by "Chinny Raccoon" (chinnyraccoon)
Published 11/19/2017 at 13:34
by "Chinny Raccoon" (chinnyraccoon)
Published 11/19/2017 at 13:34
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STARS: 5
Until last week I’d not really been planning on buying another car- The Ignis is working fine, and does everything I need. However I can spend a lot of time browsing ebay listings, and found 3rd gen MR2s are well in to the bottomed out phase of depreciation. Bid on a couple, but wasn’t trying too hard to win the auctions.
Then one appeared on a classifieds site- been laid up for a few months with supposedly a broken fuel pump, but the symptoms didn’t seem like that was the problem. It was about 100 miles from home so I’d been planning to get it transported home. Went over to have a look at it yesterday, the guy had put another battery on it and it started right up!
2002, 91k Miles, Tested til March, £500. It’s a standard UK spec pre facelift model, which came with the LSD, but wasn’t optioned with Air Con or leather. Suits me fine. This one used to have a hard top (The guy I bought it off had already sold that.)
So there wasn’t much room for negotiation in the asking price, as the supposed broken car now wasn’t. Still got a bit off and the seller agreed to meet me later in the day at the station to collect it. Raced home, sorted the tax and insurance and got a lift to the station, which did involve running for the train, in the rain.
Had no problems on the way home, other than the EML coming on- just an O2 sensor heater, which apparently may be DIY bodge repairable . The manifold needs to come off to deal with the precats, so that can be done at the same time. Drove perfectly fine at motorway speeds, even in heavy rain. However the steering is much heavier than it should be, at first I though it was the common rusty steering UJ, but there’s also a PS leak which isn’t helping things, as the fluid is low. I’m trying to track down some good used pipes as new units are quite expensive- Another option would be to loop the PS pipes and go to manual steering.
While on that subject, here’s everything else that’s wrong (that I’ve found so far!)
It’s had paint at some point (not very well done!). Front hood and up the passenger side mostly, so I’d guess there’s been some repairs on that side. Panel alignment all looks good though, it’s a 1o foot car. With some road grime on it it doesn’t show up.
The hood needs replacing- various tears and holes patched with gaff tape. It can be recovered with Mohair style for around £300. It doesn’t fold down very well as the old vinyl’s gone hard.
Central locking doesn’t work.
Decent, but mismatched tyres on the back
Keeping an eye on the oil level as that seem to be the main area of concern with these engines.
Drivers seat is a bit worn
Aerial doesn’t retract.
Some small bits of surface rust on the underside, subframe looks OK, but I haven’t been able to fully check that yet.
No service history.
No Spare tyre
Missing the covers for where the hard top used to be.
Lights have fogged over a bit.
Other than that, it’s perfect. Realistically the plan is to sort the major bits that need doing and just enjoy it. I’ve ordered the stuff to do a service on it for some peace of mind.
"duurtlang" (duurtlang)
11/19/2017 at 17:28, STARS: 0
Great purchase and the perfect car for the bug meet in March! Congrats!
"Eury - AFRICA TWIN!!!!!!!" (eurylokhos)
11/19/2017 at 18:22, STARS: 0
Had no idea these had gotten cheap. I must stay away from eBay and CL now.