The official Scott(YES)ish hairdresser's thread

[GeoffSmith]

Nice!



Rambo - Play nicely while I'm in Sardinia for two weeks.

[Scott J]

anorak comment - the side repeater is the only component carried over from the mk 1/2 to the mk3. I do like those alloys mind you

[Jamie N]

Never mind them Scott, you will be able to get back at them eventually when the Elan bug returns and you get an S2.

[Scott J]

Jamie, this is probably an interim measure, maybe 18 months until I sort funds for an Elise S2 111R. Harley going on Autotrader today if I can get it polished and photographed in the rain.
However every review I read of the mark 3 starts with the journo saying do not be mistaken into thinking this is a hairdressers car. Having done 700miles I can confirm that. The 2L Sports are different beasts to bread and butter MX5's. 6 speed box so can keep the revs high, LSD, 100 down Loch Maree. At that speed in Elan your never sure when they are going to let go. MX doesn't get tail happy but you can feel it loading up. As for the seals, you'd be proud of them. Made of that rubber stuff and not sponge. We went up A9 to Aviemore last friday in that torrential rain, could barely see, but not a drop in the cabin. As its now a daily driver and sits outside the coupe hardtop is a godsend.

I intend to be at Bo'ness 10th Sept if you fancy a butchers. Might also go to the hill climb on 7th.

I test drove 2 Boxsters, this is a better car, far cheaper to buy, and spares are cheap and plentiful, Boxster unreliable money pits.

Kenny Brown Motorsport in Glasgow who serviced my Elan for 10 years does the set up for Mazda cup at Knockhill. He said if I get the Eibach 30mm lowering springs fitted to current Bilstein springs + do a full 4 wheel geo, it will transform the handing (which is already good) and trounce Boxsters and ride like an Elan

[muley]

P1000899.JPG

Shampoo and set, please

Got tired of scrabbling around on the garage floor, working on mini-projects with compromised results and grappling with the rust. So..

..I have 90% of the fun with 10% of the grief.

Took mine down to Cannes - odd torrential downpour, no leaks. Easy to put hood up and down. 40 m.p.g. I could go on.

There's a few helpful websites. . ..and some snobby ones. I've fitted clear side repeaters.

I will go the Eibach spring route as well.

Jim

p.s. I've still got the NA itch to scratch, though.

[dapinky]

Whilst I fear shouts of "Heresy" and a growing mob of men with pitchforks turning up on my doorstep.....

.... I have to say that the 2.0 MX5 is the sensible choice.

I'm fortunate enough to have a selection of cars to choose from each day, so the elan is not the sole car on the drive.

For all the reasons you quote. It's hard to find any faults - except the image that it will always be considered a hairdressers car (even if it isn't)

At the end of the day, it's your choice - and I too love the characteristics of RWD - enjoy it!

(and you can always go to owners meetings with Gary )

[Scott J]

Jim, couldn't agree more about 90% of the fun for 10% of the hassle. I was never off the phone to Stev at SJ's. Now i've got an MX5parts.co catalogue, lots of goodies at sensible prices.

Dave , have to agree about sensible choice. SLK & Z4 ARE INDEED hairdressers car. Boxsters have a problem with IMS bearing causing total engine failure, basically then the car is worth scrap. A leggy Elise would lead to continuous fettling as with Elan SE.

Now I just jump in and drive, powered hood up/down 12 seconds, and on a 600mile thrash (at legal speeds officer) around Perthshire and western Highlands last w/e I averaged 38mpg vs 28mpg in Elan, and on those roads the 2L is just as fast when driving at 9/10ths.

[Scott J]

heres mine

[Denny]

My neighbour and sister are both hairdresser's and they drive a Audi A6 and a Mini Cooper.

I asked them if they knew any hairdressers with a mx-5 and they both replied; what's one of them?

This helped me make my mind up to buy a mx-5 25th anniversary limited edition which I should get next week and I've got to say that it is absolutely stunning. It is based on the 2.0 roadster coupe nav and can't wait to pick it up. I've still got the Élan but I will use the mx5 for long runs and the Élan to have short blasts in.

http://www.mazda.co.uk/cars/mx-5-25th-anniversary/

[Scott J]

Denny, 25th anniv is pride of place in my local Mazda dealer. Looking at the colour of my car & the wheels could do with refurb. So I was thinking of powder coating them anthracite/black and having the roof "wrapped" black. Would make my 57 look brand new

[Denny]

Go for it, especially the wheels as they do look good on the red car

[Steve A]

OK I admit it

[Denny]

This thread should be renamed the closet mx5 club
Anyone else going to come out of the closet

[daveiow]

Christ! Have I logged on to the wrong site?
Seriously though the Elan is a30 year old design now built by blokes in a shed with no development over its extremely short production life (except for minor tweets to the S2)
Obviously the latest MX5 is going to be a superior vehicle in virtually ever way, reliability, build quality and yes even performance.
However I very rarely go out in the Elan without getting favorable comments from pedestrians and on at least three occasions had photo's taken by complete strangers (after asking my permission)
If I just wanted an open 2 seater I would go for the best Boxter S I could afford and I have toyed with the idea of the newer Europa.
But could I part with the Elan?..........

daveiow

[Scott J]

I predict the ultimate hairdresser RAMBO will come out of the closet eventually

[Scott J]

daveiow, the best Boxster S is a vastly inferior design to the MX5, please don't ever waste your heard earned. Porsche won a dozen Le Mans but those days are long gone, a VW subsidiary these days. As for Elan, I did 70,000 miles in 10 years with mine so I knew Black Beastie very well, a sadly lost family member.

[Rambo]

I predict the ultimate hairdresser RAMBO will come out of the closet eventually

I'm voting NO to that. Me and my Elan are better together

PS Here are a couple of my hairdresser's MX-5. Ironically she is selling as it has no poke and is looking at a LOTUS Elise

[Rambo]

"You can take the man out of the Elan, but you can't take the Elan out of the man!"

Think you'd better change your quote Jim


'more interested in being idiosyncratic than going fast'

That ones ok though

[Rambo]

MX- 5 group buy. hurry up before they're sold out.

Limited edition run of 10

1. Scott J
2. Muley
3. Steve A
4. Booby Dickerse (x2)
6. Toni and Guy
7. Dico
8. Monty
9.
10.

[Scott J]

Mark, your hairdressers mk2 1.6 wouldn't have any poke, as for my Crimson monster, thats a different story. I'm now thinking of buying another one, cheap mk2 for doing Knockhill track days then i'll be like booby with 2 of them.

"I'm more interested in going fast (with effective brakes) than being idiosyncratic" you can quote me on that LOL