Being a member of Ciao since April and a fully paid up petrol head for years plus a mecan, mekcan, mechcan, grease monkey (none of us can spell) for 9 of my woking, sorry working years, the car review is overdue.

I bought Mr T (as it was nicknamed by the girlfriend, dat crazy fool!) just over two years ago after I'd spent the two months before that looking for an Alfa boat tail spider. But found that most of these had rusted and fell apart as soon as they had been driven though a puddle, 70's Alfa's eh?

A little research later I decided that a closer inspection was needed of this car as one of the pluses for the MR2, it is a real, proper sports car, even the name MR2 equates to the definition of a sports car layout;
M = Mid engined
R = Rear wheel drive (the R originally meant 'runabout' but was soon changed)
2 = 2 seater.
All this means that it's a package which should be fun, this is the same layout as a Ferrari no less, but sadly that is where the similarity ends.
A little point on the name I found funny, in France it's known as Coupe MR as MR2 sounds like "merdeux" which means shit*y.

If you are thinking of buying one here is what you need to look for;
Is it an import? Toyota flog these puppies world wide (French don't seem to buy em?) so you will need to check if it's an import from the Land of the rising sun. Heard the term 'grey import'? This means that it's from Japan and not a UK spec car, this in itself has pro's and con's.
The Pro's are that they have a different and usually better spec than the British ones, you can have a turbo version if you get a Jap one which is great but the con's? You don't know the full history of the car, it could have been smashed and even written off then repaired but the biggest problem is that it could be stolen. Nicked in Japan and then shipped over here to be reregistered, so beware!

A lot of dealers will sell an import as HPI clear, don't believe it, they are only HPI clear in the UK and could have been 3 different MR2's welded into one over in Japan. My advice? Steer clear and get a UK one. Only buy an import if you are confident that you know what you are getting. Avoid the really high mileage ones, anything yellow or other stupid colours. There is plenty to choose from and of course avoid the ones which have been messed around with by the people who have watched too many episodes of 'Pimp my ride' and think they can do a better job with a set of socket spanners and a £50 Halfords voucher.

Key in, fire it up and the instrument panel comes to life, it has the regulation speedo, revs, fuel, temp and another gauge I've never really seen the point of, the battery gauge. Why you need a gauge to tell you your battery is flat is beyond me? If your battery is flat your car won't start? I think they put a gauge in there to fill a hole as the clocks were most likely used in a few Toyota models. While we are on the subject of pointless things in this car there is a headlamp level adjuster, this is to lower your headlight beam so you don't dazzle other road users while you are towing a caravan or carrying heavy loads. Towing a caravan? with an MR2? Heavy loads? The boot is just about big enough to fit a slice of toast in and not 10,000 bricks? Last one; window lock. A button which you can lock the electric windows to prevent your passengers, yes passengers, written plural in the handbook, operating the windows. They are sat next to you and if you have bought an MR2 you are unlikely to have kids due to no back seats and if you have a relative with a child whom you are taking for a spin, you are close enough to flick their ear and tell them to stop messing about with the window.

The engine is a 2 litre fuel injected lump producing 174bhp in the version I had but you have to rev the knackers off it to get moving. It red lines at 7500 rpm, a little more than other petrol engines in general but I found and interesting little 'kick' around 5000. This is a sliding vane in the throttle body which when revved hard opens to create a bigger intake to the engine. A teeny bit more power but enough

Pictures of Toyota MR2

front

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Another reason it feels underpowered is because the handling is so good.
Corners, corners, corners, this is the reason you (and I) bought this car. Even this now 11 year old car can out corner new faster cars and you find yourself chucking into bends with enthusiasm and doing Murray Walker impressions to yourself. This car has been called a 'Driver's Car' by many a reviewer but I hate that expression, it's like saying a chocolate digestive is an 'Eater's biscuit'? meaningless!
It handles so good due to the shocks and springs, get down on your hands and knees and have a look at them. Wide and fat springs only have 2 coils in them, that would give Zeberdee back trouble and the price you pay for the handling? Its gives you back trouble too.
Its fine when you are trying to hit the apex of every corner on country lanes but travelling though city centres on the daily grind it's annoying when you can feel every pebble and fag butt you run over and if you hit a pothole? Your flesh falls from your bones.

You can use this car every day but if your journey is motorway miles you will get tired of the wind noise, tyre noise and the buzzing from the engine. I drove mine to London once and I needed a new set of ears as mine had melted.
Boot space? I did make a joke about a slice of toast but if you live on your own and don't have any pets you may just squeeze a shopping load in but forget anything bigger than a candle from Ikea.
Insurance can be costly or cheap, depends on your postcode and if you've been naughty before, etc. Mine was reasonable at £410 for the year but do watch out who is insured on your MR2. My father was insured and many a weekend it had disappeared as he was starting a mid-life crisis and decided he didn't need to buy a sports car as he could nick mine, git.

The MR2 could have been excellent but seems to fall short of the mark somehow. Don't get me wrong I loved having a car with flip-up headlamps, every car should have them as there're cool but sadly when it comes to being a cool car only 8 year old kids who've mistaken it for something more expensive and faster think it's cool.
If you look past the badge and the image you'll wonder what all the fuss is about. It's a cracking car to drive and its good fun. I've enjoyed my 2 years of ownership and the only thing I've had to pay for outside of consumables is a radiator, you can't knock Toyota on the reliability front. But my time with Mr T is at an end and I'm going back to my first love of Italian style. I've bought an Alfa but it's an late 90's early 00's one so the rust shouldn't be a concern. It will still break down of course but at least it won't be rusty, if you are interested to see how I get on with the Alfa the review will be on Ciao soon.

I've recommended this car to buyers above as I do think a car standing alone it's good, very good. If you asked me what to get when buying an MR2 I'll go over the points above, if, on the other hand you were to ask me what to buy in a sporty little 2nd car for a bit of fun for around five grand? Then I'd tell you to have a look at the Mazda MX5 first.