anyone know anything about these?

ive just kinda bought one, thats been tottaly rebuilt.

its been re-sprayed in impreza rally blue

looks stunning.

any thoughts on what to look for?

jamo

 

There little rot boxes

so check wheel arches sills etc... probably why its been resprayed

 

the guy whos selling it openly said it was rusty as before, but hes replaced all that needed doing, it looks very nice. plus i know the guy, so i know he honest. it looks like a nice little car.

 

I had one for 7 years. 100% reliable and great fun. I cant really think of any major problems. Rust was the reason for sale in the end, as it had started to go around the top of the windscreen. Not visible until the screen was removed. The other area is in front of the rear arches, but this is relatively easy to fix.
Mine stood up to huge abuse with no ill effects. I used to change the oil every 2 years, whether it needed it or not . I replaced the front shocks at about 100k miles. Other than that it was very cheap and cheerful motoring. If I had the space I would buy another one as a run-around.

Steve

 

cheers steve!

well the guy spent £800 getting it back into shape, hes keeping in until august, but ive got first refusal, as hes off away on his travels. it looks very cool!

he said if i dont mind waiting till then, he will let me have it for £500! as it saves him advertising it etc.

jamo

 

bl###y hell. That sounds cheap. If you dont want it let me know!

 

A mate of mine had one. It took loads of abuse and the interior was creak-free even at 12 years old with 120k+ on it.

He decided that it needed more power and so went for Kent cams and verniers. It made a hell of a difference to what was already a nippy car. It felt like a turbo coming in at 4k revs, but remained very smooth and drivable below that. They rev forever and pull all the way!

Enjoy, and make the most of the rwd, he never mastered it but wasn't up for trying either.

Great car, a cheap 'thrashing slag' or a great 'pride and joy', perfect for either.

Si

 

Had one for 2 years - fantastic handling, great engine, rust bucket bodywork.

 

ile put a pic up when i get one, and you wish steve! i nearly collapsed when he said £500!!

 

I had one of these for a couple of year too - v nice fun reliable cars! Just watch that tail in the wet though it can bite...!

 

I had a last of the line Mk1 ('87 E reg) about 10 years ago. Top Red, black cloth and sunroof (none of that leaky T-bar nonsense!). What can I say? Reliable wasn't the word. Despite about 40k of "robust" driving, nothing went wrong, rattled, fell off or wore out prematurely. It was as reliable as a 1.0 Starlet.

Don't skimp on tyres or dampers though. It grips like a leech but when it lets go (wet roundabouts....) you have to be very quick and ready for action to catch it (I wasn't but fortunately didn't hit anything).

Toyota took about 5 steps back with the MK2 and spent the next 2 revisions sorting it out but never got the original's crisp handling and reflexes back, let alone the performance and agility due to its light weight.

All you have to do now is put up with the perm and curlers gags....

 

Still the best car I have ever driven; and that includes the likes of Imprezas, BMW M5 etc etc. Basically an Elise with leather seats, build quality and some reliability. For the money there is nothing that comes close....

http://www.benerridge.freeserve.co.uk/mymr2.htm

> Toyota took about 5 steps back with the MK2

5 is an underestimate. I wanted to "upgrade" to a Mk2 for a long time, mainly because it's a much better looking car, is more comfortable and doesn't rust. However, once you've driven a Mk1 all you get from driving a Mk2 (any Mk2!) is an overwhelming sense of disappointment and disbelief. I can't understand how people can consider the Mk2 a sportscar - it's barely any different to drive from a bog standard Mondeo. So, I stayed with the Mk1 for 4 years.

 

I totally agree re the comparison between mk1 & mk2 driving experience