Thinking about trading my solara for an MR2

[minig646]

I love my solara to death. I've gone through three schools, three girlfriends, two homes, and only ever needed one car. Unfortunately (through no fault of its own) some bad memories have become attached to her.

I am, however, completely sold on Toyota's. I would love something sportier and more unique, and I hear great things about MR2 Spyders. I know its useless in the snow, dangerous, and doesn't have a trunk, but I'm 19. I can be practical when I'm dead. Anyone have any opinions on them?

I know very few of you guys live near Philadelphia, but I would give a pretty good discount to someone on here in exchange for the knowledge that she would be well taken care of.

[wkbrdr91]

Before I bought my Solara from my dad, one of my other top choices was a MR2 Spyder. What killed it for me was how little horsepower it had and the fact that none of them come with cruise control. After some research I saw the Honda S2000, Pontiac Solstice, or Saturn Sky (top choice) as better options.

Toyota's have great reliability.. and they are known for it.. but they are also not known for sports cars, so when you tell people who know nothing about cars, they will be like "whats so cool about a Toyota?" Thats when I personally show them my car.. but they still look down on it for that.

The Sky just looks so refined to me.

[corlon]

do it!!! as long as its not a 1st gen.

[minig646]

That lack of horsepower is the only reason I can afford the insurance lol... And besides, the 0-60 and top speed are very similar to my solara. I rarely drive long distances on the highway, so I never use cruise control anyway.

Sky's look fantastic but I don't think the reliability is comparable. Even the racist talking one in the first transformers movie broke.

I just wouldn't tell girls it's a Toyota. I'd call it an mr2 spyder. Most won't know, and it looks pretty exotic.

[wkbrdr91]

That lack of horsepower is the only reason I can afford the insurance lol... And besides, the 0-60 and top speed are very similar to my solara. I rarely drive long distances on the highway, so I never use cruise control anyway.

Sky's look fantastic but I don't think the reliability is comparable. Even the racist talking one in the first transformers movie broke.

I just wouldn't tell girls it's a Toyota. I'd call it an mr2 spyder. Most won't know, and it looks pretty exotic.

True.. I once pulled up to one and the 2 girls in my car thought it was a lamborghini or Ferrari lol

Having the vents in the back (rear engine) fools people quite a bit I guess haha

[DriDed]

MR2s are pretty cheap now, I recall checking out the last gens a few months ago and even they only cost 12,000 usd at most.

Don't let the insurance dictate what car you get, just get what you want.

[minig646]

Sight unseen, is a 2000 with 115k likely to be reliable? My solara is reliable at 125k, but its also not a sports car.

[DriDed]

The last gen MR2 has the 1.8 140 hp I-4; it is a very light, rwd, sports car that can outhandle a lot of the cars out there. The aftermarket for these cars are huge and best of all, they are reliable rides.

Have the car checked out before you buy it, at a milage like that, there are somethings that probably needs to be replaced.

[JonB]

I have a 91 MR2 turbo and I hopefully I'll be picking up a Solara within the next couple of days.

The Spyders are generally very reliable. After all, they do use the same motor as the Corolla. Some people are having problems with the SMTs so the traditional manual transmission is recommended. Pre 2003 cars had problems with the honeycomb material inside the cats deteriorating and getting sucked back into the engine which of course causes major damage. If you're interested in that 2000 model you'll want to pull the O2 sensor to make sure the inside of the cat is intact and, if you buy the car, gut the cat as soon as you get home.

www.spyderchat.com is the website for the mkIII

[DriDed]

^^Thanks for the info dude and welcome to SG!

[minig646]

^^ From my experience, this is a great site to be a noob. Very helpful. I'm definitely hanging around even after my solara is gone. I spent a few hours on spyderchat and they do NOT like noobs. So much flaming goes on. I hear mustang and civic forums are even worse.

[DriDed]

^^ From my experience, this is a great site to be a noob. Very helpful. I'm definitely hanging around even after my solara is gone. I spent a few hours on spyderchat and they do NOT like noobs. So much flaming goes on. I hear mustang and civic forums are even worse.

Did you ask stuff that was repeated many times on their forum? Remember to use the search function first on any forums before posting or you might get roasted.


SG is definitely cool to hang out in virtually ; I have a lot of good SG memories as well as bad ones but my passion for SG has never faded over the years.

Glad you are staying around, enjoy the madness!

[JonB]

^^ From my experience, this is a great site to be a noob. Very helpful. I'm definitely hanging around even after my solara is gone. I spent a few hours on spyderchat and they do NOT like noobs. So much flaming goes on. I hear mustang and civic forums are even worse.

Yeah the guys on spyderchat can be really uppity sometimes. MR2oc is better but it's pretty much all mki and mkii guys.

^^Thanks for the info dude and welcome to SG!

Thanks

[Black Bob]

Welcome minig! The only 2¢ I have to say is that if you're 6 foot tall or over the Sky and the Solstice probably won't be comfortable for you. I had the unfortunate priviledge of sitting in both at an autoshow and with the seat all the way back my knees were still touching the dash....and I'm only 6 foot. However the downside to an MR2 and an S2000 is that they're rarer than a divorced MILF stripper without kids.

[ToyoSolV6]

MR2's are a beautiful choice to go to but i dont like the spyder, i like the second gen turbo, and im picking one up this weekend hopefully i found a few on craigslist im going to check out and i think ill be coming home with one, but im still keeping the solara