MR2 Spyder: Teach me oh wise ones

Found a 2001 on Kijiji that looks interesting. 200k KM/120k miles. Looks to be in good shape listed at $6500.

What do I need to know about these? Any major issues for the model? Performance? Car would be year round DD and track rat. I'd also need a cheap 4 door applience, but that's another thread.

Thanks

Jeff

I drove them fairly often when I worked for a Toyota dealer.
Lightweight, fun to drive, corolla engine, better motors swap in fairly easily, nimble and fun to drive.

They have NO storage space though. The front trunk has just the compact spare in three, no real room for anything else, and the only other storage is two cubbies behind the seats, barely big enough to hold stuff for 2 for a weekend.

Better sports car than a Miata. Worse everyday car than a Miata.

Don't know of any real issues with them. Maybe just oiling issues under extreme extended Gs. Apparently the ZZ engines are prone to this? Not something i'd worry about a WHOLE lot. If you are worried, i believe there's a Moroso pan available.

Thanks for the info. That's kind of what I was hoping for. Mid engine fun, great handling, change the oil regularly and forget about it reliability.

I know I'm in the minority here, and I'm sure it's a mental defect on my part, but Miatas really don't do anything for me.

Do these things have any rust issues? The one I'm interested in looks clean and I'll get it oiled every year.

Thanks

How tall are you? I am 6'2" and I couldn't get comfortable.

The big one is actually the pre-cats breaking up and getting sucked into the engine. I leave it to your imagination what they do to the engine internals.

That said, with 200,000km on the clock it's either got a new engine already or someone has taken steps to alleviate the issue.

I tried one, quite liked it but they are certainly a much less practical car than either of its predecessors. Fun to drive though, but I ended up buying an Elise that amongst other things turned out to be more practical than the MR2...

Jeff wrote: Do these things have any rust issues? The one I'm interested in looks clean and I'll get it oiled every year. Thanks

I've never seen rust on one.

They seem expensive compared to a comparable miata. I like them, though.

rotard wrote: They seem expensive compared to a comparable miata. I like them, though.

Cheaper around here...

The problem is that hardtops are quite a bit more expensive, and i wouldn't want to have either car without one.

I really like mine.

Gut the pre cats when you get it. Roll bar with softtop apparently is possible but you lose a lot of the rear interior.
I think of it as a good combo of the NA and NC miata. Interior space and power similar to the NC but light weight, direct handling and fun sportscar feel of the NA.

Storage really isn't bad. The rear bins will fit two soft sided duffels and flipping the spare gives you a lot more storage in the frunk. The glove box is good size and because of the larger interior you have more width to put maps and small items then in a miata. Also there is a decent sized area in the top of the dash for sunglasses and small things. My wife and I had no problem taking a 5 day trip in the MR2.

The view out over he nose is unique as is the oveall feel of the car. I have no problem fitting the mr2 @ 6' 230lbs but a miata of any generation is snug.

BoxheadTim wrote: The big one is actually the pre-cats breaking up and getting sucked into the engine. I leave it to your imagination what they do to the engine internals.

Interesting, my Sentra had the same issue. Fortunately, the pre-cat was still intact when the manifold was removed for the turbo installation. I even sold the original manifold.

Locally they are comparable to similar miatas. Realize the entire production run of MR2 spyders is probably about equal to 1 year of red miata production (25k US total apparently).

Also gas mileage. I get 33 mpg average in mine. On our trip to Deals Gap and SMNP we averaged 38 mpg including the tanks @ the dragon and through the park. I've owned 6 miatas of all 3 generations and the best tank I've ever gotten with a Miata is 30mpg on a all highway run in an NC. The others could rarely exceed 28mpg. I realize this isn't why we buy fun cars but I'm impressed with the MPG of the spyder.

I have a 2001. Everything I would say has been covered and all of the above is true, yada yada, reinforcement. That is all I have.

Never had an MR2 Spyder. I've owned MK1s and an MK2, as well as NA and NC Miata. I was drooling over the Spyder when it first came out, but never got one. They're dead nuts reliable from what I've heard.

Nocones, it's interesting what you say about Miata mileage. My NC averaged right around 30mpg, maybe a touch higher (mostly rural road driving). My current NA averages 34mpg.

93EXCivic wrote: How tall are you? I am 6'2" and I couldn't get comfortable.

same here.....I was pissed the spyder had less legroom than my 1st gens.

nocones wrote: Locally they are comparable to similar miatas. Realize the entire production run of MR2 spyders is probably about equal to 1 year of red miata production (25k US total apparently). Also gas mileage. I get 33 mpg average in mine. On our trip to Deals Gap and SMNP we averaged 38 mpg including the tanks @ the dragon and through the park. I've owned 6 miatas of all 3 generations and the best tank I've ever gotten with a Miata is 30mpg on a all highway run in an NC. The others could rarely exceed 28mpg. I realize this isn't why we buy fun cars but I'm impressed with the MPG of the spyder.

It's nice when a car can be fun and frugal. Gas up here works out to be just under $5 a gallon. So yeah, 33-38 mpg sounds good to me.

I have little to add to this thread, but have you seen how damn sexy these cars are with hard tops?

Thats whats up.

There's an article on them in this months GRM.

I personally really like the 2nd gen a lot, the first gen a little less and the 3rd gen not at all so I must be about typical according to the article.

Only problem I know about is oiling problems in hard corners. Get a good oil pan with baffles and a trap door box.

CLNSC3 wrote: I have little to add to this thread, but have you seen how damn sexy these cars are with hard tops? Thats whats up.

I don't think they sold the hardtops over here, did they?

The body kits make a bigger difference than the hardtop to me. Go back to a stock body kit on the model above and it'll start to look like Malibu Barbie's ride again.

I was just thinking about this when I was filling up my Spyder at the gas station today.

1 other area of issue is the 17' long engine cover release cable and release latch tend to stretch over time and will fail to release the cover. I fixed mine by re-inforcing the latch and spacing out the cable sheath to remove the slack. If it happens push the egg crate in above the exhaust (It just snaps in from the inside) and you can reach your arm in and pull on the sheath to release the latch.

The top also has this wierd strap that is supposed to help the top fold into the car instead of sitting on the bulkhead trim. Mine was broken and apparently this is comon. It's no big deal the top just needs to be tucked in for the OEM look or you can just let it fold how it wants and it will be fine.

I also can't beleive how many people dog on this car for it's looks. It's understandable to dog on ugly cars that also are terrible. The MR2 spyder though is an amazing sports car that happens to have missed a bit on the styling.

Here's one of my favorites: