Shopping for MR2 Tubbies at the weekend

[Wadeski]

Hey chaps,

I know we have a lot of people with the mr2 know-how on this site, so I thought I would get some opinions. I'm planning to shop for a turbo this weekend, but was wondering if the forum of inifinte knowledge could help guide me.

first up:
http://www.nfhcars.co.uk/showcar.php?id=195&pi...

looks nice, no chavvy mods, but it seems a little...cheap, considering its from a dealership. It looks like an early one, so its probably been clocked but hey its an import. Dealers dont usually give deals, so i wonder whats wrong with it...it looks great.

second:
http://atsearch.autotrader.co.uk/www/cars_popup.js...

LOVE the colour. works great with the wheels. A rev3, which is nice and tbh i would prefer a Rev3+ over an older car. But repainted cars always worry me...a new lick of paint covers a multitude of sins. Looks damn good though!

there are a few private sales going on too that im looking at:

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/549974.htm
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/568648.htm

Any of these jump out at people as a potential winner? And any advice on buying? (im trying to commit the IMOC buying guide to memory at the moment :P )

/edit:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1996-TOYOTA-MR2-GT-16V-TURBO...

bingo?

Edited by Wadeski on Wednesday 18th June 22:39

[Marf]

the ebay one looks good, low miles, carribean blue(rare) and a rev 3. The resprayed one looks really good too, but out of the two the blue one would win out for me given the low miles.

rev3 onwards are preferable given the higher power, and stronger engines compared to rev1/2 models.

GT models are generally better specced, half leather, abs, folding mirrors etc etc.

Gearboxes can get notchy on higher mileage cars, esp 2nd-3rd full chat high revs, ditto drop links and rear suspension bushes.

I bought a goodwood green 95 revision 3 turbo GT-S with 56000 miles at the end of april for £3400.

[Wadeski]

I might try to see the all except the grey/blue one this weekend if they arent sold. the black private sale one is an owners club member, the only thing that scares me is the mention of the clonking noise...he THINKS its a strut tower, but it could be anyone of a number of suspension/engine mount issues that costs a few hundred to fix with the labour.

[BlueMR2]

The top one is a rev 1 or 2. So imported in 99.

[bad_roo]

HAve you had some insurance quotes?

[Wadeski]

yeah, they're fine. miles less than evos/scoobies/RX-7s etc...only a little bit more than a 200sx for me.

[Wadeski]

Marf said:

Gearboxes can get notchy on higher mileage cars, esp 2nd-3rd full chat high revs, ditto drop links and rear suspension bushes.

Cheers for that, its those kind of reminders that stick in the mind. I have read and annotated the various buyers guides online but i gotta say they focus a bit too much on "idiot level" diagnosis of model type, condition, equipment etc....

Does anyone know of a more technical guide to the common expensive faults?

having owned turbo cars in the past im pretty familiar with turbo faults, checking for coolant leaks, idle and hot start problems etc what I am more worried about is spotting MR2 specific problems,signs suspension/chassis knocks, indications of abuse that has been botched over (i.e. ex-track sg) and key rust points etc.

Edited by Wadeski on Saturday 21st June 02:46

[gumshoe]

A very long time ago I bought an MR2 turbo (something for track days) and I bought it from this company http://www.topspec-imports.com, there should be a page with cars for sale on there, they might have something in stock. The guy I dealt with was a nice honest bloke and he had two cars in stock, one was pristine the other had some bits needing doing to the bodywork but I bought it very cheap. Mechanically it was very sound, and it held up to the abuse very well. I miss that car

[Marf]

To be honest apart from the general no brainer things to check when buying any turbo car theres not much else to check, although one other thing springs to mind: track rod ends, they do like to chew these on a regular basis by all accounts, also top mounts.

To be fair most these suspension bits can be had cheap, i.e. TRD top mounts from fensport are 40 each, cheaper than from toyota, and the labour wont be exorbitant to do stuff like this. What will cost you should they be buggered is the shocks. The yellow bilsteins which replace the black bilsteins which are standard equipment on turbo models are £150 a corner.

Also the car should only take maybe 5 minutes to warm up from cold. Once warm the gauge will sit just below halfway, and stay there. I've not noticed mine creep up even on hot days after a ragging.

Don't be alarmed if once warm and you turn on the heater, that the temp gauge drops for a couple of minutes, this is normal. The heater system is isolated from the main coolant system until you slide the knob to hot, when you do this a valve opens and a load of cold coolant enters the system, flowing past the temp sensor causing a drop in the gauge.

Good luck

[Wadeski]

cheers fella!

[MikeyMike]

Brake calipers are prone to seizing so listen for a grinding/metal on metal sound. Other than that ignition componants get chewed up pretty regularly so look out for hesitancy under acceleration.
A healthy tubby shuld boost nice and proggressively intensifying as the revs build, boost starts to drop off after 5500rpm in rev 1+2s with a standard ct26 turbo. The c20b on rev3+ holds boost higher up the rev range. Have a good look through the receipts for mods not just the usual servicing items etc, being imports a large number have been tweaked before entering the country, this can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you look at it.

You get a hell of alot of car for your money with a tubby, a built example sold on imoc.co.uk a while back for 6.5k with 40k-ish on the clock and 570hp under the engine lid!

[Wadeski]

I bought the electric blue one and drove it home today!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1996-TOYOTA-MR2-GT-16V-TURBO...

1996 rev 3, 53k, bone stock, cleanest one ive ever seen inside for only...£3800!

tightest feeling tubby I've ever driven. Love it!!!

Edited by Wadeski on Saturday 21st June 19:32

Edited by Wadeski on Saturday 21st June 19:33

[Marf]

Bargain! Well done mate

Enjoy the tubby goodness