Category: Roadsters 
Price Range: £15,000 to £19,695
Brilliant handling, engine's go and refinement, affordability, convenience, reliability and style
Cabin plastics, limited passenger legroom
The best traditional sports car you can buy
The MX-5 has gained a superb reputation for reliability and longevity over the years, contributing to Mazda's frequent appearance at or near the top of most reliability surveys. Some of the interior plastics, though recently improved, still look a little cheap, but this is a car that won't let you down. In all the time since launch (1989), the only common problems reported have been the odd electrical faults, some dodgy fog lamps and pop-up headlights (the latter no longer an issue) and rusting sills (on early - and now elderly - Japanese 'Eunos' imports, which weren't rust-proofed to the same standards as UK cars), though a few 2002-2003 cars have had clutch problems. Overall, a pretty impressive record for reliability.
Latest Readers' Drives About the Mazda MX-5
wrote on 12 09 2007
wrote on 27 02 2007