This week’s Prime Find comes to us via the Far East and is a car that went a long way to transforming the global image of its manufacturer, Toyota.
While Toyota had been making sporting coupés for a few years already, such as the Celica 1600ST, Liftback and Supra, these were 2+2’s and while popular, were not the first cars that came to mind when anyone mentioned the name Toyota. Indeed, outside Japan at least, the company was – perhaps still is – best known for its cooking small to medium-sized family cars, particularly the Corolla, which has become the world’s biggest-selling model range over a period of 54 years and twelve generations of models, with about 50 million sold.
However, back in the late 1970’s they were looking to break what was for them new ground while at the same time, rejuvenating a market sector that was withering away – the small two-seater mid-engined sports car.
The 1970’s had seen a number of such models such as the Porsche 914, Lancia Montecarlo, Lotus Europa, FIAT’s Bertone-designed X1/9 and the Matra Bagheera and its successor, the Murena with their unusual three-abreast seating. However, by the early 1980’s all but the FIAT were no longer in production, and while the FIAT was still fun to drive, it had grown an ugly set of impact-bumpers and was showing its age, having been around since 1972. What’s more, the hot hatch sector – led by VW’s GTi – was offering the family man sportscar performance in a practical package.
Toyota had already been looking at creating a small mid-engined sports car as far back as 1976, but it wasn’t until 1984 that the MR2 – the name stood for Midship Runabout 2-seater – was launched, and it was a revelation.
The car looked sharp, with a modern wedge-shaped profile, a revvy four-cylinder, fuel-injected 1.6-litre engine producing 122bhp at 6,600rpm that would take this small, light car to a maximum speed of 118mph (190km/h) and could sprint to 60mph in around 8 seconds. Disc brakes all round and a five-speed gearbox were standard, as well as a detachable sunroof that could be stowed in the front one of the car’s two small luggage compartments. And all this for a price tag of just £9,295 in the UK.
Road testers praised the car for its performance, roadholding and ride and several magazines ranked it in their annual Top Tens – Car and Driver in the US, for one, Road & Track for another. UK magazines also liked this little wedge – Autocar was very impressed by its performance, grip, handling and fuel economy, a little less so by the lack of support from the seats and the engine noise at motorway speeds.
The MR2 was the subject of regular updates, including a T-bar option with two removeable glass panels among a host of detail changes, and the US and Japan also got supercharged versions which unfortunately never found their way to other markets – officially at least. This boosted power output to 145bhp and took well over a second off the car’s 0-60 time.
The first generation MR2 was built for a period of five years, with production ending in 1989 and the sharp-edged wedge was replaced by a larger, heavier and more rounded, “mini-Ferrari” design.
Unsurprisingly, the MR2 was a success, certainly in the UK. I remember driving one that belonged to a musician friend of mine back in 1987, and I was completely enthralled by the driving experience. The gear change was slick, the car was quick and the go-kart handling made for a really fun drive…I loved it, and had I not needed a bigger car I would have bought his on the spot.
The earliest MR2’s are now over 35 years old, and surely ought to be considered as modern classics – in fact, as classics, full stop. And yet…when you look at cars of that era that offered similar performance i.e. hot hatches such as the VW and Peugeot GTi’s or the Escort XR3i, the MR2 is generally available for between £4,000 to £6,000, making it one of the bargains of our hobby, in my view.
Our Prime Find, however, is not in this price range – though still only using up half our theoretical budget. Its price tag of £9,995 makes it expensive for an MR2, but there are good reasons for this – at least, based on the vendor’s description.
It’s a one-owner 1988 car for sale with a dealer in Ramsgate, Kent; it has just under 35,000 documented miles on the clock, a very full and detailed service history and a very generous specification that includes electric windows and door mirrors, central locking, alloys, immobiliser and – very ‘80s – a radio cassette. The car has been garaged whenever not in use, and looks very smart in its dark blue finish. The blue cloth interior also looks to be in excellent condition, and being a Toyota, and a well-maintained, low-mileage example at that, it’s almost bound to be reliable.
There are not so many MR2 Mk1’s for sale in the UK – currently I can find just a handful of others – and although about 13,580 were sold in the UK, and the oldest is 35 years old, fewer than 650 remain licensed for the UK’s roads, although there are another two thousand SORN.
So – a low-mileage distinctive mini-supercar in superlative condition; and while it’s fairly expensive for an MR2, it’s still not that much money for all that mid-engined fun and ’80’s wedge style, and it’s not red – what’s not to like? You can see the full dealer advert here, and as always, the usual caveats apply.
With our Saturday instalment of Prime Find of the Week, we’re offering our services to the classic car community, by passing on our favourite classic car for sale from the week that passed. This top-tip might help a first-time-buyer to own his first classic, or it could even be the perfect motivation for a multiple-classic-car-owner to expand his garage with something different. We’ll let us be inspired by anything from a cheap project to a stunning concours exotic, and hope that you will do the same.
Just remember – Any Classic is Better than No Classic! We obviously invite our readers to help prospective buyers with your views and maybe even experiences of any given model we feature. Further to that, if you stumble across a classic which you feel we ought to feature as Prime Find of the Week, then please send us a link to primefindoftheweek@viaretro.co.uk