Used Car of the Day: 2003 Toyota MR2 Spyder

by Tim Healey

Published: September 19th, 2023

used car of the day 2003 toyota mr2 spyder

Today's UCOTD is a highly modified convertible runabout.

This 2003 Toyota MR2 Spyder was purchased by our seller in 2010, and it received the 2z engine and a six-speed transmission in a swap in 2014.

The front end has been repainted because of rock chips, and this 109,000-mile car has been garaged and not driven in the snow.

Other mods include upgraded headers, exhaust, flywheel, clutch, a cat-less downpipe, midship and front and rear bracing, carbon-fiber strut-tower bars, modified springs and shocks, performance brake rotors, steel-braided brake lines, and an MR2 luggage set.

There are some minor problems -- a couple of rips in the top that don't cause leaks, wear in the driver's seat, a constant presence of the check engine light due to the lack of a catalytic converter, a paint chip in the rear bumper, and no doors for the rear storage compartment.

Click here to check it out.

[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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Comments

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2 of 21 comments

FreedMike on Sep 20, 2023

I'd love to have a car like this, but if this one's missing the catalytic converter, it probably won't pass emissions. No thanks.

Like Reply
CoastieLenn on Sep 20, 2023

MR-Spyder with a 2ZZ and 6 speed? Yes please!

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Recent Comments

V8fairy Not scared, but I would be reluctant to put my trust in it. The technology is just not quite there yet
V8fairy Headlights that switch on/off with the ignition - similar to the requirement that Sweden has- lights must run any time the car is on.Definitely knobs and buttons, touchscreens should only be for navigation and phone mirroring and configuration of non essential items like stereo balance/ fade etc>Bagpipes for following too close.A following distance warning system - I'd be happy to see made mandatory. And bagpipes would be a good choice for this, so hard to put up with!ABS probably should be a mandatory requirementI personally would like to have blind spot monitoring, although should absolutely NOT be mandatory. Is there a blind spot monitoring kit that could be rerofitted to a 1980 Cadillac?
IBx1 A manual transmission
Bd2 All these inane posts (often referencing Hyundai, Kia) the past week are by "Anal" who has been using my handle, so just ignore them...
3-On-The-Tree I was disappointed that when I bought my 2002 Suzuki GSX1300R that the Europeans put a mandatory speed limiter on it from 197mph down to 186mph for the 2002 year U.S models.