Thinking about an 86 MR2 with an auto

[motu 56]

I am thinking about buying an 86 MR2 with an automatic and 79K miles. What should I look for with these cars? What about ease of maintenance and reliablity? Your help is greatly appreciated.

[MR2Jedi]

nah...unless you're thinking about dropping a manual tranny in there... you won't have near the fun as a 5 speed..IMO

[drmotorhead]

mr2bad is correct. I have had two mr2's, an 85 and an 86, both sticks. I drove a couple of autos and it is a pretty poor match for the motor. Tough to get the acceleration going with a sluchbox and such a high rpm power peak. Unless you want a cruiser, that is. The stick is just so much fun. The highly rated Miata manual has nothing on the mr2 stick, especially if you get a short shifter for it. I had a trd shifter, and it was a hoot run the gears.

[ToyotaTechGeek]

well, on the SC, the auto actually set the record for 0-30mph. it takes a little bit more than just the short shifter...the Speed Source shifter bushings are a MUST. there is also a 'mod' to rotate the square bushing on the shift fork which helps.

[motu 56]

I am mainly concerned about what I should look for in the way of possible problems.

[mr2poweraw11]

check for leaks obviously, and ask what they have done to maintain it, and how often they drive it. toyotas are generally reliable, but you dont want to buy an abused one. theres plenty more i should probably list, but i forgot the general things.

[mr2poweraw11]

check the body for signs of crashes, then make sure they got that taken care of, i bought my mr2 with a dent inside the frontcomparment/hood, i knew it was in a accident, but it looked fine, turns out it has 450$ cost of frame damage that i still need to get repaired, the car looked fine so i didnt care too much, but if i was involved in a accident, the poorly placed bumper would've done more damage to my side than the other vehicle. thats something you can look for in any car i guess, now my touge monster is rusting up without a bumper.

[ToyotaTechGeek]

i would be more inclined to check the condition of the coolant/cooling system and its history. i would also check the condition of the ATF and even smelling it will tell ya a thing or two.