Discussion
I was missing having a soft top, had the option to buy my SL back but timings did not work, so started looking for something fun, lots of options from FIAT Panda 100 HP, Suzuki Swift, Boxster S, 996 Porsche, E46 330, Golf R and the ubiquitous MX-5 NC / ND. MR2 Mk3 caught my eye as they seemed really good value, rusted less than MX5, mid-engined, modest power but light, and owners seemed to love them.
Been looking for a few months, and this one came up, I contacted the owner quickly but was sold. A month later it comes up for sale again, same owner, I contact him to find out the story, seems they wanted to sell, but his wife had second thoughts, now he needed the garage space for his vintage tractor! Drove the car, well looked after, excellent condition with a hardtop and aircon, a pre-facelift so 5 speed not 6, no Fog lights and could suffer from the known pre cat exhaust ceramic disintegration.
Got a short list of things to sort out, hood needs replacing, fluids & service, exhaust is perfect but needs replacement due to the ceramic issue, some interior items repairing like normal wear on the bolster, but it drives really well, remarkably compliant ride on small 15", possibly get some decent replacement springs and shocks later in the year but so far so good.
Been looking for a few months, and this one came up, I contacted the owner quickly but was sold. A month later it comes up for sale again, same owner, I contact him to find out the story, seems they wanted to sell, but his wife had second thoughts, now he needed the garage space for his vintage tractor! Drove the car, well looked after, excellent condition with a hardtop and aircon, a pre-facelift so 5 speed not 6, no Fog lights and could suffer from the known pre cat exhaust ceramic disintegration.
Got a short list of things to sort out, hood needs replacing, fluids & service, exhaust is perfect but needs replacement due to the ceramic issue, some interior items repairing like normal wear on the bolster, but it drives really well, remarkably compliant ride on small 15", possibly get some decent replacement springs and shocks later in the year but so far so good.
TrotCanterGallopCharge said:
Thank you. From what I can tell, that's the JDM badge for the top of the range MR-S version, usually found in the lower badge position. All other markets got the standard '3 rings' Toyota logo.
They mentioned they had a factory chrome pack fitted, so i wonder if that was when this was fitted.QuantumTokoloshi said:
TrotCanterGallopCharge said:
Thank you. From what I can tell, that's the JDM badge for the top of the range MR-S version, usually found in the lower badge position. All other markets got the standard '3 rings' Toyota logo.
They mentioned they had a factory chrome pack fitted, so I wonder if that was when this was fitted.TrotCanterGallopCharge said:
Book I have states UK factory chrome pack was available from 2005, which incl twin exhaust finishers (probably just the ends to look like the TRD twin exhaust setup?), bright fuel cap surround & a styling bar like yours (which brought 3 separate accessories into one UK package). Looks like you'll have to go back through any old invoices for clarification of items & dates.
I'll dig through some of the documentation, and see if there is any info on it, as it has some Chrome touches inside, beside the style bar.These are fantastic cars and one of the few cars I miss owning. I also had a pre-facelift model back in 2004, it was fantastic and felt like a go cart.
One thing I will say, ensure you have good matched rubber all round as I had to replace a single alloy and a friend loaned me a spare he had with a different tyre to the others I had. The thing became quite dicey in the wet and scary at times. It can be lively, although very controllable, but with miss matched tyres it can be twitchy and even dangerous.
As for the badge, someone at some point has just stuck the JDM badge on there for some reason and in the wrong place. Personally, I don't think it looks right, one or the other will be fine but I think one should go. That is just my opinion of course and if you like it, ignore my thoughts on it.
All in, that does look like a well looked after car that someone has spent money on, the side vents are not standard as silver, they would normally be a grey plastic, so money has been spent there as well.
One thing I will say, ensure you have good matched rubber all round as I had to replace a single alloy and a friend loaned me a spare he had with a different tyre to the others I had. The thing became quite dicey in the wet and scary at times. It can be lively, although very controllable, but with miss matched tyres it can be twitchy and even dangerous.
As for the badge, someone at some point has just stuck the JDM badge on there for some reason and in the wrong place. Personally, I don't think it looks right, one or the other will be fine but I think one should go. That is just my opinion of course and if you like it, ignore my thoughts on it.
All in, that does look like a well looked after car that someone has spent money on, the side vents are not standard as silver, they would normally be a grey plastic, so money has been spent there as well.
Evil.soup said:
These are fantastic cars and one of the few cars I miss owning. I also had a pre-facelift model back in 2004, it was fantastic and felt like a go cart.
One thing I will say, ensure you have good matched rubber all round as I had to replace a single alloy and a friend loaned me a spare he had with a different tyre to the others I had. The thing became quite dicey in the wet and scary at times. It can be lively, although very controllable, but with miss matched tyres it can be twitchy and even dangerous.
As for the badge, someone at some point has just stuck the JDM badge on there for some reason and in the wrong place. Personally, I don't think it looks right, one or the other will be fine but I think one should go. That is just my opinion of course and if you like it, ignore my thoughts on it.
All in, that does look like a well looked after car that someone has spent money on, the side vents are not standard as silver, they would normally be a grey plastic, so money has been spent there as well.
It really does feel like a go-kart, the steering is so direct, and the ability to change direction is brilliant, light weight and mid engine for the win.One thing I will say, ensure you have good matched rubber all round as I had to replace a single alloy and a friend loaned me a spare he had with a different tyre to the others I had. The thing became quite dicey in the wet and scary at times. It can be lively, although very controllable, but with miss matched tyres it can be twitchy and even dangerous.
As for the badge, someone at some point has just stuck the JDM badge on there for some reason and in the wrong place. Personally, I don't think it looks right, one or the other will be fine but I think one should go. That is just my opinion of course and if you like it, ignore my thoughts on it.
All in, that does look like a well looked after car that someone has spent money on, the side vents are not standard as silver, they would normally be a grey plastic, so money has been spent there as well.
The sensation feels odd at first, little inertia just turn in and it goes. I can imagine with dodgy rubber, considering the lagless way it can change direction, unintended direction changes would be lightning quick, give a new meaning to snap oversteer.
The 1zz gets a undeserved bad rep, it has decent low end power, with a proper top end VVT hardening of note rev to the red line. Fits the car's character well.
Edited by QuantumTokoloshi on Wednesday 12th July 12:06
QuantumTokoloshi said:
Thanks for the advice.
Looking through the invoices, the first owner spent £900 in 2000 to fit the chrome accents, roll bar and rear ducktail etc.
Punchy money. My first UK car cost me £295 in 2001 ! (Showing my age)
That all points to it having been looked after, at least by its first owner.Looking through the invoices, the first owner spent £900 in 2000 to fit the chrome accents, roll bar and rear ducktail etc.
Punchy money. My first UK car cost me £295 in 2001 ! (Showing my age)
QuantumTokoloshi said:
Thanks for the advice.
Looking through the invoices, the first owner spent £900 in 2000 to fit the chrome accents, roll bar and rear ducktail etc.
Punchy money. My first UK car cost me £295 in 2001 ! (Showing my age)
rear ducktail is a Toyota Uk item, and a pita as it means you can't remove the lights without removing the whole bumper, as the silly buggers always sikaflex it onLooking through the invoices, the first owner spent £900 in 2000 to fit the chrome accents, roll bar and rear ducktail etc.
Punchy money. My first UK car cost me £295 in 2001 ! (Showing my age)
Roll bar is a TTE (Toyota Team Europe) and was offered as an official accessory through UK dealers
Screaming chicken badge was fitted to all J-Spec MR-S and was a popular retrofit both in teh UK and US. But that aint fitted properly
Congratulations! They are great cars and still very underrated. But I have the feeling for not much longer.
Silver is also my favorite colour for these. Silver is normally a boring colour for common cars. But for a car such as the MR2, mid engine sports car, it fits well. It doesn't need a bright or flashy colour IMO. Plus silver is great to show the design, where darker colours will hide it. I normally like red in sports cars, but for some reason the shade of red they did for the MR2 makes it look cheap. Same with the yellow. So the best colours IMO were the silver, blue and green. But as the blue and green are darker and hide the lines, silver takes the cake. Black I never liked on them. Silver with the red leather seats is a very striking option, without looking gaudy or flashy I reckon. Rare combo too. But yours looks lovely with the black seats as well.
Your car has clearly been slightly modified/customized. As already mentioned, midship runnabout JDM badge, style bar ,exhaust, body coloured side air intakes. The facelift cars had body coloured ones, but a slightly different design.
You will find that the hardtop adds a lot to the enjoyment and performance if you are throwing it around a B-road. At this point I would not have one without the hardtop. They are quite rare too and pricey and hard to find used. That your car has aircon, probably means it's a factory hardtop car. Factory hardtop cars came standard with aircon.
They are great fun cars. Not much else will offer as much fun on a B-road, even if you spend more. You can drive it as you stole it without worrying. You can have loads of fun at legal speeds and at this point, if you sell, you will probably not lose any money.
They are very sensitive to tyre choice and tyre pressure though. Totally changes the car's behavior. What tyres you have on?
But good tyres are all they need. Larger wheels and wider tyres will ruin them if you value performance and fun driving. Even the facelift cars were compromised by the slightly different set up, which was done to make them "safer" to drive, but took a bit of the edge off. Toyota got the set up just right the first time around.
Enjoy it!
Silver is also my favorite colour for these. Silver is normally a boring colour for common cars. But for a car such as the MR2, mid engine sports car, it fits well. It doesn't need a bright or flashy colour IMO. Plus silver is great to show the design, where darker colours will hide it. I normally like red in sports cars, but for some reason the shade of red they did for the MR2 makes it look cheap. Same with the yellow. So the best colours IMO were the silver, blue and green. But as the blue and green are darker and hide the lines, silver takes the cake. Black I never liked on them. Silver with the red leather seats is a very striking option, without looking gaudy or flashy I reckon. Rare combo too. But yours looks lovely with the black seats as well.
Your car has clearly been slightly modified/customized. As already mentioned, midship runnabout JDM badge, style bar ,exhaust, body coloured side air intakes. The facelift cars had body coloured ones, but a slightly different design.
You will find that the hardtop adds a lot to the enjoyment and performance if you are throwing it around a B-road. At this point I would not have one without the hardtop. They are quite rare too and pricey and hard to find used. That your car has aircon, probably means it's a factory hardtop car. Factory hardtop cars came standard with aircon.
They are great fun cars. Not much else will offer as much fun on a B-road, even if you spend more. You can drive it as you stole it without worrying. You can have loads of fun at legal speeds and at this point, if you sell, you will probably not lose any money.
They are very sensitive to tyre choice and tyre pressure though. Totally changes the car's behavior. What tyres you have on?
But good tyres are all they need. Larger wheels and wider tyres will ruin them if you value performance and fun driving. Even the facelift cars were compromised by the slightly different set up, which was done to make them "safer" to drive, but took a bit of the edge off. Toyota got the set up just right the first time around.
Enjoy it!
Edited by Shifter1 on Thursday 13th July 10:46
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