Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

yeah I’m with you on this one… while there’sa lot of bigger cars out there, I feel the 3 is about the biggest I’m personally willing to tolerate. It’s just so… unnecessary? ?‍♂️
 
I've found a nice looking black Mk3 Mister 2 not too far from me that I'm going to call up about tomorrow, I want to try one local so I can see if my Ringmeet shit fits in it and if I fit in it. It's way cheaper than my budget which isn't necessarily a bad thing, only has 49k miles and comes with a factory hard top. Red cloth seats are funky but I dig them and they're better than leather.

Any reason not to get one of these? It's not a car I'd keep forever but as a useable plaything it should do nicely and I won't be scared of damaging it. It will also be less leaky than an Elan and more reliable than a Smart.
 
Keep an eye out for precat damage to the engines (more of a problem on the 2002s and before); as for frunk space, you can flip the spare upside down so there's more room in the hollow side of the wheel. There's also luggage racks available for the engine lid for extra cargo room, though I'm not sure how easy they are to find in the UK. Staggered stock tire sizes are a pain, but any old 4x100 wheels (e.g. from NA and NB MX-5s) would fit on them. Last thing is cruising RPM; the original 5-speed has pretty short gearing, so at 80 MPH you're turning at 4k RPM, and that could be a pain on long motorway journeys. Then again I've spent entire days on the road in the one I had, so it's doable, if not the quietest.
 
Thanks, that's really helpful. The car I'm looking at is a 2006 6-speed so hopefully should be the best of the bunch for my purpose. 'Boot racks' as we call them are pretty common for open top cars, I don't like the way they look but they serve a purpose.

The dealer with the car also has an NB MX-5, an MG TF and a 1992 Celica Limited 300 soft top so I'm going to look at them all. I particularly want to compare the driving position of the MX-5 to that in the MR2.
 
Thanks, that's really helpful. The car I'm looking at is a 2006 6-speed so hopefully should be the best of the bunch for my purpose. 'Boot racks' as we call them are pretty common for open top cars, I don't like the way they look but they serve a purpose.

The dealer with the car also has an NB MX-5, an MG TF and a 1992 Celica Limited 300 soft top so I'm going to look at them all. I particularly want to compare the driving position of the MX-5 to that in the MR2.

Ah, the Mister Two!
 
Thanks, that's really helpful. The car I'm looking at is a 2006 6-speed so hopefully should be the best of the bunch for my purpose. 'Boot racks' as we call them are pretty common for open top cars, I don't like the way they look but they serve a purpose.

The dealer with the car also has an NB MX-5, an MG TF and a 1992 Celica Limited 300 soft top so I'm going to look at them all. I particularly want to compare the driving position of the MX-5 to that in the MR2.
Interesting, the 6-speed may have taller gearing depending on which final drive was fitted, so do test it out on the motorway when you can. I had a taller-geared 6-speed on my 2ZZ, which made it a bit less fun at legal speeds when combined with a 6k-8k RPM power cam, but with the regular 1ZZ you may find that to be preferable given it's less reward to rev the piss out of it.

As compared to an NB MX-5, you do get much more interior space in the MR2 thanks to the lack of a proper transmission tunnel, and it seems to be generally better for the lanky folk.
 
Yeah I've been reading about the engine being less rewarding to spank, will see if I'm OK with that.

From what I've been able to find, the ratios are the same on the UK 5 and 6 speeds with just the 6th tagged on, and all UK cars supposedly had an LSD from the factory. I like this.

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I've been checking out the other cars the dealer has online, not only do they have all of these soft tops but they have a 94 Mustang GT 5.0 and a TDV8 Range Rover in the exact spec I would choose. It's even in budget. Sadly it has the smaller engine and earlier 6 speed gearbox so it wouldn't be a wise choice as a big car, a terrible choice as a sports car. :LOL:
 
I've been looking at Fiat 500s again...
 
Are you sure the interior of that Audi is mold-free?
 
At least get an Abarth or something. They make the fartiest of noises. :p
Definitely either that or standard "turbo" version. Something more than that NA 100HP nonsense. I would want heated seats and auto climate control as well.
 
Hmm, I've found someone selling a limited edition 2006 TF300 MR2 with half-leather seats (the car number stitched in), factory upgraded exhaust and a brand new roof, only 35K miles. Now that's a future classic. :unsure:

It has a few cosmetic defects but nothing that can't be fixed. Only snag is it's silver, nothing wrong with silver but it's not the first colour I'd choose.

https://www.atariscars.co.uk/used-c...-roadster-tf300-2dr-stockport-202110138437699
 
Depends on how long you’ll be using it. I’ve had terrible luck with car colours, and I’m so sick of grey and silver that my next one will be bright red or blue.

My car history is a bit shit when it comes to colours

- VW Golf 2,my mum’s car. Tornado red. Awesomeness
- Opel Corsa from my dad. Metallic silver. Boring
- Peugeot 306 estate. White non metallic because company car, had no choice. Meh. Also crashed it and got an identical white one instead
- VW Polo : maroon brown/red. I liked it, wife hated it and kept calling it ‘dirty pink colour’
- Opel Astra : metallic silver. Because it was in stock and the dealer needed to shift it. Alteast it didnt look dirty even when it was.
- Citroen C1 : dark grey. Because my Astra had died and I needed a car quick. Boring
- VW eGolf : dark grey again because it was either this or white (company car). More boring…

I’ve absolutely had it with boring colours!

Meanwhile the Mrs has had a white Peugeot 106, a red Opel Corsa, a blue Lancia, a purple Citroen Picasso and now a bright blue Hyundai Kona….
 
Yeah silver is a pretty boring colour, I've never owned a silver car though. I don't like red but I'd be happy with the metallic blue Toyota used that's very similar to the Tesla. In this case I'm initially limited to the 300 limited edition cars that are made and then to the examples for sale. That's one at the moment. :p
 
Hmm, the question there is do you plan on actually driving the car or storing it away to sell down the line? It doesn't look like there's any serious upgrades over stock, apart from the exhaust; that 6-speed you mentioned earlier would probably be a better drive.
 
It's mainly the half-leather seats as the cloth ones don't seem to wear all that well and as I mentioned before I don't want full leather. The exhaust is a nice extra and then having a limited edition number just makes it fit in better as a 'modern classic' at car meets. :LOL:

While I have the budget I agree that for hooning the cheaper car is probably better, I'm not an abusive driver but I'd be a bit afraid to put too many miles on a more 'special' car. The black car I'm looking at tomorrow is already very clean, assuming it isn't rotten underneath.
 
Yeah, I'd get going for the limited edition if it was something properly weird, something JDM, something a bit tasteless (think MX-5 Gleneagles) or something people recognize or know about, but this is kind of very UK-specific and modest. TF stands for "The Final" it seems.

 
Yeah; if you were actively looking for a limited-edition MR2 Spyder, I'd suggest one with the TTE turbo kit that was apparently a dealer option near the end of the run.

As for the seats, one nice trick you can do with those is to grab the cushions from the contemporary Celicas, which seem to be made with a thicker cloth, have more foam, and bolt in without any mods.
 
OK so an MR2 probably isn't going to happen, I really overestimated the amount of storage space on offer and there's no way I could get everything in for Ringmeet let alone a roadtrip. The car I looked at was nice enough but had plenty of rough edges.

When I got in I felt like there wasn't much space, my knees hit the wheel as I got in even with it all the way up and the seat all the way back. It was still much better than in the NB MX-5 they had, I could barely close the door and felt so claustrophobic. It was like the doors in an old Defender, but you can't put your elbow out because the doors are tall.

Might be looking at something else tomorrow, a more modern convertible, at a local dealer.
 
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