Thinking Of Buyin This....

[mattmr2]

Am lookin a buyin this at the mo,

It has a small amount of damage as you can see but easily fixed. Its done 18,000 miles which is pretty good for a '95'. The plan is to do it up as a Rogue Systems show car and the final mod will be to stick in a 3SGTE. The Engine looks immaculate as does the rest of the car, which is nice, from what I can see its pretty much standard which is what i'm after.

Insurance for me will be about £1300, which is a bit crap but never mind. The thing I like most is the colour - quite a rare one for the UK.

Let me know your thoughts,

Matt

[Yarisboy]

why not, as u say the damage is easily fixed... other than the crash it looks in pretty decent form, and only 18k since 95.... lovely.

why is the insurance so horiffic?

im estimating my insurance to be £2000 3rd party T&T for my mr2 :(

[dj_davo]

im sure u got all the tools you'll nedd at rogue, but wouldnt it be better to buy a tubby in the first place instead of doing the engine swap?

or is that half of the challenge and the fun?

there must be loads tubbys that are damaged repairables (see what u mean about the colour tho').

hold on a bit for a few more snowy days, then jimlads will probably be available :P

[Dame]

I would have thought buying a turbo would be a fair bit cheaper on the insurance, since a car with a turbo engine fitted is regarded as highly modified. Is the £1300 for a turbo? If it is, have you told them it is a N/A with a Turbo engine conversion?

The colour is nice though, and to repair, looks like it needs a new nose, new near side wing, and new nearside headlamp and near side indicators etc. (I suspect you'll have all of these from the doner cars). The bonnet should be easy enough to straighten. As long as the car isn't bent and doesn't require rejigging, you should be ok.

[mattmr2]

The insurance shouldn't be more that a couple of hundred more with the transplant in it. May go up with the kit and the lights etc, but then i'm not paying for the mods so it works out well me thinks. The reason i'm starting with an N/A is two fold:

1 - If I started with a tubby i'd get trigger happy and shoot myself in the foot - £££££

2 - The plan is to source the engine seperatly and build it up to about 300 at the wheels whilst its out of the car, i'll do it bit by bit as and when I can afford to - should be a beast when its finished!

Just got to make the decision - I'm pretty sure its gonna be a yes - I'm just worried a better one will come along in a weeks time and i'll be ****** off.

Matt.

[Dame]

Matt, I would still check to be sure. Heard a few horror stories on IMOC about very high premiums for transplant cars....It's only a phone call

[Roytoner]

At the end of the day it's up to you But if it was me it would be at home by now :D

By the way any idea what the colour is called ??

[Bibbs]

Get it .. those silvers are quality and so much nicer than the early rev1/2 colour .. I'd also look as getting the chromed rims instead of the rev4 greys ..

I've seen what you have in stock up there (and some of your plans) .. and I'm sure with a few hours work your'd have it sorted.

It's only a front end, front wing and bonnet .. (and £1300 is VERY expensive).

[mattmr2]

Bare in mind I have 1 yrs no claims and i'm 22. Gonna contact a few other places to get quotes 2mrw and hopefully get the price down. I don't want to tell people how much i'm paying for it but i would like people to tell me what they think its worth - so i don't think i'm getting ripped off...remember its a low mile '95' G - limited.

[Bibbs]

about 5-6k would seem reasonable ..

[Dame]

Don't forget, check a engine transplant quote, you may regret it otherwise. Don't want to be naggy but you could be awfully dissapointed.

[Roytoner]

about 5-6k would seem reasonable ..

As I take it is on the register ( insurance write off's ) about £ 1500 max

that is it was dameged over here !! if not GET IT BOUGHT!! YOU ARE GOING TO DO ANYWAY!!

( is it in the U.K. ?? )all the cars around it look from the U.S.

[gus]

at the end of the day mate its your choice because its your money but if i can put my two peneth in go for it its a diamond mate :group-cuddles:

[Bibbs]

As I take it is on the register ( insurance write off's )

Not if it's in Japan mate ..

[Dame]

at the end of the day mate its your choice because its your money but if i can put my two peneth in go for it its a diamond mate

I agree. The damage looks worse than it is. As long as the car is not bent in any way it should be quite easy to fix (well as easy as replacing wind and nose Cone).

[mattmr2]

The car is in japland and looking at it i'm fairly sure there will be no damage to the subframe so I think its a goer - i've put in an offer and am waiting to hear back...

[Roytoner]

If you buy a car from over there and it's not on the road ie damaged

do you pay less tax and that to get it in the country??

[mattmr2]

No you don't - unless its been cut in half before it gets shipped, which could raise some safty issues - nothing a bit of fibre glass couldn't fix though, what do you reckon russ!!!

[CraigT]

To be honest Id probably leave it. You could get an MR2 thats already here in the UK without crash damage for a good price.

That milage for a '95 car might be questionable, car's are gettin clocked all the time.

Finally I notice that it has seat covers, covering up worn leathers or stained cloth seats?

I think it would have been much more viable if the car was in the UK so that you could give it a good looking over. There are a lot of things you dont see in a photograph.

At the end of the day I guess it all boils down to the cost. If you are gettin this car at a shockingly good price then go for it. If not then you'd probably be better of checking autotrader for MR2's in the UK or importing a tubby.

[mattmr2]

You make some good points - I've looked in to prices of cars in the UK and this one works out cheaper, but as you say its damaged, the thing is i have access to free MR2 parts where i work so the damage doesn't bother me so much.

Saying that i decided I wanted an import from day one, I've dimantled many MR's over the last 12 months and the imports are in a far better condition. Take an ARB for example, on a car in the UK it would be rusted to sh*t, on an import the factory fit sticker may be a little grubby.... Its down to the fact we use salt on the road. I felt as is a project car its best to start with some thing that has sound mechanics.

Its unlikley the car has been clocked - looking at how clean the engine bay is along with the rest of the car it looks like its just rolled out of the factory, the steering wheel looks untouched! having said that the engine won't be in there for too long anyway. I have thought about buying a tubby but i have a fear of it being thrashed - i'd rater build one up from stock so I know it won't fail on me.

I agree about the seats, but whats stopping them being mint seats being covered to keep them nice - in my experience they don't tend to dress up the cars in the photos at salvage places!!!

Matt

[Dame]

I think it will be fine as long as it's cheap enough. Remember you'll have to pay import tax etc. From what I recall MR2's cost peanuts at Jap auctions.

[mattmr2]

You have to pay freight, import tax and VAT and then get it collected from southampton - and it still works out cheaper, its crazy really.

[midmotorsteve]

that looks like the bulk head could be damaged. I'd leave it, when i was younger i spun my dads celica into a wall and wrote it off, to look at we though (as did the initial insurance assossor) new front and rear wing new door and back to new, when the final total came in £13,000 worth of damage a month later we had a call from some one that had bought it to repair and wanted the spare keys, when we told him this he was gutted said he'd already bought it and he'd get back to us, he never did.

[Bibbs]

then get it collected from southampton

pop in on your way mate ..

[Titto]

Bit of a risky business matt buying damaged cars...you really never know if they are more damaged than meets the eye.

Id personally steer clear and use that £1300 for repairs or whatever to put towards one you def know is safe.

Adam