u/AlternativeWheel6515

Recently been looking to sell my Mazda 2 Sport (which I have loved!) in favour of something with a little more driving spice (without breaking bank) which has of course led me to MX-5’s and MR2’s. I am now stuck between them.

My budget/situation:

• £7K budget (incl likely £2k PX for my Mazda2)
• Used as daily (no kids, one girlfriend, still living at home)
• commute to work 4/5 days a week for 20 mins on motorway
• most of my miles are driven for leisure, hence the Japanese roadsters
• want something that is all about driver enjoyment, mostly for spirited driving on the many amazing back roads local to me. Still want something reliable too.
• would love to be able to work on the car myself. If I got mx5 I was looking to add mods like coilovers along the way and do it myself. Not sure I’ll be doing much work on the MR2 if I got it

MR2 Options:

• most seem to be around 5K >/=50K miles. this shocked me tbh - rw, mid engined sports car for under 5k?!
• from what I know, better on rust than the mx5
• worse daily, better drive which is my main use anyway.
• boot space could be an issue if the Mrs wanted to go away in UK but we can always take her T Roc.
• Hard to drift due to snap oversteer and I did want to learn to do this (in the right setting ofc - not Tesco dont worry guys!

MX-5 Options

• £5-7k depending on spec under 70k. Ideally looking for PRHT, speaker upgrade, and 168bhp.
• I hear rust is worse on the 5, which is why my budget goes a bit higher than mr2
• basically any NC, least rust issues without being an ND (not a fan from drivers enjoyment perspective). Also more practical daily than MR2 as it has a decent boot for what it is.

Honestly I’m really stuck. I’m young, no family to cart around and live at home with very low expenses and decent wage. Will the MR2 be too much? Also trying to find some examples to test drive in next few months. I’m in 0 real rush to buy yet and might even wait til winter when avg prices can drop for this type of car.

any advice or experience shared would be useful for this 22 y old petrolhead! thanks all :)