How shite are T-bar MR 2s? OK, I mean this one

[Bren]

X19 will rot even worse than the mr2.

 

However it will not be full of floodwater.

[dome]

I'd swap the XJS for a nice Merc estate if i was you...

[stripped fred]

Mine doesn't leak but it did even with new seals from toyota. Cured it with some black silicone seal and clingfilm for an (almost) invisible repair.

[forddeliveryboy]

Lotus set up the suspension, what's more to want? The decent ride and not overpowerful engine made them feel a little slow in the same way an ancient Citroën would, until you look at the needle. I never took to mine, it just didn't inspire enough for a sports car. An MGF is waaaay better in almost every respect.

 

But now you've got us all excited, go and buy one. Find the scruffiest there is which is solid underneath.

[Guest Breadvan72]

I can't believe nobody has suggested an X1/9 instead. How about an X1/9 instead?

 

 

.... is the right answer!  

 

 

I can't believe that not one of my current shitheaps is Italian.  This fucked up fucked uppededness must STOP.

[Mr A Lawrence]

For £1795 you could get at least 3 mgf's, one to run and two spares cars!!

[Skizzer]

I can't believe that not one of my current shitheaps is Italian.  This fucked up fucked uppededness must STOP.

 

I'll just leave this here and tiptoe quietly away:

 

Looking at that rally wannabe HPE, eBay also suggests this.  Liking this a lot.  Long way from me and RNM, sadly/luckily.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lancia-Beta-HPE-Coupe-1983-RARE-48k-miles/252246158817

 

Plz buy so I don't have to.   K thx bye.

[RoadworkUK]

I'm actually sure that a MK1 MR2 is the one car on Earth most capable of deceit.

 

I've seen numerous examples which looked concours but underneath had the rigidity and texture of batter.

[Timewaster]

Years ago a mate had two or three of these.

Strangely, 2 drove really well and were an absolute hoot but the third one felt like it had been boiled. it was so soggy and baggy and generally horrid.

Was he lucky twice or unlucky once?

[rantingYoof]

My 1989 F-plate rests in oh-so-many pieces now. It was the same colour as that, too (see signature).

 

Mine was an eBayLOL moment, and I "paid" the red Rover 214 for it.

 

It had superficial-looking rust around the arches, but when I drove over bumps I could hear bits of things falling out, and it turns out this was the car disintergrating.

 

I took it to a friendly garage. A mechanic put it up on the ramp and poked it a little bit, then emerged a little while later rubbing bits of MR2 out of his face and hair.

 

"Normally," he began, slowly, easing me in, "we can sort rust out by finding the nearest good bit of metal, and simply welding a plate to it."

 

He paused for dramatic effect. Me, just turned 19 years old, looked up at him, eyes all wide and hopeful like an Anime character.

 

"In this case, I have been unable to locate any good metal under here. We would need to take off the whole floor, and create an entirely new floor for you."

 

I sensed that this was possibly a bad thing and would cost a lot of money.

 

"Would this cost a lot of money?" I asked.

 

"Mate," he said, shaking his head sadly, "You could buy this car twice over with the money you would have to spend on materials alone."

 

"Oh."

"The other thing," he continued, going in for the kill, "is that the arches are quite bad. You see how the rust is causing bits of stuff to flake away like so...?"

 

He demonstrated on the passenger-side wheel arch. I was vaguely irritated at him - you wouldn't poke a recent burns victim, would you?

 

"Well, the rust isn't just surface bubble-rust. It's jagged-edge rust. You aren't going to get a new MOT if someone needs a tetnus shot after accidentally brushing passed your car..."

 

At this point I felt like bursting into man-tears.

 

In the end I sold it for £400 to someone using Autotrader, with an advert that more or less admitted that you would have to weld everything back together from the ground up in order to get it MOT worthy, that it needed new arches, and that at any moment whilst driving it the whole thing might just collapse around you. If you hit anything greater in size than a moth, you were likely to die, and then your family sued by the moth.

 

I wangled £400 for it because it had 10 month's MOT (LOLOLOL) and the largest stack of paperwork I've ever seen for any car ever. Two folders.

 

And one receipt for £900 for a stainless steel exhaust with a lifetime guarantee. The friendly garage advised that this was likely the main source of any structural integrity.

 

It looks like it's been fragged now, or possibly somebody looked at it sternly and it collapsed.

 

 

 

So, basically, do it mate. Lightening can't strike twice, and all that jazz.

[Keymaster]

Years ago a mate had two or three of these.

Strangely, 2 drove really well and were an absolute hoot but the third one felt like it had been boiled. it was so soggy and baggy and generally horrid.

Was he lucky twice or unlucky once?

I'd guess that was a case of maintenance/upgrades.

 

I've driven some that were really sharp & pointy, others that were baggy and understeery. The baggy ones still had the original bushes & shocks, the pointy ones had been fitted with polybushes and/or stiffer shocks. Tyre pressures make a massive difference on how they handle too, just 2psi can transform them.

[chodweaver]

Unlucky once. I'm a serial offender where these are concerned, both were rotten as pears in the end, due to daily driver abuse through the two coldest winters I've experienced and shit body repairs done by me and 'professionals' that weren't. Always good to drive, piece of piss to fix, durable (233k on original engine and still no major faults), comfy, economical. Quick enough for fun, not so much you are likely to lose your licence in a week. Same ethos as that Gt86 thing that Toyota put out - why up your grip so much that when it bites you back, you're doing 60, if you can have a laugh coming out of a roundabout sideways at 30mph and learn to catch it without endangering nuns and kittens. Still my most favourite car evah. Sure, they rust, which is a huge shame, cos now the good ones are going into glass cases, and that's not what they're for.

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