Hi..

I am in the market for an mk1 mr2, preferably a supercharged one. Can anyone give me some tips on what to look out for, oil leaks, known rust areas etc? Also which year is best to go for, I read somewhere that the later models had improved suspension/chassis’s.

TIA
Surinder

hi surinder, so you finally deciding to go for that mk1 as a cheap elise eh?

good choice I think m8, especially the supercharged version!

well, expect to pay £1500-2000 for a well looked after mk1... and if you're paying the best part of £2000 then you should make sure it's in VERY good condition

The last of these cars were made in 1989, and date back as early as 1985.... As with any car that's 20 years old+ you've obviously got to be careful what you buy.

I would HIGHLY recomend you buy an owners club car.... these are the ones that over-enthusiastic mk1 owners have poured £thousands into, and if you're lucky you might find a bargain.

[url="http://mr2mk1club.com/"]mr2 mk1 club[/url]
[url="http://imoc.co.uk/"]imoc[/url]

Obviously, the younger the car the better.... (to an extent)... try to find an 88/89 model as these were the last made and theoretically are the ones that should be in best condition.

Things to watch out for are:

rusting on the rear arches, bubbling is an early sign of rust... the mk1's had some strange thing where toyota put a sponge material inbetween the rear arch lips and so they loved water... resulting in rust in 99% of all untreated cars.

The engines usually need a cam belt replacing at 60k and 120k... finding a mk1 with 60k on will be very rare (unless its a rebuild) ... realistically they'll all be around 100k miles.

The engines also idle at high revs compared to modern cars.. this isn't a fault it's just a characteristic of the car... they idle at about 1000rpm in the cold if I remember rightly.

The other obvious things that will need attending to are the brakes (warped discs etc), handbrake can be a problem area, make sure no water has gotten into the oil (mayonaise type look), and if it's a t-bar check for a leaky roof.

There can be a couple more problems but I can't remember completely off the top of my head... they're all very fixable though, some more expensive than others... you'll find all the info you need on the above mk1 website.

Ideally you want some complete nut who has already fixed all of these problems for you ... and is being forced to sell his pride and joy due to personal reasons (baby on the way etc)... and you do see them on that mk1 site as well from time to time!....

If you wanted a bit of a project for yourself you could aquire yourself a supercharger kit off a knackered/written off car etc and then fit the charger to your N/A mk1... there are guys who've done this as opposed to buying the SC mk1.. (actually i'm not sure how many SC mk1's are left??)

Word of warning though mate... if you're planning to keep the car a while then be prepared to invest some money into it to keep it running nice... these cars are 20+ years old now and demand attention to keep them looking and performing well.

Wish I had the money to get one for the summer, I think they're little crackers! that box shape is just so 80's it's cool. Plus you hardly see them on the road anymore which is a nice exclusivity factor!

Good luck with your hunting mate, I demand a ride when you get it

Sam

bump...

got that info surinder?

Thanks Sam, a lot of good stuff there

Found one local to me for £800, if you do a search in autotrader and put the postcode wv4 5dw it's about 3rd/4th in the list, blue G reg mk1 mr2.

Also spotted a mag called retro, who have done a feature on mk1 mr2's this month. Some good info in there too.

Just gota wait for my sale on the YTS to go throu, then i'll a few spare $$$ to buy the mr2

How much headroom is there in a mk1 mr2?

I am 5' 11" and it occured to me today that i might not comfortably be able to get into a mk1 mr2, can anyone help with this as i was going out this weekend to look at two cars for sale locally.

[url="http://users.autoexposure.co.uk/classicdd.cfm?Account=AETA17270&VehicleID=AETV620140&Photo=http://users.autoexposure.co.uk/is/remotemanaged/AETA17270/AETV620140_1a.jpg"]http://users.autoexposure.co.uk/classicdd....TV620140_1a.jpg[/url]

What do you guys rekon to the car in the link? is it worth the asking price from what you can see?

TIA

Hi,

I've had 3 MK1s and I am 6 ft and nearly 19 stone........I love the gym !

Sure it was a little cramped and I sure looked wierd driving it but they were the most fun cars I've had for the money, you could chuck them into corners without the worry of being flipped back the other way without warning as with the Mk2s.

Obviously they are not as large inside as the Mk2s but headroom is good, the only tight spot you may find is getting your knees under the steering wheel.....

But all in all great fun.