So this February after 23 years the childhood dream came true, and I got my first car, hell, what a first car: a 2003 Mx5 NBFL 1.6L. Always had a soft spot for the NB(FL) thanks to NFS nostalgia, but it sure was a challenge to convince the mom it was safe and reliable enough.
She had just 96,080 km on the clock, and was sold by a dealership, which is obliged to give a year warranty by Belgian law. It did come at a pretty hefty price tag of 7k€ (Yeah, Mx5s are beloved here),…good bye all the savings of having a job in the summer last 5 years. But now it’s more 96,800 ish on the clock.
As soon as I got her back “home”, I got rid of the aftermarket front “grill” which I’d rather call car braces than anything else.
Speaking of “home”, through the week she sleeps at my grandmother’s empty garage, as I don’t have any space to park her at my dorm, during the weekends though, she sleeps under a car cover in a spot near my parents’ house:
She’s far from a minter, the bodywork has plenty of scratches and marks, even hail dents on the trunk, the rims are curbed and even have some rust, but the chassis seems solid and structural rust free. Their “free maintenance” was a tad…errrr though, they didnt let the car run for a bit after draining the radiator and refilling it, resulting in this after the first drive:
Pretty much shat myself thinking she was burning coolant or leaking, but refilled the coolant with distilled water, and since then hasnt dropped.
The right front brake semi-seized up after a spirited drive with my dad during my absence, he had freed it up afterwards, but it kept seizing when brakes were applied, so on I went, using only E-brake to slow down on a 1 hour trip to the dealership where I bought the lil Mx5 to get the calliper changed under warranty. That was a nervewrecking adventure, I can tell you. But! Butbut but but, they had a black hardtop for sale, which I quite happily picked up to be able to use her next winter.
Sure does change the way the car looks from the side-back, and wheee, no blind spots with the hardtop, in contrary to the soft top.
Still on the to-do list after having worked and earnt some cash in July:
- Simple 2-DIN radio
- Summer rims (black??) + tyres (for some reason she got sold with winter tyres)
- Hard Dog Rollbar to have some rollover protection just in case.
Cheers for reading!
To be fair, these things are badass as f*ck (well, still adorable, but badass). Daily driving one of these would be hilarious but Belgium’s like one big town, not many places to offroad (without getting arrested).
Time will tell, previous owner was a female, so the mileage could be legit.