What should I do?

[Timberland]

Well, I'll try to make this as short as possible...

I've got an 89 SR5 right now that's mostly stock. This spring, I'm planning on buying a turbo MR2, so I'll obviously still need a winter beater/daily driver. I love ae92s, but I've told myself that this is my last winter with a carburated car. So now I'm kinda thinking of looking for a well kept GTS, but everything I've seen for sale has been pretty high mileage. I guess what I'm asking is, should I keep my car and modify it to suit my needs? I don't want it to take away from the MR2 (which will be my main focus), but I doubt I'll be able to drive a stock car for long. Here's some of the factors:

-auto 4af
-218 kms (which really isn't bad compared to some out there)
-some rust showing now... fenders, behind door, and up in strut tower
-mint interior
-front control arm is bent and will need to be replaced if I keep the car
-already lowered 1.6"
-mechanically in good shape


My plans would be to:
a) get a body job done and have it resprayed the factory blue color
b) have a 5spd 20v swapped in
c) possibly get coil overs so I could still raise it up for the winter

So the question is, do you think it's worth bringing my car back to life, or just try to find a nice GTS? If I were to buy another car, it would probably just have bolt-ons and suspension done. I just figure, if I'm swapping the motor in my car anyways, I might as well go for the gold.

[REN69]

Its gonna be your winter beater, so why bother doing a 20V swap when all you're gonna do is beat around in the winter with it? I'd keep the SR5 as a winter beater, as is.. and concentrate on the MR2 Turbo.

If worst comes to worst.. sell the SR5 and buy another car.. hey, I'll buy it! I'm looking for a good car for the wifey.

[Timberland]

Well it won't just be a winter beater, more of a fun car to take to work, yet still be able to drive in the winter. Plus I'm sick of the tired old 4af. I think a bare bones sr5 with a 20v would be so fricken tight. Who knows, I'm just kinda day dreaming out loud.

Also, just so this thread has some purpose, if anyone knows of any mr2s (93 prefered) or corolla gts for sale in my area let me know. I'm hoping there'll be a bunch popping up on the autotrader closer to spring.

[Chris Corolla S]

Your talking about an AE92 GTS right? 'cause rear-drive wouldn't be that great for the winter... although there was a guy on here who had a Celica/Supra winter beater lol...
Maybe just swap a hi-comp 4a-ge into your SR5 so that you'd have the fuel injection....

[89TCGTS]

i'm thinkin about selling my 89 gts.....it has 104,000 mi on the car, but it has a jdm motor with about 60,000. I'll have pics of it soon so you can see it. The reason i would sell it is because my dad just bought an 89 camaro for $200. I want to put an LT1 in it, but that would be a ton of work to get the wiring right. if i do get the camaro i will sell the corolla. I just kinda fed up with how slow it is. I know you can get upgrades, but it would be nowhere close to as fast as an LT1