Newb Looking For A Rev1 Mk2

[Wh1teL1ght]

Ok.... so i have read that you have all beenasked a hundred times for help and a list of what to look for when buying a mk2.

i have already learnt the following:

Check:

Front suspension for knocking,

Gearbox for gears popping out

Go for a car with:

Good serivce history (even if its got a high ish milleage)

good condition

Im after a non Tbar, preffereably the sunroof model, with the Ge lump but pretty good nick.

a freind bought his for £800 and no one can see anything worng with it at all.

he gets 400miles to a tank (£45ish) etc (is this normal)

I would love a Yellow one but am open to most that come along (althought ideally Not a Red one...im fed up of polishing what i have not from pink to red)

can anyone give many pointers as to places to look for rust etc and things to avoid etc.

also an idea how much a Cam belt will cost fitted would be good,

hope this isnt too much,

Cheers

Joe.

[Distro]

I'm not 100% about mileage but i will probably know by tonight (driving mine back 200 miles) which i just paid £800 like your mate, so it's not a too unreasonable price to expect to get hold of one for.

just Google mr2 mk2 and in the first 5 or so links there's several buyers guides and such.

http://www.revision6.com/Services/RoutineServicing.aspx all kinds of service prices through these mr2 specialists, there's a cambelt part + labour price on there somewhere

Rust/bubbling will almost deffinately be on arches and the bottom of doors, but take someone that know about buying cars with you to look it over (that's what im doing atleast)

Every MR2 i've looked at had brilliant service history purely because they're usually owned by an enthusiastic guy/gal

I'll post about consumption when im back tonight or tomorrow if no-one else does.

[Wh1teL1ght]

Brilliant thankyou,

Am i correct in guessing that you looked at a whole load of MR2's before settling for yours. what were your main reasons for walking away(if you dont mind me asking)

[Distro]

main reasons for me were because i couldn't drive it away there and then also i wanted a white t-bar and was looking to pay £1000 or less, basically i was just being too fussy.

Another thing was things like, rust being too bad, or lack of history. Along with this is the cam belt change (has to be done every 60k) so try to get one that was done the last time 40k or less miles. Oh, check insurance (if you're still quite young like myself) i found using confused.com that insuring a 1990-1994 GT T-Bar was the cheapest anything 1995 onwards sent my quote sky rocketing.

Definately don't settle for the first one you see (i looked around and im getting some pretty new good condition alloys worth over 1/3 the price of the car) but also don't be too fussy, having a few jobs to do on the car isn't such a bad thing providing its nothing too majorly expensive.

If you go for a test drive make sure the car hasn't been run just before you get there. This is something i've arranged today myself at the command of my housemate. Car engines tend to knock because of something to do with the bottom end of the engine and the oil (i think it was water in the oil or something) but after the car has been run a while the knocking disapates. This is an early sign of a failure of the engine in some way or another.

Dont take my word on the last point though because i'm just recalling from memory what he said to me, you would definitely want to look this up though.

Hope i've been a help as im also quite new to MR2s and the forums, started looking for one about 2 months ago and have done nothing but read since.

[Distro]

Oh another thing :P

If the MOT is due within a month or two and they say things like "should pass next MOT fine" then suggest they put it through the MOT and if it passes, like they say it should, you will pay for the MOT and buy the car.

Infact that's what i'm doing tonight regarding the one i'm going to see.

[Wh1teL1ght]

Cool, thankyou,

Yes when the engine knocks cold i believe its the big end banking against tha case of the engine with little oil lubrication it (Not good) so it taps a bit.

engine noises i can recognise (although only guess at what they are lol)

Rust and dints / dents etc i can cope with (just knock the price down a bit lol)

but things like slipping out of gears etc im not sure if they are common issues or major faults lol.

and what the differences between Rev's are (i.e orange indicators etc) so i can see if one has been fiddled with at some point.

[Distro]

Ok i went and had a look at it and there were several problems (mostly cosmetic) but the car started first time with no rattling or knocking. There was some rattle when revving but that's likely a hole in the exhaust or just a loose covering on it so i didn't worry about that.

I looked around the car at the bubbling to start with and had a look at the described rust damage which looks worse in the photos that it actually is! bonus

Once i was satisfied with that i sat in the car (feels fantastic to sit so low, only done it once before in my mates skyline but this was different, it was going to be MINE!) started the engine and it started better than my punto's. let it idle a little then gave it a little rev. oh my god, i was just speechless :P i couldn't of wanted more, sounds fantastic and it's just stock; no filter or exhaust has been fitted.

Took it for a quick spin around the estate and found no problems.

Parked it back up had another look around the car and signed the V5 for change over, done :D

Bare in mind this is the first car i've ever looked over myself also the first i've bought so im not sure if the next thing is because of something i missed or just something that can happen.

The car drove perfectly for about 100 miles and then had to be stopped because of steam/smoke, turns out there was something wrong with a water hose and water was backing up. decided this is probably something to do with the thermostat so im getting that looked at.

---->

You question about mileage:

We covered about 100 miles on less than 1/4 of a tank, bare in mind it was driven at about 60-65 most of the way because i didn't want to risk anything. Then it broke down and got towed the rest of the way, but i hope that answers your question(s)