Breaking MR2's - The new trend

[JayZee]

I thinks its very sad that with MR2's getting older and even more rare on our roads that the trend is now to break them rather than sell them as a whole

While I do understand the economics for owners who need to return as much cash as possible from thier cars, I can't help feeling that it is now fast becoming a trend rather than a nessessity.

I worry that along with the slow demise of some cars due to age, some due to unfortunate accidents, we are in danger of losing even more to the "breaker"

We need to save our beloved MR2's

What are your thoughts

[fearless]

very true but breaking them are sometimes more profitable as we spend £1000's doing them up and get nothing if we sell, ive nearly spent 4k on mine and its only an n/a nobody is going to give me even half that for my car but must admit its very sad to see them getting broken and often there is nothing major wrong with them, still ive just got a set of rev 3 lights because one is going to the breaker in the sky (thanks neilturbo) loads on ebay spares or repair and look really quite good some of them also quite a lot of places breaking them so must be a market for them. :0(

[Dale_V]

I love mr2's being broken

[platmatt8]

Just for your piece of mind i`ll never break mine, it`s not my daily driver and i`d rather lock it up for a decade than break or sell it.

[Steve Horrocks]

Gotta say, it is bloody heartbreaking havin to break min now after all the time i've had it, it's like selling bits of a child!
But i've spent (and wasted!) far to much on my car over the years, than to have someone expect to buy a near 500 bhp car for under £5k!

Just wish I had more space/dry storage for breaking it!! lol
(to be honst, wish I didn't have to break it!)

[TheBaker]

p1$$e$ me off seeing people do it as a sort of business just to make money, especially when there's nothing majorly wrong with the car.

Still, it does give us more parts.

I wonder how many MK2's are left on the road.

[paul port]

The MR2 is not a Rare Car - That's the problem.
Just look at JAE. MR2's outnumber all other models many fold.

It was a rare car before the Jap importing craze began in the late 90's, but then the UK was flooded. As the Yen grew stronger the quality of the imports fell and that plus the numbers led to the collapse in prices.

Mine cost me ~£12,500 on the road Jan 2000 and frankly it was worth it.
Sold a few months ago for £2500. I have no regrets (yet) the replacement was equally well priced for what I got

[wadeski]

when my rev3 turbo was imported in 1998 (!) it was quite a pricey and rare car. I wonder how many people were caught out by a "hairdressers" MR2 back then - remember that was when a VR6 golf was considered quick!

As has been said, high yen = flood of poorer quality cars, and collapse in used prices for good ones.

[Neil_turbo]

I am breaking my second one this year

First one was due to massive sill rot (import mk2!)

This one is as i only bought it for the engine. Buying it complete and breaking was the most cost effective way of doing this.

While people have projects and modify, parts will always be needed. A lot of aftermarket parts are now sooo expensive compared to the value of the mk2, or discontinued.

If people stopped breaking modified cars the availability of these would cease, and that would mean no more modifying!

I dont think its a bad thing at all. I would rather have one good MR2 on the road than 2 not so good ones!

[cantfindausername]

I'm in the same position as Steve. Its the only way to get some money back. But it is a very painful decision to make, let alone starting the actual process of pulling it to pieces.

There are "breakers" of every marque now a days, and if they can make a business of it then good for them. It gives us a bespoke place to go when we need used parts, without having to trawl the local scrap yards with a spanner in hand.

Also, with the dross being taken off the road, it makes the cleaner examples stand out more

[squariel]

troubel is that alot of the time it's not the dross being taken off of the roads.
its perfectly good ones that could get a new mr2 owner started that are going.
leaving only expensive ones left

[Dale_V]

leaving only expensive ones left

IMO that can only be a good thing

Also, with the dross being taken off the road, it makes the cleaner examples stand out more

pretty much this, there arnt many 'clean' mr2's any more, lots look clean and tidy on the outside but in my experience 75% of them are bodged messes!

Its raised a smile when Ive took them to the crusher

[jasongtr]

i have broke 3 mr2s, the first i bought to have as my own car but quickly realised it was never going to be worth what it owed as a complete car, after that sold (well most of it) i bought 2 others specifically to break, these cars were perfectly fit for use but i knew i could make a few quid on them, i dont see anything wrong with that in these financially challenging times.

I along with the other 'breakers' on here offer parts that would not have been available, therefore the more parts available will push the spares prices down a little due to supply and demand. also if we take more cars off the road to break them then the remaining ones will become a little rarer - hopefully maintaining the prices of them or increasing them (maybe not for hugely modified cars)

Also 1 car broken may keep several on the road for a little longer, is that truly a bad thing?

I have broken more cars including Imprezas, they are not rare but becoming older and some parts that were good on those cars are not available anywhere else as is the case for the MR2's

Breakers are providing a very useful service, not only offering 2nd hand parts that are cheaper than new, but offering parts that are simply not being sold by the stealers anymore


** should you require any parts for your NA rev3 MR2 then drop me a line **

[SFLee]

i am about to break my rev 3 tbar and transplant it into kitted rev 2 tintop shell

so the end the day the more people break the car the more part there is

[Rob B]

It is frustrating regarding lack of return when tuning but its a buyers market...

Highly tuned cars are more of a toy then a daily proporsition so therefore people would be less will to pay the extra..Thats before going into the extra costs...I bought mine with the idea of breaking it should it go kaput... This has happend but I'm gonna rebuild because its what I want to do but I accept I wont get the money back

[uglee]

Nearly everyone is modifying their 2's, but would rather spend more money modifying it themselves than buying someone elses already perfectly decent modified 2.

A strange situation I have to admit.

I only modified mine to the way it is because I simply couldn't get one over here for love nor money. If I wanted a 500Hp Turbo I'd have just bought someone elses car that they built with blood sweat and (financial) tears. It may seem initially expensive, but overall is probably less than half the price of modifiying it yourself.

[cantfindausername]

Definately the case. You get an absolute bargain when you buy it ready built. But from a sellers point of view it just isn't a feasible option to sell a car like that for that much of a loss. Even selling everything I have, I'm still probaly under 1/3 recovered costs. But I've learnt alot and am happy with what I've done. Some poeple have got bargain, I've got what I want... everyones a winner.

[Steve-O 2007]

I will probably be breaking mine as well when the time comes unless someone gives me around £4k for it. Its still got 6 months left at least before I start thinking about it anyway

[Steve Horrocks]

Definately the case. You get an absolute bargain when you buy it ready built. But from a sellers point of view it just isn't a feasible option to sell a car like that for that much of a loss. Even selling everything I have, I'm still probaly under 1/3 recovered costs. But I've learnt alot and am happy with what I've done. Some poeple have got bargain, I've got what I want... everyones a winner.

Exactly what Ant said!!!