Tips For Buying A Roadster

March 7, 2004

Hi, I am looking at MR2 Roadsters around 3 years old, and wonder if anyone has any tips of what to look out for. We will probably buy private, as a few we have seen at dealer seem over priced by around £2000.

Any help appreciated.

Thanks.

Big Ian

March 8, 2004

The car is pretty hard wearing, so its hard to go wrong and hard to give you anything other than the usual general points to look for, although there are a few tips...

When looking the car over, be aware the panel gaps around the front and rear bumpers are pretty variable, although the rest of the car should be up to Toyotas usual quality. A tell tale sign of a repair would be if the bolt on body panels have thier stickers missing. All the panels on the MR2 have a small sticker on them with the vehicles VIN number on it. Its not the end of the world if they're missing, but uits certainly tiem to ask questions.

Imports. Japanese imports have quite a few differences from the uk model. EU imports have nearly none. Toyota GB import the car as a RHD EU market version, and add:

Alarm (Immobiliser is fitted from factory)

Awful Sony stereo

Roadster Badge

Glass etching

Locking wheel nuts.

Other than those items, the car is identical in every respect. Other than the price of course... Its one of the few cars on the market to have so few differences...

Look out for kerbed wheels. The whole point of this car is the handling, and kerbing the wheels is only going to disturb the suspension and chassis balance. Most cars this age will be on thier second or even 3rd set of alloys due to the long running paint quality issue, so its not definitive. Put your car through a 4 wheel alignment after you buy it just to be sure you are getting the whole experience! I do mine once a year and it transforms the car...

For more info on things to look for, and more definitive answers, look up the MR2 Roadster Owners Club, where the members will be able to give you all sorts of info, and maybe even sell you car thats been well looked after...

Link below in sig line.