1991 Toyota MR2 Turbo 5-Speed ONE Owner CLEAN Runs great Rust Free Florida Car!

1991 Toyota MR2 Turbo 5-Speed 3S-GTE Description

Up for sale is the Winner, with no reserve. The big W. The letter that comes after V but before X (I think). This car not only won it all but it made it home in one piece. Let me give you the short version of the back story.
Once a year at whatever time all 3 of us can get time off work at the same time my friends (since high school) and I take turns blindfolded throwing a dart at the map of the continental US. Trust me if there were cars and drag strips in the ocean we would spend most of our time in the gulf of mexico as we are terrible at throwing darts without the blindfold! One time we seriously considered following the honor of the sacred dart throw north of the border, but where it landed we figured out we were more likely to find polar bears drinking coca-cola than we were to find cars for sale or a place to race them. I swear we had this idea independent of top gear doing it. We actually started doing it on GT3 and GT4, everybody gets an even amount of $$$ and we see who can build the faster car for the money based of straight well rounded all brand automotive knowledge. Yes we have gone way outside of our comfort zones many times, no motorcycles are not allowed.
I'm sure top gear started this idea long before we were born but the difference there is that our teeth are better, we are just middle class people that grew up in the first fast and furious era, and none of it is staged/bank rolled. Once we had jobs good enough to support this waste of money we started out small, $500 got you a Lexus ES250 manual from a field in TN and you made something of it! Our budget has moved up significantly, but the reliability of the cars surely has not. In fact the wisest decision is usually just to buy the car that has the best chance to NOT die either at the race track or on the way home. Simple rules, we take turns throwing the sacred dart blindfolded, wherever it lands we either fly bus or train it (not allowed to have a car) to the destination with a pre-determined amount of cash, and then we have to come up with a car with our limited resources and make our way to the nearest 1/8th mile or 1/4 mile track after being given exactly 24 hours to work on the car. Yes you can imagine all the details and obstacles, yes most of them have happened. Whoever has the fastest car 2/3 races winning by 2 wins all 3 cars, you then try to make it home with all 3 trophies but you'd be surprised the amount of times you have to leave the car somewhere and hope you can send a shipper to grab it or take a trailer yourself (if it is worth it, sometimes they are not lol). Sometimes you buy the worst car possible once you see the great deal the other guy got just so you can leave the already obvious winner with a turd for a trophy.
This time around one of us went with the pick the most reliable vehicle and hope you win off of just making it down the track. One of us bought a reliable car that could be fast but was broken and wagered it all on being able to fix it. The last one of us to come up with a car was so jelly about the first two buys that I'm fairly sure he purposely purchased the cheapest most boat anchor worthy turd trophy we've ever seen. First guy bought a 1996 Toyota Landcruiser, I bought a 91 MR2 Turbo misfiring on 2 cylinders and sounded like it had a rod knock, and the third guy bought a 1986 Subaru XT non turbo FWD POS.
The Subaru actually ran pretty decent but at the first drag launch either the clutch or the differential committedseppuku and we didn't even bother trying to fix it, just politely pushed it into the grass and left it there as a present for someone looking for cheap Kapanese scrap steel. The LandCruiser of course had zero mechanical issues and ran about as good as it did new, and although the 1FZ-FE DOHC 4.5L has way more power than previous LandCruiser gas engines i'm fairly sure it's 0-60 time was close to its 1/4 mile time. The MR2 on the other hand was a gamble, a wager, a close call, a near shave, an almost but being a Toyota it went ahead and fixed itself (with some help from me). With my terrible driving skills we managed a 14.6 in the quarter and a victory ride from FL all the way back to NC with zero issues out of either vehicle. Because of Toyota reasons.
Now it is time for the phoenix to become ashes once more, to the victor go the spoils, and these cars must be recycled into funds for the next trip (most likely my bachelor party trip to Germany to run the Nuerburgring since I'm getting married in September!). I'm sure my 1.5 year old red doberman will probably take whatever funds are left over, little loveable bastard. He is like a squishy reverse ATM with Spock ears. On to the details of the actual vehicle in question!

I found this car for sale for $4500 in Florida one owner 99k miles with a ton of records in both carfax and in paper form. I ran the carfax and all the mileage and condition of the car is legit, no bad wrecks or anything, confirmed one owner (or at least one family owned it for sure). Here is the downside, it was running on 2 cylinders and had a popping sound. I would bet my money on a 3S-GTE any day of the week, they did have a few weaknesses but if you know what you're doing they are trusty and powerful. First issue was the misfiring, which turned out to be the fact that the spark plug wire boots had cracked and the spark was jumping from the wire to the head, and the plugs were worn out. Fixed that and the popping ended up being a combination of a very small leak at the exhaust manifold and the spark jumping to the head. Fixed the spark, and then when the exhaust heated up that leak went away too. So it basically fixed itself on the later issue, after that car ran great no issues. But I have no use for it, was simply an instrument of my victory so on to a MR2 friendly home it must go as I am bound for Germany! Here are the rest of the details.
Mechanical: Mechanically it all of the major components are in great shape, it has low miles, it is an all original USDM Turbo car not a swap, everything is stock it has never been modified or messed with other than basic maintenance. The timing belt was done not long ago miles wise along with the water pump etc.... Here is a list of what I did to it.
⦁NGK Spark plugs⦁NGK Wires⦁NGK Cap & Rotor⦁Castrol 10w-40 full synthetic oil⦁Disassembled and cleaned entire throttle cable system, lubricated with Aerokroil⦁New OEM Air filter⦁Fresh battery⦁Rotated tires and adjusted air pressure (tires all match good tread)⦁Cleaned up ignition coil
Mechanically it doesn't need much more to be perfect, it drives, steers, stops, etc... Just fine. No bad vibrations, BUT I would not drive it much more without getting an alignment done. I did what I had to do to win and get home but it needs an alignment and a steering rack seal to be a daily driver. The previous owner tried to replace one of the steering rack seals at the end of the rack himself and totally botched it. SO currently the power steering is inop due to lack of fluid (the electro hydraulic system shuts itself off to prevent damage when it sees fluid is low). Luckily being a MR2 not having power steering isn't really a big deal because the engine is behind you! He loosely threw the tie rod back into the rack hence the alignment issue I would recommend fixing that before putting a ton of miles on it. The Transmission shifts smooth into all gears, no grinds or pops, clutch works good engages in the middle like it should, brakes are great, e-brake still works. Engine fires right up every time freezing cold or hot outside, it never gets above half on temp gauge, solid oil pressure, no leaks, no smoke, doesn't burn anything. Not sure if the cruise works never tried, I hate cruise control. The exhaust did have a slight leak, I haven't heard it in awhile so I guess it fixed itself but it was there at one point. It boosts solid, turbo has no issues, doesn't smoke oil under boost or anything. You will get a little black/grey smoke just from all that raw fuel + awesome power under full load but that is about it. No check engine light or other warning lights other than the power steering. Basically it needs about not much to be a DD.
Interior: Interior wise it is in low mileage kind of shape. Seats have no major tears leather is still soft, carpet, headliner, dash, doors etc... are all in pretty good shape. The CD player is old school and has a loose connection at the faceplate but still works (as does the power antenna!). The tachometer quit on my ride home I guess it hadn't been used in awhile and it just decided to give up, which is common for these cars for some reason. Speedo and all the other gauges still work fine, just needs a new tach motor which I will include with the car as I was going to fix it but became far too lazy. Heat works, A/C still works no joke (to be expected with a Florida car I suppose). It does have a legit Alpine amp behind the drivers seat that was installed by best buy. One of the T-Tops needs an adjustment or new seals. Comes with all the documents and even a piece of the original window sticker in the glovebox.
Exterior: Exterior is where the car shines literally. Doesn't have any clear coat peeling or faded anywhere which is a big achievement for a 1991 Toyota in Florida. Obviously it was garaged most of its life. The body is not perfect but it is in pretty damn good shape, minor work is all that is needed. The front bumper has been painted before but other than that the paint looks original all around to me. It did swipe something on the passenger side has a couple scrapes/dents to the fender/door but other than that I don't see any evidence of wrecks. Power antenna still works great, flip up headlights work great, all the other lights, windows, T-Tops, gas door etc work fine.
Thanks for looking, why don't you go make this day better than the last? Maybe even make someone else's day better while you're at it, good things are still possible in this world. Sometimes just not being a selfish A-hole is all you need to do. Lessons learned. If you have any questions feel free to ask i'll get back to you swiftly, I probably forgot something so ask away!