NA. aust delivered vs eunos ??looking at S Special soon

datfreak · Postby **datfreak** » Fri Jun 19, 2015 8:02 pm

Hey,
in the wtb classifieds, someone wanted a mx5 but only aust delivered.. why?

This has got me thinking as I've got a aust na6 mx5 but Im looking at another car tomorrow, a '90 eunos roadster.

I think it is a S special as it has a factory rear spoiler, and a mazdaspeed rollbar.
The owner claims is has factory harder suspension and a different factory diff ratio.

I was thinking of selling my aust delivered car and driving the eunos, what is the pros/cons of this?

Is insurance the same(im with shannons)?

Any ideas and thoughts appreciated .

Jeo · Postby **Jeo** » Fri Jun 19, 2015 8:59 pm

The S-Special did come with Bilstien shocks but the diff ratio should be the standard 4.3

There's a few little differences between the two countries, stuff like split sunvisors and auto up windows, but they're basically the same car. Insurance between my AUDM LE and JDM V-Special were the same.

Why would someone want an Australian model specifically? Because they do. It's hard to make a logical argument but some will feel more comfortable going local so all power to them.

datfreak · Postby **datfreak** » Fri Jun 19, 2015 9:15 pm

do the Bilstien shocks add much to the handling? Or should I assume that after 25yrs they will be worn out (the shocks that is) just as much as a standard model?

thanks for the info Jeo - I thought there wasn't much different between local and eunos but wasn't sure.

Jeo · Postby **Jeo** » Fri Jun 19, 2015 9:33 pm

No idea sorry, but after 25yrs I'd imagine they'd be pretty worn out.

hks_kansei · Postby **hks_kansei** » Fri Jun 19, 2015 10:28 pm

25 year old flocked Bilsteins wont be any better than 25 year old flocked Showas (the regular shocks)

However, the billies are rebuildable from memory, so they could be rebuilt to be like new (not cheap though)

A lot of people prefer Aussie delivered cars because they tend to have a safer history in regard to odometers being wound back, and big accidents.
However...... these days it's not a huge difference since there's plenty of Aussie cars that have been smashed and repaired, and as far as odometers go, the cars are old enough now that anything with low km would be suspicious. (not like back when jap cars were imported here with suspiciously 99,000km exactly on the odo..)

So yeah, these days there's not huge difference outside of the few Jap/Aussie options differences

davekmoore · Postby **davekmoore** » Fri Jun 19, 2015 11:13 pm

My first one was a Eunos. Just thought of it as being an MX5. Who cares?

93_Clubman · Postby **93_Clubman** » Sat Jun 20, 2015 10:49 am

datfreak wrote:do the Bilstien shocks add much to the handling? Or should I assume that after 25yrs they will be worn out (the shocks that is) just as much as a standard model?

Not everybody finds Mazda factory configured MX5 Bilsteins comfortable, but Heasmans, the NSW distributor of Bilstein, advised Bilsteins allow for 5% wear in their product for every 100k kms:
viewtopic.php?f=44&t=55639&p=701623&hilit=5#p701623
Jonosx, on here, who works for Heasmans has similarly indicated that they'll be close to fully effective even after many kms as long as they're not leaking:
viewtopic.php?f=30&t=48651&p=611593#p611593

datfreak · Postby **datfreak** » Sun Jun 21, 2015 3:32 pm

cheers for the info.
The guy I was buying it off, changed his mind and is keeping it. So after nearly 3 weeks of planning to go with this car instead of the current one - change of plans.

So I guess ill go back to finishing my local 1989 MX5 project.