During my search for a new car, my husband and I decided to reconfigure the two we have. One would be an SUV and one would be- maybe a 2 seater. That thought and the thought that the SUV would be a Toyota, led us to the 2003 Toyota MR2 Spyder.

The Car:

The car we test drove (I was a driver and then a passenger while my husband drove.) was a brand new white convertible. It competes with the Mazda Miata.

This is a 2 door 1.8L 4 cylinder with a manual transmission. Standard in this car are (not inclusive of all equipment) tachometer, clock, low fuel level warning, all season tires, full-size spare tire, manual convertible roof, glass rear window, rear defogger, 2 front headrests, sport front seats, cloth upholstery, remote power door locks, power windows, power mirrors, power steering tilt-adjustable steering wheel, front cupholders, front console with storage, air conditioning, front reading lights, leather-wrapped steering wheel and an AM/FM cassette/ single CD player with 4 speakers.

It gets 26 miles to the gallon in city driving, 36 on the highway with a fuel tank capacity of 12.7 gallons

My personal impression of the interior and exterior:

Years ago my husband and I thought of buying a Honda Del Sol. His head hit the roof and he is only 5㤒" tall. There is amazing space for two siting inside this car. He had several inches above his head. We both could stretch our legs out comfortably as passengers.

These seats do not go down. If you are planning on showing off this car to your best friend who lives 300 miles away, plan on not napping. The seats are very comfortable though. You just can't adjust the back. There is a knob at the base of the seats that turns fairly easily. This adjusts the height of the seat but only slightly. In spite of the leg and headroom, the inside is small and it does feel like a toy. Note: Although the seats were comfortable and I was fine getting in and out of this car, my husband noticed that his back hurt probably from getting in and out of this low car. We are in our 50s though. If you are in your 20s or 30s that will probably not bother you.

When I opened the cup holders I thought I might break the unit. I liked the cassette player and the sound was just find for me when I turned on the radio.

The outside of the car is really beautiful. It looks like a much more expensive car than it is. Even the side air intake ducts make it look like a high tech space aged vehicle. The top is made of cloth. I mentioned above that it has a glass window. I had never seen that before in a convertible. It has an electric defroster! The top is simple to get up and down.

The car comes in red, green, mica blue, paradise blue, black and yellow (and the white I drove).

Before I talk about handling I have to mention storage space. You may read that there is a miniscule amount of trunk space. First of all, the trunk opens from the inside but lifting it from the outside was tricky. That immediately told me that this trunk is not meant to be opened frequently. By the way, the trunk is in the front and the engine is in the rear. I will state unequivocally that "miniscule trunk space" is giving this car a lot of credit. I would not call the space in the front of the car trunk space. In fact, you have to open what looks like it might be a trunk and once open rather than finding a miniscule space you will find the tire. That means anything you put there will have to be small enough to fit in a 1.9-cubit foot space that has a full-sized tire inside. You might be able to put a 10-pound bag of potatoes in there.

I did find some space that even the salesman (remember he is new to the floor) didn’t know about. First of all, with the top up a slight ledge is created. You could put a folder there. The seats go forward. When I easily moved them forward I opened a compartment and found a space going across the car that could hold perhaps a couple of small bags of groceries, perhaps a backpack as long as it wasn’t very large or a couple of briefcases. I was slightly reassured that I could go to the grocery store in this Spyder.

How the car handles:

When I told the salesman that I drive a BMW so I might be a little spoiled by the ride both as a driver and passenger he told me I might be very surprised and I was. This little car is a dream to drive. It is lightweight but in spite of that it felt stable to me. It happened to be a cold windy day and I was surprised I wasn’t all over the road. I didn't feel the bumps in the road to the extent I thought I would. It is so low that of course you do feel them, but it is acceptable, certainly.

The acceleration is excellent both from a dead stop to merging onto the highway (The dealership is right near a highway and we were able to take it and see what it could do.) or changing lanes. It accelerates to 30 miles per hour in 2.3 seconds, 60 miles an hour in about 7 seconds. The brakes are superb. The Spyder didn’t slowly stop, it stopped when I lowered the gears and braked. The stick is easy to move. I was comfortable in the seats as a driver and passenger but remember I wasn’t going on a 4-hour trip. It corners well and since it is so low to the ground I never felt like I would flip over like I might if we buy an SUV. The Spyder handles very well, much better than I expected and actually I couldn’t have asked for better handling. Unlike my BMW though, There is some noise with the top up but not enough to be a deal breaker. So what was the deal breaker?

Seriously if we buy an SUV, I would have bought the Spyder- that’s how much I liked it. The salesman knew he might lose the sale when he answered my husband honestly. My BMW gets up hills in the ice and snow that most cars and trucks can’t get up. My husband asked if snow tires were needed for the car and how it handles in the snow. The salesman told us that in fact he wouldn’t drive this car in the snow or ice. He doesn’t consider it to be a car that is able to handle that kind of weather. Obviously it is so low to the ground I can understand it not being able to handle a foot of snow but to be told basically that I shouldn’t, couldn’t, wouldn’t want to drive it in the snow was the deal breaker. We live in Massachusetts. If you are reading this from another country outside of the U.S., we get snow. This car is a sunshine state car and there are many in the U.S. I just don’t live in one of them!

Safety

I have been a Toyota fan for years. We’ve owned a Tercel, Corolla and I often drive my mom’s Camry. I think if Toyota can make a car safe, it will. I don’t think a car this size can be made safe. You’ll just have to depend on your good driving and watching the other guy!

The following are the safety features: Antilock brakes, depowered airbag and passenger airbag. Head Airbag, side airbag or child safety seats are not available. Traction control and stability control are also not available. Traction control is what allows me to get my car up any hill!

I usually tell you what the safety ratings are. I can’t for the Spyder because it hasn’t been tested. From edmunds.com

NHTSA: Passenger: Not Tested, Driver: Not Tested, Side Impact Front: Not Tested, Side Impact Rear: Not Tested, Rollover Rating: Not Tested

IIHS: Crash Offset: Not Tested, Bumper Bash: Not Tested

The standard basic warranty is 3 years or 36,000 mi. The drivetrain is 5 years or 60,000 miles. The warranty for rust is 5 years and unlimited miles

In summary:

This is a beautiful convertible. It is a 2 seater toy with very little storage space. It handles exceptionally well, the top goes up and down in a matter of a few seconds and it is more fun to drive than any car I’ve driven in a long, long time. I am not rating it 5 stars because I can’t buy it. For the price, if you want a fun car made by one of the best around, Toyota, take a look at the Spyder. Skip it though if you live in a climate where you get ice or snow.

Feel free to leave a comment or question.

Other URLs you might want to look at for cars are http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/testing/NCAP/

http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle_ratings/ratings.htm

If you have any questions about this car, feel free to e-mail me.

Other car reviews I have written include:

2003 Ford F150 SuperCrew
2003 BMW325I
2000 Nissan Altima
2001 Chevy Malibu
2002 Chevy Prizm
1998 Dodge Ram Van
1996 Nissan Sentra
2001 Pontiac Sunfire
1999 Toyota Camry
2001 Hyundai Accent
1998 Chevy S-10 Pick Up
1999 BMW 323is
2002 Subaru Impreza
2000 Suzuki Swift
2001 Chevy Metro





Amount Paid (US$): 24,600