gordyshreds

Looking at one tomorrow, 1990 UK model, 2.0 N/A engine. Anyone owned one before? pros? cons? hard to work on? reliable? want something retro and fun for the summer

cheers

RWD_cossie_wil

iTrader: (9)

Pain to work on, generally very reliable, I like them.

RS Grant

iTrader: (1)

Handling can be a little fruity on early MK2 MR2's but as above, make fairly reliable fun and don't cost the earth to run IMO.


Cheers,
Grant

robbie1988

iTrader: (1)

If engine is cold when you get there check for squeals from the alternator/belt as this is common on Mk2's - rain drip tray drips straight onto the alternator and this over time knackers them.

My next door neighbour has one and he has to start it twice a day otherwise the alternator seizes and needs either replacing or freeing off.

We have freed his off twice now and replaced the belt twice

Put a turbo bootlid on it now and drips away from this area, is a very common fault from what I have seen on the N/A engines

Rob

robbie1988

iTrader: (1)

P.S my neighbour bought his as his everyday/winter car and so far has been good and very reliable. Check for squeaks from steering as top mounts can sometimes cause this and both had to be replaced when he bought it.

Rob

Adam.

I had one and loved it! very reliable, found it very tail happy (which i loved)

Fudgey

iTrader: (4)

my brother had a R reg rev 3, very nice car to drive and quite pokey.

absoluty useless in the snow lol and 235 rear tyres were fairly pricey.

i liked driving a lot.

my mate also had a j reg one, we slung the 3sgte egine in that, it went very well lol.

im actually half on the hunt for a celica gt4, but funds wont allow for a few months yet

MadMac

Double Post

MadMac

Haven't owned one myself, but about 3/4 of my friends have, one of them even owned three at one time

Generally, if they have been looked after they are mega reliable, sadly a lot of them have had a hard life, especially the turbo ones, and because they are quite tough to work on, not many have been serviced properly.

My friends always said, check the paperwork thoroughly.

Enginetuner

Like the NA's hate the turbos.

Rab

I had one. It was great. Never broke down and was good on petrol too!

Not very fast though. Avoid the T-Bars unless you enjoy getting wet!

CrOwSoN15

The Turbo is the way to go, but N/A are still pokey things. I like them, can look quite cool with some different wheels, I'd go some old JDM Advan 3 spokes!

Adam.

Heres my old one. loved it!, stuck some lexus is200 wheels on it, and had trouble free sideways motoring:

Glenn_

iTrader: (1)

My friend had a turboed one.It was a quick car.Well it was until it blew up.The engine throw a con rod through the block.

There a bastard to work on.

PeterRST

iTrader: (1)

I've got a 1991 NA one and a 1992 Turbo.

As said before, they are a bit of a pain to work on. However they do handle really nicely and make a brillant little sports car for small money. Turbos are proper quick too. Mine's almost at standard boost (around 250 bhp at a rough guess) but feels way faster than my standard cossie.

Things to look out for:

- Rust, mainly on the sills and the T-Bar roof. Not as much of an issue as on Fords of the same era though.

- seized up top mounts in the front which are quite pricey to replace. Check for any clonks when steering from lock to lock

- worn out syncronizer rings in the gearbox, mainly 2nd gear. Very common fault on early models, I doubt you'll find one with a perfect gearbox so just live with it (double clutching!) or get it refurbished

- leaking cam covers

- and finally the BIGGEST issue and BIGGEST pain in the arse: Since it's mid-engined, there are metal pipes running from the engine to the heater matrix in the front. They have a habit of cracking and leaking, hence being called "pipes of hell" amongst MR2 owners). Access is really bad since they run above the fuel tank. Some people have replaced them (handing over several 100 quid), others (like me) have just run additional rubber hoses from front to rear. So watch out for any signs of coolant loss or signs of coolant around the plastic undertray, mainly around the area between drivers seat and rear wheel arch.

RichardPON

I had a Rev2 Turbo..... great fun!



Sideways:



Too sideways!

stevos

Rev 3 turbo is my fave great reliable and fairly quick great looking car also

Jim Galbally

i had pon's MR2 after he had it.

didnt really like it much TBH and dont even think about driving one fast unless you're competent at catching a slide.

quick tho!

unfortunately i got unlucky and had to spend a fair ammount of wedge fixing mine, found it difficuly to find places that knew what they were doing when working on them too.

that being said, when it was in tip top condition and running right it wasnt a bad little motor.

zippyobrien

iTrader: (2)

Hated mine. Fucker to work on and shockingly bad on fuel. Was a na rev 3.

Wished it had the LSD tbh. Prob would have been better then.

gouch1

the turbo ones are nowt but hasstle go n/a

PeterRST

iTrader: (1)

What led you to this qualified conclusion?

Oranoco

Love driving these had a few friends suffer with problems. As one friend can vouch for when he took me out in another friends car when it decided to spin the shells. Breaking down right outside a pikey site neither of us were willing to leave the car where it died

1.9 xr2 on 40's

theres a mk1 local to me with a welded diff and a big dent in the door

deffo must have been fun!!

cheap too

Ellie

I had a 92 plate one. Looked great and drove really well. Repairs are expensive and things started going wrong with mine (altenator, some plug thing that i cant even remember what it was for but made water leak in the engine, failed MOT spectacularly, plus a load of suspension stuff).
Ended up having to sell it without an MOT for £400 to some mechanic from manchester.

Tempted to go for a turbo model but im put off by how much i had to keep spending on my other one. Plus id end up crashing it!!

I had the worn syncro rings dropping down to 2nd gear, and the rocker cover leaked oiled onto the altenator.

Theres also the dreaded 'wheel wobble' where the back end starts wobbling violently at higher speeds. Spoken to a few people that have had it and i ended up having loads of suspension work done to fix it. Cant remember the exact parts now.

Ellie

yes, this.

gouch1

you answerd that for me
ive had 3 2 turbos and a na the turbos both fooked up overheated warped heads 5th gears fook up blow of valves die leading to turbo damage my mate had a turbo that also fooked up more than once and they are shit to work on rot like fook we used to get them from the dock auctions in liverpool fresh imprtorts
have you had one

bunnymofo

ma mate had a turbo one. he has put the floorpan, running gear and engine into a space framed metro.

Shings

Had a few turbo ones pass through my hands and an N/A one for a bit I liked em for what they were at the time.

Went out in Pons too with him at the helm and liked it when driven properly.....

My top 3 issues.

1 Finding knowledgable people was a pain a few years ago.
2 Difficult to work on.
3 Not practical for anything other than driving.

J