What would YOU do about this?
I've wanted an 1991-1994 MR2 for a number of years. Recently I've began some research & watching sales seeing as how I have some loans paid off soon & will be freeing up a bit of money. I'm seeing some with bad bodies, rust, dents and major motor problems going for a good chunk of change. I'm seeing ones in great shape going for $7000-$9000.
As my usual routine every day or two, I opened most of the PA area Craigslisting and did a search on each for MR2. Today I came up with a possible winner.
http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/car/647652688.html
I called my insurance for a quote, which made me laugh. It's going to cost twice as much as my husband's WS6! The WS6 has nearly triple the horsepower and is the same t-top roof as the MR2. The only thing I can think explains this is that the MR2 is tiny & possibly not nearly as safe. Regardless, I can afford it, so I gave the guy a call.
We headed to his house to give it a look. It's far from perfect, but it wouldn't take much to make it close, at least visually. The door sils are paintless/rusted, there are door ding ripples all down the sides (just like my Sunfire), paint worn off the rear, emblem missing on the front, ash tray lid isn't attached anymore, automatic antenna doesn't move, no driver's visor, hole in the carpet where the driver's heel goes. Meh, nothing super bad, just what you'd expect from a 18 year old car. Other than the door sils, there is ZERO rust. He said he bought it from a guy in Jersey, but before that it was in Texas - major plus! There's no key for the trunk, so the guy doesn't even know what's going on in there, so that could be fun! It has a lot of goodies, including an intake, aftermarket headunit, upgraded brakes, good tires & a fresh inspection.
We took it out for a spin, my husband driving since I can't drive stick - yet. It's solid. It doesn't have one single rattle, not one single squeek and it's got a good solid suspension. The headlights go up and down silently. The tops don't appear to have leaked at all, the headliner doesn't have any marks. Now for the problems - it grinds going into 3rd, ugh. The speedo is off and the trip doesn't work. I know a great speedo shop, but the tranny is another thing. He said that there's a shop he knows of locally called JDM Connection that imports used transmissions from Japan and sells them for a few hundred, another few hundred to install. That's do-able.
So I'm looking at this MR2 - in okay shape, sound body with slight imperfections. It would need a tranny replacment or rebuild soon & speedo work. I've seen way worse go for way more, this seems like a steal. I can afford it now & enjoy it for summer. Or, I can wait and wait and wait until I save a good chunk of change and get one that's more perfect for me, possibly newer with better paint and no tranny problem. But what then, they're only going up in price because they're rare & the ones I want are just going to get older. Right now I'm looking at one that's 18 years old! By the time I save enough for it, I'll probably look at something that's over 20 & costs more than this one. The ones that look great to me now are going for $7000-$9000 and remember, the newest one is 14!
Meanwhile the Sunfire has more rust showing up, I found some on the roof and driver's door when I waxed it yesterday. That's 3 panels now :-( I'm thinking this is going to add up, I'd like to get an estimate soon. You can't ignore rust, it's cancer for a car. At the same time, I don't know how much I want to put into a car that's only worth about $2000, there's a point where it's not worth it and I'm not sure where that is for me just yet. I would keep the Sunfire in addition to the MR2 & Outback.
Part of me says to save and just let it go. Part of me says that this is probably one of the few chances I'll have to get a car I want & can afford. I can probably fix it and actually profit, this isn't the typical car. What would you do?
Buy a Miata.
An LS1 Miata.
... I'll even help you build it, in exchange for sexual favours from your hot friends ...
Who am I kidding? All of your friends. At the same time.
Check MR2trader.com There is tons on there and most of them for about 10 grand will get you a super clean upgraded turbo one. There is lots on there.
JinxedZ THE LOVED ONE wrote:Buy a Miata.
An LS1 Miata.
... I'll even help you build it, in exchange for sexual favours from your hot friends ...
Who am I kidding? All of your friends. At the same time.
Most of my friends are dudes, but I have one slutty friend that's kinda hot, will she do?
Don't think I'm kidding, she's a bit of a hippy and into sharing love
Z24 Speed wrote:Check MR2trader.com There is tons on there and most of them for about 10 grand will get you a super clean upgraded turbo one. There is lots on there.
Thanks for the link! Unfortunately it's also painfully obvious over there that the ones in my price range are going to have problems. Heck, there are only 2 in a 200 mile radius of me and one of them is a crazy show car that I'd never want to own, the other is over $12,000
I'm looking more in the $4000-$5000 range. At least the one I found is only an hour away!
if it was me, i would save for a newer, more reliable car. not that the mr2 won't be reliable, but i wouldn't trust it as much as a newer car. i would wait, save up for a newer car you know will last you a long time, then go after a "project car" like this. the problems it has aren't major, but they are problems and some will probably turn into projects to fix. do what you want though. if its what you've wanted for a while and have the money to spend go for it...
stargrrrl wrote:
Most of my friends are dudes, but I have one slutty friend that's kinda hot, will she do?
Don't think I'm kidding, she's a bit of a hippy and into sharing love
Post a pic.
Don't think I'm kidding ... let the negotiations begin ...
This is a good deal...I say sell the sunfire, and get the MR2. If you have a passion for the Mr2...you likely will never miss the sunfire. Besides...at some point, you guys gotta get rid of a car
The MR2 is a good project car but like any project car they have problems once you start modding. Its always fixable and not usually major but just a headache. To forwarn you a lot of the work on the car is easier to do with the motor out if that tells you anythng. But if you want an MR2 make sure you get a 3sgte thats the turbo motor. The non turbo just isnt worth it in my opinion. They are one of my favorite cars and very rare. So many people ask whoa what kinda car is that like a lotus or something. You get it all the time. There fun little cars for sure.
Atk2008 wrote:if it was me, i would save for a newer, more reliable car. not that the mr2 won't be reliable, but i wouldn't trust it as much as a newer car. i would wait, save up for a newer car you know will last you a long time, then go after a "project car" like this. the problems it has aren't major, but they are problems and some will probably turn into projects to fix. do what you want though. if its what you've wanted for a while and have the money to spend go for it...
I've got 2 reliable cars right now, so I'm kinda looking for the fun project car. So far as I can tell, the engine is in pretty great shape on this thing - it started right up and had no odd sounds or smells or anything. Problem with wanting one of these, like I said, is that the newest one of this style is 14 years old! I don't want a spyder, I want a t-bar!
JinxedZ THE LOVED ONE wrote:stargrrrl wrote:
Most of my friends are dudes, but I have one slutty friend that's kinda hot, will she do?
Don't think I'm kidding, she's a bit of a hippy and into sharing love
Post a pic.
Don't think I'm kidding ... let the negotiations begin ...
No pics of her online, sorry
DroptopPaul wrote:This is a good deal...I say sell the sunfire, and get the MR2. If you have a passion for the Mr2...you likely will never miss the sunfire. Besides...at some point, you guys gotta get rid of a car
The Sunfire is practical for everyday, but unfortunately the MR2 is not. I need to have two cars that are practical, it's come in handy tons of times. Besides, it IS black and will slip into our fleet easily! I can nearly pay for this one outright, trying to avoid financing much of anything, so there's no need to sell one car to afford another
I'm actually enjoying picturing my neighbor's face when she'd see we have 5 cars for the 2 of us
Z24 Speed wrote:The MR2 is a good project car but like any project car they have problems once you start modding. Its always fixable and not usually major but just a headache. To forwarn you a lot of the work on the car is easier to do with the motor out if that tells you anythng. But if you want an MR2 make sure you get a 3sgte thats the turbo motor. The non turbo just isnt worth it in my opinion. They are one of my favorite cars and very rare. So many people ask whoa what kinda car is that like a lotus or something. You get it all the time. There fun little cars for sure.
How reliable are the turbo ones? The guy selling this one has had 4 & is selling to get his 5th, he said the non-turbo are the same as a Camry engine and will last forever. The car is pretty zippy as it is, I'd be afraid almost to drive one with a turbo! Although I'm sure I could adjust with time
I don't plan to mod beyond maybe wheels or something, I'd only want to fix it to great visual and mechanical shape and enjoy driving it around.
if you're looking for a fun project car, I think you found yourself a winner then
they're good cars, loads of fun, and the sky is the limit, even though you may not venture much, you'll enjoy it.
They are awesome cars. Mine is for sale, but it is in Canada.
Check it out:
MR2 JDM spec
www.drluc.ca
He 'found one with a blown motor and want[s ] to rescue it'... Sounds like a pretty shady reason to let go of a car, personally, particularly if he's considering on buying another exactly similar car... If it were in perfect shape, it'd make alot more sense to pull the engine and tranny, sell those off, and install the third-gen motor, particularly since the tranny is toast anyways.
Caveat Emptor.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edited Monday, April 21, 2008 7:13 AM
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2002 Sunfire -->
- Ractive steering wheel
- ASA 17" EM9 + Nexen N5000 215/45/17 (steelies for winter)
- D-Spec Lowering kit @ 1.4" (issues currently
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- Rockford P250.1 + MTX MZS1004 + Panasonic CQ-C8313U head unit
- Barely legal tint.
sip - car looks nice, but it is so far away and is rhd and red, I wouldn't want it
He seems really honest, although I'm pretty skeptical of many people. I found his myspace & looked through it, he's a pure car guy! He travels to meet up with MR2 groups states away, I don't know.... doesn't seem shady to me. He's had this car he's selling for a month & then what he's been waiting for has turned up when he didn't expect it - he's having it shipped to him from Missouri. He went over the whole car with us showing every single little thing that didn't work, he wanted to make sure we knew everything. He was also willing to bring the car an hour to us, but I insisted that we go to him since he had a chance of getting called into work.
I'm leaning more towards passing it up now. My one buddy here at work pointed out that by the time I fix mechanicals and slap on new paint, I may have just bought one that's already in that kind of good shape. He has a point. Although I'm trying not to finance much, which is part of what this car had going for it. I'm kinda sad about making the decision, but at the same time it's more money I can put into landscaping & a new deck this summer.
build it at your leisure though, and that money is put into it, its the way YOU want it, rather then someone else. Your call...
Well you know I am gonna say buy it
DroptopPaul wrote:build it at your leisure though, and that money is put into it, its the way YOU want it, rather then someone else. Your call...
You've got a point, although I just want it stock, so there's nothing really special that would make it "me"
Phlatcav wrote:Well you know I am gonna say buy it
Yeah yeah... and as much as I've offered to take yours off your hands, for some reason I just shot this guy an email and told him I was going to pass
I'm not sure this is the right time to take on such a project, I'd rather have it ready out of the box like yours
I've gone over my finances with a fine tooth comb & realized that every debt I have will be paid (minus mortgage) in the next 5 months or so, all but one gone in 3 months, so I'll be able to save a good chunk of change in the next year or so. Maybe next summer I'll pick up an MR2 in great shape, or use that money down on something better. Either way, I'm going to save & try again later
The guy is seriously too nice. He wrote back and told me he knows of a guy selling another black '91 with only 90,000 miles for the same price he was asking & he offered me a link to the sale. Wish he lived closer, seems like a cool dude!
