opinions of 2000-2004 mr2 ?

[drew]

i'm going tomorow to look at an 03 mr2 sypder that looks pretty nice, bone stock with low miles. how are these cars? they seem to be underpowered but the power to weight ratios makes up for that.

[drew]

anyone?

[LSHatch]

Well, what do you want to know?

My buddies is boosted, runs in the 12's and still whoops ass at the autocross.

[PaleDSM]

Absolutely fantastic cars. Completely changed my view on pretty much every other car. They are low on power compared to a Camaro or SRT4 but thy only weigh 2250 so it doesn't take much to have fun in them. Great community and decent aftermarket for the car. I like mine so much that I am selling my other car to pick up another.

You can see my yellow 00 in my avatar. Built motor swap and 6 spd trans swap.

[WRXD]

my dad drives a '00 Mr2 Spyder or MrS as its is sometimes called. Its a really fun car, mid engine rwd, handles great, convertable for that bling factor and people that have no idea what it is think its a porsche. It definitely doesnt have the power that my stage 2 does, but because its so small it feels really quick.

in this months SCC, a boosted Mr2 blew the doors off of an Elise at the track.

[sisforsurfing]

I love those little cars. If I ever build a track car (which I hopefully will), it will be an MR2 if I can't afford an Elise. Toyota build quality, big aftermarket, and super-light mid-engined chassis.

Absolutely fantastic cars. Completely changed my view on pretty much every other car. They are low on power compared to a Camaro or SRT4 but thy only weigh 2250 so it doesn't take much to have fun in them. Great community and decent aftermarket for the car. I like mine so much that I am selling my other car to pick up another.

You can see my yellow 00 in my avatar. Built motor swap and 6 spd trans swap.
yeah, that sounds awesome.

[JNZTuning]

So what did you think of the car Drew?

SMT or Auto trans?

[Dave]

swap in a 2zz or a b series and you have a cheap elise

[lagos]

the 90-93 mr2 turbo is where its at.

[Dave]

the 90-93 mr2 turbo is where its at.

those arent as light and they have demonic oversteer

[PaleDSM]

2ZZ swap is getting more popular. That is what I have in mine. There are 3 K20 swapped cars. No B series motor swaps that I know of.

[Evolved]

Potentially major problems, plan on replacing the engine.

[Dave]

2ZZ swap is getting more popular. That is what I have in mine. There are 3 K20 swapped cars. No B series motor swaps that I know of.

hmm srt4 swap would pwn all...*ponders

[PaleDSM]

Potentially major problems, plan on replacing the engine.

Misinformed post.

[Keyan]

Misinformed post.

^ I agree. It's just a corolla motor.

I work for toyota and service these on a semi-regular basis. They are always fun to drive and amazingly I fit in them with no problems (6 feet tall, 230 pounds, size 14 foot)

The one I am wow-ed by the most is the MR-S with the semi-manual gearbox. You shift neutral, reverse, + and - , but there is no clutch pedal. But there is a clutch. The transmission engages it for you. It is the weirdest senstation pulling away from a stop and feeling it slip the clutch while you take off for a perfect launch, and perfect shift every time.

Swap in a Celica GT-S motor (also found in the '03 Matrix XRS and '03 Corolla XRS) and the car is FAST!

Midship Runabout FTMFW

[Evolved]

Misinformed post.

I know three people with a Mr2, two of them had to replace the engine. Explain how that's misinformed?

And by the way don't just say "misinformed post". Explain why, the whole point of message boards is to exchange info and help people out.

[Uberu]

Potentially major problems, plan on replacing the engine.



"And by the way don't just say "misinformed post". Explain why, the whole point of message boards is to exchange info and help people out."

Aren't you doing the same exact thing by stating, "potentially major problems" without specifying which problems could occur and why they would occur? Just sounds a little hypocritical.

[Evolved]

"And by the way don't just say "misinformed post". Explain why, the whole point of message boards is to exchange info and help people out."

Aren't you doing the same exact thing by stating, "potentially major problems" without specifying which problems could occur and why they would occur? Just sounds a little hypocritical.

So what is it that you are doing?

pre cat failure by the way.

[foss]

how'd you like it? they seem like neat cars.

[Uberu]

So what is it that you are doing?

pre cat failure by the way.

being an asshole

[PaleDSM]

I know three people with a Mr2, two of them had to replace the engine. Explain how that's misinformed?

And by the way don't just say "misinformed post". Explain why, the whole point of message boards is to exchange info and help people out.


I will elaborate then.

2000-2003 have the highest incidence of precat failure which leads to excessive oil consumption and a new motor. Anyone who knows anything about the car guts the precats to eleviate the problem. With that problem (doesn't effect as many as it is made out to be, like crank walk in DSMs) and the motors run strong for a long time.

03+ cars have a much lower incedence of the precat failure but the owners generally gut the precats or replace the header with one that doesn't have cats in it such as the Che's or TRD.

The motors do burn more oil than most other production engines so if you are not on top of it you will run into problem. That is where 80% of the spun rod bearing stories come from.

I can go on when I have more time if need be.

[Evolved]

I will elaborate then.

2000-2003 have the highest incidence of precat failure which leads to excessive oil consumption and a new motor. Anyone who knows anything about the car guts the precats to eleviate the problem. With that problem (doesn't effect as many as it is made out to be, like crank walk in DSMs) and the motors run strong for a long time.

03+ cars have a much lower incedence of the precat failure but the owners generally gut the precats or replace the header with one that doesn't have cats in it such as the Che's or TRD.

The motors do burn more oil than most other production engines so if you are not on top of it you will run into problem. That is where 80% of the spun rod bearing stories come from.

I can go on when I have more time if need be.

First of all thanks for writing that out.

If the original owner wasn't an enthusiast then they wouldn't know about the potential problem and therefore wouldn't gut the cat.

[PaleDSM]

I guess I take it for granted that people research the cars thoroughly before hand. I would never buy one of these without checking it's service history and pulling the O2 sensors to check the conditions of the precats. At 52k mine were still in great shape but I have seen plenty that were starting to deteriorate already. Luckily the precat killings are usually covered under the Toyota warranty. Some have even had them covered under the 100k emmisions warranty.