Mk1 MR2 - any good?
Discussion
Hey chaps (and chapesses!)
a neighbour has just told me that his daughter will soon be selling her 1985 Toyota MR2. Shes had it for 7 years and lives in London so rarely drives it - reason for selling is that shes getting a company car and doesnt have parking for 2 cars. Apparently the car is in very good condition, is black with full service history from new and only has about 80k on the clock. She wants £700 for it!
What are these little cars like? Only 1.6s arent they? What im after is ownership experiences, servicing costs, buying guides - that kinda stuff
If anyone here can offer me the benefit of their experience, it would be much appreciated
Cheers
Dave
a neighbour has just told me that his daughter will soon be selling her 1985 Toyota MR2. Shes had it for 7 years and lives in London so rarely drives it - reason for selling is that shes getting a company car and doesnt have parking for 2 cars. Apparently the car is in very good condition, is black with full service history from new and only has about 80k on the clock. She wants £700 for it!
What are these little cars like? Only 1.6s arent they? What im after is ownership experiences, servicing costs, buying guides - that kinda stuff
If anyone here can offer me the benefit of their experience, it would be much appreciated Cheers
Dave
Short answer: buy it.
Long answer: Fantastic handling, fairly quick, revvy, fun, open top laugh. And reliable - I abused one for 4-5 years/40k. A few things went wrong, but its 15 years old. I'd still own one but I needed something with space.
Boring stuff: The wheel arches rust, door seals leak, and the gear boxes can develop a problem popping out of 5th. And you'll probably need to spendsome money on the shocks!
And 30+mpg.
Long answer: Fantastic handling, fairly quick, revvy, fun, open top laugh. And reliable - I abused one for 4-5 years/40k. A few things went wrong, but its 15 years old. I'd still own one but I needed something with space.
Boring stuff: The wheel arches rust, door seals leak, and the gear boxes can develop a problem popping out of 5th. And you'll probably need to spendsome money on the shocks!
And 30+mpg.
If you're thinking of a Mk1 MR2, then have you considered the Supercharged one that was only available in japan? They had 0-60 in the region of 6.5, and were like go-karts aparently! Might be worth a look...
Try here for advice... www.mr2mk1club.com/
You'll get plenty of advice from there
Try here for advice... www.mr2mk1club.com/
You'll get plenty of advice from there
I've got one - my second. It's brilliant, loads of fun. Keep it over 4000 rpm and it's very responsive, below that it's still poky but docile enough to drive your mother in law about in! Excellent handling, very "chuckable". It seems very willing to push well on past 100mph, although I haven't tried it yet.
The tail can slip out a bit in the wet if you're pressing on, especially if the tyres are a bit worn. Easily caught though.
Surprisingly spacious cockpit area, the two boots are useful enough too - a weeks shopping will go in the back one with a little creativity!
If "excellent condition" means no rust on the rear arches, £700 is a real bargain. Even if there is some on, £700 is still a good price.
I paid £500 for a T-bar model that had been written off. I had to swap the front wing and door off my old one that had died after 167,000 miles (actually repariable, but too much to be worth the effort), and it'll need some work sorting out the rear wheel arch rust (there's a stupid bit of design that traps water in there. Apparently the solution is, if it's not rusty yet, to regularly - ie every week - clean inside the wheel arches especially right up around the lip.
In short - buy it!
Servicing costs are fairly low, easily DIY-able if you want to. There's a Haynes manual for it, but only a US edition so you'll probably have to go through the web for it. New Toyota parts are a little pricy, but according to my local Nissan (!) dealer, that's because toyota parts are pretty good quality.
>> Edited by JohnL on Monday 12th May 11:58
The tail can slip out a bit in the wet if you're pressing on, especially if the tyres are a bit worn. Easily caught though.
Surprisingly spacious cockpit area, the two boots are useful enough too - a weeks shopping will go in the back one with a little creativity!
If "excellent condition" means no rust on the rear arches, £700 is a real bargain. Even if there is some on, £700 is still a good price.
I paid £500 for a T-bar model that had been written off. I had to swap the front wing and door off my old one that had died after 167,000 miles (actually repariable, but too much to be worth the effort), and it'll need some work sorting out the rear wheel arch rust (there's a stupid bit of design that traps water in there. Apparently the solution is, if it's not rusty yet, to regularly - ie every week - clean inside the wheel arches especially right up around the lip.
In short - buy it!
Servicing costs are fairly low, easily DIY-able if you want to. There's a Haynes manual for it, but only a US edition so you'll probably have to go through the web for it. New Toyota parts are a little pricy, but according to my local Nissan (!) dealer, that's because toyota parts are pretty good quality.
>> Edited by JohnL on Monday 12th May 11:58
I'm on my second mk1 MR2 as well. Fantastic handling, loads of fun in the snow , reliable, cheap to run but rusty round the arches and ugly (That I've had two of them and don't like the looks should tell you how fun they are to drive). The leaky window seals are easily fixed with a bit of silicon grease.
Make sure the dampers are in good nick as they can be very hard to catch when the back end goes with knackered dampers. If the dampers are good it'll be the perfect car to learn to oversteer in.
Look at it as a bargin Elise with more power and less grip - does that sound like fun?
, reliable, cheap to run but rusty round the arches and ugly (That I've had two of them and don't like the looks should tell you how fun they are to drive). The leaky window seals are easily fixed with a bit of silicon grease. Make sure the dampers are in good nick as they can be very hard to catch when the back end goes with knackered dampers. If the dampers are good it'll be the perfect car to learn to oversteer in.
Look at it as a bargin Elise with more power and less grip - does that sound like fun?
Andy Mac said: If you're thinking of a Mk1 MR2, then have you considered the Supercharged one that was only available in japan? They had 0-60 in the region of 6.5, and were like go-karts aparently! Might be worth a look...
Try here for advice... www.mr2mk1club.com/
You'll get plenty of advice from there
I had a mate with a supercharged mk1 MR2. The supercharger is controlled by the ECU via a clutch so it comes on "on demand". There is a little defect in the tarmac near his house which causes my MR2 to twitch in to a nice little slide at full throttle in 2nd gear. Unfortunately it was at exactly this point that the ECU decided my mate needed the supercharger, flicked him through 90 dgrees and he drove up a tree.
thanks chaps. apparently its in 'owners club standard' condition, but with a few scratches etc where its been in London. She wanted to keep it at my neighbours house and get it pristine and keep it as a classic car - but he told her he didnt want it cluttering his driveway
cheers for all the advice - i hope to be looking at it either this weekend or the weekend after - ASAP IMHO as my 'cheap £30' Volvo i bought from a neighbour just failed its MOT in spectacular fashion - and as i sold my Corrado on saturday, im left with no transport at all - walking to work in the rain hasnt been fun today! lol
cheers for all the advice - i hope to be looking at it either this weekend or the weekend after - ASAP IMHO as my 'cheap £30' Volvo i bought from a neighbour just failed its MOT in spectacular fashion - and as i sold my Corrado on saturday, im left with no transport at all - walking to work in the rain hasnt been fun today! lol
I had an Mk1 89 T-bar for 5 years. Really, really good car. Just like a go-cart in the way it handled. The standard UK version only has about 120 bhp but could easily handle more. You can chuck them into bends at serious speeds without any major dramas. They just stick.
My favourite trick was to "entice" impatient people in "hot" family saloons. Starting off so they could keep up and drive "normally", ie brake for bends etc, and slowly speed it up and stop braking for the bends until they either lost their bottle or found out the limits of their cars handling :-). I hasten to add that this was only done if they started driving "up my ar$e" and trying to "push" me along.
I miss that car but I have to admit I wouldn't go back now. For me it is one of those times in life that should just be looked back on with joy and not attempt to re-live it.
My favourite trick was to "entice" impatient people in "hot" family saloons. Starting off so they could keep up and drive "normally", ie brake for bends etc, and slowly speed it up and stop braking for the bends until they either lost their bottle or found out the limits of their cars handling :-). I hasten to add that this was only done if they started driving "up my ar$e" and trying to "push" me along.
I miss that car but I have to admit I wouldn't go back now. For me it is one of those times in life that should just be looked back on with joy and not attempt to re-live it.
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