Am I insane to buy a mk1 Toyota MR2 if I live in NYC without a garage?
April 11, 2013 11:09 AM Subscribe
I live in Brooklyn, sans garage, and have recently gotten it into my head that I want a small used car for occasional driving... I'm talking about the few miles to my office a couple times a week, maybe to the beach on weekends. Perhaps as far as the Jersey shore once or twice a summer. I do not intend or need to use it as a daily commuter. Seems pretty simple, only catch is... I am infatuated with the idea of getting a mk1 Toyota MR2.
I am trying to be realistic about this car's reliability. Obviously, we are talking about a 25 year old sports car... my main hang up is I don't have any place to store/work on it when it breaks down (which I'm sure it will). I've heard it can be difficult to find a mechanic that will work on these cars. Are there garages in the city where I can have it worked on without it costing an arm and a leg? Do you have any personal experience on what it's like to deal with owning a classic car in the city without a garage? Am I completely nuts for even considering this?
I am trying to be realistic about this car's reliability. Obviously, we are talking about a 25 year old sports car... my main hang up is I don't have any place to store/work on it when it breaks down (which I'm sure it will). I've heard it can be difficult to find a mechanic that will work on these cars. Are there garages in the city where I can have it worked on without it costing an arm and a leg? Do you have any personal experience on what it's like to deal with owning a classic car in the city without a garage? Am I completely nuts for even considering this?
I am actually on my way to look at a 14-year-old Miata in a few minutes, so I understand your desire for old sports cars. However, I live on the outskirts of suburban California, on a semi-rural property, and have both a garage and plenty of outdoor parking.
I don't think finding someone to service it should be hard. It's an old Toyota. Any car service place in the world can service an old Toyota. Your problem will be finding out that it doesn't start when it's cold on the first snowy day of the year (or whatever other thing), and then not just being able to leave it where it is, because it's parked on the street and you need to move it for street sweeping or whatever (this is what happened when I lived in San Francisco, I don't know how NYC differs).
It feels like it's not really a problem if 1) you're not relying on it for reliable transportation, and 2) you have somewhere you can park it and never need to worry about having to move it *right now*.
I don't think it needs to necessarily be garaged or perfectly reliable of you have the subway or anything else as a fallback, but it starts to be a problem if you ned to park it on the street and there are street parking regulations.
As an aside, if I get the Miata, it won't be my only car, because there are days you don't want to drive around in an old convertible.
posted by tylerkaraszewski at 11:20 AM on April 11, 2013
I don't think finding someone to service it should be hard. It's an old Toyota. Any car service place in the world can service an old Toyota. Your problem will be finding out that it doesn't start when it's cold on the first snowy day of the year (or whatever other thing), and then not just being able to leave it where it is, because it's parked on the street and you need to move it for street sweeping or whatever (this is what happened when I lived in San Francisco, I don't know how NYC differs).
It feels like it's not really a problem if 1) you're not relying on it for reliable transportation, and 2) you have somewhere you can park it and never need to worry about having to move it *right now*.
I don't think it needs to necessarily be garaged or perfectly reliable of you have the subway or anything else as a fallback, but it starts to be a problem if you ned to park it on the street and there are street parking regulations.
As an aside, if I get the Miata, it won't be my only car, because there are days you don't want to drive around in an old convertible.
posted by tylerkaraszewski at 11:20 AM on April 11, 2013
I own a car in NYC. It is always a bad economic decision. Our car mostly gets used on the weekends to go to events in the burbs. You are always better off renting.
But its pretty goddamn nice to just walk down to the garage and drive off.
If you aren't going to garage it have you done the alternate side shuffle? Its a hassle. Do you know how/where you'll manage the on street parking?
Also your car WILL get dinged up parked on the street. Keep that in mind if that is going to drive you crazy about your MR2.
posted by JPD at 11:21 AM on April 11, 2013
But its pretty goddamn nice to just walk down to the garage and drive off.
If you aren't going to garage it have you done the alternate side shuffle? Its a hassle. Do you know how/where you'll manage the on street parking?
Also your car WILL get dinged up parked on the street. Keep that in mind if that is going to drive you crazy about your MR2.
posted by JPD at 11:21 AM on April 11, 2013
Vintage cars aren't transportation, they're a hobby.
THIS!
On the other hand, there is likely a hobbyist garage nearby where you can rent a stall and tools to work on it. So long as you look at it as a fun pass-time you can also drive to the beach or to the office on occasion, it sounds like fun. There are a lot of "Mister Too" enthusiasts out there with a lot of how-to advice on the internet.
You will probably want to budget off-street parking/storage into it's care and upkeep.
posted by Slap*Happy at 11:21 AM on April 11, 2013 [1 favorite]
THIS!
On the other hand, there is likely a hobbyist garage nearby where you can rent a stall and tools to work on it. So long as you look at it as a fun pass-time you can also drive to the beach or to the office on occasion, it sounds like fun. There are a lot of "Mister Too" enthusiasts out there with a lot of how-to advice on the internet.
You will probably want to budget off-street parking/storage into it's care and upkeep.
posted by Slap*Happy at 11:21 AM on April 11, 2013 [1 favorite]
Go actually test drive one. See if you fit in it, and enjoy it.
Then start hanging out on the enthusiast forums. Find out what often fails, and how hard/expensive it is for people to fix those things.
If you're still not dissuaded, start keeping your eye out for one in the condition you want, and when the price is right, get it inspected and buy it.
As long as you won't be relying on it, and you understand it won't be a turnkey affair, there's nothing crazy about this, except that having no garage means having no place to service it when it breaks down. So keep a budget to have it towed to a local mechanic with a good rep for fixing them (something you can find through the enthusiast boards.)
disclaimer: I have a 1984 Honda Elite scooter for similar reasons, not practical but fun, and if it weren't for my garage it'd have been sitting outside for a total of four months last year being broken -- but I still won't give it up, and every time I fix it I go right back to enjoying it.
posted by davejay at 11:41 AM on April 11, 2013
Then start hanging out on the enthusiast forums. Find out what often fails, and how hard/expensive it is for people to fix those things.
If you're still not dissuaded, start keeping your eye out for one in the condition you want, and when the price is right, get it inspected and buy it.
As long as you won't be relying on it, and you understand it won't be a turnkey affair, there's nothing crazy about this, except that having no garage means having no place to service it when it breaks down. So keep a budget to have it towed to a local mechanic with a good rep for fixing them (something you can find through the enthusiast boards.)
disclaimer: I have a 1984 Honda Elite scooter for similar reasons, not practical but fun, and if it weren't for my garage it'd have been sitting outside for a total of four months last year being broken -- but I still won't give it up, and every time I fix it I go right back to enjoying it.
posted by davejay at 11:41 AM on April 11, 2013
I had one of these for about 5 years (10 years ago). I did not live in a city at the time, but I did work on the car myself. Because of the mid-engine layout and tight packaging, a lot of the work had to be done from underneath. This is a pain if you intend to much wrenching yourself. But- there's some parts commonality with corollas of the time, so most parts aren't particularly expensive.
Also - because of the mid-engined layout - there's only a bit of trunk behind the engine and less under the hood. So you'll have to go minimalist on your trips. The car is very small, as you know.
My car suffered two semi-common problems. First, the 5th gear popout problem. Driving down the highway, the car would pop out of 5th gear. So I just held it in place when traveling highway speeds. This worked for ~35000 miles. Second, the head gasket blew. I fixed this, but the car had continual short bursts of overheating (the temp guage would peg, and then drop back to normal) that I (or anybody else, including the dealer) just could not fix. These two problems led to me getting rid of the car.
Even with a nice example suffering neither of those problems, you're probably looking at >$2k of delayed maintenance (timing belt, water pump, tires, shocks/struts, brakes, maybe a catalytic converter to pass emissions inspections, all coming due in the near term).
Even so, you're not nuts for considering this. I liked that car, and I kept it for a long time. But the car I sold in order to get mister two - a black 1985 toyota supra - was the girl I let get away.
posted by everythings_interrelated at 11:57 AM on April 11, 2013 [1 favorite]
Also - because of the mid-engined layout - there's only a bit of trunk behind the engine and less under the hood. So you'll have to go minimalist on your trips. The car is very small, as you know.
My car suffered two semi-common problems. First, the 5th gear popout problem. Driving down the highway, the car would pop out of 5th gear. So I just held it in place when traveling highway speeds. This worked for ~35000 miles. Second, the head gasket blew. I fixed this, but the car had continual short bursts of overheating (the temp guage would peg, and then drop back to normal) that I (or anybody else, including the dealer) just could not fix. These two problems led to me getting rid of the car.
Even with a nice example suffering neither of those problems, you're probably looking at >$2k of delayed maintenance (timing belt, water pump, tires, shocks/struts, brakes, maybe a catalytic converter to pass emissions inspections, all coming due in the near term).
Even so, you're not nuts for considering this. I liked that car, and I kept it for a long time. But the car I sold in order to get mister two - a black 1985 toyota supra - was the girl I let get away.
posted by everythings_interrelated at 11:57 AM on April 11, 2013 [1 favorite]
Both me and a friend really wanted to buy one of these after highschool. I did a ton of internet research on them but ended up getting a significantly older, more ridiculous car.
They're basically corollas. And although they experience their own idiosyncrasies of design, this isn't like buying a vintage porsche or something. The parts aren't that expensive, they're fairly reliable, etc. I don't really think it's old enough to be a "vintage" car honestly, and a lot of my friends still drive cars from that late 80s/early 90s era. Hell, my first car was a toyota from this era and it was far and away the most reliable car anyone in my family has ever owned. I think the biggest part to ever fail was the radiator fan wire on a road trip.
And as i alluded to, me and several people i know drive old(or i'd call this... old-ish. 20ish years isn't old.. it's like middle aged) cars like this every time we drive. Many of them have put huge amounts of miles on them without any real problems. I don't think counting on it as "your car" is ridiculous as long as you have a plan B to get to work, etc. And especially if it isn't your plan A for that kind of stuff anyways. However i can't nth the "having a place to actually leave it parked for a while" thing hard enough. You don't need a garage, but you do need a place that can't create a needs to absolutely be moved right now omg!!1 situation. Having a friends house who at least has some kind of spot to pull in and a pile of tools is gravy as well, especially if you can leave the car at his place sometimes. This doesn't need to be across the street from your house either, it can be a half hour drive away, but you should plan on doing some work yourself or this will be a money pit.
I honestly think a car like that is perfect for how little, and what you want to use it for though. Especially if you have some money to throw at this. Sometimes i regret getting my weird old car, but i always love driving it and often love working on it and tinkering around with it.
I think the people looking at this as a poor car purchasing decision and saying to just rent a car or something aren't realizing that this is more of a hobby, and you could easily spend that much on good ski equipment or something. I think you're very much approaching this from the right angle of "this will not be my primary car/method of transportation". I'd say go for it.
Definitely definitely definitely look in to getting a dedicated parking space though. I ended up paying for one near my place(in a pretty dense part of town) and regret nothing. It would very often be an albatross without that parking spot that i can just leave it at indefinitely.
Oh, and i also had to completely give up on caring about little door dings and bumper dents. Shit happens. but i honestly prefer a car that looks nice, but obviously driven/used and loved to one that always looks immaculate.
posted by emptythought at 1:55 PM on April 11, 2013 [1 favorite]
They're basically corollas. And although they experience their own idiosyncrasies of design, this isn't like buying a vintage porsche or something. The parts aren't that expensive, they're fairly reliable, etc. I don't really think it's old enough to be a "vintage" car honestly, and a lot of my friends still drive cars from that late 80s/early 90s era. Hell, my first car was a toyota from this era and it was far and away the most reliable car anyone in my family has ever owned. I think the biggest part to ever fail was the radiator fan wire on a road trip.
And as i alluded to, me and several people i know drive old(or i'd call this... old-ish. 20ish years isn't old.. it's like middle aged) cars like this every time we drive. Many of them have put huge amounts of miles on them without any real problems. I don't think counting on it as "your car" is ridiculous as long as you have a plan B to get to work, etc. And especially if it isn't your plan A for that kind of stuff anyways. However i can't nth the "having a place to actually leave it parked for a while" thing hard enough. You don't need a garage, but you do need a place that can't create a needs to absolutely be moved right now omg!!1 situation. Having a friends house who at least has some kind of spot to pull in and a pile of tools is gravy as well, especially if you can leave the car at his place sometimes. This doesn't need to be across the street from your house either, it can be a half hour drive away, but you should plan on doing some work yourself or this will be a money pit.
I honestly think a car like that is perfect for how little, and what you want to use it for though. Especially if you have some money to throw at this. Sometimes i regret getting my weird old car, but i always love driving it and often love working on it and tinkering around with it.
I think the people looking at this as a poor car purchasing decision and saying to just rent a car or something aren't realizing that this is more of a hobby, and you could easily spend that much on good ski equipment or something. I think you're very much approaching this from the right angle of "this will not be my primary car/method of transportation". I'd say go for it.
Definitely definitely definitely look in to getting a dedicated parking space though. I ended up paying for one near my place(in a pretty dense part of town) and regret nothing. It would very often be an albatross without that parking spot that i can just leave it at indefinitely.
Oh, and i also had to completely give up on caring about little door dings and bumper dents. Shit happens. but i honestly prefer a car that looks nice, but obviously driven/used and loved to one that always looks immaculate.
posted by emptythought at 1:55 PM on April 11, 2013 [1 favorite]
I own a 2003 MR2 and I have lots of enthusiast friends with MK1s.
Some caveats:
If you get one with t-tops, they will leak unless you take very good care of them. They're 25 years old after all!
Minimal storage space. All you have is a frunk and a teeny trunk so if you're travelling, you're either carrying your luggage or a friend, but probably not both. (Although, I've seen people install bike racks on them...)
With that said, I love MR2s and they are fantastic fun cars. You should get one ;)
posted by p1nkdaisy at 12:53 AM on April 13, 2013
Some caveats:
If you get one with t-tops, they will leak unless you take very good care of them. They're 25 years old after all!
Minimal storage space. All you have is a frunk and a teeny trunk so if you're travelling, you're either carrying your luggage or a friend, but probably not both. (Although, I've seen people install bike racks on them...)
With that said, I love MR2s and they are fantastic fun cars. You should get one ;)
posted by p1nkdaisy at 12:53 AM on April 13, 2013
I've had older cars (including a '91 MR2) and loved working on them when they would break down. That was in CA. When I moved to Brooklyn, I had an itch to get a car and really wanted a decent BMW e30. I scoured forums for a while and found an '87 convertible e30 for a decent price and in great condition. Very poor decision.
I bought my car out of state, and had to have it registered here. Since every mechanic around here, it seems, is trying to cheat you, it took me a while to find one who would pass my car and not tell me I needed new brake pads (which I did not) or new tires. Finally, I found a mechanic in Queens off a bmw forum who had "a friend with a registration machine in his garage" who helped me get it registered. Having a mechanic in queens is no fun when something goes wrong, which it often does with older cars. In the past, if I needed to swap an alternator or fix an electrical issue it was no problem to do it in my garage. Trying to do that on the street was a huge pain in the ass and it meant lugging tools around and trying to find blocks of time where I could work on the car for a while. Doing that kind of thing in the winter was even worse. Parking was actually never an issue, but digging that car out of snow was not fun at all. The roads in Brooklyn are really bad, too, and caused a lot of random damage to the car. YMMV, but my insurance was double what I was paying in CA for a much nicer car.
Overall, even though I loved the idea of having a car for quick jaunts and the capability to fix issues myself, it was so difficult to get things fixed and have the car when I needed it that over time it became a headache that was not worth the price or maintenance and registration woes.
posted by homesickness at 12:44 PM on April 15, 2013
I bought my car out of state, and had to have it registered here. Since every mechanic around here, it seems, is trying to cheat you, it took me a while to find one who would pass my car and not tell me I needed new brake pads (which I did not) or new tires. Finally, I found a mechanic in Queens off a bmw forum who had "a friend with a registration machine in his garage" who helped me get it registered. Having a mechanic in queens is no fun when something goes wrong, which it often does with older cars. In the past, if I needed to swap an alternator or fix an electrical issue it was no problem to do it in my garage. Trying to do that on the street was a huge pain in the ass and it meant lugging tools around and trying to find blocks of time where I could work on the car for a while. Doing that kind of thing in the winter was even worse. Parking was actually never an issue, but digging that car out of snow was not fun at all. The roads in Brooklyn are really bad, too, and caused a lot of random damage to the car. YMMV, but my insurance was double what I was paying in CA for a much nicer car.
Overall, even though I loved the idea of having a car for quick jaunts and the capability to fix issues myself, it was so difficult to get things fixed and have the car when I needed it that over time it became a headache that was not worth the price or maintenance and registration woes.
posted by homesickness at 12:44 PM on April 15, 2013
This thread is closed to new comments.
-signing up with ZipCar and/or buying a used, cheap commuter car like a Yaris or Fit, and
-renting a vintage car a couple times a year for fun?
posted by Miko at 11:14 AM on April 11, 2013 [3 favorites]