Hey, let's play word-association, okay? I say fun and you say… Toyota?! Today's Nice Price or Crack Pipe MR2 is one of the funnest of fun cars ever to come from the house that Kiichiro Toyoda built, but will its price have you thinking its seller is up to some funny business?
I am shocked, shocked I tell you, that yesterday's custom 1963 Corvette Sting Ray ended up with a massive 71% Crack Pipe loss. Its just over twenty-large price tag is half what stock editions go for these days, and I don't think you'd even notice the custom work from behind the steering wheel.
Oh well, different strokes and all that. Speaking of different, you know how Toyota's cars have a rep for being the automotive equivalent of Unisom? Well every once in a while the company gets a wild hair up its corporate ass and builds something exciting enough to keep pretty much anybody up all night.
Truth be told, the number of Toyota blood boilers that have been sold state-side can pretty much be counted on the fingers of one hand. Probably the second finger from the pinkie on that hand would be the MR2. First introduced all the way back in 1984 the MR2 derived its name from its specifications - M-id-engine, R-ear-wheel drive, 2-seater. If Toyota had extended that formula to others in its line up the Corolla could have been the FF5 and the Camry the… well, the FF5. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get why that really wouldn't have worked. Leave me alone.
Another fun fact about the sporty Toyota's name is that in France it lost the 2 going instead just by MR. This was because of the car's full name sounding too much like the French word Merdeux, which translates to shitty. That's not, as you would imagine, the connotation you'd want for your new car.
Not shitty in the least was the MR2's DOHC 1600 that sits mid-ships in the car. Derived from the Corolla, the 4A-GE four was initially good for 112-bhp in U.S. guise and could provide reasonable if not scintillating performance in the little car. Zero to sixty came up in about 8 seconds in the earliest ones, which'll still leave a Smart Car in the dust.
The MR2's handling is where it really shines - er twitches - however. The early MR2s are famous for their rewarding handling, although they're also well known for being a bit of a handful at the limit. Still, compared to say a Camry or even the Celica of the time, the MR2 is like a guided muscle.
Today's candidate is a 1987 model, and that means a few things. First off, the engine pumps out 3 more ponies this year for a total of 115. The car also got some updates to the rear suspension making handling even better, and Toyota introduced a T-roof option on the car. This one had that option box checked, which is cool. It also has some Eighties-tastic two-tone seats inside, and what is perhaps my favorite aspect of this car, a hood scoop on the front trunk lid.
I love that kind of weird stuff, but we can probably let that one slide as the meat and potatoes of the car are described as solid. That's according to the ad, which makes the bold claim that the car 'Runs and drives Great.' It also notes that it could use some TLC, and maybe there's one of that group's CDs banging around under the seats. How cool would that be?
You'll need to BYOP (bring your own player) to get any tunes as it looks like the factory music machine has been unceremoniously ripped from the dash. There's also some curbing that is evident on the front air dam, a minor sign of wear for the car's 146,000 miles evident on the clock, and the paint looks... I don't know, MAACO-ish? Apparently the car also could stand some brake work which is a weekend and $100 in my book, so no biggie.
Of course that's on top of the $1,400 price of entry for this blue bomb, and it's now incumbent upon you to vote whether this MR2, as presented in the ad, is worth that kind of cash. What do you think, is that a price that says FUN? Or, is this a Mister priced to miss?
You decide!
Akron/Canton Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
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