Used Car of the Day: 1988 Toyota MR2

Today we bring you a 1988 Toyota MR2. I had forgotten this generation of the MR2 existed.

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Used Car of the Day: 2004 Toyota MR2 Spyder

Today, in the dead of winter, we present to you a convertible. It's a 2004 Toyota MR2 Spyder.

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Used Car of the Day: 2001 Toyota MR2 Spyder

We're going back to the convertible well today with this 2001 Toyota MR2 Spyder.

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Used Car of the Day: 2003 Toyota MR2 Spyder

Today's UCOTD is a highly modified convertible runabout.

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Used Car of the Day: 1989 Toyota MR2

Some of you didn't like the Supra from last week. Well, you might not like this 1989 Toyota MR2 either.

I am going back to the well because the pickings are slim in our forum database today -- but also, the point of this feature isn't to feature the nicest cars. It's to feature the most interesting. And given when I grew up, I find cars like this one interesting -- even if they need help.

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Abandoned History: Project Genesis, Toyota Cars for Young People

Toyota was very focused on youthful consumer appeal at the turn of the millennium. Around the same time the WiLL sub-brand launched in the Japanese home market with its multitude of different products, a similar project was just getting underway at Toyota Motor Sales USA.

It was called Project Genesis, and like WiLL, it didn’t go well.

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Piston Slap: TPS, IAC, VTV…WTF?

Jeremy writes:

Hey Sajeev,

Long time reader, first time writer; I finally have an issue I can’t seem to figure out and was hoping you can help.

I have a supercharged 89 Toyota MR2 I bought a couple years ago but only really started driving a couple months ago, and while the car runs and drives about as well as any peak-era Toyota from time to time I would notice the revs would hang around 2,000 rpm when I came to a stop. I never really cared that much since I could stab the throttle once or twice and they would dip down to ~1,000.

However, I recently had a bunch of preventive and routine maintenance done, which has caused the rev hanging to become much more prevalent (I originally thought it was a stuck throttle cable, but the mechanic said it wasn’t; I also Seafoamed it before it went in the shop, but I don’t think that’s behind the rev hang worsening).

Now 2,000 rpm is the norm rather than the exception when I’m at a stoplight, with 3,000 rpm a not-uncommon occurrence, and when I stab the throttle the revs don’t really drop down anymore.

The mechanic said he couldn’t find a vacuum leak, but the car wouldn’t die when he shut the idle control valve completely; he also said something called a VTV was missing in the vacuum circuit. I have a feeling this is why the supercharger engaging feels like VTEC is kicking in, yo. The mechanic also said he couldn’t get the timing set dead perfect after my work.

The mechanic thinks the issue behind the rev hang is either in the missing VTV or perhaps something lurking in the air bypass valve, and I was hoping for a second opinion as well as ideas on where to look next.

Give all my best to Sanjeev,
-Jeremy

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Rare Rides: An Original 1988 Toyota MR2 - the Supercharged One

The mid-engine MR2 started out strong in the Eighties, but ended its life in the new century with a quiet, blob-shaped whimper. Today we take a look at the best of type — it’s a first generation supercharged model, in Ticket Me Red.

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Junkyard Find: 2001 Toyota MR2 Spyder
It took a while for the 2000-2005 Toyota MR2 Spyder to start showing up in the big self-service wrecking yards I visit, but depreciation finally caught up with the final generation of Mister Two. I spotted a 2002 MR2 Spyder with sequential-manual transmission in California a few months back, and now I’ve found this five-speed manual-equipped ’01 in Colorado.
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Retiree Trades Quintet of Toyota MR2s for One Mazda MX-5

Last week, a retired college professor walked into Missouri’s Coad Toyota with an interesting proposal. He was willing to part with five first-generation Toyota MR2s as a trade-in for a gently used 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata.

Considering the amount of maintenance five vintage MR2s must require, maybe he’s not the absolute madman we initially presumed. Since the deal went down in Missouri, he probably spent a ludicrous portion of his time on rust prevention alone.

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Toyota Mulling a Return of the MR2

Starting with the introduction of the 86 (Scion FR-S in North America) in 2012, Toyota began spicing up a brand viewed as being more synonymous with bulletproof reliability than fun. While this manifested itself primarily through more expressive exterior design choices, the brand also introduced performance-tuned GRMN variants in Europe and Japan. It’s also bringing back the Supra, arguably the brand’s most iconic sports car.

Still, a subset of the population looks back at Toyota’s history with a particular fondness for the mid-engined micro machine known as the MR2. Discontinued in 2007, the model was as endearing as it was fun to drive — especially those earlier incarnations, when it looked like a pint-sized Lotus Esprit. And, as luck would have it, Toyota’s European vice president of sales and marketing Matt Harrison says its return isn’t beyond the realms of possibility.

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Toyota's Sports Coupe Ambition Doesn't End With the Supra

At Toyota all eyes remain on the upcoming Supra — a long-departed model returning to the automotive landscape with some help from BMW. The Supra, however, isn’t exactly a sports car for the masses. No more so than the co-developed BMW Z4 is.

Once upon a time, Toyota fielded a slew of fun, compact coupes that tickled performance itches further down the income ladder. It’s something the automaker hasn’t forgotten, as the slow-selling but genuine 86 shows. The automaker wants more of those type of vehicles, apparently, and it could result in the return of another long-lost nameplate.

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Buy/Drive/Burn: Affordable Convertibles From 2005

This edition of Buy/Drive/Burn was inspired by the comments some of you left on the recent QOTD Crapwagon Garage post on coupes. Though roadsters and convertibles were off limits there, the conversation turned to them wistfully. Don’t worry, convertible week is coming.

In the meantime, we’ve got a ragtop from 2005 to burn. Which one will it be?

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Junkyard Find: 1986 Toyota MR2

The Toyota MR2 has always been a somewhat rare Junkyard Find, partly because not many were sold in the first place, and partly because the surviving examples tend to be cherished by MR2 enthusiasts. Here’s a solid ’86 that showed up in a Denver self-service wrecking yard a couple of weeks back.

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Ace of Base Redux: 1989 Toyota MR2

On occasion, Ace of Base will scour the web for the details and minutiae of a ride from the past that we feel fits the Ace of Base ethos. This is one of those cars.

Offered in naturally aspirated and supercharged guises for 1989, the MR2 found itself in the last model year of its deliciously wedgy styling language. Travelling back in time to the late ‘80s, let’s find out what one could expect to get for their money in a base Toyota MR2.

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  • MaintenanceCosts It's not a Benz or a Jag / it's a 5-0 with a rag /And I don't wanna brag / but I could never be stag
  • 3-On-The-Tree Son has a 2016 Mustang GT 5.0 and I have a 2009 C6 Corvette LS3 6spd. And on paper they are pretty close.
  • 3-On-The-Tree Same as the Land Cruiser, emissions. I have a 1985 FJ60 Land Cruiser and it’s a beast off-roading.
  • CanadaCraig I would like for this anniversary special to be a bare-bones Plain-Jane model offered in Dynasty Green and Vintage Burgundy.
  • ToolGuy Ford is good at drifting all right... 😉