On the surface, the Indy MK looks like another Caterham facsimile in the (glassfibre) mould of a Westfield or Robin Hood. Yet the small British firm has gone its own way with the RX-5, which as its name alludes to uses a MK2 Mazda MX-5 donor for its running gear – making for some affordable and, likely, reliable weekend fun.
You can build the RX-5 yourself for as little as £8500 (plus a Mazda to cannabilise), but MK will also build you one for a shade under £19,000. Although simple, quality is excellent and the Indy looks and feels like a thoroughly well engineered product. It drive like one too, its quick steering, low mass and well-sorted suspension allowing it to dart through corners with the telepathic keenness of, well, a Caterham
The combination of around 130bhp and 600kg, the RX-5 is potent enough to rinse most hot hatches in a straight line, not to mention murder them in the corners. Yet those Mazda oily bits mean extra muscle is easily and reasonably cheaply easy to come buy, with Indy supplying a turbocharging upgrade that delivers 217bhp for around £4500. No it doesn’t have the cache of a Caterham, but for the most laugh-out-loud fun for your cash then nothing hits the mark like the MK.
On the face of it, the mass produced Mazda looks like the odd one out on this list, but with a kerbweight of just 1032kg it’s close enough to our 1000kg target to make the grade here. And while it’s the heaviest of our list, it’s arguably the most remarkable – here’s a car that’s built in the thousands, is comfortable, easy to drive, packed with all the modern essentials and is available for less than £26,000. The more you think about it, the more you’re in awe of the efforts of the engineers at Hiroshima.