1987 Toyota MR2 AW11 review from Australia and New Zealand

Added oil to throttle cable when car was bought as accelerator pedal required a lot of force to move.

Clutch master cylinder needed replacement.

Exhaust pipe/muffler mount required re-welding.

Intermittent windscreen wiper temperamental.

Deteriorated rubber seals around windscreen and windows allow water to drip when car is moved.

Radiator hoses leaked.

Sometimes turns over very slowly when starting, possibly from battery drainage.

A drive shaft needed replacing around 195,000km (car required towing to mechanic)

Caster on left front wheel out, causing the car to pull heavily to the left.

Steering wander at high speeds, related to rubber parts in suspension/steering which have detriorated.

Deteriorating paintwork, bubbles in paint of fibreglass spoiler and front bumper.

This was my first sports car, I had saved up a long time doing taxi driving (at the age of 21). MR2's were fairly scarce in Adelaide and this was an acceptable example, it had high km's, but everything worked (power windows, mirrors etc) and nothing seemed to be wrong with it.

I was hoping for trouble free motoring requiring little more than replacing oil, coolant, spark plugs, belts etc. but it seems like everything has started to go wrong with it. This mostly due to the car's age, the previous owner got rid of it just before things started to pack up. I have been unemployed since the taxi driving so repairs are a real headache. Having to keep going to repair shops is far from my favourite activity. There is a whole back catalogue of repairs that need doing to get it back to near 100%.

The one thing that hasn't let me down is the Yamaha-designed 4A-GE engine, it is by far the most reliable component in the whole car and I suspect it will still be going strong at 300,000km.

Working on the car is difficult as the engine bay is constricted and there aren't too many angles of approach, I'm fortunate to be in a place with a car pit, but even this doesn't make things easy.

The MR2 is a very well-designed car and isn't something everyone else has like a Nissan Silvia, 180SX or Skyline. It is a classic that will make anyone who can afford the repairs expected of a car of this age happy. If I could do it all over again I would make sure I got an MR2 with no more than 120,000km and check how deteriorated the rubber components are.