MR2 advice?

phi1

phi1

phi1

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Joined
28 Oct 2006
Posts
1,428
Location
Cambs/Florida
Hi there,

I am currently coming up to my first years no claims; I have been looking at changing my current car to something a bit faster. At first I was looking at getting an Audi A3 1.8T but all of them I was looking at was ruff. I have always had a soft spot for Toyota MR2 and I never thought I would be able to insure one. I ran a few quotes through and me as the main driver and my dad and mum as named drivers was bringing quotes at around £1400TPFT this was with bell, admiral, elephant. Other companies are around £2000. Does this seem right for other companys to be way off? I was surprised to find out the turbo was the same price. I have been looking at getting the turbo. I have a budget set around £3000 which seems I can get a mint one for that price.

http://pistonheads.co.uk/sales/1666601.htm I have been looking at that one possibly was going to contact the guy. I just wondered what to check on them usual problems etc.

Anyway thanks for any advice!

Cheers Phil
 
Check the rear arches for rust as well as the sills at the rear end just in front of the rear wheels. Check around the T bar roof for signs of water ingress as well as the bottom of the doors. The rubber seals compress over time and can start to leak.

The engine is very smooth so any judders or snatchy pulling away are a sign of something not quite right.

If it has aftermarket wheels a good sign is that the staggered setup is maintained. The rears should be larger than the front, this helps counter the cars tendancy to oversteer on the power. Not essential but nice to have.
 
Your quotes seem a bit different to what I found, around a year ago a UK NA cost me £800 for the year, an imported NA was around £2200 and a turbo was around £2500, but all these prices were fully comp. I think fully comp was actually cheaper than TPFT :)
 
insurance will probs be cheaper if you go fully comp and put the excess up full, i dont know why bell are so cheap for mr2 turbos but i made the most of it

and thats overpriced, for £3k you want to be getting a rev3
 
Rember that I will only have 1 year no claims, 18yr male, good area. I was supprised how cheap it was! Well it's not cheap but when I have friends paying 3k odd for corsas etc.
 
[TW]Fox;16574271 said:
Not a good car choice for an 18 year old with limited driving experience.
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I have had quite an experience with rwd cars, I used to live in florida and used a range of diffrent rwd cars, borrowed step mums z3, been on skid pan day (was great experience). The MR2 are not that bad anyway as they have the weight over the rear wheels.Anyway here is a pic with the quotes fully comp was only 100 or so more and if I went on a 10 month policy even better!
mr2t.jpg
 
Vigoro said:
Have you checked on Admiral or Elephants website with that to make sure it is a turbo?
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Yeah I phoned them up to confirm and they said it was correct. I was confused a normal GT 2L is the same price.
 
phi1 said:
I have had quite an experience with rwd cars, I used to live in florida and used a range of diffrent rwd cars, borrowed step mums z3, been on skid pan day (was great experience). The MR2 are not that bad anyway as they have the weight over the rear wheels.
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I've had lots of experience with powerful cars, FWD,RWD and AWD and trust me, the MR2 isn't as easy to drive as you seem to think, especially the turbo version.

Take it easy if you do get it, that paintwork looks like it's been well looked after, would be a shame to bend it.
 
eidolon said:
I've had lots of experience with powerful cars, FWD,RWD and AWD and trust me, the MR2 isn't as easy to drive as you seem to think, especially the turbo version.

Take it easy if you do get it, that paintwork looks like it's been well looked after, would be a shame to bend it.
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Yeah I do understand where you and fox are coming from, my dad said he was going to get some kind of further training and show how to drive one properly what todo if the rear does step out etc.
 
Meh, I find the "You Shouldn't have XXX car at XX Years old" thing a tad overrated. Respect it, learn that the throttle isn't an on/off switch and that there is a time and a place for spirited driving (track days) and you'll probably be fine :).

IRC quite a number of young members have had MR2s and they are still with us (Although one or two of the cars aren't :o).

From my old research it was very much recommended that you went for a Revision 3 car due to a number of quite substantial changes that improve reliability, and make tuning a little more fruitful (if you are so inclined)

But from your compare the market quote it looks like you're getting prices for a non turbo one? Try going directly onto the admiral/elephant website. Loads of options for MR2s but they won't insure under 21s on all of them for some odd reason - For example they won't quote you for 'GTS' trim level, yet should quote you for the 'GT Turbo' trim level (which have a better spec)
 
Joshy said:
But from your compare the market quote it looks like you're getting prices for a non turbo one? Try going directly onto the admiral/elephant website. Loads of options for MR2s but they won't insure under 21s on all of them for some odd reason - For example they won't quote you for 'GTS' trim level, yet should quote you for the 'GT Turbo' trim level (which have a better spec)
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Yep thats why i questioned it, selecting "GT Turbo" from the trim level on compare the market takes it up to 3.8k minimum for me, with a "none" on trim which is what you would have on that one screenshot is 2.5k
 
Vigoro said:
Yep thats why i questioned it, selecting "GT Turbo" from the trim level on compare the market takes it up to 3.8k minimum for me, with a "none" on trim which is what you would have on that one screenshot is 2.5k
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Yeah, the "none" will almost certainly be a UK Spec N/A car.

OP if you buy one, MAKE SURE that they are insuring you for a Turbo car. Apparently the admiral group have a habit of insuring Turbos thinking that they are N/As.
 
I have just been putting the numberplate in, I just did do like you said so it showed turbo and it's jumped to around 2700 ( I refuse to pay that much!) yet when I phoned them up I did say it was a turbo and the guy just asked the reg and said it was same. There is something strange going on somewhere. I may just get the non turbo they are still quite fast. So the rev 3 is the best to get. What trim is the best to get in that version then?

mr2t.png
 
i'd be carefull with comparethemarket.com

i've got an SP50 for a 28 day ban back in 2007.

Somewhere along the line, despite filling out the form on comparethemarket.com correctly, some of the insurers they gave me quotes for where returning the quotes on the basis the SP50 was 3 points, not the 28 day ban i actually had. Once this was clarified with the insurer, the quote that was miles cheaper than everybody else, was just the same price as anybody else.

I'd get the reg plate and run that through just to make sure. The Jap Import turbo is nearly always without exception more to insure.

*edit* as predicted with the reg plate it shows the true price.

As for your phonecall mate, its typical insurance helpdesk monkeys, dont know their backsides from their elbows. I tried to declare that my car had factory fitted optional 19" inch alloys fitted to one, and she asked me if i had locking wheel nuts fitted, to which i then had a very lengthy discussion about the fact that i hadnt fitted them, and they would be whatever spec they were fitted with at the factory for standard ones, they were just a different shape, but she couldnt grasp it all as nobody declares options. I just gave up.
 
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Yeah it looks like they/me made a mess up and it was over £2k for a turbo for for a normal N/a it's around the £1500 mark.
 
Go on the Admiral/Elephant/Bell website (try all three as prices do vary), have a play around with named drivers and trims levels. Admiral/Elephant/Bell will almost certainly be the only people willing to insure you on such a car so there is no need to use comparison sites (They aren't good for young drivers anyway!)

If you don't get a Turbo then definitely get a UK Rev 3. Imports are a fair bit more to insure, but I think G-limited Non Turbo Imports came with a few extras that you won't find on a Rev 3 UK car - A/C and folding mirrors spring to mind. You may struggle to get a nice UK car (At around 15 years old on British roads, rust can creep in) but for a proper Service History and cheaper insurance I think that it is worth it.

Ahh, and make sure whatever you buy has had a recent cambelt and ideally a clutch change. From what I understand neither are particularly easy or cheap jobs.
 
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