my mr355 replica

[NuttyNik]

This is my car which is also the south uk demo car for exact355 company. Its a rev1 mr2 turbo import with the all new converted 355 kit on it.








I love my 2's
my mk1 t bar

[dansREV2turbo]

i guess you cant use the boot of the car??

how much for do you do the carpets for (if you sell seperatly)?

[thai boxer]

Nice looking car mate, its just the wheels in the arches....they NEVER look right!!

[hicks]

which kit is that.

the side of the car looks totally wrong and the front bumper doesnt look deep enough.

oh and making it lazy eyes look plain daft.

all in my opinion obviously

[DannyW]

Was this on a stand at the stoneleigh kitcar show last week?

If it was then i must admit i sniggered at the claimed power figure of well over 300bhp on a rev1 turbo engine with standard intercooler and AFM still in place.

Looks nice though if you like that sort of thing.

[vodkaprince]

Have to Praise the amount of hard work and cash spent on this.

Unfortunatly I think the 355 is an Iconic car and as much as I love the Mk2 Tubby, an MR2 just isnt a Ferrari, its like a 45year old in a boobtube and a wonderbra with a face lift. Looks ok from a distance or whilst moving!

Get under the skin a little and shes not really what shes made up to be and ultimatly you feel like a bit of a plonker when your mates find out your pokin an old bird..

If you want a Ferrari but cant afford one, get a 2nd mortgage, dont ruin a nice MR2

Still each to their own and this is only my 5pennys worth

Kudos for the effort.

[NuttyNik]

hi ok were to start this is a direct copy from the original car the only difference is the side door n sill the rest is exactly the same so the front is identical.

yer was at stonliegh acording to the paperwork pushing 316bhp must admit it is quick for a rev 1 but we havent rolled it to get full figures as this car is going sc v6.

the wheels arnt qui8te wright on this either due to spacers and we are having new wheels fitted to correct this. Its not quite finished yet but gives an over view of what we do. We based it on an mr2 for the shape and reliability of the toyota also to get around sva testing if we had gone down the route of space frame chassi then it just takes the fun out of it all with all the tests to get it registered. Having had other 355 lookalikes done in the passed on the mr2 we used this car as the base, also I have had a few mr2's and still do great car.

yer you can go out and buy a 355 for around 40k no problem but then running it and reliability is a big problem so take a great looking supercar then take a great reliable sports car combine the 2 to creat this copy and you have a cheep quick great looking replica that can be used everyday and cheep to run.

we all love our 2's but its nice to be able to have something a little different as well.

it still has a boot buy the way

[EarL]

Dunno about you guys, but thats a fair effort.

Not a lover of the 355 kits, as they all seem to be a little "clunky", but I have to admit, that one is pretty damn close.

It needs to loose the sleepy eyes though.

The kit...


The real thing...


Great effort.

EarL.

[JOHNM400]

I agree,its a great effort and these guys obviously know what they are doing looking at the end result. Forgetting its a Ferrari copy it looks stunning. I suppose it will never have the magic feeling of a Ferrari but its the nearest most people will ever have the chance to own a Ferrari. If i was buying one of these kits id deffo take a look at this one.

[razorsharp192]

i was looking at these a while ago, looks great and if it was cheaper i'd still get one but when you're talking £3k for the kit, plus all the extra's (real 355 lights, badges etc) plus £4000 (atleast) fitting, its almost £10k and thats without a car, so you've got the cost of the car on top of that, so you're talking about £14k for a car worth £3-4k. not worth it imo, not when you could spend that money on buying a better car

[nakamura]

Sweet mk1 tho.

[EarL]

Sweet mk1 tho.

Definately! I took longer looking at that, than the replica.

[Leon.]

Does look very well executed so for that.

2 areas that always look strange to me are the areas where the roof joins the rear 3/4 section and, as already mentioned, the sills which are not smooth enough.

But have to say they are the only niggley bits so good work, alhough I'm generally not a great fan.

[IainF355]

Nik,
I have a 355 rep too. I seldom post on here because of the type of replies that come the way of folk that modify an MR2 - even though just about every car on here is modified in some way... Somehow a TRD rep is better than a 355 rep despite equal amounts of time, effort, £ and filler! The fact that we enjoy our MR2's is lost in translation somewhere down the line.
I saw this at Stoneleigh and thought some aspects like the mouldings etc were decent quality. I like the front opening bonnet in particular. I think it's also good to have more competition in the market, as it raises quality, although I think cars like the DNA 360 have moved the goal posts somewhat in the last year for this type of kit.
But you must sort the sills out... Having a sill attached to your door instead of the car is a massive no no. It doesn't matter how good the rest looks having slightly anorexic sills as part of the door moulding just doesn't work I'm afraid. I think this would be really straight forward to sort as well!
Best wishes with your venture.
Iain

[nakamura]

Somehow a TRD rep is better than a 355 rep despite equal amounts of time, effort, £ and filler!
Iain

Thats because the TRD is a toyota designed car. In fact it just an mr2 with a toyota designed kit. Replicating a TRD is not trying to be another car altogether. TRDs were all customer orientated so even some had stock power. And having a replica TRD kit will look spot on with a lot less cash spent on it.

Martin

[vodkaprince]

the coments abut TRD and replica's...

Correct me if I am wron here but a TRD MR2 is just that the kit makes it not a Replica but a TRD kit'd MR2..

The 355 Replica is just that is a replica/immitation of a different car, making a Toyota look like a Ferrari, the aim of wich is to fool as many people as possible into thinking that you own a Ferrari.

Dont get me wrong I see and appreciate the amount of hard work that gos into modifying cars in any way shape or form. And for what its worth the Examples shown in this thread are extreemly close! To the untrained eye, jo public or 90% of girls/women they would never know the difference.

A few years ago I seriously considered doing the 355 Replica myself. I saw sence in the end thogh

[Leon.]

Well all non-oem TRDs are replicas for the fact that they are not the original TRD oem kits. But yeh, the originals were designed for the MR2 out of the factory.

[matt_mr2t]

You can buy original TRD body kits though.

Any way - thats the best effort on a 355 kit I've ever seen - well done that man.

Make the wheels fit and IMO people would have a hard time spotting the difference.

[IainF355]

I agree with comments made here.. and I do sincerely think there's a parallel between 355 kits, and bomex, Erubini or TRD replica stuff. Most of the parallels are making your car look like something else, and investing alot of blood, sweat and tears not to mention £££'s to make it come together! And if it's anything like mine it ends up on 18's and cusco's too
The big difference is obviously most 355's end up with a prancing horse on the bonnet rather than a toyota badge, and so the motivation for doing it is definitely a bit different to the TRD type stuff.
Now that I've done one, I've learned a few things:
1)The quality of the moulds etc is paramount in determining a decent outcome, or be prepared to spend a long time addressing the balance..
2) The MR2 turbo is a fine car which I would have never thought about buying had it not been for doing a 355 rep
3) If I had the time and budget again (those days are long gone) I'd definitely go the TRD route and fly the MR2 badge with pride
4) Despite the propaganda, building a good one costs some serious wedge which these days can't be recouped by selling it after
5) Seeing it when I open the garage still puts a smile on my face
6) Yellow ones are best...
Cheers,
Iain

[ryan]

If you could get the front end 'beefed up' a bit, it would look more convincing; it looks a tad too thin? Like a wedge of cheese if you see what I mean? This is constructive criticism; I do like the car youve produced mate