I posted a while back about my new MR2, a 2005 model that fixed a lot of issues I had with my older version. However one thing that only became apparent after doing some miles was that it was suffering from the same problem of excessive oil consumption. Not quite as bad as the old one, but still enough to be annoying. I do have another engine that could be swapped in after a rebuild but decided to go another way.
Enter the third car purchase of the year:
But this one is just stopping by on it’s way to the scrapyard in the sky. It’s a £500 2003 Corolla and in much worse condition than it looks in photos. No rust though , and it’s the only car I’ve ever owned with working AC. Climate control even! The only mechanical faults are the clutch slips so badly it was a challenge to get up some of the hills on the way home and the brakes are terrible.
So why would I buy this heap?
Solving 1ZZ oil consumption issues properly! This is a 2ZZ with 190HP as used in various sporty Toyotas, but for some reason was never fitted in the Mk3 MR2 from the factory. The conversion is reasonably common and mostly straightforward. These engines do have a few foibles of their own, but they can be sorted before it goes in the MR2. It has done 110,000 miles and runs great despite appearances. Buying the whole car was about half the price of buying the engine and box on their own, plus I had the opportunity to drive it. As it’s still got 4 months of MOT I may run it as a winter beater to give it a thorough shakedown, but still not decided on that. It would mean doing the clutch in the car and I’m not sure I can be arsed with that.
I’ll finish up with a review of the Corolla: Deeply uninteresting and I have no qualms about ripping it’s heart out and getting the rest made in to bean cans.
Also the second car I bought this year? Much more fun and I’ll post about that soon!