Author Topic: Trading my MX-5 in...  (Read 5701 times)

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Offline kaijday

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Trading my MX-5 in...
« on: June 25, 2018, 10:25:57 am »
Thinking of trading in my MX-5 for a 6, mainly for the extra space and more refined highway driving. Need a bit more practicality.

I'm test driving a 2.2d on Wednesday and I just want some advice, rather than dealership rubbish I'm likely to get.

Is the 2.2d reliable? I do around 8000 miles, mainly 3mi drives in town, with a 30mile motorway trip once a week.

I know a lot of people advise against Diesel for short journeys, are there known cases of the DFD causing issues in 2017 6's?

Many thanks :)


Offline V 249

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Re: Trading my MX-5 in...
« Reply #1 on: June 25, 2018, 10:53:40 am »
General advice in the motoring press and many people who have them and have driven them. Doing less than
15/year. 20 k per year keep away from modern diesels. They don't like low mileage .
I have a 2.0 liter Petrol, now over  7 years old. Only do 6/7 k per year. Get 40 mpg on a run
It has had a set of Tyres, a new Battery sand a service every year. If you look on the net your may well find na petrol 6 ex Demo or ex showroom car at reasonable price. Don't know your budget.But I sold a Diesel
to move over to a Petrol because of Costs. Diesels are £2.0 k or more extra from new. Why pay that if you don't need it. The price difference Buys a lot of Petrol. Just my thoughts.

Offline V 249

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Re: Trading my MX-5 in...
« Reply #2 on: June 25, 2018, 11:16:19 am »
There are several sections on this forum relating to DPF and other Diesel troubles.
For information I drove Diesels for 30 years doing 20/30k per year, so like them.
The Diesel is a better performing car, but you could have a poor experience on your mileage.

Offline aeroadster

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Re: Trading my MX-5 in...
« Reply #3 on: June 25, 2018, 02:04:38 pm »
If your 30 mile motorway trip takes over an hour due to constant traffic jams and lots of stop starting, and your 3 mile trips take 20 minutes for the same reason, then petrol is the way to go.

If your 30 mile trip was a reasonably clear run, then a DPF won't suffer as it will get a chance to perform a regen, without you manually invoking it.  To give you an idea of how frequently a regen occurs, I read my ECU this morning and mine's done 280 regens in nearly 8 years, which equates to one regen every 10days.

I have an old Mk2 6GH pre-facelift 2.2 diesel, which I've owned for three years and I've never had a major problem.  And this is the 185bhp diesel that was supposed to be most susceptible to problems.

If you're not doing the high motorway miles and you're not looking for bags of low down grunt and in-gear acceleration, then petrol should be the preferred choice.  The petrol engine has good linear power delivery and if you want more urgency, just like the MX5 - use the gears

Having driven both petrol and diesel versions of the Mk3, they are pretty good fun to drive and the philosophy of the MX5 runs through it, in that you don't need a 0 - 60 mph time of less than 5 seconds to have fun.

If you're looking for an auto box, I'm not sure whether the auto has changed much since its launch but I can vouch that the 2017 auto box is fine, and doesn't hunt like some of the Merc, BMW and VAG ones I've tried.

Offline kaijday

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Re: Trading my MX-5 in...
« Reply #4 on: June 25, 2018, 02:22:59 pm »
Thanks all, sounds like petrol is the way to go!

Offline Willpower

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Re: Trading my MX-5 in...
« Reply #5 on: June 25, 2018, 02:51:03 pm »
Thanks all, sounds like petrol is the way to go!

With your indicated driving profile, most definitely Petrol. No question.  The Mazda 2ltr petrol variant is bulletproof. My 14 year old is testament.
Look at life through the windscreen, not the rearview mirror.