – in fact any day, come to think of it – and you’ll know exactly what I mean.

7) Capturing the moment at the Ormskirk MotorFest

The special online magazines made by Life On Cars are, by and large, quite well received (which, given it was only ever meant to be a one-off originally, is a good thing). The edition I wrote with the cooperation of the Ormskirk MotorFest organisers, however, went a bit further than that, being read not by a few dozen or even hundred people, but by thousands of people. I just hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as I did researching, writing and producing the thing!

8) Driving Britain’s best roads... in an MX-5 

 The Buttertubs Pass is great in any car but when you’re in something as delicately balanced as an MX-5 it feels a little bit extra special (although the bright evening sunlight didn’t help). But even that wonderful moment couldn’t top the occasion when what seemed like a farm track in the middle of nowhere eventually brought us out onto the road between Pentrefoelas and Ffestiniog, which is one of the most spectacular bits of tarmac I’ve ever encountered. To have discovered it any car would’ve been fun but it was even better being behind the wheel of a great little sports car.

9) Discussing whether the Ford Racing Puma deserves its classic-in-waiting status 

Just one of the many pub arguments I’ve had with the small-but-dedicated group of petrolheads who hold Life On Cars’ automotive assertions to account. Other topics to get The Farmers’ Arms treatment include whether or not off-roaders are stupid and pointless, whether a Toyota GT-86 is better than a top-of-the-range MX-5 and if in cash-strapped 2012 MPG was more important than MPH. For these endless hours of entertaining discussion, I thank this small group of people who know who they are.

10) Raising £126 for charidee

Finally, there was the night when Life On Cars and the region’s petrolheads came together to help support a very good cause by taking part in a pub quiz with a difference – all the questions were motoring-related. Even though there was a broken sound system, a very drunk Nigel Mansell fan and a slight mistake in a motorbike question to deal with, the night still managed to raise £126 for the National Autistic Society. You never know, there might even be another one in 2013...

Make no mistake, 2012’s been a great year for motoring moments and Life On Cars will continue giving you a petrolhead perspective throughout 2013. Happy New Year!

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Petrolhead heaven in North Wales

TWO rather tidy Rover SD1s, several confused-looking sheep, a charming countryside cottage ironically called The Ugly House and a disused viaduct stuck halfway up a mountain.

These are just some of the sights I’ve clocked on a bit of a petrolhead tour of North Wales, which saw a Mazda MX-5 (driven by Yours Truly), a Ford Racing Puma and a diesel Saab 9-3 (it’s the economy, stupid) pitted against some of the windiest roads I could find in the AA road atlas I’d bought three days earlier.

More importantly, what I saw a lot of on these trips is mile after mile of deserted tarmac, criss-crossing remote bits of moorland in the middle of nowhere in particular. If you’re really, really keen on driving then the words Croeso i Gymru should bring a smile to your face!

Admittedly, the staff at the bar in Betws-y-Coed we always stay at on these trips are probably getting familiar with our faces by now, but I’m always happy to chuck a few quid at the Welsh economy given what we always get in return. In this case, it was heading up the back road towards Ffestiniog, turning a corner and being greeted with a glorious panorama of the countryside stretching out for miles below us, a faint blue sky above us and the Irish Sea somewhere in between.  Staggeringly beautiful scenes like these are what motoring through Wales is all about.

Then of course, there’s the driving itself, which as long as you stay beneath the speed limits and keep an eye out for the real troublemakers of rural driving – sheep and hairpin bends – is truly good fun. At one point on the Evo Triangle (if you haven’t heard of it, Google it) we got overtaken by a souped-up Subaru Impreza, a MINI Cooper GP and a Porsche Boxster S and I don’t think any of us were particularly bothered, because even at sensible speeds we were loving every minute.

These roads were enjoyable even in a diesel Saab (especially if you’ve got the smug factor of overtaking just about everything and getting 50.3 to the gallon while you’re at it) so you can imagine how much of a ball it would have been in a Ford Racing Puma and an MX-5 with its roof down.

I know I’ve said it before but it’s worth saying again - if you like your driving there really are some stunning roads that aren’t a million miles away. Get out there and give them a go – you won’t regret it!

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