So Many Smiles Per Mile

During a dark winter and a dull house purchase, my partner, Katie, and I needed fresh air, light, and excitement. All of which came in the shape of our, new to us, 2002 Mazda MX-5.

How often have we all looked through the classifieds for cheap summer projects? It’s easy to spend hour after hour wading through various listings and picturing yourself behind the wheel of whatever takes your fancy. I’m guilty of the same pastime, and so is Katie, who has never really been as into cars as me.

Back in January, we decided to take the plunge and went to view one of the cars we’d seen on Facebook Marketplace.

Arguably the worst place to buy a car? This all depends on who’s selling of course. After agreeing to go 50/50 on whatever we found, we settled on the 2002 Mazda MX-5 Mk2.5 in Arizona trim – now christened as ‘Bea’.

Forever the petrol head, I knew exactly what MX-5 ownership should have been about. Wind in your hair, rust in the sills. Thankfully, only half of these cliches were true.

By some miracle, Bea had been loved and cared for by previous owners. Both sills, front chassis legs, and all four wheel arches have been replaced recently. Therefore, we seem to have got a good ’un!

So, what does the Arizona edition of the MX-5 translate to? Built between July and December 2002, the Arizona was a limited-edition model limited to just 1,000 cars: 400 in red, 400 in silver, and the remaining 200 were painted in this fetching shade of Blaze Yellow.

In photos, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea; in person, it’s a rich, vibrant, and palatable colour. Furthermore, these models benefitted from a factory LSD, 1.8 VVT engine, and Nardi interior appointments. Most importantly on the top-down drive back from Leicester, heated seats.

Since purchasing, Katie and I have done the weekly shop with the car, amazed at how many bags for life you can get in the boot.

Being her first proper fun car, Katie loves the sharp steering, notchy gearchange and impressive power from the four-cylinder motor.

Aside from being able to wax lyrical about roof-down drives, we’re most impressed by the insurance cost on the MX-5, or lack of. With the extra windscreen and breakdown cover added on, the two of us in our early twenties are paying less than £350 a year for the modern classic. Bargain!

Was the car summer-ready then? Honestly, no. I had a fair bit of work to do. Firstly, Bea was in desperate need of a full detail. Having been sat for a good few months, outside, the yellow paintwork was contaminated and lacklustre.

Following a snow foam, contact wash, clay bar, machine polish and full wax, it looked much better and even came up brighter than before!

Washing cars in February isn’t fun, but needs must and I’m delighted with my efforts. The interior required a similar level of treatment. For example, the indicator stalk was coated in 20 years’ worth of dirt and grime, so that was an essential part to pay attention to.

I managed to source some OEM Arizona floor mats which came up like new after a thorough Vax carpet clean. Another small niggle was the lack of a working radio, which was luckily down to the live feed for the aerial being disconnected. After a bit of cock-pit gymnastics plugging it back into the back of the original radio, we’re now able to listen to Pop Master again.

Mechanically, this appears to be one of the only original MX-5s out there. Accompanied by a spotless MOT history, we’d lucked out. Other than a tasty set of drilled and grooved brake disks, it’s totally stock.

Fast-forward to spring, and Bea is pretty much ready for long warm evenings and car shows galore. Having spent a few days in the garage detailing, undersealing and fitting a stainless-steel exhaust, the car is in true enthusiasts’ spec!

Having purchased the car in January, prices were pretty low. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t cheap. I remember soon after I passed my test before the pandemic, you could get a decent MX-5 for £500! However, as the days get warmer and longer, more and more MX-5s seem to be being listed for much, much more than we paid for ours. Who knows, this one may be up for grabs in a couple of months…

For now, Katie and I have many smiles per mile ahead of us.

Originally published in the Spring 2024 Newsletter.