Used Car of the Day: 2003 Toyota MR2 Spyder

by Tim Healey

Published: September 19th, 2023

used car of the day 2003 toyota mr2 spyder

Today's UCOTD is a highly modified convertible runabout.

This 2003 Toyota MR2 Spyder was purchased by our seller in 2010, and it received the 2z engine and a six-speed transmission in a swap in 2014.

The front end has been repainted because of rock chips, and this 109,000-mile car has been garaged and not driven in the snow.

Other mods include upgraded headers, exhaust, flywheel, clutch, a cat-less downpipe, midship and front and rear bracing, carbon-fiber strut-tower bars, modified springs and shocks, performance brake rotors, steel-braided brake lines, and an MR2 luggage set.

There are some minor problems -- a couple of rips in the top that don't cause leaks, wear in the driver's seat, a constant presence of the check engine light due to the lack of a catalytic converter, a paint chip in the rear bumper, and no doors for the rear storage compartment.

Click here to check it out.

[Images: Seller]

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Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

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Comments

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2 of 21 comments

FreedMike on Sep 20, 2023

I'd love to have a car like this, but if this one's missing the catalytic converter, it probably won't pass emissions. No thanks.

Like Reply
CoastieLenn on Sep 20, 2023

MR-Spyder with a 2ZZ and 6 speed? Yes please!

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Recent Comments

Bill I bought a 2013 base mini convert manual with less than 30,000 miles last year. While I don't have the beautiful aural sensations of the inline 6, I have been having great fun on the rural roads of western Massachusetts. Kind of a modern version of an old English sports car. I ditched the run flats immediately, went to Conti extremecontact dws 06+. I like them so much I put them on my wife's Audi TT. The shocks I have been eyeing but don't really need yet are Koni special active with FSD technology. Supposed to suppress the sharp nasty bumps but remain firmly sporty otherwise. I had also been looking at the Z4's but couldn't pass on the super low mileage of the mini.
Paul Another beemer boy, immune to the laws of man and physics, driving his M3 through a school zone at 45 since Waze said it would cut 15 seconds off his commute.I bow before your righteous anger.
Paul Oh, the irony. 10 years ago they had solid entries in all these categories - C-Max hybrid and PHEV, Fusion Hybrid and PHEV, Focus Electric. 20 years ago you could get an Escape Hybrid.Ford and their dealers tossed these over the wall and walked away from them, never doing anything to promote or improve them over their life cycle. They still have a newer version of the Escape PHEV, which isn't a bad vehicle but I doubt if the buying public knows they exist & I rarely see one on the road.The Maverick hybrid is a nice idea and they could sell more if they would build more but again, I rarely see one in the wild.Feckless and clueless management and board - they richly deserve their coming bankruptcy.
Lorenzo If Bill Ford wants to see Ford Motor survive another generation, he'll have to hire a replacement for Farley soon, one with an engineering degree and experience with automobile assembly lines and a love for cars, and surround him with other engineering degree executives. Any executives with BA degrees and MBAs don't belong in manufacturing, they're finance people, at best.
Lorenzo The price is a bit steep for a daily driver, and that's what I'd use it for. If you live in California, a benefit is that it's smog exempt. It's so old, there's nothing to be "flashed". Any flashing would have to be done manually by the driver.