Letter of the month
Every year when you do your Used Car Stars feature, whether or not it includes a Mazda MX-5, I always come away from it thinking: yup, there’s nothing to beat a secondhand MX- 5. I’m now on my fourth, each one slightly newer than the last, but all recognisably the same general idea.
I’m not saying it’s the best sports car in the world, and of course there are practical limitations. But in my circumstances – I have access to a van when I need to carry big loads – and on my limited budget, it remains very rewarding, and without the guilty feeling that accompanies a purchase that feels excessively selfish.
Asking one car to do everything is asking a lot, and inevitably leads to major compromises. But the MX-5, which isn’t trying to do everything, is extremely good at what it aims to do. And superb value.
I get it, but…
I’m old enough to recall Richard Bremner’s original Ferrari to the Sahara story, and various tribute/sequel/copy stories in the many years since then. Your return to the idea with the Purosangue was an interesting feature, with some fine photos, but I find myself reacting much the same now as I did to the original: you did the easy bit – why stop there?
Of course there’s an obvious answer, and it’s hard to argue with: because we can’t afford the repair bill for taking a Ferrari off-road. And indeed coverage of January’s Dakar, where every day some of the cars suffered such severe damage that they had to quit the event, despite being purpose-built for those conditions, was a useful reminder of just how tough and unforgiving those soft-looking dunes can be.
But, conversely, I think we often underestimate the amount of abuse a car can cope with. In my younger days, driving rental cars around Thailand, Morocco, Turkey etc, if the road turned into an unsurfaced track you just carried on, and generally got away with it.
Similarly, snow and ice aren’t necessarily the end of the journey. It’s as much about the driver’s abilities as the car’s, I’d have thought.
I love CAR’s tradition of adventure stories. Please let this be the start of a new phase, not the end of one.
Citizens of nowhere
I very much enjoy reading CAR every month. However, I always wonder where the cars featured in the magazine are actually made. For example: Vauxhall cars, once of Luton – where are the various models made now?
In many different places. If your car doesn’t carry a sticker or plaque proudly saying who made it and where, then the VIN plate will contain in coded form (the eleventh digit) the location of the plant, and there are various online decoders. Final assembly isn’t the whole story, however, as many cars travel between plants for different stages of the process. And in any case, Luton was only ever one of many places where Vauxhalls were built. CO
