It’s a bit refreshing to see two truly small cars (by American standards, that is) side-by-side, when it’s becoming harder to see just about any. Especially so when one of them is a gen1 MR2, one of the more memorable ones from the eighties, a decade when there were so many others.
And it’s got another small sporty friend at its side.
Seems like the MINI era has rather played out. Yes, they’re still here, but in substantially diminished form, and trying to find a new relevant niche as the small EV. This is a 2007; they still offer a convertible in the lineup today. Starting at $35,700, it’s probably one of the cheaper raptops available new. But then I’m pretty clueless about certain segments of the new car market.
Looks like it gets towed behind an RV or such.
I missed what would have been an awesome shot the other morning: a woman driving around our neighborhood looking for cans to recycle (for the deposit). Her black MR2 was stuffed to the gills with bags of them, and there were a number of more bags attached to the outside of the car. You had to see it to believe it.
These MR2’s are very durable; peak Toyota, in more ways than one.
Curbside Classic: 1986 Toyota MR2 – They Call Me MISTER Two!
Yep! The Mister 2 was/is a great car to drive! You gotta wind it up a bit to accelerate, but it handles really well, stable at all speeds. And compared to its contemporary midengined counterpart, the Fiat X1/9, it’s very reliable and sturdy.
A guy at work had one a few years ago, very original condition, and he was making some noises about selling it – I told him not to sell it without telling me first, but he had some kind of phobia about selling a car to someone he knew. Definitely one that got away.
I don’t think it would be correct to call the X1/9 a contemporary of the MR2. The Fiat appeared on the market in 1972, and the MR2 in 1984 – very different car eras. I always thought the main contemporary of the X1/9 was the triumph TR7, but that might have just been in the UK.
The Pontiac Fiero was the obvious contemporary for the MR2, in the US at least, however half-baked it was at the beginning.
I’m all in on the MR2 (’86 or ’87?), what a fun little car to drive. The Mini is fun too but a bit much of a caricature and looks not quite as mini next to an MR2…
Not to nit pik BUT I owned an ’86 Bertone X 1/9 and had no problems so not all are bad. Maybe the earlier X’s had spotty reliability, but the issues must have been resolved by the time Bertone brought took over selling the vehicle. Also, mine was the one year ice blue over Mediterranean blue. I bought a dual cassette tape player AM/FM stereo system and had one of these faux car phones complete with the faux antenna glued to the back window. Got many compliments on the car especially when I would open the front trunk to store the roof and people would ask were the engine was. So funny. ANYWAYS I looked at the Mr2 and it wasn’t a bad auto. The next gen had cleaner styling. This example pictured has the moonroof instead of the full targa that the X 1/9 had. The Honda Del Sol came out at some point with the rear window that powered down which wasn’t a bad idea.
A Mini convertible costs $35700??!!! I feel even more clueless as that seems impossible for me comprehend. I mean, I’m sure it’s a nice car, but it’s just a Mini. And once again CC reminds me that the Mini ‘vert is one of those cars I’ve driven and had completely forgotten about. Never driven any MR2 but I did ride in a first gen version a few times.
I almost bought one of those MR2 many years ago with a JDM 20 valve engine swapped in. It was a hoot to drive. I bought another 1st generation RX-7 instead which was a bit of lemon.
The recycling lady driving an MR2 sounds like someone rather recently down on their luck unfortunately.
It must be about time they gave us another generation of the MINI. This one seems to have been around forever – since 2013 I see. Is it such a great car that BMW can’t figure out how to top it? I’m sure the CC commentariat could come up with some ideas! 🙂