I recently paid

£4k for a 1994 rev 3 GTS turbo t bar.

Body was in great condition

(the car's not mine) and the engine seemed OK but smokey

- no service history.

Less that 3 weeks later it was chucking out huge smoke clouds with the engine eventually cutting out from fouled plugs.

It's now sitting at my Dad's house awaiting attention to see if the problem is turbo, valve or piston related

(probably all three)

The moral is

- you get what you pay for.

Personally I'd rather pay below the odds

(ie

£4k) and get the engine work done myself,

rather than paying an extra

£1.5k or

£2k for a minter.

I knew it needed work at some point, but it gives me flexibility on the components I use, and I also have the opportunity to do other work at the same time.

At the end of the day I'll probably spend the equivalent of buying a mint low mileage car, but this option gives me a bit more control and assurance of exactly what is being done to it.

If however, it had needed body work doing

(opposed to engine work, ie chassis allignment, knocking, dents, body rot) it would have been a different story, as there's no way I can do this sort of work myself.

Just my 2 pence worth of course.

I've got access to decent tools etc and I'm happy working on cars.

If you want to buy a MR2 at the lower end of the price scale, just appoach it with your eyes

(and wallet) open.

HTH

Ian