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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Recent Comments

Carson D A straight white couple in a tv commercial is so retro!
MaintenanceCosts I had at least four teachers in middle and high school who drove Amazons. (It's a very Old Seattle kind of a thing to do.) They were mostly in this sort of condition. When they finally gave up the ghost, the tendency was to replace them with hairshirt-configuration Subarus.
Jeff S For a commuter vehicle this would be good especially at $100 a month. Just keep in mind that you would not want to travel long distances but for a 2nd or 3rd vehicle and short errands and commuter trips this would be ideal if you have a home charger.
Jeff S I had a 1985 silver Mitsubishi Mighty Max (black and blue side pinstriping) with 4 on the floor, gray vinyl bench seat, and AC for 14 years and put 200k miles on it. I bought mine 2 years old at a Cadillac dealership in Houston with about 30k miles on it. Good little truck and I put it through the ringer hauling 2 x 4s, rocks, soil, mulch, gravel, lawn equipment, appliance, furniture, and anything you can think of. I only paid $3,500 for it and added a rear bumper, stereo, bedliner, tie down hooks on the side, and built up the rear leaf springs to make it a 1 ton with extra heavy duty shocks. I even pulled out a tree stump with it. It was the first compact pickup I ever owned and with a 7 foot bed there wasn't too much it wouldn't haul. Too bad CAFE standards and manufacturers just wanting to build the largest truck they can have eliminated compact trucks with the exception of the Maverick and Santa Cruz which have small beds. My 99 S-10 extended cab had about a 6 foot bed and was a smoother riding truck but the Max was a great little truck and did everything I wanted it to do. I like my 22 hybrid Maverick but I would also like it to have at least an extra 6 inches on the 4 foot 6 inch bed.
MaintenanceCosts Test drove the Leaf before buying a Bolt. It was a much worse drive. And CHAdeMO sucks. So not remotely interested.