Autotrader: 1994 T - SMG - 24k Miles

[Nacho]

Originally Posted by 47mr2's

What the hell does a bank know about the value of a car anyway? When have mr2 turbos ever gone for book value. You may as well throw that thing away. I have sold 45 different mr2's and that is no exagerration. None of them has ever gone for even high book value they have always gone for more. This car is definitely worth the money this guy is asking. It may not be to you but it is to someone guaranteed.

Most likely someone will buy it. I just stated that it will be difficult to find a buyer.

I lost 3 buyers for my 91 Turbo when they couldn't get loans for over 4k (asking price was 6). As the price goes up, finding someone with cash in hand becomes more and more rate.

Old muscle cars and ferrari's are a dime a dozen.

You ever seen the Barrett Jackson auto auction?

You can think what you want about appreciation but If past values of mr2's have any bearing on appreciation then I would definitely say they will appreciate. I have sold clean 91 mr2 turbos for $7500-8000 since 1998. They still go for that. I'm not talking about modded out motor swapped bodykit mr2's either. I'm talking about stock mr2 turbos with average miles.

Appreciation means that they go up in value, not stay the same.

You are probably one of the guys who paid $8000 for your modded mr2 in the last 2 years.

10k for my 93T w/ a gen 3 swap last July. I'd had my 91 Turbo (paid 5) since the July previous.

Your appreciation for these cars is obviously limited based on your comment about turbo miatas and s2000s. Get a clue.

Have you ever raced, or even driven, a turbo miata? It's ludicrously fun to drive. Same for the S2000. MR2s are great cars, but IMO some of the asking prices on them is too much.

The mr2 turbo you have was designed and built in japan in 89. It was way ahead of it's times then. Unfortunately for our sakes we never saw an mr2 past 95. Most of the major improvements to the mr2 just starting happening about then in Japan.

I have a 93T w/ a gen 3 (as stated). I know all about the upgrades to the car. That's part of my mindset that the US cars simply aren't worth the large price tags, espcially the 91-92 cars.

The mr2 still out classes the miata turbo or not as well as the s2000. I guarantee a 97-99 mr2 will spank that honda.

Not on an SCCA solo II course. The extreme light weight nature of the miata an ease of adding power makes it quicker than most people expect. And for stock class racing, the S2000 is an overdog, even for it's new class.

Some of us paid $15k or more for our first mr2 turbos. Hell I paid $9000 for my first supercharged mr2 in 1992. You don't have to appreciate this 94 mr2 with 24k. We all know that you are probably the guy who drove a riced out Civic and just happened to get a hold on someone else's mr2. You could always sell your and get an s2000. This is why some of us who've been involved with these cars forever hate knuckleheads like you on the message boards.

Actually, my car before the MR2s was a DSP prepped 95 GSR. After 2 class championships I wanted a new challenge to my driving skills so i got a turbo RWD MR car. I raced an MR spyder in between the Integra and the MR2-T.

I love that i'm a 'knucklehead' for appreciating cars that aren't MR2s. I love my car, but i'm also realistic about it's limitaitons and what other cars can and will do better than the 2 turbos.

BTW Miata's aren't worth shit. Ive got one and I can't give it away. For the last three years I've been trying to sell it. I'll trade you for your mr2 since you can't appreciate them.

No thanks, i'll hang on to the Mr2 for now. I'm already in the points series with it in class. But i'll take the miata if you're giving it away.

[ALLSHOTUP]

Depreciation:

My car had 38,600 miles on it when I bought it almost two years ago . I paid 16,000 dollars for it then . I now have 41,900 miles on it and there isn't a chance i would sale it for 16,000 now. I know that I could sale it for more than that . I also had a detailed history on the car. After buying the car I found pics of the original owner detailing the car at a car show on the internet . And I cannot remember having any issues buying the car. the bank didn't give me issues. I guess alot of the situation depends on the credit that the person has .

[bryanf]

I bought a black 94T with 15K miles, which I sold for a profit after owning it for about two years. While I enjoyed owning it, I felt that any major modifications would really hurt its value. Driving a stock MR2T is OK for a while but before long it's not enough. I think this SMG is a good value for the right person, someone who wants to keep it stock and enjoy it like it is. Personally I would rather pay less for a car which is in good condition but not so good that you feel guilty modifying it.

[mr2slow4you]

ALLSHOTUP, me love your car!....why weren't you at the meet this last sunday?

[47mr2's]

Yes I've heard of barrett jackson and yes I know appreciation means going up in value. The point I was making is that based on past performance of value on Mr2's I think they will go up. Barret Jackson deals with cars that are classics typically 20 years or older and of course some very low mileage older sports cars. I have been in the car business for years and I still go to dealer auctions. Mr2 buyers in the past have always been willing to pay extra for their cars. Yes I have a gen3 as well in fact I own 2 of them a 94 rhd and a 94 lhd both turbos. I have driven turbo miatas and s2000's. They are indeed fun to drive. Yes the mr2 has limitations but there were more improvements made to the suspension in late 96-99 that we never saw here in the states. I appreciate other cars as well. I have personally owned over 100 cars being on the dealer side for a while. I have owned an nsx ,porsches, you name it. Not to mention my good friend owns an exotic car dealership so I've either driven or riden in most of the ferraris and some lambos, lotus esprit's. I don't think an mr2 is the best car but of all the cars I've driven I like its' feel the best

[ALLSHOTUP]

Originally Posted by mr2slow4you

ALLSHOTUP, me love your car!....why weren't you at the meet this last sunday?

Thank you . I just bought an older Tacoma that I have been working on . I had to go over the lift kit to make sure that all nuts and bolts were tight. I also receiveed several tons of gravel on my driveway , had to take a rake and spread it out evenly. Tons of work. I saw the pics of the meet. Looked real fun.


BrianF : You have a great way of expressing yourself . And you make a good point. I sort of feel the same way with my Mr2. And you have a pretty 94T.

I can honestly say that if my car was completely stock I would enjoy it as much as I do with the mods. I can't really explain in words . It isn't the power because it isn't that fast . I think it is the way I fit with the car. But, I must admit I love cars period . I do not care what it is , A pinto , Maverick , Pacer . I love cars . But, I really enoy these little mid engine cars called Mr2's. :-)

[Nacho]

Originally Posted by 47mr2's

They are indeed fun to drive. Yes the mr2 has limitations but there were more improvements made to the suspension in late 96-99 that we never saw here in the states.

The biggest downfall of the MR2 in competitive racing is the lack of room for tires in the front. Even with the 'racing spec' coilovers that some companies make, you're going to be hard pressed to fit anything over a 225 race tire (typically a bit bigger than a comperable street tire) under it. And due to the front tire limitations, you can't go TOO big in the back or you'll face some nasty understeer.

Besides the addition of TCS, what other revisions happened to the J-spec MR2s post the 93/gen3 changeover? I thought it stayed the same from 93-99.

[47mr2's]

From what I've read and people in Japan I've talked to the front suspension was revamped. The rear was also changed again. Visually there is not much difference to the suspension components but my sources told me to be careful with front suspension components as they look pretty close but there are differences as far as trying to use older model year components and vice versa. It is my understanding that this was the main reason for the stock wheel change in 98. This was due to offsets and clearances. As far as the engine is concerned most of us know that the gen3 is an underrated motor. There is simple logic behind this. The later gen4 and gen5 motors came with different ecu's containing different maps and so forth. It is basically a re tuned version of the previous versions. We all know the visual changes to the body. The debate is always going on about gen2 vs gen3 so we don't need to go there. I will simply say the major revisions done to the 3sgte were made between gen2 to gen3. No internal revisions were made after this. The gen3 revisions were kept from 94-99 where gen2 motors were from 89-93 in japan. The 3sgte was revised for the Caldena but those motors on ly came coupled to an automatic transmission. It is rumored that they run higher compression to make up for their smaller turbine.