Boxster S, Evo 8 and MR2
Discussion
Just doing this an experimenty to see how easy / difficult it is to post pics. So far so good!
Bought this off a guy on Boxanet a couple of years ago, 2005 3.2S, 73k miles, fsh. My 3rd one now, after a bit of a false start with the first, and the second being sold to my mate. It's much better than I thought it would be, I bought it thinking I could make a quick turn on it, but I've suckered myself into keeping it.
Bought this just before I moved house in 2016. The source of a massive row about having too many cars when we were about to relocate 330 miles away, but it was too nice to pass up. 1988 T-Bar with leather, 59k miles, masses of paperwork and stamps in the book. Bought it from a guy in Westerham who, as it turned out was getting dementia. I broke all my own rules and gave him the asking price, as I didn't have the heart to bid him. It's one of the best things I've ever bought. I bought 5 tyres for it, had the wheels and cam covers re-furbed and just generally started to tidy it up.
Had this for 15 years. 2003 Evo 8 GSR. 8K miles, 8 months old and standard back then. Now has Evo 9 suspension, VVT head, turbo, inlet and ECU , AP 6 pots, remapped to just shy of 400 brake. I doubt I'll ever sell it, lots of things have come and gone in the time I've owned this, but there's nothing like an Evo. Only done 49k miles in total, I just don't get enough spare time to drive things as much as I'd like, although this one's going to the Spa classic next month.
Edited by Heaveho on Wednesday 11th April 09:39
Hi, thanks for the comments, I'll try and get a couple more on.
Great, second one's upside down, dunno why. Feel free to rectify if poss!
The first pic is from the week I picked it up, the wheels were a bit more tatty than the pics show. I had them refurbed in a finish that makes them look polished, not something I'd normally do, but I've seen it done before on this colour MR2 and thought it suited it. I'll have the scallops on the wheels finished in the correct anthracite at some point.
It still has the original number plates, I really like to see things like that. The front one sits in a way that allows the ends to be unsupported to the point where they bend back, but a heat gun and some gentle pressure's straightened it back out. The guy I bought it from had it for 9 years, did 6k miles in it. On the test drive, I turned on the radio, he commented that he hadn't known the aerial was electric as he'd never had the radio on!
I've since added the period factory option single slot cd player to compliment the original radio cassette, and changed the frankly appalling looking throttle bracket spider to a Jimi bracket. The latter will be the only ( reversible ) none standard visible addition, other than the replacement of the speakers for modern items but they'll be hidden in the factory locations.
It seems like it's been waxoiled from new, the arches are original and rust free, and the inside of the panels on inspection were all treated. It's had some paint on the n/s, but I can't figure out why as yet, the inside of the panels are all straight and there's no filler. Possibly been keyed?
The drivers side seat bolster will get some attention, the leather is rubbish and has split, but it's otherwise in very nice nick in there. There's a guy in Herts called Tony Froude who specialises in MK1 MR2s, he supplied me with new replica factory mats, zinc coated bodykit bolts, reproduction factory under bonnet decals, and the refurbed cam covers on an exchange basis. The mudflaps had done the usual trick of losing their shape and corroding the internal metal. Took a year of watching ebay, finally got 2 decent ones from America, so when I summon up the courage to trust a bodyshop with the car, I'll have them, the rear bumper ( always end up looking rough on this particular colour for some reason ) and the n/s brought up to scratch. I've already sourced the replacement decal for the rear bumper.
The car's been in a friends garage for nearly 15 months while I sort out my house and make space for the 3 cars I need in the garage ( there's a Lexus and a Ford Connect taking up the remaining space outside ). I've had to buy a ramp to put the MR2 on, I live in a 3 story town house with the garage under the dining room. To get the required headroom for the ramp, I've had to lift the floor of the dining room ( and adjoining kitchen ), which has obviously lightened the mood between me and my Missus no end, and held up the rest of the renovation for a significant period of time.
Mr popularity strikes again. Can't imagine the reaction I'd have had if I'd driven back to Newcastle in the Elan M100 I flew down to Southampton to buy a while ago, probably dodged a bullet by giving that a miss in the end!
Great, second one's upside down, dunno why. Feel free to rectify if poss!
The first pic is from the week I picked it up, the wheels were a bit more tatty than the pics show. I had them refurbed in a finish that makes them look polished, not something I'd normally do, but I've seen it done before on this colour MR2 and thought it suited it. I'll have the scallops on the wheels finished in the correct anthracite at some point.
It still has the original number plates, I really like to see things like that. The front one sits in a way that allows the ends to be unsupported to the point where they bend back, but a heat gun and some gentle pressure's straightened it back out. The guy I bought it from had it for 9 years, did 6k miles in it. On the test drive, I turned on the radio, he commented that he hadn't known the aerial was electric as he'd never had the radio on!
I've since added the period factory option single slot cd player to compliment the original radio cassette, and changed the frankly appalling looking throttle bracket spider to a Jimi bracket. The latter will be the only ( reversible ) none standard visible addition, other than the replacement of the speakers for modern items but they'll be hidden in the factory locations.
It seems like it's been waxoiled from new, the arches are original and rust free, and the inside of the panels on inspection were all treated. It's had some paint on the n/s, but I can't figure out why as yet, the inside of the panels are all straight and there's no filler. Possibly been keyed?
The drivers side seat bolster will get some attention, the leather is rubbish and has split, but it's otherwise in very nice nick in there. There's a guy in Herts called Tony Froude who specialises in MK1 MR2s, he supplied me with new replica factory mats, zinc coated bodykit bolts, reproduction factory under bonnet decals, and the refurbed cam covers on an exchange basis. The mudflaps had done the usual trick of losing their shape and corroding the internal metal. Took a year of watching ebay, finally got 2 decent ones from America, so when I summon up the courage to trust a bodyshop with the car, I'll have them, the rear bumper ( always end up looking rough on this particular colour for some reason ) and the n/s brought up to scratch. I've already sourced the replacement decal for the rear bumper.
The car's been in a friends garage for nearly 15 months while I sort out my house and make space for the 3 cars I need in the garage ( there's a Lexus and a Ford Connect taking up the remaining space outside ). I've had to buy a ramp to put the MR2 on, I live in a 3 story town house with the garage under the dining room. To get the required headroom for the ramp, I've had to lift the floor of the dining room ( and adjoining kitchen ), which has obviously lightened the mood between me and my Missus no end, and held up the rest of the renovation for a significant period of time.
Mr popularity strikes again. Can't imagine the reaction I'd have had if I'd driven back to Newcastle in the Elan M100 I flew down to Southampton to buy a while ago, probably dodged a bullet by giving that a miss in the end!
Edited by Heaveho on Wednesday 11th April 16:30
Edited by Heaveho on Wednesday 11th April 16:37
Integroo said:
How do you manage to justify two impractical sports cars?!
Well, which two do you mean? 
I'm a man so justification isn't in my vocab! However, my other half is pretty acerbic about the whole car owning thing. Here's her take on them.
The Evo........" I'm not getting in that without a sports bra and a neck brace ".
The MR2........." Bloody rollerskate from a bygone era ".
The Boxster..........It's sitting in the garage plotting our financial downfall........this is the Germans revenge for the war ".
The Evo does 17 mpg at best, but at least it has a proper boot and four doors. I take it to the IOM every now and again, so that's me and Claire ( sports bra and neckbrace, obviously, sadly she insists on wearing other stuff with it and ruining the effect! ) and the dog, who is way more tolerant!
The Boxster is great on fuel by comparison, as is the MR2 ( and, compared to the Evo, an Airbus is, come to that ), but practicalities just don't come into it for me. No kids is half the battle.
We've got an old Lexus IS300 Sportcross that Claire treats as a cross between a dog kennel and landfill, so if we go anywhere that doesn't involve me wanting to hoon, we take that. Or I'll take the van if I really want to treat myself!
Heaveho said:
Well, which two do you mean?
I'm a man so justification isn't in my vocab! However, my other half is pretty acerbic about the whole car owning thing. Here's her take on them.
The Evo........" I'm not getting in that without a sports bra and a neck brace ".
The MR2........." Bloody rollerskate from a bygone era ".
The Boxster..........It's sitting in the garage plotting our financial downfall........this is the Germans revenge for the war ".
The Evo does 17 mpg at best, but at least it has a proper boot and four doors. I take it to the IOM every now and again, so that's me and Claire ( sports bra and neckbrace, obviously, sadly she insists on wearing other stuff with it and ruining the effect! ) and the dog, who is way more tolerant!
The Boxster is great on fuel by comparison, as is the MR2 ( and, compared to the Evo, an Airbus is, come to that ), but practicalities just don't come into it for me. No kids is half the battle.
We've got an old Lexus IS300 Sportcross that Claire treats as a cross between a dog kennel and landfill, so if we go anywhere that doesn't involve me wanting to hoon, we take that. Or I'll take the van if I really want to treat myself!
I figured the Evo had five (four?) seats, four doors and a decent sized boot so was practical, so was counting the MR2 and Boxster as impractical! (Though 17mpg, ouch). The IS300 will be much more practical, but I am not sure if it is much less thirsty! I'm a man so justification isn't in my vocab! However, my other half is pretty acerbic about the whole car owning thing. Here's her take on them.
The Evo........" I'm not getting in that without a sports bra and a neck brace ".
The MR2........." Bloody rollerskate from a bygone era ".
The Boxster..........It's sitting in the garage plotting our financial downfall........this is the Germans revenge for the war ".
The Evo does 17 mpg at best, but at least it has a proper boot and four doors. I take it to the IOM every now and again, so that's me and Claire ( sports bra and neckbrace, obviously, sadly she insists on wearing other stuff with it and ruining the effect! ) and the dog, who is way more tolerant!
The Boxster is great on fuel by comparison, as is the MR2 ( and, compared to the Evo, an Airbus is, come to that ), but practicalities just don't come into it for me. No kids is half the battle.
We've got an old Lexus IS300 Sportcross that Claire treats as a cross between a dog kennel and landfill, so if we go anywhere that doesn't involve me wanting to hoon, we take that. Or I'll take the van if I really want to treat myself!
17 is quite civilised for the Evo, after I'd finished living in Crete and was bringing it home through Italy, I was putting fuel in it every hour and 15 mins! I was worried about missing the ferry. We averaged about 125 mph for 3 hours. And don't even mention trackdays!
The Lexus is low 20s, but the tank's massive, so it doesn't seem that bad. It pays you back by being thoroughly reliable!
The Lexus is low 20s, but the tank's massive, so it doesn't seem that bad. It pays you back by being thoroughly reliable!
jonnyconnor said:
Great collection OP. Always had a soft spot for Evo’s, could you share some more pictures?
[url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/6Hx9G9ie[/url]Hi, I had about 20 pics of it on track at Croft, but they're all on a laptop that freaked out and I can't access them. Hopefully there are a couple here, but I've got a bad feeling they might be doing an impersonation of their Australian counterparts and be upside down for reasons I can't fathom. I can't even preview the post with 2 pics on, so who knows what we'll end up with!
Yep, thought so. If anyone can explain why it's suddenly doing this whenever it feels like it, I'll try and sort it.
Anyway, wrong way up or not, it's been a great car for me. The only things that have gone really wrong are due to me farting about with it. The turbo shat itself in Scotland last year, leaving me to drive 300 miles with no boost. Looking on the bright side it managed 28 mpg. Fortunately the piece of turbo that had broken off internally was too big to get through into the engine, so I was a lucky lad in that respect. I used the saving on fuel and put it towards a replacement turbo and remap. The heater matrix let go at 10 years old ( dashboard out, right ballache! ), clutch replaced at 44k, fair enough, it had several 7k rpm launches at Santa Pod and Thorney Island prior to that.
I had an off at about 100 mph at Croft a year and a half ago, but I got away with it, no damage, other than pride! I was asking for it, to be fair. I did more or less exactly the same thing in 2004 at Castle Combe at about the same speed, and vowed I wouldn't take it on track again, so much for that!
Edited by Heaveho on Thursday 12th April 22:14
![](https://thumbsnap.com/sc/U6RbVZa8.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="https://thumbsnap.com/6Hx9G9ie" Target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[img]https://thumbsnap.com/sc/6Hx9G9ie.jpg)
Looking real smart all them. The love for the MR2 is pretty strong here too. I've got the MR2/Boxster S pair (as you know).
How do you find they compare? To me the Boxster is a perfect driving experience, it is overall well balanced in every way. Nice power, great grip, perfect weight distribution, etc. It just feels a touch soulless. The MR2 has no power, it's noisy and utterly perfect
It's leaking character from every angle. Given the choice to have some fun, I'd take the MR2 each time. The Boxster would be excellent on a road trip.
Is the Evo your daily?
How do you find they compare? To me the Boxster is a perfect driving experience, it is overall well balanced in every way. Nice power, great grip, perfect weight distribution, etc. It just feels a touch soulless. The MR2 has no power, it's noisy and utterly perfect
It's leaking character from every angle. Given the choice to have some fun, I'd take the MR2 each time. The Boxster would be excellent on a road trip.Is the Evo your daily?
Hi. Christ I couldn't run the Evo as a daily, it's like running a supercar costs wise! It's appalling on fuel, it needs servicing every 40 minutes, it gets through tyres like there's no tomorrow. However, I like the fact that even though I've had it for 15 years, because I rarely get to use it, it's still capable of surprising me with what it can do. One of the benefits of not using it that often.
I like the Porsche much more than I thought I would, I'm pre-programmed not to trust the reliability of anything that isn't Jap, just a side effect of working for Toyota and Lexus as long as I did. I've had it a couple of years now, and I'm gradually starting to relax into thinking it's a decent car. So far, it's only cost me consumables ( tyres, servicing ) plus adding to the spec with the factory option cd changer. Having said that, I've only done about 5k miles in it, been from where I live in Newcastle down to Southampton in it a couple of times and really enjoyed the bits where you can open it up. It comes alive with revs.
The MR2 was a bit of a whim, to be honest. I'd had several Corolla GTIs, but only ever driven customer MR2s, and they only really came back on the radar recently when I was looking for something to remind me what cars used to be like! I was looking for a Corolla GT Twincam a Honda CRX Vtec or an Elan M100, but I'm over the moon with the MR2. I'd forgotten how well cars from then rode, apart from anything else. 5k revs at 100 mph was a bit of an eye-opener, and I'd forgotten how slow they are to rev, but I love the way it is on the road. I hope to find the time to get it to the standard yours is, it's lovely as is, but not perfect.
My default daily transport is either Claire's old Lexus or my Connect. Might seem a strange thing to say, but I'm very happy just jumping in the van and driving south when I have to, it's a high spec 110 model, it goes and handles ok, and it's a handy thing to have.
I like the Porsche much more than I thought I would, I'm pre-programmed not to trust the reliability of anything that isn't Jap, just a side effect of working for Toyota and Lexus as long as I did. I've had it a couple of years now, and I'm gradually starting to relax into thinking it's a decent car. So far, it's only cost me consumables ( tyres, servicing ) plus adding to the spec with the factory option cd changer. Having said that, I've only done about 5k miles in it, been from where I live in Newcastle down to Southampton in it a couple of times and really enjoyed the bits where you can open it up. It comes alive with revs.
The MR2 was a bit of a whim, to be honest. I'd had several Corolla GTIs, but only ever driven customer MR2s, and they only really came back on the radar recently when I was looking for something to remind me what cars used to be like! I was looking for a Corolla GT Twincam a Honda CRX Vtec or an Elan M100, but I'm over the moon with the MR2. I'd forgotten how well cars from then rode, apart from anything else. 5k revs at 100 mph was a bit of an eye-opener, and I'd forgotten how slow they are to rev, but I love the way it is on the road. I hope to find the time to get it to the standard yours is, it's lovely as is, but not perfect.
My default daily transport is either Claire's old Lexus or my Connect. Might seem a strange thing to say, but I'm very happy just jumping in the van and driving south when I have to, it's a high spec 110 model, it goes and handles ok, and it's a handy thing to have.
Edited by Heaveho on Friday 13th April 13:55
TwigtheWonderkid said:
Another vote for the MR2 as pick of the bunch.
Never understood why they aren't more valuable, given how few of them are about and how much people seem to like them? Plus the fact that they really are a great car. They seem more and more like a mini-exotic to me as time goes by. Like a baby NSX, half the size, half the performance, all of the looks!
Heaveho said:
Never understood why they aren't more valuable, given how few of them are about and how much people seem to like them? Plus the fact that they really are a great car. They seem more and more like a mini-exotic to me as time goes by. Like a baby NSX, half the size, half the performance, all of the looks!
Their time will come for values, I think. Especially when modern classics magazine keep writing glowing reviews for them every few months. I don't understand the low values that they are at though. Modern classics did a review on them, probably a year ago now, they said a concurs example was worth £6000. In this months they are claiming a concurs one is worth £10000. If that is true to the market then things are really going up fast.They really do drive so well. The steering is not like any other car I've driven. There is so much feel coming through. The charm of it comes from the skinny tyres, by modern standards anyway, that allows it's small power to get the chassis moving around. I guess much like the new GT86, which really is replicating the three 80s Toyotas. The MR2, Corolla (hatch) and Corolla (coupe). Playful, fun and allow the joys of a playful chassis at low speeds with cheap running costs
Don't be fooled by the photos! It's not perfect in looks. I'd been focusing on the greasy bits. The rear has a small dent, the front has a small dent and the front wing needs a bit of flaky paint sorting in the wheel arch. Nothing serious but next on the to do list. Yours I thought was looking better than mine!
I'd love an NSX though. You know what, I couldn't swap the MR2 for one...
You're not the only one who would love an NSX, but I'm at the point in life where I'm not fickle about cars, and when I've got stuff I like, I only ever want to add to the collection, not sell any to finance them! In an ideal world I'd have kept the R8, the IS-F, had another Corrado VR6, added an NSX, an Integrale, and bought the only properly old classic I really want, a Gordon Keeble.
Relocating and renovating the new house has taken care of that wish list! I can't grumble, I've had some really nice stuff, and I'm very happy with the 3 I've got now.
If it's any consolation, the n/s paintwork on mine isn't up to the standard of the o/s, I think it was keyed at some stage.
Relocating and renovating the new house has taken care of that wish list! I can't grumble, I've had some really nice stuff, and I'm very happy with the 3 I've got now.
If it's any consolation, the n/s paintwork on mine isn't up to the standard of the o/s, I think it was keyed at some stage.
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