Oh dear, I won an eBay auction! - Toyota MR2 ZZW30 mk3

[EdIsNotDead]

I never won any eBay auction before!

As winter sets in, it seems an ideal time, one bored evening last week, to check for a small convertible to use when Spring returns. Besides, I was missing having something a little less serious than the family bus (Alhambra) or the good lady's dishwasher (Tesla Y) since parting with my Golf Edition 30 in July.

Started perusing FB marketplace and eBay for something cheap and cheerful, MX5, mk1 TT, Z3, Z4... completely forgotten about MR2 until this one got "suggested" in my eBay feed at £927 with about 12h to go. Read the ad, did the checks, seller replied quickly and clearly. Stuck a £1250 bid on it and went to bed....

Comes 9.15am:


Went to collect it with a friend about 1h away from me and drove it back to pick eldest daughter up from her horse riding


Then home



To do? Yes, a few things, of course.
- clean up the engine area because I want to see if more oil is seeping from elsewhere than the cam chain tensioner.
- change the CCT o-ring. Apparently a common issue.
- full basic service. Oil, filters, plugs are on order.
- it has 4 chinese tyres, all from a different brand and pulls to the left so that'll all be addressed by my good local tyre place.

It came with about 4 invoices over the last 7 years and the last stamp in the book dates from 2004 @ 17k miles
Its last oil change dates 2022 and its done 600 miles since. Oil is still clean.

Anyhoo, thought I'd share this, quite chuffed if it turns out to be a solid car underneath.

To be continued.

[EmailAddress]

I've followed a few of these in my time and they look fun, and out-perform expectations.

Well suited to our roads.

Enjoy.

[conanius]

This is pistonheads.... so when are you doing the 2zz/k20 conversion?

[seabod91]

conanius said:

This is pistonheads.... so when are you doing the 2zz/k20 conversion?

1.8t is the smart choice power wise. Cost pennies and can handle a lot of power with just some Chinese rods stuck in.

Check stav-tech on YouTube. He has one with 500+bhp with low 4’s 100-200. Silly quick.

I really want one but I’m 6ft6.

[EdIsNotDead]

conanius said:

This is pistonheads.... so when are you doing the 2zz/k20 conversion?

Do you know I haven't even checked what can be done.

I assume they could be turbocharged etc... but to be honest I think the am is going to be to keep it as standard and clean looking as possible. Pehaps an induction kit for some aural pleasure (oo er) as it's quite quiet, but aside form that, I have no desire to spend ££££ on a cheap 3000 miles/ yr car.

How boring hey!

[CKY]

seabod91 said:

conanius said:

This is pistonheads.... so when are you doing the 2zz/k20 conversion?

1.8t is the smart choice power wise. Cost pennies and can handle a lot of power with just some Chinese rods stuck in.

Check stav-tech on YouTube. He has one with 500+bhp with low 4’s 100-200. Silly quick.

I really want one but I’m 6ft6.

Kind of turns a sweet-handling sports car in to a bit of a pointless straight-line rocket though. A friend showed me one of those stav-tech videos, I can't see the point ragging a £500 Toyota down the motorway just to show it's as fast as a Lamborghini or whatever, the fun with these sorts of cars is to be had in the corners. Also the 1.8T BAM engine was boring in anything VAG put it in for me, so not the sort of thing i'd be looking to slot in to a car I wanted to drive for pleasure. 2ZZ conversions are reasonably good fun, quite quick too with some work to the 'lift' system to keep the thing on the boil, K20 swaps are potent combinations however rather expensive now thanks to everyone building them.

Looks a nice car for the money, i'd definitely get some hard driving on the car first to find how it behaves at the limit and find any 'weak points' in the car, hopefully you get some nice cheap motoring from her!