Last year I authored an opinion for the 2000 MR2 Spyder in which I stated that it was better than a Boxster. To clarify at the time I was an owner of the 2000 MR2 Spyder and was looking solely at a price/performance comparison. A buyer could spend $25K on a Spyder and get close the performance of a base automatic Boxster costing $20K more. Is the car really "Better than a Boxster"? No. After 1 year I sold my car and here's why:
1) There was always a feeling of wanting a little more. If I only had more horsepower, if I only had more storage, if I only upgraded the suspension, etc. etc. After time I grew tired of this continuous upgrade cycle I had fallen into. Many Spyder owners were consistenly spending $3K-$5 on upgrades to their cars and some have spent over $10K. If you really like doing this sort of thing, then maybe the Spyder is for you, but after awhile it was very tiresome and burning a continual hole in the wallet with no end in sight. For only slightly more you could be driving a Honda S2000, a much better car overall than the Spyder in my opinion.
2) Cheap fit and finish. It maybe isn't something you notice when you first look at a car, but after sitting inside it for awhile you can really start to pick apart the fit and finish of the car. No leather (although it is an option now, but still lacking), plastic galore including simulated aluminum handles still showing plastic mold lines, uncomfortable arm rests, mixed color dash illumination, and a glovebox that rattles in just about every one that rolls off the assembly line. Maybe I was expecting the fit and finish of a BMW or Porsche, and should have realized the car was a Toyota, but even for Toyota I was disappointed over time.
3) No storage space. Add another $300 to the cost of the car of a nice luggage rack, you'll need it and Toyota doesn't offer it so you'll have to go aftermarket (see upgrade cycle above). Many of the car magazines have stressed this point and yet you'll find MR2 Spyder owners glossing over this lack of storage space as I previously did. Well actually living with that limited storage space for a year certainly made a difference and changed my opinion. All too often I couldn't carry something I wanted to carry (like groceries) without using the passenger seat. When you think storage on this car, think motorcycle. Toyota made a terrible mistake in not giving this car a trunk. One of the first things MR2 Spyder owners do is throw out their spare and get a can of fix a flat in order to give themselves some storage. The luggage rack is nice, although some owners have stated that they've had engine overheating after installing the luggage rack because it blocks the cooling vents on the trunk lid. 1.9 cubic feet of storage space doesn't cut it.
4) Performance, I addressed this in #1 above, but Toyota sells this car as a sports car, having owned other sports cars I was disappointed in the overall performance of the car as it is not in the same league as say a BMW M Roadster or Porsche Boxster, although it doesn't cost as much either. Ultimately I wanted something that performed strongly from the factory and not something I had to strap a turbo onto and blow away my factory warranty to get any performance out of the car. I'd still rate the car highly for handling out of the factory and will another $1000 thrown in with aftermarket suspension parts, it handles even better, but the car lacks serious power and the body flex is terrible, nowhere near as solid as say a Honda S2000. If you have performance in mind, take the step up to the Honda S2000, you won't be disappointed when compared to the Spyder.
5) The stereo is poor, chalk that up as an instant replacement of head unit and speakers, toss in an amp and a cd changer and there is another 1-2K in expense (see #1 above). The really dumb thing about the stereo is that it is illuminated in green while the rest of the dash is amber. This is because Toyota pulled the Sony unit used in Japan and Europe in favor of a cheaper Panasonic unit for the US and the colors don't match. Just plain dumb and a further cost cutting / corner cutting measure by Toyota to try and keep the price down on the car. Many MR2 Spyder owners have also used up a significant part of their already limited storage space with CD changers and subwoofers making an already bad storage problem even worse.
6) Scarce factory options: No hardtop from the factory. Although Toyota offers a hardtop in Europe and Japan it isn't offered in the US meaning that if you want one you have to get an aftermarket supplier to import one for you and that's easily another $2000 to $2500 in cost (see #1 above), oddly enough this is a point where Porsche is actually less expensive than Toyota! The hard top is a nice addition and should be offered from the factory but isn't. In fact, almost ALL of the options available in Japan and Europe are NOT offered in the US! Why? Toyota has never explained despite repeated attempts to get them to do so. If the car is going to require some additions to make it peppier or more luxurious, then those should be offered by Toyota as options and they simply aren't, thus forcing owners to go the aftermarket route and have items custom imported from Japan. The #1 item? a new front nose emblem replacing the stock Toyota logo with the emblem used in Japan of the MR2 Eagle. Even cars in the same price range like the Miata offer more options available to personalize or uprgrade your car than Toyota does. Of those items offered last year from Toyota through TRD, 2 of them have already been discontinued, thus decreasing the optimism that Toyota might do something to improve the car.
7) Mechanical problems. Although I never had a significant problem with the car, other owners have. I know of at least 3 engines that have needed to be replaced and dozens that have had a faulty timing chain that has created a loud engine rattling sound thus requiring service time to eliminate it. In one instance the replacement part failed and the problem came back. I suspect that if more serious horsepower was added to this car that other mechanical problems would crop up with the engine or drivetrain, the car simply wasn't designed to handle it in my opinion. If you do buy one of these cars and hear rattling at engine idle, get the car fixed right away. There have also been a few instances of oil literally "disappearing" from the car's engine. Owners claim that they checked their oil, that no oil spots or oil burning were evident, yet the oil disappeared and in some instance caused serious problems. I don't know what to make of these stories since it never happened to me, but it was at least a cause for concern and made me check my oil more often. Did I mention no oil pressure gauge in the car? Sports cars should have those!
8) Defensive owners: I was one, I have to admit it. Whenever anyone said anything negative about the Spyder I was more apt to respond a defensive manner and try to "prove" them wrong. Ultimately I realized that most MR2 Spyder owners do this and that should indicate something about the car if the car has to be defended all of the time. In fact I suspect that if an existing MR2 Spyder owner reads this Epinion that they'll get fired up and feel the need to defend the MR2 Spyder or try and refute what I've said about the car here. You can't wish away experience though and I've had a year's experience in owning an MR2 Spyder and can tell you all the good and bad about the car. There are several very vocal users on the Internet who seem to believe that the MR2 Spyder is the epitomy of a sports car or the ultimate driving machine (no wait that's BMW!) and I simply grew tired of unrealistic expectations of the car and owners who didn't think before opening their mouths or typing at their keyboards.
So there you have my reasons why I sold the car after 1 year. On the positive side, I got almost what I paid for the car plus all the extras out of it after a year so resell value was pretty good because I sold it just before summer and Toyota continues to bring the cars over slowly and mark them up at dealerships. I suspect this will change this year and in fact it already has as I've seen resale values on the car dropping as of late. No more so than any other car, but the newness factor in the market has certainly worn off at this point.
Although I am listing this as a negative report and not recommending a buy on this car, there are some circumstances in which I would recommend a buy. If the problems listed above don't bother you in the least, then the car may be a match for you. If you are a "Riceboy" and like adding coffee can size exhausts, neon lighting and Type R stickers to your car, this is probably the car for you to sink your money into. I thought the review of the 2000 model where the reviewer said that he couldn't figure out exactly who this car was targeted at and why they would purchase one vs. another car was pretty accurate. I purchased mine originally because I missed my previous convertible and had recently relocated to a more condusive climate, as it turns out the car was no substitute for my previous convertible which was more of a true sports car. Single owners who rarely take passengers and who are looking for a communter car that looks sporty will probably like this car as well. Those owners are less likely to car about real performance vs. looking sporty and driving something with good fuel economy (around 30 mph on average). Although I'm not a big Mazda Miata fan, the Miata is a more well rounded car for the same dollar amount, but it should be since Mazda has had more time to improve the car. Maybe in time the MR2 Spyder will improve as well, and in fact that's how I'd close this opinion. If you really want one of these cars, wait a year or two and see if Toyota fixes the problems listed above, if they do, then I'd certainly upgrade my opinion of this car.
Amount Paid (US$): 23615
Condition: New
Model Year: 2000
Model and Options: No options to speak of
