Time to replace mr2 with a 4 four seater dail drive. what Japanese car to replace it?

[robinbanks]

just to start off i am a Japanese car fan boy so only looking for jap car


Its almost been a year with my little mr2 mk2 3gse na and i have really enjoyed owing it. But sadly common sense he set in. I need a four seater for sort trip with friends . I will be using the car as a daily so dont want soming much more expensive to run and maintain than the mr2. I ideally would like a import as i am a BIG 90s car fan! but not a fan of the rust that comes with uk spec cars

sadly i don't have a massive price range (£4k-£5k maybe £5.5) and im not really looking for anything more powerful than my mr2, but dont want anything less powerful


after hours of looking i have come across a few cars that seem to be in my price range:

celica ss2-ss3 (told to say away from SS3 due to the superstrut)

fto mitsubishi seems to look a little small but told they are good fun

r32-r33 GTST (might be close to budget and could be expensive to run?)

old wrx scooby (again expensive to run?)

prelude again may be expensive to run?

has anyone owned any of them? whats there experience with them? has anyone got any suggestions on what else i could look for?

 

[robinbanks]

I had an ss3 celica with the beams engine, theres no real reason to avoid these because of superstrut, its not as hard on the suspension as the gt4 as its far less weight up front, so its less likely to wear out fast, and if you get one thats been done, its unlikely to need changed. Also refurb parts have brought the cost of replacement parts for superstrut way down on what they used to be. The superstrut works well on the fwd car also, and they come with an lsd.

What about considering an altezza rs200 aswell?

I Was talking a gt4 owner about one, he said he had seen your name on the gt4/celica owners club, and he was saying you at one point was using one as a track day toy? what are they like for daily? how long would you expect the supper strut to last?

Prelude is pretty cheap to run. No different from having an accord or civic really. They're very undervalued so you should be able to get a really nice Type S in budget. Tricky bit is finding good ones. Rear seats are very short on leg room if anyone tall is in the front.

not to worried about leg room. i take it the parts are the normal honda pricing?

Toyota Soarer? I was looking the other day, they seem very cheap at the moment, I know someone that has spent an absolute fortune on one, cant remember what room they have in the back though.

i thought they came in v8,2jz,2jz twin? wont that be a bit steep to run? plus anyone i have seen manual seems to fetch £8k in japan

Integra DC2? You said four seats, not four doors

tempting..... but i keep thinking i may as well get the celica as i can import a ss3 celica for £3.8k but a dc2 is more around the 6-7k imported. and i woudnt trust buying one in the uk.

A Subaru Impreza, can get a nice newage STi for 5k, could get an extremely nice example of a WRX but who wants aldi own brand crisps when you can have walkers..

You might scrape the ropiest DC5 on the market or an only slightly ruined DC2.

Seriously though asides from fuel an Impreza is very cheap car to run in my experience.

has to be the old school shape for me i talked too a old scooby tech before about them, last time i talked to him he advised me to say clear, saying they are cracking cars but expensive to run.

i going to have to have a word with torque-gt and see what prices are going for the above

 

[robinbanks]

You need to decide what you want, you won't get proper 4 seats in most coupes and your mates would have to bits of their legs missing to fit comfortably in. Secondly if you want an old 90's tasty Jap imports then you need to expect bigger running costs, otherwise settle on a 5 seat 4 door hatchback as a daily runner with space.

that is true, i was really looking for somthing about the mr2 running cost. maybe a bit more. not really worried about leg room too much. just wanted something i can give my friends lifts in. most of them will only be from one side of town to the other.

 

[robinbanks]

zuban did talk to tcb they told me to keep clear of the ss3. but then he was referring a lot to his sons gt4 so might explain why.

 

[robinbanks]

Yup. I've only needed a rear bearing, cam belt change and some brake bits and weather strips for mine and pricing was in line with an Accord for the stuff I got from Honda. Otherwise there's plenty of third party stuff about still and always a few breakers available on ludegeneration forums.

Watch out for rear arch rust (very common on 4th gens and starting to get common on 5ths, quite a lot of work to put right), sticky rear calipers (easily fixed), gear crunch at high revs and make sure that the 4WS/ATTS is working properly.

will be looking to import so would hope no rust, gear crunch is a worry as they wont be able to check i would have thought