My Punto Sporting or MX5?

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My Punto Sporting or MX5?

MX5 or Punto?

  • MX5

    Votes: 2 66.7%
  • Punto

    Votes: 1 33.3%

  • Total voters
    3
  • Poll closed .

Liquid Knight

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Thanks to insomnia and alcohol I have a predicament I hope you guys could help me solve.

As I was not going to be able to take part in the UK Power Tour I blew the engine tuning budget (Cam', clutch, filter and injectors) for my Punto on a Mazda MX5.

:devil:

The original plan was to tidy the MX5 up and sell on a bit of Summer (a-hem) profit but I like them as much as I like my Punto.

Both cars need roughly the same amount of time, work, money spending on them so that's not an issue (if anything the Punto needs less but parts are more expensive). Both cars are as quick as each other, both have equal amounts of tuning potential and plenty of forum back up.

MX5 +ve's

Worth more money when finished (£1,500-£2,000 for a tidy M.O.T'd example).
Rear wheel drive.
Better track car (arguably).
Convertible.
Fun.

Punto +ve's

Rare (less than a hundred compared to the million or so MX5's).
Better view of the road from the elevated seating position.
Practicality (it has seats and boot space).
Lower mileage.
Winter car (although an MX5 in snow does sound like it could be fun).

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MX5 -ve's

J-Tuner/Hairdresser crowd (non-issue as I'm neither).
Open diff' in Winter.
Heavy.
I may need more than one passenger at some point.
I personally don't like red cars.

Punto -ve's

Practically worthless. £500-£800 for a decent one and my £236 example is worth £400 as she stands (but in five to ten years time MkI Punto's will be making Panda/126/500 money).


What would you guys keep if you had the choice?
 
keep the Punto for winter but run the mx5 now and sell it on before the end of summer then spend profit on the Punto -

so both really but the Punto must be keeper in terms practical car for winter (y)
 
I hate to say it , I bought my girlfriend an mx5 , great fun , use the mazda and if you can , mothball the punto , if you store it properly it can only go up in value , while you drift the life out of the jap c€#p !
 
The MX-5, unless you need the 4 seats and the hatchback.

It's a no-brainer, although I'd be very surprised if you get £2k for that MX-5, people are struggling to sell good condition daily drivers with full (or nearly full) MOTs for half that.

It needs to be extremely good (or be a modified car) to reach and pass £2k.

It's also got the wrong wheels on it ;)
 
You obviously don't know the secret of selling success.

Write "Dub Scene" or "Drift" in the heading, spell a few words incorrectly and get a vacuous bint to sit on the bonnet in the photo's to sell anything for three times what it's worth. ;)

They're the right wheels but the wrong nuts. :bang:
 
You obviously don't know the secret of selling success.

Write "Dub Scene" or "Drift" in the heading, spell a few words incorrectly and get a vacuous bint to sit on the bonnet in the photo's to sell anything for three times what it's worth. ;)

They're the right wheels but the wrong nuts. :bang:

Yeah, I know sod all about MX-5s, I've broken them up and I'm in the middle of a kit car build using MX-5 bits ;) Have a look on MX5Nutz if you don't believe me about the prices. The drift thing doesn't work, their values are on the floor ATM. Fair play if you get £2k, but I wouldn't bet on it. I know of 1 reasonably standard car that sold for more than £2k, it was original, enthusiast owned, never welded and was not that far off being immaculate. You would have struggled to find a better original condition car TBH.

And yes, they are the wrong wheels. It's a 1994, so should have the 6J14 Enkeis, not the 5.5J14 Daisies that you've got on there.

Oh, and there's been about a million MX-5s (including Miatas and Eunos Roadsters, there's nothing that's majorly different between the 3) since 1989 and nearly 10 times that of Puntos since '93.
 
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Plan "K" is to get hold of an MGB and drop the MX5 engine in there or look at the tribute kits. One is a little Alfa TZ-esque.
 
MGB with an Alfa v6 sounds nice ! (Or would sound nice ) 1:6 mx5 lump would it really be worth the work ?
 
Would need to be a V6 with a rear wheel drive application. Vauxhall Omega (if you can get one before the drifters nab it) or a nice SAAB turbo on an Omega box. ;)
 
As the MGB used to be fitted with a six pot ,ie the MGC a nice Nissan skyline engine and box should fit (Austin sold the rights to Datsun for the six pot)as the block was originally the MGC 3litre six ,down sleeved for the Z series with a different head ! Could be worth further research !
 
The MGC took a lot of engineering to convert from a B chassis.

I'd start with a spaceframe and build the car around an RB26 mounted as far back as possible. My old MGB was SR20 turbo powered. ;)

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The MX5 now has painted sills better tyres for M.O.T and may be leaving my driveway soon. ;)
Smithy141
 
She looks ripe for playing with , if you now what I mean , it's a shame the old two litre twin cams are so rare these days , one of those on 48s would sound awesome at 30 in second ! How about a lotus slant four engine elite/éclat , I had a two litre elite for a couple of years, good engine crap gearbox later 2:2 had the Toyota box much better , you can pick those up for reasonable money !
 
The Mazda 1.8 is a shared project with Ford. The same engine can be found in the Ford Mercury, Mk1 Probe (USA only) and the Mercury turbo had the same engine as the Mazda 323f Turbo. Low compression pistons and a few other choice parts from the 323 can give a reliable 250-300bhp but Ford (USA) do carb' and throttle body conversions. The after market is full of stuff for the engine like bike carb' manifolds, higher lift cam's as well as a plethora of exhausts and other add on's that can make an already spritely car into a Ferrari baiter.
 
Out with the old...

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...in with the new...

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...I like these Porsche replica wheels better than the Minilite replica wheels the car came with. Six inches wide so I have better tyre choice and the lack of power steering is more obvious.

Hairdressers car? If I keep this and sell the Punto I won't need to go the gym either. ;)
 
I've started playing with it , wheels exhaust etc ! Didn't know too much about the engine , as I'm planning a rebuild over the winter months and a conversation to manual , I should learn a fair bit ,may sound daft to do this amount of work to an mx ,but it's never been welded , has the options she wanted , and was crazy cheap !
 
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