Used Car of the Day: 2003 Toyota MR2 Spyder

by Tim Healey

Published: June 8th, 2023

used car of the day 2003 toyota mr2 spyder

We haven't featured a Toyota MR2 in this space very often -- maybe ever. This one is based in Florida, and sadly not a stick.

The car will be available in July and have around 130K miles on the clock at that time. The seller says it will have new spark plugs, an oil change, and new trans fluid by then. The battery is new, too.

The car is apparently in good shape but has some minor issues.

If you want to check it out, click here. The ask is $8,500.

[Images: Seller]

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Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

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2 of 14 comments

========Read all comments======== on Aug 06, 2023

The MR2 is a blast to drive, particularly with the manual transmission. The automatic takes a lot away, but it still handles great and is a joy on a warm, sunny day.
The Corolla mechanicals make it very dependable, but there are a few maintenance projects that are more difficult with the rear engine.
This guy would be smart to reupholster the seat - it devalues the car more than it would cost to make it look nice.
There are a couple of MR2s in my town that I would love to own, both in pristine condition. One is yellow, the other is green with a tan top. They are to Toyota what the Miata is to Mazda. Driving nirvana, no matter what TTAC's resident bile-spewing idiot in the first post has to say about such a wonderful car.

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Fred on Sep 28, 2023

I owned a 2001 MR2 for 15 years nothing ever went wrong with the vehicle. It was always exciting to drive most people thought it was a boxster. The only negative was storage and legroom considering I'm a little over 6:4 the only reason it was sold was as a second car and a grandchild on the way we needed something more practical.

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