1997 Toyota MR2 GT Uk Spec
Discussion
Hello everyone!
I never actually got round to writing one of these so thought i would give it a go.
I am now 25 years old and am happy to show you my first ever sports car which i bought when i was 20.
This is my 1997 Toyota MR2 GTi-16v (Rev-4 to those in the know)
I've had it since 2013 when i bought it on a snowy day in January with only 57000 miles on the clock. (if i remember correctly at £3000 it was the most expensive Mk2 MR2 on Auto trader at the time)
I managed to knock £500 off the price so got it for £2500 which was a result in my eyes.
This was my second car after my Megane , i had only been driving for a year before.
It is now just over 80000 miles , so over a third of the cars mileage has been by me.
Safe to say i love it to bits , I am still amazed at how something this unique can be only £2500. I never imagined that i would own a two door Mid engined sports car at the age of 20.
As you can see , it is completely standard. (Expect for a Cd Player which i will get to later
) I am a bit of a purist when it comes to cars so some may find my approach boring. I'm just not a huge modifications type of guy. I like to drive cars as the Manufacturer intended.
It has a 2.0L 3SGE engine which puts out just south of 170Bhp , 0-60 is in the high 7's.
In my eyes neither of these things matter. Its all about the driving experience rather than the speed. I regularly get overtaken by Diesel BMWs and silver stuff. But i'm the one with the T-top down and the High Revving Engine singing away behind my ears
I keep it in a garage during winter , so it doesn't have to deal with the daily grind which means everytime i get to drive it , it is even more of an event than usual. Everytime i am behind the wheel i know i am driving for fun and not for boring reasons.
Over my 5 years of ownership , the only money i have spent on it has mainly been for Mechanical reasons. The only Aesthetic things being an Alloy Wheel refurbishment in 2015 which still looks fantastic , and my stickers (Its almost like the side windows on these were made for stickers!)
Can be regularly seen cruising around Hampshire and West Sussex.
The drive down to Goodwood being one of my favourite weekend drive routes.
On its first ever festival of speed i actually ended up parked next to another one!
It does make me sad that Toyota used to make an awesome range of sports cars but seems to have gone a bit flat lately.
I will own a GT86 one day when I can get them cheap. Hopefully we will see an MR2 Mk4 in the future as well.
The colour for those who are wondering is 6M1 Goodwood green. it looks like an awesome metallic green in the sun and a boring black in the shade. (and is an absolute pain in the rear to keep clean)
I have run out of time at the moment so i will need to head off , but i will tell you more about her soon.
I never actually got round to writing one of these so thought i would give it a go.
I am now 25 years old and am happy to show you my first ever sports car which i bought when i was 20.
This is my 1997 Toyota MR2 GTi-16v (Rev-4 to those in the know)
I've had it since 2013 when i bought it on a snowy day in January with only 57000 miles on the clock. (if i remember correctly at £3000 it was the most expensive Mk2 MR2 on Auto trader at the time)
I managed to knock £500 off the price so got it for £2500 which was a result in my eyes.
This was my second car after my Megane , i had only been driving for a year before.
It is now just over 80000 miles , so over a third of the cars mileage has been by me.
Safe to say i love it to bits , I am still amazed at how something this unique can be only £2500. I never imagined that i would own a two door Mid engined sports car at the age of 20.
As you can see , it is completely standard. (Expect for a Cd Player which i will get to later
) I am a bit of a purist when it comes to cars so some may find my approach boring. I'm just not a huge modifications type of guy. I like to drive cars as the Manufacturer intended.It has a 2.0L 3SGE engine which puts out just south of 170Bhp , 0-60 is in the high 7's.
In my eyes neither of these things matter. Its all about the driving experience rather than the speed. I regularly get overtaken by Diesel BMWs and silver stuff. But i'm the one with the T-top down and the High Revving Engine singing away behind my ears
I keep it in a garage during winter , so it doesn't have to deal with the daily grind which means everytime i get to drive it , it is even more of an event than usual. Everytime i am behind the wheel i know i am driving for fun and not for boring reasons
.Over my 5 years of ownership , the only money i have spent on it has mainly been for Mechanical reasons. The only Aesthetic things being an Alloy Wheel refurbishment in 2015 which still looks fantastic , and my stickers (Its almost like the side windows on these were made for stickers!)
Can be regularly seen cruising around Hampshire and West Sussex.
The drive down to Goodwood being one of my favourite weekend drive routes.
On its first ever festival of speed i actually ended up parked next to another one!
It does make me sad that Toyota used to make an awesome range of sports cars but seems to have gone a bit flat lately.
I will own a GT86 one day when I can get them cheap. Hopefully we will see an MR2 Mk4 in the future as well.
The colour for those who are wondering is 6M1 Goodwood green. it looks like an awesome metallic green in the sun and a boring black in the shade. (and is an absolute pain in the rear to keep clean)
I have run out of time at the moment so i will need to head off , but i will tell you more about her soon.
Edited by FIREBIRDC9 on Friday 27th April 17:25
Edited by FIREBIRDC9 on Friday 27th April 23:33
Edited by FIREBIRDC9 on Saturday 28th April 16:21
Edited by FIREBIRDC9 on Tuesday 4th December 13:07
Edited by FIREBIRDC9 on Wednesday 2nd January 17:17
Thanks for posting. I bought one as my second ever car too, when it first came out in 1990, and had to wait 6 months for delivery. I’d heard that people on the (even longer) waiting list for a Ferrari 348 we’re buying them as stopgaps. Probably apocryphal but nice thought.
Mine was £15k if I remember, and I could barely afford it, so had the base model with no spoiler, in black. Still looked awesome, and at the time got a lot of compliments. I absolutely loved it, and whilst I’ve had a couple of mid-engined Ferrari’s since, still slightly hanker after getting a MkII MR2 again! I agree with you, it’s a terrific design and a lot of car for the money.
Mine was £15k if I remember, and I could barely afford it, so had the base model with no spoiler, in black. Still looked awesome, and at the time got a lot of compliments. I absolutely loved it, and whilst I’ve had a couple of mid-engined Ferrari’s since, still slightly hanker after getting a MkII MR2 again! I agree with you, it’s a terrific design and a lot of car for the money.
67Dino said:
Thanks for posting. I bought one as my second ever car too, when it first came out in 1990, and had to wait 6 months for delivery. I’d heard that people on the (even longer) waiting list for a Ferrari 348 we’re buying them as stopgaps. Probably apocryphal but nice thought.
Mine was £15k if I remember, and I could barely afford it, so had the base model with no spoiler, in black. Still looked awesome, and at the time got a lot of compliments. I absolutely loved it, and whilst I’ve had a couple of mid-engined Ferrari’s since, still slightly hanker after getting a MkII MR2 again! I agree with you, it’s a terrific design and a lot of car for the money.
Thanks for your words!Mine was £15k if I remember, and I could barely afford it, so had the base model with no spoiler, in black. Still looked awesome, and at the time got a lot of compliments. I absolutely loved it, and whilst I’ve had a couple of mid-engined Ferrari’s since, still slightly hanker after getting a MkII MR2 again! I agree with you, it’s a terrific design and a lot of car for the money.
I have had a look through your garage and you have owned some fantastic stuff! Hopefully i can graduate to a mid-engined Ferrari of my own one day.
For now i will have to be happy with my Poor mans Ferrari.
I bet the F355 was an absolute joy to drive!
Yes. Yes. Yes.
I bought a Mk2 Rev4 T-top on a whim about 8 years ago because they're practically free, and I had the very best of times in it. Ended up treating it to all sorts of upgrades and trackdays, and just generally loved everything about it. It cost buttons to run and seemed to be bombproof.
I bought a Mk2 Rev4 T-top on a whim about 8 years ago because they're practically free, and I had the very best of times in it. Ended up treating it to all sorts of upgrades and trackdays, and just generally loved everything about it. It cost buttons to run and seemed to be bombproof.
Lovely thing. I looked at these recently and almost went and bought one for £1,500, but it had been sitting for a while before being restored and I was a bit worried about the quality of the restoration/welding so wimped out.
Not sure there is much that looks even close to as special sub 5k.
Not sure there is much that looks even close to as special sub 5k.
Time for more pictures!!
Goodwood green is really an amazing colour.
This was taken on the way home from the Goodwood Breakfast Club Supercar Sunday last year.
I'm not sure if it is just because of the perspective , but this picture really does make the Mk2 look like a whale next to the Mk3
I have driven the Mk3 pictured but only briefly , just from a very short drive you can really feel that the MK3 is a lot more "Chuckable" Than the MK2.
You can really see the Goodwood Green paint in action here.
I'm happy to own two fun cars rather than just one , bought my new daily back in September last year. The little swift sport is a fun little thing.
Being able to switch between two different cars makes driving so much more fun.
After reaching 25 i'm sort of stuck with a dilemma.
I've had the MR2 for 5 years now , do i keep it as it looks like the values may rise soon , or is it time to try something else.
I do find myself looking at 350z Roadsters alot!
Bonus pic!
Goodwood green is really an amazing colour.
This was taken on the way home from the Goodwood Breakfast Club Supercar Sunday last year.
I'm not sure if it is just because of the perspective , but this picture really does make the Mk2 look like a whale next to the Mk3
I have driven the Mk3 pictured but only briefly , just from a very short drive you can really feel that the MK3 is a lot more "Chuckable" Than the MK2.
You can really see the Goodwood Green paint in action here.
I'm happy to own two fun cars rather than just one , bought my new daily back in September last year. The little swift sport is a fun little thing.
Being able to switch between two different cars makes driving so much more fun.
After reaching 25 i'm sort of stuck with a dilemma.
I've had the MR2 for 5 years now , do i keep it as it looks like the values may rise soon , or is it time to try something else.
I do find myself looking at 350z Roadsters alot!
Bonus pic!
Your car looks great! Back in my youth I also had one of these, a bright red 97 GT TBar with leather interior, diamond cut alloys and the factory two stack cd and tape/radio player.
In my opinion the rev 4 was the best ever shape. The best wheel design, rounded rear lights plus the clear front indicators and the smaller rear wing. And the t bar. Why aren't there more t bars these days?
Hope you have lots more fun years in it. They are fab cars! Edit : if you are thinking of selling, then I say sell. Don't keep it on the hope of rising values, life is too short for that - if the Z is peaking your interest then go for it. So many cars to try and if you've got the itch, it needs a scratch.
In my opinion the rev 4 was the best ever shape. The best wheel design, rounded rear lights plus the clear front indicators and the smaller rear wing. And the t bar. Why aren't there more t bars these days?
Hope you have lots more fun years in it. They are fab cars! Edit : if you are thinking of selling, then I say sell. Don't keep it on the hope of rising values, life is too short for that - if the Z is peaking your interest then go for it. So many cars to try and if you've got the itch, it needs a scratch.
Edited by Paul O on Wednesday 2nd May 22:52
Lovely car...and colour! Dont go selling it, its hard to find a standard rust free Mk2 these days, and the ones you do find have the price to match.
Have a Red Rev 5 T-Bar myself, previously owned a Cosmos Blue Rev 5 that i stupidly sold 3 years ago, i replaced it this year with the red one. As a second car its perfect!
Have a Red Rev 5 T-Bar myself, previously owned a Cosmos Blue Rev 5 that i stupidly sold 3 years ago, i replaced it this year with the red one. As a second car its perfect!
These cars are built for B-Roads i swear.
This picture was taken on the way back from the Sunday Service at Bicester Heritage last weekend.
An absolute awesome drive home via the backroads. Nothing more awesome than discovering an absolute jewel of a road you didn't know about not very far from home.
At some point this year me and my friend are going to go for a drive and a swap.
It will be interesting to compare the MK3 and the MK2.
I don't know about anyone else , but my roof down Tan is on form this year!
This picture was taken on the way back from the Sunday Service at Bicester Heritage last weekend.
An absolute awesome drive home via the backroads. Nothing more awesome than discovering an absolute jewel of a road you didn't know about not very far from home.
At some point this year me and my friend are going to go for a drive and a swap.
It will be interesting to compare the MK3 and the MK2.
I don't know about anyone else , but my roof down Tan is on form this year!
So the plan is to give the MR2 a last hurrah before i put it up for sale next year!
I'm going to take it to Le Mans with me next year for the race, after that its going up for sale!
I have a bunch of ideas for replacements as well.
As of January i will have owned the car for 6 years. Not bad for a £2500 sports car!
More pictures for you!
I'm going to take it to Le Mans with me next year for the race, after that its going up for sale!
I have a bunch of ideas for replacements as well.
As of January i will have owned the car for 6 years. Not bad for a £2500 sports car!
More pictures for you!
danllama said:
What are you thinking of to replace it?
It's easier said than done.
Nothing set in stone yet It's easier said than done.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Time certainly does fly!
I have now owned this car for 6 years
MOT time is coming up again and i have full confidence it will sail through it again
Has only ever failed an MOT once under my ownership due to unbalanced brakes!
Heading into my final year of MR2'ing!
I wonder what i will buy!
I have now owned this car for 6 years
MOT time is coming up again and i have full confidence it will sail through it again
Has only ever failed an MOT once under my ownership due to unbalanced brakes!
Heading into my final year of MR2'ing!
I wonder what i will buy!
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