Her name is Pristine

One of the problems with making a car your own, Robby told me the other week, is that it leads to one developing a viscid emotional attachment to it. That’s precisely what happened with Missy, my trusty old Renault Clio. I bought her within days of passing my driving test. Over the better part of a decade, she had taken me so many places, and became a precious relic of simpler times. She was (and still is) reliable as much as she was a constant in a changing world in which people and things I loved passed away and new relationships were formed.

Giving her to Mum for free would be much easier than selling her to some garage. No doubt I’ll still drive her occasionally.

Since chatting to a colleague about MG TFs several years ago - I did have my heart set on getting one myself - the idea of buying a roadster became tempting enough that I was inevitably going to act on it. I wanted a roadster that’s easy to maintain, repair and perhaps modify for the track. A roadster that’s not, unlike almost everything on the road today, uninspired and saturated with computer-based shite that adds too much superfluous complexity. I studiously weighed up the merits of the MGB GT, MG TF and the MX-5.

As luck would have it, I happened upon an ad for an MX-5 that looked nice enough in the images to warrant my travelling 30 miles for a proper look.

The first word that came to mind when I saw her parked behind the showroom was ‘pristine’, so that’s what Robby and I are naming her - maybe ‘Pris’ or ‘Prissy’ for short. She is in a mysteriously immaculate condition for her age, without signs of corrosion where MX-5s are known to rust, or a single mark on the bodywork. She had been serviced regularly by Mazda itself, and hadn’t failed an MOT in seven years. Robby noticed signs that the engine genuinely was clean, and hadn’t been scrubbed prior to our arrival. It appeared too good to be true, but I inspected the car as thoroughly as I could and researched the experiences of other MX-5 owners beforehand. I bought her and signed the paperwork that morning.

The Engine

She has a 1.8 litre 16v engine, with a twin exhaust. According to the dealer, it only produces 126bhp, but it seems considerably more powerful than my Mum’s turbocharged Punto. I was surprised at how rapidly it can accelerate, and overtake on the M4, with only a slight amount of pressure on the gas pedal. I’ll have some fun with that, when I find a quiet A road somewhere.

Interior and Handling

The interior has almost the same appearance, feel and distinctive scent of a well-preserved MGB GT, and it’s quite basic. Just how I like it.

Reviews collectively give the impression that an MX-5 is a small roadster that’s fun to drive - maybe that’s true for the average sized person. Being shorter, my experience is somewhat different.

The MX-5 certainly feels and handles entirely differently to anything I’ve used, but I became accustomed to that during the journey home. The seat height can’t be adjusted, and the top of the dashboard is just below eye level, so I’m constantly aware of being directly behind an intimidatingly large engine. At 30mph, it feels like I was driving something between a Jaguar E-Type and a tank - again, it’s designed for quiet, straight roads. Being just a couple of inches wider than Missy made a noticeable difference also.