Eunos Roadster 1.8 VTi

Fun

I bought this car second-hand when it was six years old. It had no service history but the 40,000 miles appeared genuine. I drove the year for another four years. What a great car to put a smile on your face. The engine is crude but even at 10 years old you could bang it off the rev limiter at 7,500 rpm. All controls were consistently but quite firmly weighted, the pedals, the controls, the gears. Little details were apparent; the way the rev counter and speedo needles align in 4th gear (direct drive), the way sports car are supposed to do. Raising or lowering the roof took three seconds with one hand (albeit a strong hand when trying to raise it over the shoulder). The roof never leaked, even in tropical downpours. The plastic rear window went yellow in years six and eight, but a seamstress sewed in some heavy duty plastic for £50, so no big deal. Possibly due to the lack of maintenance in its early life, it was not particularly reliable. Hoses burst, the clutch master cylinder failed but nothing major went wrong up until I sold it at 65,000 miles.

Points for:
Pop-up headlights
Folding roof
Comfort
Handling
Acceleration
Feel good factor

Points against:
Small boot, but not impossibly small. Family shopping is no problem. There was a full size spare wheel and despite what Mazda claim, there’s more boot space in the Mk1 than in subsequent versions.
Reliability
The bonnet and boot are alloy and dent and distort easily.

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