1996 Toyota MR2 Turbo

Welcome to our latest auction for a very special Toyota MR2; finished in black over black with black alloy wheels, this 1996 MR2 GT-S was imported from Japan in 2002. Turbocharged, it is similar to the UK-spec models but with added performance; with 245bhp on tap from the factory, it had 175bhp per tonne and a 0-60mph time of 6.5 seconds.

Proving the adage that enough is never enough, this one has undergone further work to give it a mighty 300bhp when dyno-tested, making this a seriously quick car and one whose performance vastly exceeds that of the standard car.

In the care of its second UK owner from 2007 to 2021, it’s being offered with no reserve, so is going to sell from the very first bid, no matter how derisory that is.

Now we’ve whetted your appetite, read on for the full details of what might be the fastest MR2 to pass through our hands…

Black is notoriously unforgiving, yada, yada, yada. You’ve heard it all before, so let’s skip the background warning and get into the meat of it, shall we?

The panels are pretty good. Largely straight and well aligned, the way they hang together gives the car good vibes as you walk up to it.

The black paintwork has light scratching upon inspection around the car.

The rear lamps look like aftermarket ones, but they are in good shape, and the front pop-up headlamps rise and fall as they should. And pop-up headlamps are always cool, aren’t they?

As is the exhaust, which is large enough to put your fist in. Makes a helluva noise, too.

The 17-inch black alloy wheels are in a good condition. They’re fitted with Pirelli Sottozero tyres on the front and a pair of Minerva Ice Plus on the rear. Neither are your traditional performance tyres but they’ll keep you moving in snow and ice and the cold long after ‘normal’ tyres have let go, so maybe treat yourself to another set of rims and make like the Nordic folk and have season-specific tyres, eh?

There is some crustiness to the nearside front wheelarch (#3 and #105), the front badge is missing (#88), and there are quite a lot of stonechips and other minor marks to the paintwork.

It’s presentable enough, and highly usable of course, so the new owner can decide for themselves which direction they want to take it, whether to maintain the patina, conserve it and touch it up where necessary, or even splash out by treating it to a respray.

The odometer shows 67,000 miles, an increase of around 10,000 miles in the past 15 years. There’s a break in the MoT history between 2009 and 2014 too, so this is a car that appears to have led a gentle life.

This is borne out by the condition of the cabin, which is good. Cars from Japan tend to be pampered in a way few other countries manage and this one has benefitted from that careful curation.

The cloth seats are still firm and supportive. The door cards are excellent. The headlining is clean and taut. And the carpets are good.

Auxiliary instruments include an A’pexi digital speedometer/rev counter and a separate boost controller, an SARD turbo timer, three TIM gauges for oil pressure, turbo boost, and water temperature, and a Parrot Bluetooth controller.

There’s a Raid steering wheel too, plus an Alpine sound system with a Kenwood subwoofer mounted behind the passenger seat.

The rearmost boot is tidy enough but it looks like the plywood trim has warped a little, so that will need easing back into place.

Other flaws are few; the mount for the three gauges in the dashboard is a little rusty (#73), there are a couple of old mounting holes in the centre console (#79), and there’s a small hole in the base of the passenger seat (#185).

As you can see, it starts promptly and makes a suitably impressive engine note but it’s the exhaust that impresses the most, being deep and gruff and yet not overly intrusive.

The engine bay is grubby and not up to the same standard as the rest of the car. There are some nice parts under the hood, including extra bracing to stiffen the chassis, but it does need cleaning.

The frunk, which also has a strut brace fitted, is also grubby and houses a space-saver spare wheel.

There are several bills from well-known specialists including Fensport, Racelogic, Burton Power, Larkspeed, and Turbo Technics relating to the Toyota’s maintenance and performance modifications, including one for a new turbo. The work was too involved to detail here, so please do take the time to leaf through the invoices or, better still, make an appointment to pop along and take a look for yourself.

But, the summary involves a rolling road session and around 323bhp at the flywheel and 318 bhp at the wheels. That should be enough, shouldn’t it?

It also has its original Japanese maintenance handbook plus a few documents from its time in Japan.

The MR2 doesn’t have a current MoT certificate, the last one having expired in November 2021. But, if it helps, it did pass the last eight with just the one advisory point in total. The seller has kindly agreed that a fresh MOT will be offered with the car upon sale.

The recent Vehicle History Check is clean.

Much of the development work for the second-generation Toyota MR2 was done in the UK, with American racing driver Dan Gurney and a team of British motorsport engineers devoted to ensuring the MR2’s handling would match its mini-Ferrari looks.

In addition to meeting the dynamic brief – the UK was second only to America in terms of units sold - Toyota also created a car whose looks have survived the passage of three decades; an MR2 is still a great looking car and one that’s rapidly growing a devoted following in the JDM and modern classic worlds.

And yet, even with all its many attributes, prices have yet to take off; we think this one will only sell for somewhere between £7,000 and £11,000, but the seller has enough faith in you all to offer it with no reserve.

Viewing is always encouraged, and this particular car is located with us at The Market HQ near Abingdon; we are open weekdays 9am-5pm, to arrange an appointment please use the Contact Seller button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.