I wouldn't say this is a thread I was expecting to make but I am definitely happy to
Was scrolling through Gumtree on Friday afternoon for MX-5s as I've always fancied one as a bit of a toy for the summer
Then this car catches my eye, first thing I noticed was the plate - I've been reading Evo magazine for years and they always feature these BBR tuned MX-5s in group tests and on track
I've had an Autotrader UK wide search set up for one for the best part of 3 years and I can safely say I've never seen for one for sale that firstly wasn't across the water and secondly was even close to the spec I'd be after
Better still the car turned out to be a 5 minute drive from my house
So I pondered whether to go and view it or not for an hour or two, then when I decided I would I logged onto Gumtree and the ad was taken down
Suffice to say I was gutted
I kept checking Gumtree all through the rest of the day to see if it was just a technical error or something
Then a few hours later there it is reposted with a few quid of the asking price
I was down to see it about 15 minutes after calling the seller and here we are
So the story behind the car is it was owned by a chap in England who had a BBR Super 225 MX-5 (the one with the ITBs) and then traded it in against a car BBR had in stock ready for a conversion (this car) and before he took delivery of it he had them install the following
-BBR Stage 1 Turbo Kit
-Aftermarket ECU, I believe its ECUtek
-Full BBR exhaust system from the manifold back
-BBR suspension kit which is Koni dampers and some custom springs
As well as that the car has a few other nice bits on it
-The interior has been retrimmed with Alcantara and some fancy white stiching
-Steering wheel recovered in Alcantara by Royal
-A Raceseng shift knob, £300 worth according to the receipt and I have to say it is lovely
-It has the BBR plate which came with the car
-Has a Pioneer head unit for bluetooth audio
The original car itself had 60k or so on it when the conversion was done late last year
Full Mazda main dealer service history and 2 owners
It's a 2011 so a MK3.5 and it's a Sport Tech
From what I can gather this means it has the stronger version of the 2.0 engine, as well as the 6 speed gearbox and LSD
As you would expect from 1150kg and 270hp it goes very well lol
Makes a great noise with the BBR exhaust, I assumed the turbo would quieten it down a lot but it still has a real nice old school note to it
Handling wise with the suspension kit is possibly the most impressive thing on the car, it manages to be really controlled over bumpy b roads without being crashy or overly stiff
My plan with the car was is mostly take it out on the road but also do the occasional track day in it down at Trackskills
It probably needs a few things before that like some upgraded pads & fluid and a few other odds and ends
Does anyone know of a good mechanics in the Newtownabbey area who they could recommend for this sort of thing?
I don't think there are any MX-5 specialists as such over here but any good mechanic would be fine
Was scrolling through Gumtree on Friday afternoon for MX-5s as I've always fancied one as a bit of a toy for the summer
Then this car catches my eye, first thing I noticed was the plate - I've been reading Evo magazine for years and they always feature these BBR tuned MX-5s in group tests and on track
I've had an Autotrader UK wide search set up for one for the best part of 3 years and I can safely say I've never seen for one for sale that firstly wasn't across the water and secondly was even close to the spec I'd be after
Better still the car turned out to be a 5 minute drive from my house
So I pondered whether to go and view it or not for an hour or two, then when I decided I would I logged onto Gumtree and the ad was taken down
Suffice to say I was gutted
I kept checking Gumtree all through the rest of the day to see if it was just a technical error or something
Then a few hours later there it is reposted with a few quid of the asking price
I was down to see it about 15 minutes after calling the seller and here we are
So the story behind the car is it was owned by a chap in England who had a BBR Super 225 MX-5 (the one with the ITBs) and then traded it in against a car BBR had in stock ready for a conversion (this car) and before he took delivery of it he had them install the following
-BBR Stage 1 Turbo Kit
-Aftermarket ECU, I believe its ECUtek
-Full BBR exhaust system from the manifold back
-BBR suspension kit which is Koni dampers and some custom springs
As well as that the car has a few other nice bits on it
-The interior has been retrimmed with Alcantara and some fancy white stiching
-Steering wheel recovered in Alcantara by Royal
-A Raceseng shift knob, £300 worth according to the receipt and I have to say it is lovely
-It has the BBR plate which came with the car
-Has a Pioneer head unit for bluetooth audio
The original car itself had 60k or so on it when the conversion was done late last year
Full Mazda main dealer service history and 2 owners
It's a 2011 so a MK3.5 and it's a Sport Tech
From what I can gather this means it has the stronger version of the 2.0 engine, as well as the 6 speed gearbox and LSD
As you would expect from 1150kg and 270hp it goes very well lol
Makes a great noise with the BBR exhaust, I assumed the turbo would quieten it down a lot but it still has a real nice old school note to it
Handling wise with the suspension kit is possibly the most impressive thing on the car, it manages to be really controlled over bumpy b roads without being crashy or overly stiff
My plan with the car was is mostly take it out on the road but also do the occasional track day in it down at Trackskills
It probably needs a few things before that like some upgraded pads & fluid and a few other odds and ends
Does anyone know of a good mechanics in the Newtownabbey area who they could recommend for this sort of thing?
I don't think there are any MX-5 specialists as such over here but any good mechanic would be fine
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