2001 MR2 Roadster
Discussion
Well, here we go for round 2 of MR2 Roadster ownership. First time around I only bought one off the cuff as I needed a cheap daily to get me to and from work. I had very little respect for it, very few expectations, but actually by the time I sold it a year later due to my commute being far too long, I regretted it almost immediately - I'd only gone and become fond of the little bugger. It performed admirably with 150k miles on the clock, even after months of commuting 150 miles a day. The Octavia that replaced it was far better suited to the task but was as dull as could be. As luck would have it my work transfer went through a lot quicker than expected, and that was all the excuse I needed to look for another little roadster.
I have a V6 MR2 Mk2 tucked up in the garage, but it's far too harsh for 4am starts (on me and the neighbours, i'm not 25 anymore I'm slowly realising) and I was dreading driving that as my sole car through winter...i've seen how that goes after many years of SW20 ownership. So before the Octavia had even sold I was viewing any roadsters that caught my eye. I viewed 2 lemons before finding the lovely example I've bought; both oil burners. And another where the tossers sold it as I was en route on a 1.5 hour drive after a night shift to my pre arranged viewing!
After those three experiences I had a bit of a sour taste in my mouth, but I was eager to find one before winter really set in. I put out a desperate post on the various facebook groups, and shortly after a message dropped in to my inbox. There was a car in North London, had been sat in his drive way for a while since he bought the replacement Z3, and he hadn't got around to advertising it yet. There were some positives and negatives - zero history as it was bought at auction, the soft top was missing its rear screen, not the best colour...but the photos and MOT history looked great and it came with a hardtop, which was my one firm requirement. The guy came across well so I decided to make the long trip to view it. 5 hours later after a thorough inspection and short test drive it was home.
So for a mere £2000, here is my new 2001 Roadster with just 45,000 miles on the clock. It has a couple of things that need attending to (leaking chain tensioner, tracking) but generally is in superb condition and drives like new. I'm genuinely pleased to be back in one of these cars, they are so under rated. I'll try to keep the thread updated with the various things I have planned, as I wish I had started one for my previous roadster. In hindsight i wish I had just kept my old one as it was very well sorted with most of the popular roadster mods, which i'll now be doing to this car!
130751851_10164329353200391_1950822166645991401_o by Dan J, on Flickr
IMG_20201209_100615-01 by Dan J, on Flickr
I have a V6 MR2 Mk2 tucked up in the garage, but it's far too harsh for 4am starts (on me and the neighbours, i'm not 25 anymore I'm slowly realising) and I was dreading driving that as my sole car through winter...i've seen how that goes after many years of SW20 ownership. So before the Octavia had even sold I was viewing any roadsters that caught my eye. I viewed 2 lemons before finding the lovely example I've bought; both oil burners. And another where the tossers sold it as I was en route on a 1.5 hour drive after a night shift to my pre arranged viewing!
After those three experiences I had a bit of a sour taste in my mouth, but I was eager to find one before winter really set in. I put out a desperate post on the various facebook groups, and shortly after a message dropped in to my inbox. There was a car in North London, had been sat in his drive way for a while since he bought the replacement Z3, and he hadn't got around to advertising it yet. There were some positives and negatives - zero history as it was bought at auction, the soft top was missing its rear screen, not the best colour...but the photos and MOT history looked great and it came with a hardtop, which was my one firm requirement. The guy came across well so I decided to make the long trip to view it. 5 hours later after a thorough inspection and short test drive it was home.
So for a mere £2000, here is my new 2001 Roadster with just 45,000 miles on the clock. It has a couple of things that need attending to (leaking chain tensioner, tracking) but generally is in superb condition and drives like new. I'm genuinely pleased to be back in one of these cars, they are so under rated. I'll try to keep the thread updated with the various things I have planned, as I wish I had started one for my previous roadster. In hindsight i wish I had just kept my old one as it was very well sorted with most of the popular roadster mods, which i'll now be doing to this car!
130751851_10164329353200391_1950822166645991401_o by Dan J, on FlickrIMG_20201209_100615-01 by Dan J, on FlickrI love my MRS, but in summer!
In winter it gets all steamed up and being low your sat in line with other peoples headlights and it seems to attract far more spray then my saloon car, with its hood up/hard top on vision is restricted and it seems much more of a problem in the dark.
What mods are you going to do to it?
I need to get its alloys restored and a cover for winter sorted this year
In winter it gets all steamed up and being low your sat in line with other peoples headlights and it seems to attract far more spray then my saloon car, with its hood up/hard top on vision is restricted and it seems much more of a problem in the dark.
What mods are you going to do to it?
I need to get its alloys restored and a cover for winter sorted this year
I loved driving my last one in winter, so playful in the damp. They do have a habit of steaming up but I find blasting the AC and opening the windows clears it quite quickly. Plus I've got one of those moisture bags on the way. That said I've not had the problem on this one yet. Luckily most of my driving will be done on quiet roads at quiet times, as headlights can be a pain! All I know is I'd rather suffer these small issues than daily drive a diesel Octavia 😁
Well I've got an OEM ducktail coming, Ill grab a nice set of facelift wheels or decent 16's, I'd like to add the facelift chassis bracing and maybe lowering springs too. Who knows maybe a 2zz at some point. It's funny the OEM wheels all seem to suffer from corrosion worse than others.
Well I've got an OEM ducktail coming, Ill grab a nice set of facelift wheels or decent 16's, I'd like to add the facelift chassis bracing and maybe lowering springs too. Who knows maybe a 2zz at some point. It's funny the OEM wheels all seem to suffer from corrosion worse than others.
I have one, got as a little bit of fun to have with some mates.
My god they get under your skin. They really are a bliss to drive on a back road.
Mines ended up costing a few quid =
https://www.mr2roc.org/forum/index.php?topic=62697...
My god they get under your skin. They really are a bliss to drive on a back road.
Mines ended up costing a few quid =
https://www.mr2roc.org/forum/index.php?topic=62697...
I remember having a drive of one back in the day and thought it rather fine. Strange really that never sold pin big numbers, given the success of Mazda's car. I guess it was a change of direction for MR2 after the previous generations. Like NSX, possibly held back somewhat by the styling. Gotta love any mid-engine car though, if they drive right.
One of the things that scared me was the issues with the 1ZZ-FE engines and their oil burning. I owned two celica's, one 140bhp 1ZZ-FE model that had the oil burner and it was so bad that it caught me out one day and the bottom end went. The second was the 2ZZ-GE model that was the best car I've owned. What an engine.
Your model has the 1ZZ-FE, but I'm not sure if it has the revised engine or not?
Your model has the 1ZZ-FE, but I'm not sure if it has the revised engine or not?
geraintthomas said:
One of the things that scared me was the issues with the 1ZZ-FE engines and their oil burning. I owned two celica's, one 140bhp 1ZZ-FE model that had the oil burner and it was so bad that it caught me out one day and the bottom end went. The second was the 2ZZ-GE model that was the best car I've owned. What an engine.
Your model has the 1ZZ-FE, but I'm not sure if it has the revised engine or not?
I believe 2001 is pre revision .. if my memory is correct is 2002 onwards which was revised. Your model has the 1ZZ-FE, but I'm not sure if it has the revised engine or not?
DannyDC2 or Dan Silvester (same guy just changed his YouTube name) on here and YouTube races one of these and has documented the engine very well if you was interested.
As all the rest say they are great cars and i ran one as a track car and did a fair few things to it so let me know if you need any information .
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
On topic of 1ZZ’s.
According to factory bulletins they changed the pistons and ring design on engines made December 2001 onwards. Then a month or so later added nitrided oil control rings.
It’s a very difficult thing to work out as some early engines use no oil and run forever and some burn oil which disintegrates the pre cats allowing bits to go back into the engine on the emission cycle these have.
The usual response is ‘whip the pre cats out’ and whilst it’s sound advice it won’t remedy the cause which is the earlier piston design.
However, I spoke to a guy who worked for Toyota in Derby and he told me some stuff about sump capacities. Keep in mind the dipstick on the MR2 Mk3 is extremely hard to see exactly how much oil there is, some people on mr2roc made a procedure for cleaning , re-inserting that allows a more accurate reading.
On the topic of piston revisions they increased the amount of oil holes and changed the actual design of the piston. To meet the ULEV status they profiled the edge of the piston to a knife edge which reduced friction but did not do a good job of scraping old and thick oils from the bore.
A good way to send these to an early death is run them on 10/40. You should only use 5/30 but later revisions will tolerate 10/40 better.
All the cars that used 1ZZ engines , Celica, Avensis, Corolla but NOT the MR2 received another update (2005) of a different thermostat, another piston revision a revised dip stick and a larger sump that allowed 4.7 litres of oil over the old 3.7 litres. These are the bug free 1ZZ engines . But MR2 didn’t get them.
I think the Lotus 1ZZ Elise probably has this revised engine.
To be safe, remove pre cats, only use top quality 5w/30 oil and do regular oil changes at 3k is possible , particularly as you have a pre revision engine. Use Forte flush or similar before a change possibly too.
According to factory bulletins they changed the pistons and ring design on engines made December 2001 onwards. Then a month or so later added nitrided oil control rings.
It’s a very difficult thing to work out as some early engines use no oil and run forever and some burn oil which disintegrates the pre cats allowing bits to go back into the engine on the emission cycle these have.
The usual response is ‘whip the pre cats out’ and whilst it’s sound advice it won’t remedy the cause which is the earlier piston design.
However, I spoke to a guy who worked for Toyota in Derby and he told me some stuff about sump capacities. Keep in mind the dipstick on the MR2 Mk3 is extremely hard to see exactly how much oil there is, some people on mr2roc made a procedure for cleaning , re-inserting that allows a more accurate reading.
On the topic of piston revisions they increased the amount of oil holes and changed the actual design of the piston. To meet the ULEV status they profiled the edge of the piston to a knife edge which reduced friction but did not do a good job of scraping old and thick oils from the bore.
A good way to send these to an early death is run them on 10/40. You should only use 5/30 but later revisions will tolerate 10/40 better.
All the cars that used 1ZZ engines , Celica, Avensis, Corolla but NOT the MR2 received another update (2005) of a different thermostat, another piston revision a revised dip stick and a larger sump that allowed 4.7 litres of oil over the old 3.7 litres. These are the bug free 1ZZ engines . But MR2 didn’t get them.
I think the Lotus 1ZZ Elise probably has this revised engine.
To be safe, remove pre cats, only use top quality 5w/30 oil and do regular oil changes at 3k is possible , particularly as you have a pre revision engine. Use Forte flush or similar before a change possibly too.
LaurasOtherHalf said:
I honestly think it really was just all down to the storage space in them. It wasn’t exactly bad but it wasn’t what people were used to.
The storage isnt bad. It's not a Transit van, but there is plenty of room for kit - and you can double it if you remove the plastics in the frunk and in the bins rear of the seat and just chuck stuff against the metal.Like any car - it didn't sell cos it looked too happy/froggy/girlie - compared with any of its rivals. Sports car drivers want angry headlights.
RedAndy said:
LaurasOtherHalf said:
I honestly think it really was just all down to the storage space in them. It wasn’t exactly bad but it wasn’t what people were used to.
The storage isnt bad. It's not a Transit van, but there is plenty of room for kit - and you can double it if you remove the plastics in the frunk and in the bins rear of the seat and just chuck stuff against the metal.Like any car - it didn't sell cos it looked too happy/froggy/girlie - compared with any of its rivals. Sports car drivers want angry headlights.
RedAndy said:
The storage isnt bad. It's not a Transit van, but there is plenty of room for kit - and you can double it if you remove the plastics in the frunk and in the bins rear of the seat and just chuck stuff against the metal.
Like any car - it didn't sell cos it looked too happy/froggy/girlie - compared with any of its rivals. Sports car drivers want angry headlights.
Plenty of storage, I always just found access a PITA. Would have preferred an actual boot that could be opened without going round the passenger side, opening the glove box and then opening the front. Have got the same issue with the Smart Roadster, and sLike any car - it didn't sell cos it looked too happy/froggy/girlie - compared with any of its rivals. Sports car drivers want angry headlights.
t just gets thrown on the seat and floor instead. 1ZZ engine in mine imploded, was expensive to sort. Mine was pre-facelift, ended up with post-facelift engine, it was a car I never really gelled with. Seemed too many compromises for the fun it offered. I just didn't like the engine, seemed too linear and no real rewards for revving it.
Was fun in wet and greasy conditions, would like to try one with a 2ZZ engine at some point. Would still take one over an MX5 as I don't like rust and these seem pretty well made.
Never did like the soft top, most look at ratty as hell and constructed from a horrible material. I put a hard top on mine and left it on.
Yours looks nice regardless OP. Enjoy!
I just sold my Mk2 Turbo and a - already converted - 2zz was on the list to replace it. I've never driven a mk3 in anger but the chassis has absolutely glowing reviews, with only 140bhp.
In the end I went with an MX5 Turbo as I fancied something a bit more playful at the rear.
I'll have a Mk3 one day - enjoy OP
In the end I went with an MX5 Turbo as I fancied something a bit more playful at the rear.
I'll have a Mk3 one day - enjoy OP
Edited by pti on Wednesday 16th December 14:25
Edited by pti on Wednesday 16th December 14:25
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